Catholic News Service

A new Pew Research Center report examines public confidence in groups of people who hold positions of power and responsibility in America, including religious leaders.

With so many changes and huge technological advancements in the field of medicine, health care must always be at the service of the whole individual, including a supportive relationship between patient and medical professionals, Pope Francis said.

The upcoming Supreme Court term — which starts Oct. 7 — will offer plenty of cases that Catholics will be paying close attention to including: the status of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a number of religious liberty cases including a school-choice program in Montana and workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender.

As expenses of clergy sex abuse cases have prompted dioceses to lay off staff and sell property, there is growing evidence that more Catholics are not contributing to diocesan appeals because of the scandals.

The search for Christian unity must involve all aspects of the churches' lives, including their different church laws, Pope Francis said.

An overwhelming majority of Americans – 83% – said they support conscience protection rights for health care professionals because they should not be forced to perform procedures against their moral beliefs.

Four Massachusetts Catholic bishops warned of environmental red flags documented by scientists and urged a change in behaviors in a Sept. 16 statement calling for substantial changes to safeguard creation.

The Catholic Church will endure, despite the frailty and sins of its members, because it is God's project, Pope Francis said.

Cokie Roberts, a broadcast journalist and political commentator who spoke publicly about her Catholic faith and her admiration for the Sacred Heart sisters who taught her, died Sept. 17 due to complications from breast cancer. She was 75.

Pope Francis' call for church of missionary disciples who go to the peripheries to listen and accompany those most in need may have seemed radical and new at the start of his pontificate.

Acknowledging evidence that "for several generations" the Catholic Church has not sufficiently taught its core truths, Bishop Daniel R. Jenky has called for all ministries of the Diocese of Peoria to be "intentionally centered" on the Real Presence in the holy Eucharist.

A new private independent program set up to compensate victim-survivors of child sexual abuse by priests was rolled out Sept. 16 in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and five other participating Catholic dioceses in California.

Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic cleric to be convicted of child sexual abuse offenses, has lodged an application with Australia's High Court to appeal his guilty verdict.

Sentencing someone to life in prison without the possibility of parole is "not the solution to problems, but a problem to solve," Pope Francis told Italian prison guards, prison chaplains and officials from the Ministry of Justice.

Members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors meeting in Rome said there was a continued need to make safeguarding consistently part of the life of the church around the world.

God forgives sins so that joy, not sadness, can flourish once again in one's heart, Pope Francis said.

A large part of the exhibit at a Washington museum known as The Phillips Collection, focuses on the emotional toll as well as the dangers of such immigration journeys, and one experienced in modern times by a record 70.8 million around the world, fleeing war, persecution and conflict.

South African bishops called for action to end violence against women after a spate of killings and rapes sparked outrage in a country with one of the world's highest murder rates.

The Australian Catholic Church could face tens of millions dollars in compensation claims after the Diocese of Ballarat in Victoria state admitted, for the first time, it knew of the behavior of a pedophile priest yet continued to move him around from parish to parish.

A retired bishop already facing a Vatican trial for allegations that he sexually abused minors years ago is facing three new accusations of abuse, said the Diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming.