The Associated Press

Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith appealed to Sri Lanka's Muslims on Wednesday to reject extremism and join Catholics in determining the truth behind the Easter Sunday suicide bombings in 2019 that killed 269 people.

Pope Francis on April 18 voiced apprehension over a recent Russian troop buildup near the border with Ukraine and called for efforts to ease tensions in the 7-year conflict in eastern Ukraine pitting Ukrainian forces against Russia-backed rebels.

Poland's top vaccination official said April 15 he did not see any obstacle to the country's inoculation program from the "moral" reservations expressed by the powerful Catholic Church about two vaccines.

Two years after a fire tore through Paris' most famous cathedral and shocked the world, French President Emmanuel Macron on April 15 visited the building site that Notre Dame has become to show that French heritage has not been forgotten despite the pandemic.

France's highest court confirmed on April 14 that the former archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, did not cover up the sexual abuse of minors by a predator priest.

A Rome judge ordered the arrest Monday of an Italian businessman living in London who is a prime suspect in the Vatican’s two-year investigation into the Holy See’s 350-million-euro investment in a London real estate venture.

The Supreme Court is telling California that it can't enforce coronavirus-related restrictions that have limited home-based religious worship including Bible studies and prayer meetings.

Pope Francis celebrated a surprise Holy Thursday Mass with the cardinal he fired last year, extending an extraordinary gesture to Cardinal Angelo Becciu by celebrating the liturgy that commemorates Jesus' Last Supper with his apostles before his crucifixion.

The Vatican said March 29 that it is punishing a retired Polish archbishop and a bishop for their alleged roles in covering up sexual abuse committed by other clergymen.

Pope Francis has granted a "time out" to a German archbishop who offered his resignation after being faulted for his handling of allegations of sexual abuse in his previous diocese, church authorities said Monday.

The Rockville Centre Diocese has sold its headquarters for $5.2 million — money church officials say will be used to pay creditors. The diocese filed for bankruptcy last year amid more than 200 sexual abuse lawsuits.

The ruling was the latest blow to Vatican prosecutors, who have sought international judicial assistance in their probe into the Secretariat of State's investment of donations from the faithful. Vatican prosecutors have faced a series of embarrassing setbacks in foreign courts that have pointed to incompetence, overreach and problems as basic as getting documents translated properly.

The Jesuit priest who presided over an inaugural Mass for President Joe Biden is under investigation for unspecified allegations and is on leave from his position as president of Santa Clara University in Northern California, according to a statement from the college's board of trustees.

A report commissioned by Germany’s Cologne archdiocese on church officials’ handling of past cases of sexual abuse found 75 cases in which high-ranking officials neglected their duties. The findings on Thursday prompted the archbishop of Hamburg to offer his resignation to Pope Francis.

A Belgian bishop has lashed out at the Vatican over its decree that the Catholic Church won't bless same-sex unions since God "cannot bless sin."

Italy's top administrative court has ruled against a conservative think tank affiliated with former White House adviser Steve Bannon over its use of a 13th century hilltop monastery to train future populist leaders.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a formal response Monday to a question about whether Catholic clergy can bless gay unions: "Negative."

The Vatican warned March 12 that it has nearly depleted its financial reserves from past donations to cover budget deficits over recent years, as it urged continued giving from the faithful.

Disha Ravi, a 22-year-old Indian climate activist, recently became a household name in India, dominating headlines after police charged her with sedition, a colonial-era law that carries a sentence up to life in prison.