JAKARTA, Indonesia – Indonesian Catholics have made a greater-than-usual effort to help Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr this year amid heightened religious tensions in the country, reported ucanews.com.

VATICAN CITY – Common veneration of relics is one of the tools Pope Francis is using to foster ecumenical relations with the Eastern Orthodox Churches.

MANILA, Philippines – Martyrdom is "not a remote possibility" for Catholics in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao where a priest and several church staff members were abducted by gunmen last month, a Jesuit priest said.

OTTAWA – The Conservative Party has elected a staunch pro-life Catholic to lead them into the next federal election, but what happens when Andrew Scheer’s faith confronts the pragmatism of politics remains an open question.

MANILA, Philippines – In the most recent clash between the government and the Catholic Church in the Philippines, authorities have banned hanging rosaries and religious icons in vehicles, citing safety concerns.

OTTAWA – The New Atheists have argued Millennial Catholics out of the Church and they need to be argued back in, says Bishop Robert Barron.

Catholics in South Korea have high expectations for unity, equality and an end to corruption under the country's newly elected president, Moon Jae-in.

VATICAN CITY – In a letter to Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II, Pope Francis said he hoped that both their churches can continue along the path of true unity and communion.

MUMBAI, India – Despite being located on private property, a 122 year-old cross was demolished late last month in a suburb of Mumbai, sparking legal action from the local archdiocese.

SPRINGFIELD, Va. – The trash Jane Crosby generated during the month of March fits into the palms of her hands.

CAIRO – The only kind of fanaticism that is acceptable to God is being fanatical about loving and helping others, Pope Francis said on his final day in Egypt.

VATICAN CITY – Catholics and Buddhists must strengthen efforts to reject violence in all of its forms as well as to urge and educate people in a life of nonviolence, said Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

Canadians are mostly faithful believers in God who value family life, honesty and concern for others, according to an Angus Reid Institute survey.

The head of the Philippine bishops' conference expressed concern over what he perceived to be a growing trend "of rebuffing church morals and doctrine" in his country.

KINSHASA, Congo – Congo's bishops said Catholics are facing a new wave of violence following the collapse of a church mediation plan, and in some places church leaders have fled to the forest.