The Associated Press

The Legion of Christ, a Roman Catholic order disgraced by sexual abuse committed by its founder and other clergy, is facing new allegations of molestation of children in lawsuits filed in April in Connecticut, where it is based.

A priest in La Crosse has been ignoring COVID-19 gathering restrictions at his masses while warning people that vaccines are useless and anyone who imposes virus-related protocols will burn in the "lowest, hottest levels" of hell. 

In a first public attempt to put numbers to instances of clergy sexual abuse of children in Spain, the Spanish bishops' conference revealed that 220 cases were reported to the Vatican over the past two decades.

Rescue groups and the Vatican are decrying the latest deaths of migrants who put to sea in traffickers' unseaworthy boats, amid laments that Mediterranean nations are choosing not to dispatch vessels to save them.

Attorney General Josh Kaul plans to launch an investigation into clergy sexual assault across Wisconsin's five Catholic dioceses, perhaps as early as next week.

Pope Francis met with Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on April 22 and urged all Lebanese political leaders to commit to the common good as the country amid crises that have prevented the formation of a government. 

Roman Catholic institutions including schools and universities closed April 21 across Haiti in a three-day protest to demand the release of five priests, two nuns and two other people kidnapped more than a week earlier.

The pastor of a Catholic parish has been asked to step aside following allegations he sexually assaulted a minor 36 years ago, the Archdiocese of Chicago announced Wednesday.

Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith appealed to Sri Lanka's Muslims on Wednesday to reject extremism and join Catholics in determining the truth behind the Easter Sunday suicide bombings in 2019 that killed 269 people.

Pope Francis on April 18 voiced apprehension over a recent Russian troop buildup near the border with Ukraine and called for efforts to ease tensions in the 7-year conflict in eastern Ukraine pitting Ukrainian forces against Russia-backed rebels.

Poland's top vaccination official said April 15 he did not see any obstacle to the country's inoculation program from the "moral" reservations expressed by the powerful Catholic Church about two vaccines.

Two years after a fire tore through Paris' most famous cathedral and shocked the world, French President Emmanuel Macron on April 15 visited the building site that Notre Dame has become to show that French heritage has not been forgotten despite the pandemic.

France's highest court confirmed on April 14 that the former archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, did not cover up the sexual abuse of minors by a predator priest.

A Rome judge ordered the arrest Monday of an Italian businessman living in London who is a prime suspect in the Vatican’s two-year investigation into the Holy See’s 350-million-euro investment in a London real estate venture.

The Supreme Court is telling California that it can't enforce coronavirus-related restrictions that have limited home-based religious worship including Bible studies and prayer meetings.

Pope Francis celebrated a surprise Holy Thursday Mass with the cardinal he fired last year, extending an extraordinary gesture to Cardinal Angelo Becciu by celebrating the liturgy that commemorates Jesus' Last Supper with his apostles before his crucifixion.

The Vatican said March 29 that it is punishing a retired Polish archbishop and a bishop for their alleged roles in covering up sexual abuse committed by other clergymen.

Pope Francis has granted a "time out" to a German archbishop who offered his resignation after being faulted for his handling of allegations of sexual abuse in his previous diocese, church authorities said Monday.

The Rockville Centre Diocese has sold its headquarters for $5.2 million — money church officials say will be used to pay creditors. The diocese filed for bankruptcy last year amid more than 200 sexual abuse lawsuits.

The ruling was the latest blow to Vatican prosecutors, who have sought international judicial assistance in their probe into the Secretariat of State's investment of donations from the faithful. Vatican prosecutors have faced a series of embarrassing setbacks in foreign courts that have pointed to incompetence, overreach and problems as basic as getting documents translated properly.