The Associated Press

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who came to power on a campaign motto of “God, Family, Fatherland” made her first official visit to see Pope Francis on Jan. 10, fulfilling what she said was a hoped-for opportunity to better understand the Argentine pontiff.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said Jan. 6 that it has distributed 30 charging affidavits to prosecutors as part of its investigation into sexual abuse by Catholic priests but, so far, no charges have been filed.

Pope Francis on Jan. 9 broke his silence on the nationwide protests convulsing Iran, denouncing the recourse to the death penalty there and seemingly legitimizing the rallies as demonstrations “demanding greater respect for the dignity of women.”

President Joe Biden on Jan. 5 paid his respects to Benedict XVI, the first pope to resign in six centuries, following his burial during a ceremony at the Vatican.

French police are investigating an allegation that the former archbishop of Paris sexually assaulted a woman who is under legal protection as a vulnerable person, prosecutors said Jan. 4.

A written account of the history-making papacy of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will be placed alongside his body in his coffin for burial, the Vatican said Jan. 3 in revealing plans for the first funeral of a pontiff to resign in six centuries.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s longtime personal secretary has written a tell-all book that his publisher on Jan. 2 promised would tell the truth about the “blatant calumnies,” “dark maneuvers,” mysteries and scandals that sullied the reputation of a pontiff best known for his historic resignation.

Within minutes of the announcement of the death of Pope Benedict, Words of praise and fond remembrance were offered by world leaders and religious figures, including the archbishop of Canterbury and Jewish advocates.

Three weeks after news that Jesuit Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik had abused several women, Slovenia's Catholic bishops condemned the actions and voiced solidarity with the victims.

A Nicaraguan court has ordered that a Roman Catholic bishop remain under house arrest on charges of “conspiracy” and “spreading false news," a government media site said Dec. 13.

Tensions between LGBTQ students and administrations endure at many of the hundreds of U.S. Catholic and Protestant universities. The Christian teachings they ascribe to differ from societal values over gender identity and sexual orientation, because they assert that God created humans in unchangeable male and female identities, and sex should only happen within the marriage of a man and a woman.

A new study finds most adults in the U.S. consider the Earth sacred and believe God gave humans a duty to care for it. But highly religious Americans are far less likely than other U.S. adults to express concern about global warming.

Clergy sexual abuse cases are casting a pall over the Catholic Church in Portugal, ensnaring senior officials even as authorities scramble to explain why shelter was given to a Nobel Peace Prize-winning bishop at the center of sexual misconduct allegations.

Under a white tent on the street outside Our Lady of the Angels on a recent Sunday, Fr. Adrián Vázquez led parishioners seated in pews and plastic chairs in celebrating 10 a.m. Mass, flanked by piles of rubble from the sanctuary left there by a deadly earthquake nearly five years ago.

Abel Ferrara, whose gritty New York exploitation films of the 1980s and 1990s delved into the soulless evils of drug addiction, corruption and sexual violence, pays homage to one of Italy's best-known and most revered saints in his newest film, "Padre Pio."

Italian environmental activists with the group Last Generation glued their hands to the base of one of the Vatican Museums' most important ancient sculptures in a protest against climate change.

Here's a look at the fraught relationship between the church and the Nicaraguan government amid a political standoff that's now in its fifth year, with no end in sight.

Joseph Stewart, in a publicly released letter to the head of the order, contends the Jesuits have failed to uphold their side of the partnership with the urgency the circumstances demand. 

A fire ripped through a packed Coptic Orthodox church during morning services in Egypt's capital on Aug. 14, quickly filling it with thick black smoke and killing 41 worshippers, including at least 15 children.

Hundreds of Nicaraguans attended a Mass under a heavy police presence Aug. 13 after the government prohibited a religious procession in the capital amid tensions with the Roman Catholic Church.