Catholic News Service

Bishop Paul Sirba of Duluth, Minnesota, died at Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth Dec. 1. He was 59.

A Nativity scene is a simple reminder of something astonishing: God became human to reveal the greatness of his love "by smiling and opening his arms to all," Pope Francis said in a letter on the meaning and importance of setting up Christmas cribs.

Theologians must explore and debate disputed questions, at times even taking "risks" with what they propose, but those discussions should take place within the academy so as not to confuse the faithful, Pope Francis said.

Fifty years ago, the White House sponsored a Dec. 2-4 conference on food, nutrition and health designed to set the groundwork for a national nutrition policy and to advise President Richard Nixon on the best ways to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in the United States.

More than 10 years after its final report, the commission set up by the Irish government to investigate claims of abuse in religious-run institutions has admitted that it overestimated the number of children in the homes.

Pope Francis led prayers for the people of Albania after the country was struck by a magnitude 6.4 earthquake.

Belgium's Salesian order defended its decision to send a priest convicted of child abuse to work with Caritas in Central African Republic, where he has been accused of abusing children again.

Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, has asked the former bishop of the diocese to pay back more than $792,000 to cover the "inappropriate expenditure of diocesan funds to support a luxurious lifestyle."

Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller released an archdiocesan review committee report on clerical sexual abuse, the culmination of a months-long survey of sexual abuse cases in the Archdiocese of Vancouver since 1950. It is the first report of its kind released by any diocese in Canada.

Pope Francis has named Msgr. Robert McClory, rector of the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak, Michigan, to head the Diocese of Gary, Indiana.

Questions about Vatican finances, especially those involving a real estate deal in London, are serious, but they also are a sign that reforms begun by Pope Benedict XVI are working, Pope Francis said.

An independent inquiry into St. John's Seminary has been completed, finding some internal shortcomings regarding the governance and culture of the seminary, but no evidence of illegal activities or a culture of sexual misconduct by students or faculty members.

At the end of his trip to Thailand and Japan, Pope Francis said he found truth in the saying, "Lux ex oriente, ex occidente luxus," or, as he roughly translated it, "the light comes from the East, and luxury, consumerism from the West."

Since the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church broke open in 2002 in the United States and intensified globally last year, responses to it have focused on legal matters and administrative reforms. But theologians and other faithful thinkers are focusing now on a higher dimension, and the question of where God is calling his people at this moment.

First impressions of Pope Francis in 2013 revealed his style and pastoral priorities, and since then, his words and actions have continued to inspire and challenge the Catholic Church and the world, panelists said at a Nov. 21 dialogue on the "Francis Factor Today" at Georgetown University.

For the third consecutive year, states in the Gulf South of the U.S. ranked near the bottom of a 2018 "social justice" index that measures poverty, racial disparity and immigrant exclusion.

Bishop Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, is the new chairman of the board of Catholic Relief Services following his appointment by Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life announced it is setting up a specialized team of young Catholic leaders as advisers.

While not adopting the Japanese bishops' opposition to nuclear power plants as his own, Pope Francis insisted the 2011 meltdown at the Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Fukushima raises serious questions.

Beauty, creation and each human life are gifts of God to be treasured and shared, not enslaved to current societal ideas of what is valuable, perfect or productive, Pope Francis said at a Mass in the famous Tokyo Dome.