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...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Brigham Young University in Utah has revised its strict code of conduct to strip a rule that banned any behavior that reflected “homosexual feelings," which LGBTQ students and their allies felt created an unfair double standard...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, six months after disclosing it had paid millions of dollars to people sexually abused as children by its clerics.The diocese joins at least...

GENEVA (AP) — Three deaf victims of sexual abuse by priests in Argentina wrapped up a string of meetings with United Nations human rights officials in Geneva on Wednesday, hoping to build pressure on the Vatican — and Pope Francis himself — to come...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Well-wishers at Pope Francis' weekly audience have thrust soccer T-shirts, flowers and many a wailing baby into his arms. And on New Year's Eve, one admirer, trying to pull him closer, yanked his arm so hard he slapped her hand to...

LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) — A former Pennsylvania mail carrier says the U.S. Postal Service violated his rights by requiring him to work Sundays.Gerald Groff, who says he is an evangelical Christian, filed a lawsuit Friday against the federal agency, claiming...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah lawmakers voted Tuesday to put new regulations on pornography and remove some on polygamy in separate proposals moving quickly through the Legislature in the deeply conservative state.Senators voted unanimously to change state...

The Boy Scouts of America urged victims to come forward Tuesday as the historic, 110-year-old organization filed for bankruptcy protection in the first step toward creating a huge compensation fund for potentially thousands of men who were molested as...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The 1.3 million parishioners of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia have a new spiritual leader.Nelson Perez, 58, who spent most of his early pastoral career in the Philadelphia area, assumed the post of archbishop in...

NEW YORK (AP) — In a party that’s shifted leftward on abortion rights, Democratic presidential hopefuls are offering different approaches to a central challenge: how to talk to voters without a clear home in the polarizing debate over the government’s...