The Catholic Church calls for the creation of job opportunities and the recognition of the dignity of the poor, not simply for more handouts or expanded government welfare programs, Pope Francis said in a video message played on Nov. 20 at the Italian church’s Festival of Catholic Social Teach

Church officials in Goa, India, were expecting more than five million pilgrims for the once-a-decade exposition of the body of St Francis Xavier on Nov. 22. • While officials from the Kenyan government and bishops’ conference met on Nov. 19, Kenya’s Catholic bishops continued to urg

Pope Francis has established a special body within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to speed up the process of hearing and ruling on appeals filed by priests laicized or otherwise disciplined in sexual abuse or other serious cases. Federico Lombardi, S.J., the Vatican spokesperson, tol

Commenting on the deaths of 13 young mothers at government-run sterilization camps in India’s central Chhattisgarh State on Nov. 12, Archbishop Prakash Mallavarapu said the guilty should be punished, but “the systemic faults behind this tragedy must be exposed and corrected.” &bull

Obama administration moves on immigration were drawing attention and pre-emptive opposition from Republican lawmakers, who will soon control Congress when the lame duck session ends in January. President Barack Obama was poised in mid-November to unveil a series of executive actions on immigration t

Catholic Relief Services committed an additional $1.5 million to programs aimed at countering Ebola in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea in November. The money is being used to train heath workers, ensure safe and dignified burials, develop and implement prevention awareness campaigns, maintain local