The figure was below the number of 62 million reported in 2000, but the difference is due to a change in the way data was collected.

Speakers at a conference in Dublin called on the hierarchy to open structures of dialogue with lay Catholics about the future of the church.

A Vatican decree on May 2 established new norms for Caritas Internationalis, giving Vatican offices greater authority over the work of the umbrella group of 162 Catholic aid agencies around the world.

Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago on April 25 presided over the burial of some of the 120 fetuses stored at a medical examiner’s office.

John Brennan’s presentation was intended to pull back the curtains on the administration’s drone policy.

The archbishop of Jos said he could not understand why the government appeared powerless to prevent deadly attacks on Christians.