WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a dispute over a Philadelphia Catholic agency that won't place foster children with same-sex couples, a big test of religious rights on a more conservative court.The justices will review an...

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — As the Grande Rio Samba school rolled its Carnival float onto Rio de Janeiro's parade grounds, people aboard unfurled a massive fan-shaped banner reading “RESPECT MY AXÉ” to the roaring crowd.Axé is the vital cosmic force...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday threw out a court order to seize assets belonging to the Roman Catholic archdiocese of San Juan, Puerto Rico, to pay pension benefits for Catholic school teachers.The justices said in an unsigned opinion...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on presidential campaign developments (all times local):10:15 p.m.Mike Bloomberg’s campaign has delayed a scheduled CNN town hall so that he can spend more time preparing for Tuesday’s debate.Bloomberg was scheduled...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The net assets of West Virginia's Roman Catholic Diocese dropped by $4.8 million during a fiscal year that coincided with the resignation of its bishop amid allegations of sexual and financial misconduct, an audit shows.The...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has moved the Rev. Rutilio Grande, a Jesuit priest who inspired St. Oscar Romero and was himself a victim of El Salvador’s right-wing death squads, a step closer to possible sainthood.Francis approved a decree Friday...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man accused of fatally stabbing two people who prosecutors say tried to stop his racist tirade against two young black women on a Portland, Oregon, commuter train was convicted of murder Friday after an emotional trial that featured...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An attorney for New Orleans' Roman Catholic archdiocese Thursday strongly defended the New Orleans Saints' behind-the-scenes help in dealing with the clergy sex abuse crisis, saying the legal effort to release hundreds of confidential...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Survivors of church sex abuse have descended on Rome this week, marking the first anniversary of Pope Francis’ summit of church leaders on preventing abuse with calls for more accountability and acknowledgment of their pain.On...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — More than 150 historians and researchers have signed up to access the soon-to-open Vatican archives of Pope Pius XII, evidence of the intense scholarly interest into the World War II-era pope and his record during the Holocaust,...

NAPLES, Italy (AP) — When Lionel Messi climbs up the steps from the moat surrounding the field at the San Paolo Stadium on Tuesday and emerges into the Champions League spotlight, he’ll be stepping onto sacred ground.The ground where fellow Argentina...

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — A rare and looted crown from the 18th century was returned to Ethiopia on Thursday after it was discovered in the Netherlands two decades ago.The Dutch government facilitated the handover “with the belief that it has a...