Catholic News Service

The Vatican Secretariat of State has sent an explanatory note to nuncios around the world insisting that when Pope Francis spoke about civil unions, he was not changing or challenging "the doctrine of the church, which he has reaffirmed numerous times over the years."

After the surprise resignation of Cardinal Angelo Becciu in October, Pope Francis named Cardinal-designate Silvano Tomasi as his special delegate to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Students and faculty at Rome's Pontifical North American College are under quarantine after several students tested positive for COVID-19.

Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki would resign from his office if the sexual abuse study he commissioned implicated him in any cover-ups, according to the Cologne Archdiocese.

Corruption is an "ancient evil" that continues to plague the Catholic Church in different ways, Pope Francis said.

Italian-born Cardinal-designate Silvano Tomasi, a supporter of migrants' rights, said he feels "more American than anything else."

After someone attending Pope Francis' weekly general tested positive for COVID-19, the Vatican announced the audiences would return to being livestreamed without the presence of pilgrims and visitors.

Increased El Salvador government military presence along the country's northern border with Honduras because of how it is affecting the free movement and livelihood of rural communities.

French bishops ordered a "death knell" to ring from every church of their country Oct. 29 after three people were hacked to death in a basilica in the southern Mediterranean city of Nice.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of an international meeting of young economists and entrepreneurs with Pope Francis in Assisi, Italy, the young people went online.

Norbertine Father Alfred Aloysius McBride, who was nationally known as a leader in education and catechetics, died Oct. 23 at age 91.

Europeans must not see their rich history simply as a fond memory of a time long gone, but they must look to it as a guide to overcoming divisions and challenges aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis said.

The rise of nationalism and the ideological divide that springs from it could create the same circumstances that led to the rise of the Nazi party in Germany and World War II, Pope Francis warned.

When Pope Francis said gay people have a right to be in a family and that gay couples need some form of civil law to protect their rights, he was not saying that gay couples should have a right to adopt children. In "Francesco," director Evgeny Afineevsky presented the statements as if Pope Francis had said them one right after the other, following a story about a gay couple with children.

A former priest who had been an early spiritual adviser to the alleged visionaries of Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, has been excommunicated, according to an announcement by the Diocese of Brescia, Italy, where he lives.

The proof of being on a path of conversion and holiness always consists in loving one's neighbor, Pope Francis said.

A large majority of Catholic voters believe climate change is a serious or somewhat serious concern and that governments at all levels as well as corporations and individuals must take stronger action to address it, according to results of a new poll released Oct. 22.

For the second time this fall, a panel of three federal judges said President Donald Trump acted unlawfully with his order in July to exclude immigrants in the U.S. without legal documentation from being counted in the 2020 census for the redrawing of congressional districts.

The Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro has launched a partnership with a Canadian company to reduce plastic disposal into the oceans.

Major opposition parties in India and a United Nations official backed an octogenarian Jesuit priest who was jailed for alleged charges of sedition and links with Maoist rebels and demanded his immediate release.