The key question in this case is not whether a charter would help or harm local education, but whether explicitly religious instruction at charter schools is constitutional.

Despite the 24% decline over the last decade, Catholics remain the largest religious group among Latinos in the United States, the Pew report said.

Father Hans Zollner clarified that his resignation was not intended to personally attack anyone or impede the work of the commission, which he called “a success in itself and a great idea by Pope Francis.”

A criminal complaint filed on Friday alleges that ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick sexually assaulted a Wisconsin man in 1977, when the alleged victim was 18 years old.

Hong Kong's Roman Catholic bishop arrived in Beijing on Monday, marking the first visit to the Chinese capital by the city's bishop in nearly three decades, despite signs of Sino-Vatican strains.

In "The Pope's Exorcist," the story of Fr. Gabriele Amorth, known as "the James Bond of exorcists," is told with Russell Crowe as the main figure. It appears in theatres Friday, April 14.