Catholic News Service

Bishop Joseph Lawson Howze, the founding bishop of the Diocese of Biloxi, Mississippi, and the first black bishop in the 20th century to head a U.S. diocese, died Jan. 9.

The Austrian Catholic Church will officially begin a year of honor Jan. 11 to remember the founder of Austria's Catholic Habsburg Empire, Maximilian I, to mark the 500th anniversary of his death.

The Francis Chronicles: Although at times it seems that "so many of our prayers seem to have no result," Christians are called by Christ to "insist and not give up," the pope said Jan. 9 during his weekly general audience.

Opus Dei, a well-known international Catholic organization, paid $977,000 to settle a sexual misconduct claim in 2005 against a one-time high-profile priest in the nation's capital.

Months after Indonesia's military was summoned to unclog Jakarta Bay, Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo has joined a chorus of disapproval of the nation's growing plastic waste problem by calling parishioners to action.

Generously caring for the sick and the marginalized is the best way to combat a culture of waste and indifference that seeks to control and manipulate life, Pope Francis said.

As U.S. bishops gathered in early January at a seminary in Illinois to pray and reflect about the American church's sex abuse crisis, reports trickled out about the possible fate of one their own being decided overseas.

A French cardinal took the stand in court Jan. 7, the first day of a civil trial for church officials accused of covering up abuse by a priest.

Jesuit Fr. Charles Currie, a social justice advocate and longtime leader in Jesuit college education, died Jan. 4 after a recent illness. He was 88.

The budget bill passed by the House of Representatives to try to end the partial government shutdown includes a provision to repeal the "Mexico City Policy" that prohibits U.S. funding of foreign nongovernmental organizations that perform or promote abortion.

Police are investigating vandalism at St. Augustine Cathedral in Bridgeport where someone painted a swastika on the cathedral doors.

People find Jesus only through humble love, and once they find him, they are called to offer him the gifts of their prayer, their adoration and their care of others, Pope Francis said.

Didn't get everything you wanted for Christmas? Neither did several Catholic organizations, despite the last-minute flurry of legislation typical of a lame-duck Congress.

A bishop from Argentina who had been working in the Vatican's real estate administration office is the object of a preliminary diocesan investigation after accusations came to light of sexual abuse.

German Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising called for change in long-standing church tradition as the German bishops' conference prepares for a workshop debate to "review" the issue of celibacy for priests.

A former head of the Philippines' Catholic bishops' conference has called on people to ignore President Rodrigo Duterte's repeated rants against the church.

Jesuit Fr. Samuel Rayan, a pioneer of theology with an Asian perspective that colleagues and church leaders considered a "radical interpretation of the Bible," died at age 98.

The Field Hospital: The Camp Fire devastated Paradise, California, destroying the homes of over half of the parishioners of St. Thomas More Church. Nearby parishes have rallied to help the survivors. 

Christians know that God is their father and they are called "to reflect a ray of his goodness in this world thirsting for goodness, waiting for good news," Pope Francis said.