Philippine Catholic leaders said they would appeal to the Supreme Court if the Reproductive Health Bill -- versions of which have passed the House and Senate -- gets signed into law.
The Irish government has announced plans to legalize abortion in limited circumstances, contradicting the prime minister's promise to not introduce abortion in the predominantly Catholic country.
The funeral of the Catholic nurse who committed suicide after falling victim to a hoax call in London is scheduled for Monday at her hometown in Shirva, Karnataka, India.
The body of Jacintha Saldanha was flown to Mangalore from United Kingdom, accompanied by her husband, Benedict Barboza, her daughter, Lisha, 14, and her son, Junal, 16.
Saldanha's coffin was transferred to an ambulance and taken to a local hospital.
Her funeral is scheduled for 4 p.m. local time Monday at at Our Lady of Health Church in Shirva, her family said.
Kabul, Afghanistan -- Afghan youth hope to gather two million signatures on peace petition.
A relative of Jacintha Saldhana, a nurse in London who allegedly committed suicide after a radio show prank call, said Wednesday the family has received no word yet on when her remains will be released to the family for burial.
"We are not sure when they will let us have the body and when we can have the funeral," said the relative, who asked not to be named.
Saldhana was found dead Dec. 7 at the nurses' compound at central London's King Edward VII Hospital.
Updated Dec. 17: The Philippine House and Senate have passed legislation that will promote artificial contraception as a family planning method, despite bishops' opposition.
The government-sanctioned Catholic bishops' conference has revoked Shanghai Auxiliary Bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin's appointment, saying he violated their rules for episcopal ordinations.
Catholic bishops in England and Wales said they strongly oppose a bill to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples.
Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster and Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark -- the president and vice president of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales -- criticized moves to legalize gay marriage as "shambolic" and urged lawmakers to vote against a forthcoming bill.
New figures from the 2011 Census show that the number of people who identify as Christians in England and Wales has fallen by 4 million in the last 10 years.
The data show numbers fell from 37.3 million in 2001 to 33 million last year.
The statistics came as the outgoing archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, claimed that English cathedral congregations are growing dramatically, challenging the claim made by secularists that the Church of England is fading in Britain.
Survivors of Typhoon Bopha scavenge whatever debris they can to build makeshift shelters across storm-ravaged provinces of the southern Philippines.
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