It is an extraordinary testament to a person’s pastoral care when they are remembered as someone who was a steady presence in the most difficult times.

Five years after Pope Francis convened an unprecedented summit on sex abuse, the Catholic Church’s in-house legal system and pastoral response to victims has proven still incapable of dealing with the problem.

The cardinal's warning comes after lay German Catholics involved in the Synodal Path called on the bishops to defy Rome and stick to the reform course.

The Vatican has been trying for years to debunk the idea that its vaunted secret archives are all that secret. But a certain aura of myth and mystery has persisted — until now.

Karla Bellinger teaches and coaches preachers—mostly ordained Catholic men—to give effective homilies. “Effective preaching is like good butter sinking into warm toast,” she says. “You’ve gotta give the Holy Spirit a little bit of time to do some work.”