Catholic News Service

Franciscan Fr. David Pivonka, the newly elected president of Franciscan University in Steubenville, has assumed his leadership duties immediately, and his formal inauguration will take place later this year.

As disputes over homosexuality continue to stir within the worldwide Anglican Communion, conservative African bishops say they will boycott a decennial gathering of top clerics next summer unless what the Africans consider godly order is restored.

When the Holy Spirit speaks to men and women through the word of those who evangelize, it ignites a power strong enough to break down the barriers that divide the human family, Pope Francis said.

In a 64-50 vote May 28, the Illinois House passed an abortion bill the Catholic Conference of Illinois called "an extreme measure" that allows "for the abortion of unborn life at any stage of pregnancy and for any reason."

With Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signing into law a bill that bans abortions on or beyond the eighth week of pregnancy, the state's lawmakers" have taken a giant step forward for the pro-life movement," said St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson.

Suspected Muslim extremists attacked another Catholic church in Burkina Faso, killing four people and raising the death toll among Christians to 20 in wave of violence in the West Africa nation.

The U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on two different aspects of Indiana abortion laws May 28.

A financial controversy involving an Indian cardinal has taken another turn after his archdiocese demanded a federal investigation into allegedly fake documents it said are aimed at defaming him.

Nearly a year later, Pope Francis denied claims made by a former apostolic nuncio to the United States who accused him and other church officials of failing to act on accusations of abuse of conscience and power by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

If the world is to win the fight against climate change, its leaders must stop profiting from fossil fuels that threaten the survival and well-being of the planet and its inhabitants, Pope Francis said.

Being indifferent to or excluding migrants is a sign of a deteriorating morality that will soon spread and risk marginalizing everyone who fails to fit in, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis has named Bishop Robert Gruss of Rapid City, South Dakota, to head the Diocese of Saginaw, Michigan.

The charity of the Catholic Church must be born from prayer before "the fixed tabernacle and mobile tabernacles" — adoring Jesus in the Eucharist and ministering to him in the poor and needy, Pope Francis said.

Bishop Edward Burns of Dallas questioned an affidavit and a dramatic raid by local police who descended on church property in the Texas diocese wearing "ski masks and SWAT gear" in mid-May saying they were looking for documents related to abuse investigations.

The Field Hospital: In his own way, William "Paco" Pryor never considered himself homeless during the more than 20 years that he lived behind SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis.

The Polish bishops' administrative council met in emergency session May 22 and later admitted the church failed to act against clerical sexual abuse.

Catholic leaders in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia are calling for coordinated and peaceful disarmament in a common border region, where an estimated 8 million illegal small and light weapons can be found among the herder communities.

A court in western India has initiated an investigation into whether Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai and two of his auxiliary bishops failed to take action over the alleged sexual abuse of a minor.

The Holy Spirit gives Christians the courage and the strength needed to engage in a loving dialogue with God that is like the dialogue of a child with his or her father, Pope Francis said.

Many took to social media to denounce the May 18 killing of a Salvadoran priest while urging authorities to look at the crime as a possible retaliation for Fr. Cecilio Perez Cruz's criticism of the cutting of trees near the western town of Juayua.