Catholic News Service

In a decision that confirms its right to proactively reach out to victims of sexual abuse by priests, the Catholic Diocese of Bathurst, New Brunswick, has been awarded $3.4 million in a dispute with its insurance company.

The Supreme Court announced Nov. 2 that it would hear oral arguments this term to consider if a 40-foot cross in Maryland endorses religion or is simply a secular memorial.

After reviewing more than 2,400 clergy files dating back nearly 70 years, the Archdiocese of New Orleans released the names of 55 priests and two deacons who had been removed from ministry for accusations of sexual abuse of a minor.

Sharing the same roots as their Jewish brothers and sisters, Christians cannot be anti-Semitic and must work to ensure anti-Semitism is banned from society, Pope Francis said.

The Boston Globe and the Philadelphia Inquirer newspapers teamed up for an article published in both daily papers Nov. 4 that examined ways it said the U.S. bishops have failed to police themselves even since their 2002 gathering in Dallas.

For every Christian, but especially for those called to ministry, God's gift of life is a call to serve others, Pope Francis said at a memorial Mass for bishops and cardinals who have died in the past year.

The Mass for the feast of All Souls is "realistic, concrete" in calling Catholics to remember the people and events of their past, to consider how they live today and to hope for eternal life with God and their loved ones who preceded them, Pope Francis said.

Bishop George Murry of Youngstown has announced the names of 31 clergy and one religious brother who served in the diocese since its founding in 1943 who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

The Delaware Department of Justice announced Nov. 1 it has opened an investigation into potential criminal conduct by priests or other church personnel of the Wilmington Diocese, according to a statement.

The two international bodies that had been supporting and coordinating the international activities of charismatic Catholics will become one new organization.

Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin warned there was "a danger of complacency or inertia or of slippage into false confidence" in the church's fight against clerical abuse.

Saints include simple people "from next door, our relatives and acquaintances who now are part of that 'immense multitude'" in heaven, Pope Francis said, which makes the Nov. 1 feast of All Saints "a family celebration."

The Field Hospital: The Catholic Deaf Community of the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, formed 60 years ago and recently energized with Masses in sign language each Sunday, a website, social media and a youth group.

A New York auxiliary bishop has been removed from public ministry pending a Vatican review of a decades-old accusation of sexual abuse against him, a claim he denies, the Archdiocese of New York said in a letter released Oct. 31.

The government of East Timor, one of Asia's most Catholic countries, is blocking a planned trip by its president to the Vatican, where he plans to invite Pope Francis to visit.

Pakistan's Supreme Court has set aside the death sentence of Asia Bibi, a Catholic convicted of blasphemy, and ordered her release from prison.

The Sixth Commandment's mandate against adultery is a call to fidelity that applies not only to married couples, but to all Christians called to love others through their vocation, Pope Francis said.

A priest who said he was attacked by an unknown assailant in the sacristy at St. Michael Byzantine Catholic Church in Merrillville was placed on administrative leave after an abuse claim against him from decades ago was deemed credible.

How the Diocese of Buffalo handles cases of priests suspected of abuse was the subject of a report Oct. 28 by the CBS newsmagazine "60 Minutes," which talked to a woman who leaked diocesan files on those priests to a local TV station.

People must make "a serious examination of conscience to understand whether we are really capable of listening to the poor," the pope said in a message for the World Day of the Poor.