“Every Cuban should be able to freely and respectfully express and share his personal opinions, his thoughts or his convictions, even when he disagrees with the majority,” the bishops said.

“We all need God to help us to make sense of our lives, so when we try to live without God, we can become confused,” Archbishop Gomez explained.

Many carried signs emblazoned with “Enforce Canon 915,” a section of church law that they believe requires the denial of Communion to Catholic politicians who support legal abortion.

The Catholic Church must do a better job instructing priests on what to do if a victim recounts his or her abuse in the confessional and in the unlikely case that an abuser confesses, said Hans Zollner, S.J.

Jim Rowen discusses the genesis of the Great Ignatian Challenge, a yearly competition among Jesuit high schools to see which institution can bring in the most donations for local charities.

That morale is down for priests across the country is not exactly stop-the-presses material. But I wonder if it isn’t the canary in the coal mine of the Catholic Church today.

The Most Rev. Thomas John Paprocki, the bishop of Springfield in Illinois, and the Most Rev. Kevin W. Vann, the bishop of Orange in California, write in response to America’s interview with Senator Durbin.

“Journalism is not so much a matter of choosing a profession,” the pope said, “but rather of embarking on a mission, a bit like a doctor, who studies and works to cure evil in the world.”

The pope sent a letter of thanks to Michael O'Loughlin, America's national correspondent, this summer after receiving an advance copy of “Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear.”

Pope Francis: The Gospel helps us to interpret “today’s pain and tomorrow’s hope” and calls on us to be ”witnesses of compassion amid widespread disinterest.”