The promotion of Monsignor John Kennedy to head of the discipline section of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith was the second abuse-related appointment in recent days.

Pope Francis has made it possible for bishops to ensure the validity of marriages celebrated in the traditionalist communities.

"The racial divide in the United States and, sadly, in the Catholic Church in the United States is not something of the past. It is very much something of the present," the bishop said.

Mulledy Hall at Georgetown will be renamed after Isaac Hawkins, the first enslaved person listed in the sale documents.

A Jesuit school with 7,800 students based in Spokane, Washington is going up against a behemoth from Tobacco Road in Monday night's NCAA final.

The battle on the tiny tropical U.S. territory pits the Neocatechumenal Way lay group against critics on a majority Catholic island that was colonized by Spanish missionaries in the 17th century.