Morning Briefing

New Delhi, India -- Secrecy over clergy abuse standards causes confusion in India Top church leaders told National Catholic Reporter in exclusive interviews that bishops in India are following Vatican-approved guidelines for handling clergy abuse cases. The guidelines took effect in 2015 but have not been shared beyond bishops and religious superiors to protect the policy from being misused, an officer in the bishops' conference told NCR.

Sydney, Australia -- Cardinal George Pell Returns to Australia, Charged With Sexual Offenses

The Sisters of St. Joseph, founded 360 years ago in France, are digging into their history to find answers to problems of today. Reviving historical forms of religious life to meet today's needs

Now What? Donald Trump Jr. just contradicted a whole bunch of White House denials of Russian contacts

This can't be a good sign: Republicans debate Plan B if ObamaCare repeal fails

A letter to the editor in Pittsburgh: Failure to care for the most vulnerable violates Catholic principles

Letter to the editor in Shelby, Ohio: Elected officials should work with all stakeholders in the health care industry

Annette Walker, president of strategy at Providence St. Joseph Health and chief executive officer for St. Joseph Health, advocates for More female leadership: a different kind of health care reform

The Catholic bishops of the Philippines on Saturday elected a new president who will lead their conference for the coming two years: Archbishop Romulo Valles of Davao. Davao is the largest city in the Mindanao region, the southern third of the Philippines, which has a history of separatists and armed insurgents, most recently from groups allied with Islamist terrorism.

"At 11 years old, they're getting pregnant": The women smashing Catholic taboos in the Philippines. (Video)

Columnist Bill Tammeus discusses The pluses and minuses of married priests

A reader asked me if NCR had looked into priests' pension funds and their funding or underfunding. Actually we did do that: Survey finds serious flaws in diocesan financial management A report from 2015.

Sr. Michele Morek of our Global Sisters Report team spent eight hours recently with Franciscan Sr. Ilia Delio. She described it as A cosmic feast.

Delio is a regular contributor to Global Sisters Report. Read all her columns here.

Start your day inspired with daily scripture reflections. Join NCR's sister publication, Celebration, for Daily Bread, a series of short reflections written by four authors who meet regularly to share the readings.

Or reflect on Pencil Preaching by Pat Marrin. Every morning Pat Marrin breaks open the Word with a pencil sketch and a short meditation.