Catholic News Service

Erileid Domingues said most of her indigenous village has, at one time or another, fallen ill due to contaminated water.

China's ruling Communist Party has dissolved its long-standing State Administration for Religious Affairs bureau and handed its functions to the party's United Front Work Department.

Less than two months after Pope Francis spoke out about environmental destruction in the Amazon basin during a visit to Peru, bishops from Latin America and the Caribbean have issued a pastoral letter calling the region's Catholics to an "integral ecological conversion."

A new book-length interview with Pope Francis is a guide to a "revolution of tenderness" in which young people and the elderly — both "thrown away" by society — band together to help change the world.

The chairmen of the U.S. bishops' pro-life and religious freedom committees said it was "deeply disappointing" that Congress omitted the Conscience Protection Act from the congressional funding bill for fiscal year 2018.

Georgia lawmakers are considering waiving the statutes of limitations on civil lawsuits claiming sexual abuse of young people against nonprofits and businesses, but not government agencies or public schools.

A political video filmed in a church scandalized some Catholics but also conveyed a sense that some upper class Mexicans recognize the unsustainability of a country where many live in poverty.

Dialogue and respectful understanding are the prerequisites for social harmony and world peace, Hong Kong Cardinal John Tong Hon told a symposium on Christianity and China.

Since January, Pope Francis' references to Jesus' pierced hands, feet and side in impromptu speeches and homilies have been so frequent that it seems to be a major focus of his own prayer life.

As rumors fly of an imminent Vatican-China deal on the appointment of bishops, a Belgian priest known as an expert on China said he thinks an agreement might really happen.

As police investigated a series of package explosions in central Texas that killed two people and injured four others, two of the state's bishops said their thoughts and prayers were with the victims and families and friends of those victimized by the explosions.

Bishop Jose Ronaldo Ribeiro of Formosa was arrested and charged, along with four diocesan priests, of stealing about $606,000 of diocesan money.

Receiving a delegation from Ireland and blessing an icon of the Holy Family, Pope Francis confirmed his intention to visit Dublin for the final days of the World Meeting of Families.

Despite the chill and gusts of wind in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis welcomed the beginning of spring with an impromptu lesson about gardening and how to grow into being better Christians.

In oral arguments before the Supreme Court March 20, justices seemed skeptical about a California law that requires pro-life pregnancy centers in the state to visibly display information about abortions to their clients that the centers say violates their right to free speech.

Pope Francis once again will celebrate the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper in a prison and will wash the feet of 12 inmates, the Vatican announced March 20.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed into law March 19 the most restrictive state abortion bill in the nation because it bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Archbishop Michael Byrnes said a new chapter of humility, repentance and healing has opened for the Catholic Church in Guam following a Vatican verdict against his predecessor.

Australian bishops expressed gratitude to Pope Francis for authorizing an Australian plenary council, a meeting in which decisions become binding on the church in the country.

Many people admire St. Padre Pio, but too few imitate him, especially in his care for the weak, the sick and those who modern culture treats as disposable, Pope Francis said.