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...

MILAN (AP) — The Vatican effort to reform the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order is coming under new scrutiny, with four Legion priests and a Legion lawyer due to stand trial on charges they tried to obstruct justice and extort the family of...

MILAN (AP) — The cardinal’s response was not what Yolanda Martínez had expected — or could abide.Her son had been sexually abused by a priest of the Legion of Christ, a disgraced religious order. And now she was calling Cardinal Valasio De Paolis...

DALLAS (AP) — The priest wakes up at 4 a.m. on the days he celebrates the early Mass, sipping coffee and enjoying the quiet while his young children sleep in rooms awash in stuffed animals and Sesame Street dolls and pictures of saints. Then he kisses...

WYNNEWOOD, Pa. (AP) — The seminarians walk along a hallway lined with photos of classes of priests who came before them. Some are pious alumni who have become their teachers and mentors; others climbed the Catholic hierarchy to be revered as bishops...

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — In a popular Catholic church in the Philippines, nearly half of the pews were empty for Sunday Mass. The few hundred worshippers who showed up were asked to refrain from shaking others' hands or holding them during prayers...

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A former Texas priest who was sentenced to life in prison for the 1960 killing of a schoolteacher who came to him for confession has died, prison officials said.John Bernard Feit, 87, died Thursday afternoon at Huntsville Hospital,...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican and Chinese foreign ministers met Friday in the highest-level encounter between the two sides following the 2018 signing of a landmark accord on Catholic bishop nominations.The Vatican said Archbishop Paul Gallagher met...

Roman Catholic priests, deacons and bishops across the Amazon voiced surprise, resignation and reluctant acceptance of Pope Francis' refusal to allow married men to be ordained priests, lamenting that their faithful will continue to be deprived of Mass...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met Thursday with Pope Francis at the Vatican, received a papal blessing and said the two discussed prospects for a “more just and fraternal world."Da Silva posted photos of...

News outlets and the public will be able to attend a hearing next week in New Orleans on the confidentiality of emails between Roman Catholic officials and the city's NFL franchise concerning clergy sex-abuse scandals.A state judge in New Orleans ruled...