Rod McGuirk

Pope Francis' visit to Papua New Guinea will take him to a remote part of the South Pacific island nation where Christianity is a recent addition to traditional spiritual beliefs developed over millennia.

Australian police say a knife attack in Sydney that wounded a bishop and a priest during a church service as horrified worshippers watched online and in person, and sparked a riot was an act of terrorism.

A retired Catholic bishop has been charged with sexual offenses including child abuse in a remote part of Australia's northwest.

The Vatican had shared with police findings of an internal investigation of a former Australian bishop over child sex abuse allegations and the church would fully cooperate with criminal investigators, a cleric said on Sept. 22.

The Vatican is considering the findings of a church investigation into "very serious and deeply distressing" child sexual abuse allegations against a former Australian bishop, a church leader said on August 19.

An Australian court on August 25 allowed a civil case to proceed against a Catholic archdiocese involving child sex abuse allegations against late Cardinal George Pell.

Australian police plan to ask a judge to ban gay rights protesters from demonstrating outside the funeral of Cardinal George Pell in Sydney on Feb. 2 due to public safety concerns.

Australian Cardinal George Pell, who was the most senior Catholic cleric to be convicted of child sex abuse before his convictions were overturned, died Tuesday in Rome. 

A judge on June 4 ordered a dozen Australian media companies to pay fines from 1,000 Australian dollars ($766) to AU$450,000 ($345,000) for breaching a gag order by publishing references to Cardinal George Pell's since-overturned convictions in 2018 for child sexual abuse.

An Australian agency said Nov. 11 it was not investigating the transfer of Vatican funds to Australia because of a lack of evidence of wrongdoing, undermining speculation that the money might be linked to the overturned convictions of Cardinal George Pell for child sex abuse.

High-profile Australian journalists and large media organizations went on trial on Monday on charges that they breached a gag order on reporting about Cardinal George Pell's sex abuse convictions in 2018 that have since been overturned.

Australian state police said Oct. 23 they're not investigating the transfer of money from the Vatican to Australia, throwing doubt on Italian media speculation that it might be linked to the overturned convictions of Cardinal George Pell for child sex abuse.

An Australian man who accused Cardinal George Pell of sexually abusing him denied Monday he was bribed for his testimony, shooting down the latest conspiracy theory to roil the Vatican amid a corruption investigation into its shady finances.

Australian Cardinal George Pell knew that a notorious pedophile priest had been sexually abusing children years before his arrest and had been aware of the Catholic Church's clergy abuse problem since the early 1970s, a government inquiry concluded.

Cardinal George Pell has linked his fight against corruption in the Vatican with his prosecution in Australia for alleged child sex abuse.

Australia's highest court has dismissed the convictions of Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic found guilty of child sex abuse. 

Australia's highest court will deliver its ruling next week on whether to overturn the convictions of Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic convicted of child sex abuse.

Australia's highest court on March 12 said it will deliver a verdict at a later date on whether to overturn the convictions of the most senior Catholic to be found guilty of child sex abuse.

The most senior Catholic to be convicted of child sex abuse will take his appeal to Australia's highest court on March 11 in potentially his last bid to clear his name.

The most senior Catholic to be found guilty of sexually abusing children will learn this week whether Australia's highest court will hear his appeal against convictions for molesting two choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral two decades ago.