This year, I decided to read the Bible all the way through, starting at the book of Genesis.

In the UK, a Catholic teenager is suing his former employer and co-workers for religious aggravated assault. The teenager claims he was subjected to a “mock crucifixion,” tying him from a makeshift wooden cross. The court case addresses other indidents in which his co-workers drew crosses and phallic symbols all over the teenager’s body with permanent marker, setting spray deodorant aflame near his head and giving him a forcible wedgie that caused cuts and bruises.

VATICAN CITY – Laypeople are called to be a bridge between the Church and the world, particularly in matters of finance where "clerics simply do not have that high level of expertise that can only come from highly competent and dedicated professionals," said Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy.

WASHINGTON (RNS) Religious freedom remains under “serious and sustained assault” around the globe, according to a new annual report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

VATICAN CITY - Show kindness, understanding and mercy in today's broken and wounded world, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY - "Jesus wept." Pope Francis opened his morning homily with those words as he spoke about the wars and violence engulfing numerous parts of the world.

“The whole world is at war,” and the rejection of the “path of peace” means that God Himself, that Jesus Himself, weeps. This was the message of Pope Francis to the faithful following the readings of the day at Mass on Thursday morning in the Casa Santa Marta.

In or out? Us or them? Where do we draw the line? Should we draw the line? Once a line is drawn, how do we look beyond our borders?

PHILADELPHIA - It's difficult to forget Pope Francis' passionate Sept. 26 speech, his gestures and the tone of his voice when he addressed the value of the family in Philadelphia.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on June 19 criticized world powers for their failure to find a solution to the Syrian conflict, saying the country’s Christians had been united by “the blood of the martyrs” lost in war.

So often we hear and read about the lives of the rich, powerful and famous. Celebrity seems to rule our culture. 

But reflection on the lives of the ordinary, the everyday, the taken-for-granted, is often far more illuminating. If we look beyond the glitz we can see the real stars, the real world, and answers to some of the real questions. 

A third of the people in sub-Saharan Africa are chronically hungry. But, strangely, small-scale farmers, 80 per cent of them women, are the Africans most likely to come up short when trying to feed their families. 

VATICAN CITY - A papal astronomer gave his reassurances that the world will not end Dec. 21, 2012.