Associated Press

The Northern Ireland government issued a formal apology on Friday to people who were abused in orphanages and children's homes, telling them that "the state let you down."

The head of the German Bishops' Conference on Monday pressed for a quick decision from Pope Francis on the future of a prominent archbishop who faces strong criticism for his handling of the church's sexual abuse scandal.

Among the sites at risk in the Ukrainian capital are the nation's most sacred Orthodox shrines, dating back nearly 1,000 years to the dawn of Christianity in the region.

A prominent Roman Catholic archbishop who faced strong criticism for his handling of the church's sexual abuse scandal in Germany said Wednesday that he has offered his resignation to Pope Francis following a "spiritual timeout".

The Vatican's criminal tribunal on Tuesday resoundingly rejected defense motions to dismiss a landmark financial fraud case and ruled the trial will go ahead with the questioning of a cardinal scheduled for later this month.

For transgender Catholics across the United States, retaining their faith can entail complex calculations. They face rebukes from some fellow Catholics, including many bishops, yet find full acceptance in some premises of the church.

Families came one by one to the baptismal font in a Phoenix church where the Rev. Andrés Arango, whose baptisms up until last summer are presumed to be invalid, poured holy water over the heads of a dozen people in a do-over of the Catholic ritual.

A Connecticut newspaper exposed one of the Catholic Church's biggest sexual abuse scandals by reporting 25 years ago.

A Madrid-based law firm will conduct a year-long inquiry into past and present sexual abuse committed by Spain's Roman Catholic clergy, members of religious orders, teachers and other people associated with the church.

In Michigan, Hood was baptized, given other sacraments and swiftly ordained again to the priesthood within days in 2020. But the Archdiocese of Detroit still hasn't heard from hundreds of people whose rites at St. Anastasia are considered invalid, despite outreach efforts and publicity.

Pope Francis on Sunday hailed health care workers as heroes for their service every day, not just during the pandemic, asking the public in St. Peter's Square to join with him in applause.

Defense lawyers in the Vatican's fraud and extortion trial on Feb. 18 accused Pope Francis of violating their clients' human rights by issuing four secret, executive decrees that gave prosecutors free reign to investigate in ways that deprived the suspects of basic legal guarantees.

The Vatican's big fraud and extortion trial resumes Friday after exposing some unseemly realities of how the Holy See operates with a new spy story taking center stage.

The debate over whether to deter or accommodate minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border without their parents has pitted Florida's Catholic governor against the state's highest-ranking Roman Catholic.

 Cuba's leaders have launched an unusual series of neighborhood meetings across the island to debate a measure that would legalize same-sex marriage and adoption.

A consortium of groups said they hoped recent national inquiries in Germany and France, and planned ones in Spain and Portugal, would pressure the Italian Catholic Church to open its archives to independent investigators to ascertain the scope of the problem.

Face coverings will not be required during public Masses at Roman Catholic churches in the Boston area starting Feb. 28, the Archdiocese of Boston announced Thursday.

Fordham University, a Jesuit institution in New York, has named its new president, Tania Tetlow. She is the first woman and first layperson to lead the school in its 181-year history.

A lay committee looking into historic child sex abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church said Thursday that during its first month of work it received allegations from 214 people.

Pope Francis' first foreign trip of the year is to the Mediterranean island nation of Malta, the Vatican said in announcing an April 2-3 trip that had originally been scheduled for 2020 but was postponed because of the pandemic.