VATICAN – Bishops must remember, particularly when under attack, that their role is to pray, be humble in knowing God chose them and remain close to the people, Pope Francis said in his morning homily.

VATICAN – Members of Pope Francis' international Council of Cardinals expressed "full solidarity" with him in the midst of questions about his handling of the clerical sexual abuse scandal and said the Vatican is planning a response to allegations made against him by a former nuncio.

By now thousands of people have either scoffed at or praised Pope Francis for responding to another round of sexual abuse revelations with a long letter condemning clericalism. 

“When a bit of time has passed,” said Pope Francis, perhaps he would answer serious allegations that he permitted a cardinal cited for sexual abuse to return to public ministry.

Amidst the sexual abuse scandals involving Catholic priests around the world — in particular the revolting crimes of 301 Pennsylvania priests over 70 years unearthed in an August grand jury report — a prominent U.S. bishop is calling for the laity to stay and fight, not abandon the Church.

The CEO of Salt+Light Media in Toronto has been drawn into the sex abuse scandal engulfing the Vatican by contesting at least one claim by an archbishop who alleges that Pope Francis participated in a coverup.

VATICAN – Clericalism has led to a distorted view of authority that has contributed to the problems of sexual abuse and the abuse of power and conscience affecting the Catholic Church, said the head of the Vatican's clergy office.

WASHINGTON – Addressing the clergy abuse crisis in the church will require "wider lay engagement, more realized accountability and evident transparency," said Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl at the end of a Sept. 2 Mass in Washington.

VATICAN – Christians must engage in spiritual combat every day against a worldly spirit that leads down a path of arrogance and petty gossip, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN – Days after he called on Pope Francis to resign for allegedly ignoring sanctions placed on then-Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano provided his version of a meeting that, in the minds of many, changed the overall narrative of Pope Francis' visit to the United States in 2015.

ROME – Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former nuncio to the United States who called on Pope Francis to resign for allegedly lifting sanctions placed on Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick, now says those "sanctions" were "private" and neither he nor now-retired Pope Benedict XVI ever was able to enforce them.

VATICAN – Jesus himself showed that the best way to respond to scandal and divisiveness is to stay silent and pray, Pope Francis said Sept. 3 as he resumed his early morning Masses with invited guests.

VATICAN – A group of lay Catholic women have written an open letter to Pope Francis, demanding that he answer the questions raised by the recent allegations in the letter from former U.S. nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò.

WASHINGTON – In an Aug. 30 letter to priests in the archdiocese, Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl asked for "forgiveness for my errors in judgment (and) for my inadequacies."

Even as he faces another sex abuse case in his own diocese, Archbishop Anthony Mancini is not afraid of going bankrupt.