Salvadorans have high hopes for the new president’s leadership. El Salvador suffers one of the world’s highest murder rates, and a third of its population lives below the poverty line.

Pope Francis has signed decrees which would advance the sainthood causes of women martyrs of the Spanish Civil War and of the first African-American diocesan priest in the United States, Father Augustus Tolton.

As has been the case for years now, a small group of protesters dismissive of the U.S. bishops' efforts to enact reforms in their handling of sexual abuse cases gather outside the Baltimore hotel where they conduct their general meeting. This spring is no different.

“Deploying 6,000 National Guard troops on the southern border is not a root solution that addresses the true causes of the migration phenomenon,” Mexico's bishops wrote. “The fight against poverty and inequality in Mexico and Central America seems to be replaced by fear of the other, our brother.”

From Michigan to New Mexico this month, attorneys general are sifting through files on clergy sex abuse, seized through search warrants and subpoenas at dozens of archdioceses.

A senior Dutch priest criticized media reports on the death of a teenager experiencing depression, accusing foreign media of "sensationalizing euthanasia" in his country.