Birmingham

A high number of bishops in dioceses across the country are reaching the traditional retirement age of 75. The unusual circumstance of such a grouping of openings gives the pope a unique chance to make a long-lasting mark in a relatively short period of time on the direction of the U.S. church. 

A truly global media, EWTN has made strategic alliances in recent years, acquiring the National Catholic Register, which has become a vehicle for pronouncements and manifestos from church leaders on the right, and partnering with Sophia Institute Press, which regularly publishes books that aim to take down the current pope.

An English church official "deliberately misled" a U.S. archdiocese into harboring a pedophile priest and helping him to escape justice for a quarter of a century, said a report from a child abuse inquiry.

A new Southern Baptist Convention report on sex abuse, filled with the voices of survivors, acknowledges numerous ways the denomination has failed to protect members of its churches.

Southern Baptists hope to take steps at their upcoming annual meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, to address continuing reports of sexual abuse in their denomination.

The film "Tolkien" is a fine introduction to the life of J.R.R. Tolkien and gave me a sense of the key influences on his writings. But the film has some limitations. 

Pope Francis has signed a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed John Henry Newman, the English cardinal, clearing the way for his canonization.

An English cardinal has told an inquiry into child abuse of his shock at learning that a vicar general of his former archdiocese tried to help two pedophile priests escape to the United States.