The Associated Press

A gay substitute teacher was wrongfully fired by a Roman Catholic school in North Carolina after he announced in 2014 on social media that he was going to marry his longtime partner, a federal judge has ruled.

Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the once-powerful American prelate who was expelled from the priesthood for sexual abuse, pleaded not guilty Sept. 3 to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy during a wedding reception in Massachusetts nearly 50 years ago.

The Vatican has concluded that allegations of sexual abuse dating back a half century against the Roman Catholic bishop of Brooklyn do “not have the semblance of truth," but an attorney for the accusers said they will continue to pursue their civil cases.

The first new Catholic school built in Baltimore in roughly 60 years opened its doors Aug. 30, a somewhat anomaly in the national education landscape as the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the shuttering of many Catholic schools.

Pope Francis will visit Cyprus in December, making him the second Roman Catholic pope to ever travel to the eastern Mediterranean island nation, a Cypriot official said Aug. 31.

A Brazilian bishop resigned on Wednesday, less than a week after a video spread on social media that featured someone, purported to be him, masturbating.

Germany's health minister has criticized the Roman Catholic Church for its refusal to bless same-sex unions but says his religious faith remains strong.

New York's one-year window to allow victims of childhood sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits was originally supposed to end Aug. 14, 2020. It was extended twice amid concerns that the coronavirus pandemic and resulting court disruptions were keeping survivors from coming forward. The extension ends Aug. 14.

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe will be auctioning nearly 140 parcels of property next month as it seeks to settle a raft of sex abuse claims.

Maybe heaven can wait, but a phone call for the pope could not.

The social media giant Facebook has rolled out a new prayer request feature, a tool embraced by some religious leaders as a cutting-edge way to engage the faithful online. But others are eying it warily.

United in grief and anger, families of the victims and several thousand Lebanese on Aug. 4 marked one year since the horrific explosion at Beirut's port with a moment of silence and prayers at the foot of the silos that was shredded by the blast on that fateful day.

The longtime former head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany says the diocese covered up sexual abuse by priests for decades and protected clergy by sending them to private treatment instead of calling police.

A lawsuit has been filed accusing Bishop Peter Libasci of the Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, of committing sexual abuse decades ago while he served as a priest in New York.

The discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential schools for Indigenous children in Canada have prompted renewed calls for a reckoning over the traumatic legacy of similar schools in the United States — and in particular by the churches that operated many of them.

Pennsylvania's high court on July 21 dealt a blow to victims of child sexual abuse, throwing out a lawsuit by a woman whose lower court legal victory had given hope to others with similarly outdated claims who'd sued in the wake of a landmark report that documented decades of child molestation within the Catholic church in Pennsylvania.

New Mexico state Sen. Joseph Cervantes, a Democrat, says that he has been treated differently by the church since voting to repeal a state law banning abortion under most circumstances.

The Nicaraguan government organized events Monday to mark the anniversary of the revolution that overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza. But with most opposition leaders jailed, many Nicaraguans say President Daniel Ortega is acting much like Somoza did 42 years ago.

The Francis Chronicles: Two weeks after surgery that removed a portion of his colon, Pope Francis on July 18 resumed his weekly appearances from a Vatican window to bless the faithful in St. Peter's Square.

The Norwich Diocese has filed for bankruptcy to resolve dozens of lawsuits alleging the abuse of teenagers decades ago at the former Academy at Mount St. John School, a residential treatment center for troubled youth.