Only 48 residents of the Gaza Stripabout half as many as originally reportedwere able to attend the papal Mass in Bethlehem.

The 2,600-page report of the Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse "throws light on a dark period of the past."

Catholic social justice organizations, petitioned President Obama to support the formation of an independent commission on the use of torture.

Father Robert J. Cornell died May 10 at St. Norbert Abbey in De Pere, Wis.

Migrants and refugees tend to be the first to lose their jobs, in part because "their status is called into question."

A relief worker who recently returned from Pakistan's Swat Valley said the civilians displaced by a government crackdown face "horrible conditions."