”Hands off Africa!” Pope Francis said on the first day of his visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “Stop choking Africa: It is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered.”

Pope Francis will make his fourth journey to Africa on January 31. Hopes are high that Francis’ visit may kick-start the struggling peace processes in both countries.

The nation with the highest Catholic Mass attendance could be Nigeria, as 94 percent of self-identified Nigerian Catholics said they attended daily or weekly Mass, in a new study.

Authorities say Sunday's bombing in Kasindi, a town in North Kivu province, killed at least 14 people and injured more than 60.

Deadly violence hit Christians in Africa Jan. 15, with a Catholic priest in northern Nigeria burned to death and as many as 17 Christians killed in a blast in eastern Congo.

On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen and Gerry cover the case of Marko Rupnik, a well-known Jesuit artist who has been barred from hearing confessions or offering spiritual direction after allegations of abuse.