What should disqualify someone from being a saint?That might seem a funny question. How about sin? But over the course of the last month, people in California and elsewhere have been asking it a lot. In January, Pope Francis announced that in September he will canonize Junípero Serra, the 18th-cent

The leader of the Catholic Church in Libya called for dialogue and understanding in his violence-torn country on Feb. 16, even as prayers and calls for action followed the horror of the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians. The men, who had come to Libya from Egypt in search of work, had been kidnapped

On Feb. 12, 2005, two hired gunmen killed Sister Dorothy Stang, 73, in a remote Brazilian settlement just off the Trans-Amazonian Highway. As a tireless advocate for the poor and landless in Brazil for more than three decades, the Ohio-born nun came into conflict with ruthless landowners. Three

Despite small numbers, Catholicism retains a special place in urban Thai society.

Pope Francis once again urged solidarity with migrants who risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe; and during his general audience on Feb. 11, he assured prayers for the victims of a deadly crossing. The pope was responding to reports on Feb. 9 that 29 migrants had died of h

Maria Rodriguez is not a religious sister, but she lives and works like one. The 23-year-old San Diego native teaches third grade students in a Chicago Catholic school and lives in a house with other new schoolteachers.Rodriguez and her housemates exchange ideas about their educational ministry, pra