The ongoing drought and famine afflicting Somalia and other East African nations is "a humanitarian crisis that cries out for help to Christians throughout the world."

On July 9, South Sudan officially broke free of the north and became the world’s newest independent state.

The report, The Changing Face of U.S. Catholic Parishes, tracks trends in U.S. Catholic parish life during the last decade.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster convened a conference in July aimed at supporting the beleaguered Christian community.

An investigation by a government panel suggests a continuing failure of the Irish church to implement its own child protection procedures.

On July 19 Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Cardinal Justin Rigali of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and named Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M.Cap., of Denver to succeed him.