Roman Catholic Church

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The Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin attends at the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Catholic missionaries in China from an Italian religious order meeting, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020. The Vatican doubled down Saturday on its intent to pursue continued dialogue with China over bishop nominations, defending the deal as necessary to the life of the Catholic Church there over strong U.S. objections. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Vatican: Pope Benedict XVI approved bishop accord with China

By NICOLE WINFIELD - Associated Press

FILE - In this Aug. 14, 2018 file photo, victims of clergy sexual abuse, or their family members, react as Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro speaks during a news conference at the State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa. The child-protection policies adopted by Roman Catholic leaders to curb clergy sex abuse in the U.S. are inconsistent and often worryingly incomplete, according to the Philadelphia-based CHILD USA think tank’s 2018-2020 investigation of policies in all 32 archdioceses. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Report finds flaws in Catholic Church abuse-prevention plans

By DAVID CRARY - Associated Press

Pope Francis recites the Angelus noon prayer from his studio window overlooking St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Sept. 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope: Gossiping is “plague worse than COVID”

Associated Press

FILE - In this photo taken on March 27, 2020, Pope Francis, white figure standing alone at center, delivers an Urbi et orbi prayer from the empty St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican. If ever there was a defining moment of Pope Francis during the coronavirus pandemic, it came on March 27, the day Italy recorded its single biggest daily jump in fatalities. From the rain-slicked promenade of St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis said the virus had shown that we’re all in this together, that we need each other and need to reassess our priorities. (Yara Nardi/Pool Photo via AP )

What happens when pandemic locks down a globe-trotting pope?

By NICOLE WINFIELD - Associated Press

Father Jerry Zhanay, of St. Norbert Catholic Church, in Roxbury, Wis., is pictured Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020. Zhanay has helped guide his congregation over the last four years, but the past three years have included fundraising efforts for an exterior renovation project. The sanctuary of the church is not part of the project but holds a historic 10-foot by 6-foot painting given to the church in 1849 by King Louis II of Bavaria. The painting hangs above the church altar. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

A temporary view in Roxbury as its church gets an upgrade

By BARRY ADAMS - Associated Press

Lansing’s St. Casimir church celebrates its final Mass

By CRAIG LYONS - Associated Press

A Kentucky choir director coping without voices in pandemic

By MAGGIE MENDERSKI and Louisville Courier Journal - Associated Press

The interior of the San Gabriel Mission is damaged following a morning fire, Saturday, July 11, 2020, in San Gabriel, Calif. The fire destroyed the rooftop and most of the interior of the nearly 250-year-old California church that was undergoing renovation. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Fire destroys much of 249-year-old church in California

By MARCIO SANCHEZ and DAISY NGUYEN - Associated Press

In this Sunday, April 12, 2020, file photo, Archbishop Timothy Dolan, right, delivers his homily over mostly empty pews as he leads an Easter Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Due to coronavirus concerns, no congregants were allowed to attend the Mass which was broadcast live on local TV. The New York archdiocese received at least four large Paycheck Protection Program loans, one worth at least $5 million. The beneficiaries included the archdiocesan department of education and the neo-gothic St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

AP: After lobbying, Catholic Church won $1.4B in virus aid

By Reese Dunklin and Michael Rezendes - Associated Press

Catholic priest suspended for comparing BLM to ‘maggots’

Associated Press

Catholic pastor told to clarify ‘maggots, parasites’ remarks

Associated Press

In this May 29, 2020 photo, a team of archaeologists continue exhuming crypts buried beneath St. Mary's Basilica in Norfolk, Va. No one knows how many skeletons are under St. Mary’s in Norfolk, or why the 162-year-old Catholic church was built right on top of a cemetery. (Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)

Mysteries, skeletons abound under Virginia church’s floor

By JOANNE KIMBERLIN and The Virginian-Pilot - Associated Press

FILE -- In this file photo taken on March 14, 2019, Archbishop Wojciech Polak, right, the Roman Catholic primate of Poland, addresses the media during a news conference at the episcopate building in Warsaw. Pope Francis has named a temporary administrator to lead a southern Polish diocese where the bishop has been accused of covering up cases of sexual abuse that were featured in a second abuse documentary that has rocked Poland's Catholic Church. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Pope moves against Polish bishop accused of hiding predators

By NICOLE WINFIELD and MONIKA SCISLOWSKA - Associated Press

In this April 10, 2020, photo provided by Sky News Australia, Cardinal George Pell is interviewed in Sydney following his release from prison after Australia's highest court cleared him of child sex crimes. Pell, Pope Francis’s former finance minister said in a television interview broadcast on Tuesday, April 14, 2020, that some church officials believed that he was prosecuted by Australian authorities because of the trouble he had caused in the Vatican with financial reforms. (Sky News Australia via AP)

Inquiry: Pell knew of abuse by Australian pedophile priest

By ROD McGUIRK - Associated Press

Priest with blog critical of church’s abuse handling removed

Associated Press

Pope Francis celebrates Palm Sunday Mass behind closed doors in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2020, during the lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 infection, caused by the novel coronavirus. (AP Photo/pool/Alberto Pizzoli)

Pope Francis creates new expert commission to study women deacons

By Nicole Winfield - Associated Press

The Supreme Court is shown, Monday, April 6, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Sherman) ** FILE **

Supreme Court rejects challenge over religious ad ban by Metro

By Alex Swoyer - The Washington Times

Father Bryce Evans hears confession at the drive-up confession site of St. Maron's Maronite Catholic Church in northeast Minneapolis Monday, March 39, 2020 as efforts continue to slow down the coronavirus in the state. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

Driving-up confessions among social distancing inventive measures

By Christopher Vondracek - The Washington Times

In this Sept. 9, 2017, file photo, a Mexican flag flies at half-mast on the Metropolitan Cathedral during three days of mourning following a deadly earthquake and hurricane, in Mexico City. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

AP Explains: Vatican to send abuse investigators to Mexico

By MARÍA VERZA - Associated Press

FILE - Archbishop Charles Scicluna, left, and Spanish Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu attend a meeting with the Catholic community at the Sacred Heart of Jesus church in Osorno, Chile, in this Saturday, June 16, 2018 file photo. The Vatican is sending its top two sex crimes investigators to Mexico on a fact-finding and assistance mission as the Catholic hierarchy in the world's second-largest Catholic country begins to reckon with decades of clergy sex abuse and cover-up. (AP Photo/Fernando Lavoz)

4 Mexican bishops investigated since May for hiding abuse

By MARÍA VERZA - Associated Press