The motive for the explosion on July 25 remains a mystery, though some in the conference said it reflected the violence suffered by society at large in a country with soaring homicide rates and a decade-long drug cartel crackdown.

An explosive device was detonated outside the offices of the Mexican bishops' conference, directly across the street from the country's most visited religious site, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Without quite knowing it, I had begun to rely on the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church.

San Antonio law enforcement officials found eight bodies inside the trailer of an 18-wheeler sitting in the parking lot of a Walmart.

Like the religious authorities of the Sanhedrin criticized by Jesus, some clergy are faithful only to themselves, "rich in devout reverence to the past," wrote Italian biblicist Father Giulio Cirignano.

Pope Francis called on Muslims and Jews in the Holy Land to "moderation and dialogue" as tensions continued around a key site in Jerusalem that is sacred to members of both faiths.