Catholic News Service

South Sudan President Salva Kiir, his vice presidents and other leaders planned to attend a "spiritual retreat" together at the Vatican in early April.

In two recent actions, the U.S. Supreme Court revealed its death penalty decisions are hardly cut and dried.

Georgia has just added itself to the list of states that aim to protect unborn life once a fetal heartbeat is detected.

The marketplace, not elected officials, should decide whether a company should open an outlet in a particular location, said San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller.

Many people might not have noticed that Anna Gallagher took over Feb. 1 as executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, known as CLINIC. If they hadn't, they certainly would have March 8, when she called a Department of Homeland Security decision to not redesignate Temporary Protected Status for those fleeing war- and corruption-scarred South Sudan "morally reprehensible."

A Catholic bishop has demanded an investigation into the killings of 14 farmers during three police operations in the central Philippine province of Negros Oriental March 30.

Wheeling Jesuit University announced March 27 that it will remain open under the board of trustees' existing declaration of financial exigency.

Nations that actively engage in arms dealing and help foment war in other countries should not expect to find peace in their own lands, Pope Francis said.

Norman Francis, who served as president of Xavier University of Louisiana for 47 years and has been a prominent voice in the civil rights movement for decades, will receive the University of Notre Dame's 2018 Laetare Medal at the school's graduation ceremony May 19.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and representatives of two leading Catholic organizations opposed a plan to require some adults receiving food assistance to work or enroll in training programs.

The priest serving as vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of Charlotte has resigned his position after the diocesan lay review board determined an allegation of sexual misconduct was credible.

Jesus does not view sinners as transgressors who must be punished according to the law, but as people in need of hope and freedom from sin, Pope Francis said.

In confession, the privacy of one's conscience before God, also known as the internal forum, must always be protected and not be used to influence decisions outside the confessional, Pope Francis said.

A 23-23 tie vote in the Maryland Senate March 27 led to a defeat for a bill that would have legalized physician-assisted suicide.

A Chilean appeals court ruled in favor of three survivors of abuse by former priest Fernando Karadima and ordered the Catholic Church to pay damages.

Five dioceses from the province of Quebec will allow an external audit of their files regarding sex abuse cases, the Archdiocese of Montreal announced March 27.

Pope Francis has made it more than obvious that he does not like people kissing his ring.

The Field Hospital: Fr. Kevin Finnegan said he didn't know what to expect when he arrived at St. Peter in Mendota. He was responding to an invitation Archbishop Bernard Hebda had extended to priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis: to join him for an evening to reflect on the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

The Vatican confirmed that Pope Francis will visit the eastern African nation of Mozambique and the island nations of Madagascar and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean Sept. 4-10.

Historically, it is a policy that is completely at the mercy of whichever party currently controls the White House.