Associated Press

Kansas voters on Aug. 2 sent a resounding message about their desire to protect abortion rights, rejecting a ballot measure in a conservative state with deep ties to the anti-abortion movement that would have allowed the Republican-controlled Legislature to tighten restrictions or ban the procedure outright.

A former parishioner at a Massachusetts church has filed a lawsuit alleging he was sexually abused as a child more than 30 years ago by a Roman Catholic priest who is now an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Detroit.

The Roman Catholic archbishop of San Salvador said July 31 that most people support a months-long state of emergency that has rounded of tens of thousands of suspects in a crackdown on violent street gangs.

It was a stunning image: Pope Francis briefly wearing a full Indigenous headdress, its rows of soft white feathers fastened in place by a colorful, beaded headband after he apologized for the Catholic Church's role in Canada's "disastrous" residential school system for Indigenous children.

Pope Francis on July 17 asked for prayers to accompany him on what he called his "penitential" pilgrimage to Canada to apologize to Indigenous groups for abuses inflicted by the Catholic church.

The father of a deceased former choirboy filed a lawsuit against Cardinal George Pell and the Catholic Church in an Australian court on Thursday claiming the parent suffered psychological injury over an accusation that the once-senior Vatican official sexually abused the son.

In Dobbs, five justices voted to overturn Roe — Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas. A sixth, Chief Justice John Roberts, balked at overturning Roe but voted to uphold the Mississippi abortion restrictions in question. All six were raised Catholic.

The Vatican said July 1 it had finalized the sale of a London property that is the focus of a criminal trial in the Vatican courts, offloading the former Harrods warehouse for 186 million pounds ($223 million).

The Supreme Court on June 27 sided with a football coach from Washington state who sought to kneel and pray on the field after games.

Pope Francis has ordered the online publication of 170 volumes of its Jewish files from the recently opened Pope Pius XII archives, the Vatican announced June 23, amid renewed debate about the legacy of its World War II-era pope.

The Vatican on June 23 released the itinerary for Pope Francis' July 24-30 visit to Canada, providing a sign he intends to go ahead with the trip despite knee problems that forced him to cancel a similarly difficult visit to Africa.

The Southern Baptist Convention voted overwhelmingly June 14 to create a way to track pastors and other church workers credibly accused of sex abuse and launch a new task force to oversee further reforms in the nation's largest Protestant denomination.

A report released Monday found that at least 196 clerics in the German Catholic diocese of Muenster sexually abused minors between 1945 and 2020, adding to findings from other dioceses that have shaken the church in the country.

The chairman of Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial met with Pope Francis June 9 and said the pontiff described the archives' opening as "an issue of justice."

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, a once-powerful Italian prelate who long served as the Vatican's No. 2 official but whose legacy was tarnished by his support for Fr. Marcial Maciel, the serial sexual abuser and founder of the Legion of Christ, has died. He was 94.

Pope Francis has sent a protocol greeting to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, assuring him of prayers on his patron's feast day and stressing the value of human life and wisdom.

Pope Francis named a bishop in his own image, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, as the new head of the Italian bishops conference.

Former Hong Kong Catholic leader Cardinal Joseph Zen and five others have denied charges for allegedly failing to register a relief fund aimed at financially assisting protesters who faced legal costs during the 2019 anti-government protests.

Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over almost two decades while seeking to protect their own reputations, according to a scathing 288-page investigative report issued Sunday.

The Vatican's financial trial took a series of surreal turns Thursday.