Synod calls the faithful 'to walk alongside people in difficult or exceptional situations.'

Looking ahead to the October 2015 world Synod of Bishops on the family, Cardinal George Pell said the task for Catholics "over the next 12 months" is to explain "the necessity of conversion, the nature of the Mass," and "the purity of heart the Scriptures require of us to re

California’s Catholic bishops file a federal civil rights complaint over state requirement

If you’re dismayed that one in five Americans (20 percent) are “nones” — brace yourself.

Half a dozen men stand nonchalantly in front of a grubby building on one of Rome’s busiest streets as cars whizz past. They stiffen whenever a stranger approaches. But few would guess they’re undercover cops protecting Italy’s most endangered man.Inside is the Rev. Luigi Ciotti, a

Pope Francis called for abolition of the death penalty as well as life imprisonment, and denounced what he called a "penal populism" that promises to solve society's problems by punishing crime instead of pursuing social justice."It is impossible to imagine that states today canno