In a speech to some 100 judges from north, central and south America, Pope Francis emphasized the crucial role of judges in protecting the social, economic and cultural rights of people.

The most senior Catholic found guilty of child sex abuse will ask an Australian appeals court on Wednesday to reverse convictions on charges of molesting two choirboys in a cathedral more than 20 years ago as hundreds of worshippers streamed from Masses.

In the midst of a bitter gangland feud in the Irish capital, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has moved to ensure that funerals of those killed are not used as overt shows of wealth or perceived influence.

The Italian ministry for culture has revoked a license it granted to the Dignitatis Humanae Institute to manage a state-owned historic monument south of Rome, citing irregularities in the bidding process and a breach of contract.

The Australian Catholic Church has released its National Catholic Safeguarding Standards, more than 18 months after they were recommended by the country's landmark Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse, in the latest chapter in the overhaul of how the church responds to clergy sexual abuse.

We do not join with one another to be politically correct or to celebrate diversity. We do so because we believe that salvation is communal.