Catholic News Service

The percentage of Catholics in the world has remained steady, while the number of priests has decreased for the first time in almost a decade, according to Vatican statistics.

The kingdom of God is being established slowly in the world through patience and gentleness and not by violence or force, Pope Francis said.

The Supreme Court gets attention not only for its decisions but also for what it chooses not to review.

Just over four months after Pope Francis forced Bishop Martin Holley to step down as bishop of Memphis, Tennessee, he named Bishop David Talley of Alexandria, Louisiana, to lead the diocese.

The Nicaraguan bishops' conference said it has not received invitations to play a role in a recently convened national dialogue to pull the nation out of political crisis.

In releasing a list of clergy who have served in the Diocese of Columbus and have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor, Bishop Frederick Campbell said he shares with "the faithful of our diocese sorrow, sadness and anger over such behavior."

What makes a politician "Catholic" is not party affiliation, but dedication to promoting the common good, particularly through listening to and empowering people who often are overlooked, Pope Francis said.

Lent is a good time to concentrate on fighting the urge to gossip about others and instead trying to correct one's own faults and defects, Pope Francis said.

Federal documents show that the U.S. government has received more than 4,500 complaints over the last four years alleging that children who are under government custody because of immigration matters faced sexual abuse.

Declaring that the Catholic Church is unafraid of history, Pope Francis announced that documents in the Vatican Secret Archives relating to the wartime pontificate of Pope Pius XII will be open to scholars in 2020.

The Department of Homeland Security has filed notice that it is extending temporary protected status for foreign nationals from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti and Sudan until Jan. 2, 2020.

Green Bay Bishop David Ricken announced in a letter to parishioners of St. Francis Xavier Cathedral that former Bishop Aloysius Wycislo's name will be removed from the Cathedral Center, a facility located north of the cathedral.

Just a few days after the Vatican summit on child protection and clerical sexual abuse, the bishops' conference and major religious superiors of Switzerland adopted new guidelines, which include mandatory reporting of all allegations to the police.

The Missouri House of Representatives Feb. 27 passed the Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act, an omnibus bill that bans abortion when the heartbeat of an unborn child can be detected, which could be as early as six weeks "depending on the method used."

Calling the federal government's migration protection protocols – also known as the "Remain in Mexico" policy – "baseless and immoral," a coalition of 500 religious organizations and leaders have asked Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for an immediate end to the policy.

South Sudan's peace deal is fatally flawed, the country's bishops said as they committed the church to helping forge new negotiations. They also recommended a series of measures to end the conflict.

The Supreme Court is sending a death-row case back to the lower courts to determine if the inmate's dementia, brought on by strokes he suffered while on death row, should prevent him from being executed.

Rep. Francis Rooney, a former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, cautioned that offshore drilling for oil in Florida's coastal waters would endanger the state's tourism-based economy should a major spill occur.

Bishops from both sides of the border and Catholics working on migration matters convened a special meeting in El Paso Feb. 25–27 to plan their responses to the implementation of U.S. immigration policy, such as metering, in which migrants wanting to apply for asylum face long waits in insecure Mexican border cities as some U.S. ports of entry accept fewer than 15 claims per day.

Christians must not take advantage of God's forgiveness — selfishly repeating sin after sin — because God's wrath for those who refuse to change their ways is just as great as his mercy, Pope Francis said.