On Oct. 4 Pope Francis called on the whole church to imitate St. Francis of Assisi.

On Sept. 30 Pope Francis announced he would declare his two predecessors Blessed John XXIII and John Paul II saints at a single ceremony on April 27. • In the largest donation in Georgetown University's history, the alumnus Frank H. McCourt Jr. has contributed $100 million to create the McC

The U.N. 68th General Assembly ended on Sept. 30 in New York with some notable successes.

A Dutch Jesuit in the besieged Syrian city of Homs said those who remain are facing shortages of food and fuel. “Disease has captured some of us and is knocking on the door of others,” Frans van der Lugt, S.J., wrote in a letter released by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need

The global number of child laborers has fallen by a third since 2000.

In 2011 only 163,775 marriages were celebrated in U.S. Catholic churches.