Advocates for the protection of women charge that rape is systemic and endemic in South Africa. Police statistics confirm this: There are about 115 rapes per day, a level that is among the highest in the world.

Chileans will get to vote on Sunday as to whether or not to adopt a new constitution. Chilean Catholics face a document that supports some Catholic ideas of equality and community yet also codifies abortion and euthanasia.

Last week, Twitter users across the world made a startling discovery: A viral photo of the Vatican’s Paul VI audience hall revealed a colossal, looming sculpture that frames the pope during his addresses.

Celestine V resigned from the papacy in 1294, the last pope to do so voluntarily before Benedict XVI. Francis, in his homily, praised him for this gesture of humility.

For critics of the first Latin American pope, Francis’ recent expression of concern about the crackdown on Catholics in Nicaragua was too little too late.

As the diocesan phase of the synod ended on Aug. 15, America touched base with some well-informed sources for insight into how the synod has gone so far in the Amazon region and Asia.