Associated Press

The decadeslong rise of the nones — a diverse, hard-to-summarize group — is one of the most talked about phenomena in U.S. religion. They are reshaping America's religious landscape as we know it.

Thirty percent of Americans don't identify with a religious group — but not all of them are atheists or agnostics. In fact, 43% of the group known as the "nones" say they believe in God, according to a new poll.

Clergy sexual abuse survivors on Oct. 2 unveiled a proposed new church law calling for the permanent removal of abusive priests and superiors who covered for them, as they stepped up their outrage over Pope Francis' choice to head the Vatican office that investigates sex crimes.

A few years ago, Pope Francis told the head of the main Vatican-backed Catholic women's organization to be "brave" in pushing for change for women in the Catholic Church.

Five conservative cardinals from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas have challenged Pope Francis to affirm current Catholic teaching on homosexuality and women's ordination ahead of a big Vatican meeting where such hot-button issues are up for debate.

Maryland’s attorney general released some previously redacted names in its staggering report on child sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore on Sept. 26, but the names of five Catholic Church leaders remained redacted amid ongoing appeals, prompting criticism of the church by victims’ advocates.

The Vatican's top diplomat urged world leaders Sept. 26 to put a pause on lethal autonomous weapons systems for long enough to negotiate an agreement on them, joining a series of U.N. General Assembly speakers who have expressed concern about various aspects of artificial intelligence.

A prominent Belgian bishop on Sept. 27 criticized the Vatican for failing to defrock a former bishop who admitted sexually abusing children, saying it had led to massive frustration with the highest Roman Catholic authorities.

A statue of a deceased German cardinal was removed from its perch outside Essen Cathedral in western Germany on Sept. 25, days after allegations of sexual abuse decades ago became public.

The Vatican had shared with police findings of an internal investigation of a former Australian bishop over child sex abuse allegations and the church would fully cooperate with criminal investigators, a cleric said on Sept. 22.

Several Catholic priests held a ceremony blessing same-sex couples outside Cologne Cathedral on the night of Sept. 20 in a protest against the city’s conservative archbishop, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki.

Women who say they were abused by a once-prominent Jesuit artist said Sept. 19 they had been revictimized by his superiors, saying Pope Francis' recent gestures and an apparent effort to exonerate him publicly showed church pledges of "zero tolerance" were just a "publicity stunt."

The Vatican is considering the findings of a church investigation into "very serious and deeply distressing" child sexual abuse allegations against a former Australian bishop, a church leader said on August 19.

Newly discovered correspondence suggests that World War II-era Pope Pius XII had detailed information from a trusted German Jesuit that up to 6,000 Jews and Poles were being gassed each day in German-occupied Poland. The documentation undercuts the Holy See’s argument that it couldn’t verify diplomatic reports of Nazi atrocities to denounce them.

Russia’s new ambassador to the Vatican met Sept. 18 with Pope Francis for a protocol visit, as signs emerged that the Vatican's Ukraine peace envoy could soon be undertaking a second mission to Moscow.

Pope Francis’ Ukraine peace envoy discussed the need to resume Ukraine grain exports to feed the world's hungry during a meeting Sept. 14 with a Chinese official while on a mission to Beijing, the Vatican said.

Two dark-haired oxen pulled the sacred image of Our Lady of Remedies on a procession float for more than two hours through the small town of Lamego in Portugal's wine country.

A sweeping, year-long study of sex abuse by Catholic priests and others in Switzerland published Sept. 12 has turned up more than 1,000 cases since the mid-20th century, as the Swiss church becomes the latest in Europe to reckon with the abuse scandal.