The Associated Press

Past Roman Catholic leaders in Bridgeport, Connecticut were often hostile toward people who alleged clergy sexual abuse and merely transferred many accused priests, an independent report released Tuesday found.

Entangled in a multifaceted sex-abuse crisis, the Southern Baptist Convention is preparing to host a high-profile conference on the topic that has kindled skepticism even among some of the scheduled speakers.

An independent investigator praised the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York for its response to the sexual abuse crisis, saying no priest or deacon remains in ministry in the Manhattan-based archdiocese who has been credibly accused of sexual abuse.

When post offices close Monday, the last victim compensation funds at Pennsylvania's Roman Catholic dioceses will also close, hours before lawmakers plunge back into a years-old fight over whether to let long-ago victims of child sexual abuse sue perpetrators and institutions that may have covered it up.

It was one of the first stress tests of Joe Biden's presidential campaign: A sudden reversal of his decades-long support for restricting federal funding of abortions.

President Donald Trump made his political priorities clear Monday within an hour of arriving at the United Nations for a three-day visit: He breezed by a major climate change summit to focus instead on religious persecution, an issue that resonates with his evangelical supporters.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester was the first in New York to seek bankruptcy protection under the weight of new sexual misconduct lawsuits, but lawyers and church leaders say it may not be the last.

The Catholic Diocese of Wichita has published a list naming 15 priests credibly accused of child sexual abuse.

A Kansas jury was unable to reach a verdict in the trial of a Kansas priest who was suspended from the ministry after he was accused of inappropriately touching a young girl on two occasions.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is referring 12 former clergy for potential criminal prosecution after his office completed a 13-month investigation of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church.

A former Roman Catholic priest is scheduled to be sentenced Friday in Santa Fe, where a jury found him guilty this year of sexually abusing an altar boy in the early 1990s before fleeing the country.

Pope Francis will travel to Thailand and Japan in November for a visit expected to highlight his call for complete nuclear disarmament and honor the small Catholic communities in each country.

A Roman Catholic diocese in upstate New York filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday amid a wave of lawsuits over alleged sexual abuse of children.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Tuesday with a delegation of American evangelical Christians in the Red Sea city of Jiddah.

Pope Francis received a victim's letter in 2015 regarding sexual abuse by a priest and a cover-up by Chilean clergy, contradicting the pope's insistence that no victims had come forward.

The faces of the men half-buried in the mass graves had been burned away by acid or blasted by bullets. Noor Kadir finally recognized his friends only by the colors of their shorts.

The retired cardinal of Hong Kong has revealed the behind-the-scenes drama of the Vatican's efforts to improve relations with China, including its request for a legitimate bishop to retire in favor of an excommunicated one who is recognized by Beijing.

Pope Francis said Jan. 29 that countries have a responsibility to fight anti-Semitism and the "virus of indifference" that threatens to erase the memory of the Holocaust.

The Virginia Senate has passed legislation aimed at allowing guns in church in response to a deadly church shooting in Texas.

The Vatican was so concerned about the fallout from Chile's most notorious pedophile priest that it planned to ask three Chilean bishops accused of knowing about his decades-long crimes to resign and take a year's sabbatical.