It was the third episcopal ordination this year arranged by China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs that had not received papal approval.

The move followed the publication of the Cloyne Report on clerical sexual abuse and "denotes the seriousness of the situation," the Vatican said.

Archbishop Pietro Sambi was a career diplomat who also served as ambassador to Israel and Palestine.

The Indian bishops spoke a day after three bombs in Mumbai left at least 17 people dead and more than 140 injured.

The bishops said that true definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman “cannot change, though we realize that our beliefs...will continue to be ridiculed."

A coalition of religious investors wants officials at 27 major U.S. companies to look deeper into the role human trafficking may play in the operation of their firms.