In the august pages of a leading American business newspaper, a previous head of government relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has excoriated his former employers for their failures on abortion.

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM SLOVAKIA (CNS) -- The debate about denying Communion to politicians who support abortion must be handled in a pastoral way, not by public condemnations that seek to "excommunicate" Catholics who are not in line with church teaching, Pope Francis said.

The days of living-room Mass, celebrated while still in pyjamas, are no longer the only option as churches have slowly re-opened for public services. 

VATICAN CITY -- Looking for a way to provide both spiritual and physical care on Easter, a group of Italian doctors received their bishop's permission to distribute Communion to those infected by the coronavirus.

Denying the Eucharist to U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden out on the hustings last month set off new “wafer wars” that spilled across the border, rekindling painful memories for at least one Canadian politician.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Springfield Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki issued a decree June 6 stating that Catholic lawmakers in the Illinois Legislature "who promoted or voted for extreme abortion legislation" cannot receive Communion in churches in his diocese.

VATICAN – To keep silent about the truths of the Catholic faith or to teach the contrary is a form of religious deception that comes from the anti-Christ, said Cardinal Gerhard Muller.

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, but for some it can be the loneliest. 

VATICAN – Even in societies increasingly marked by divisions and prejudice, Catholics gather every Sunday "in the Lord's name and acknowledge that they are brothers and sisters," Pope Francis said.

VATICAN – Everything in the document "Amoris Laetitia" on marriage and family life is based on Catholic Church teaching "always in continuity -- without ruptures -- yet always maturing," Pope Francis said.

VATICAN – By receiving the Eucharist at Mass, Christians are given Christ's same spirit and a taste of eternal life, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN – The traditionalist Society of St. Pius X elected 47-year-old Father Davide Pagliarani, an Italian member of the society, as its superior general.

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM GENEVA – The question of allowing Protestants married to Catholics to receive Communion at Mass in special cases has to be decided by each individual bishop and cannot be decided by a bishops' conference, Pope Francis told reporters after a one-day ecumenical journey to Geneva.

BUCKFASTLEIGH, England – Holy Communion is exclusively for Catholics in a state of grace and not something to be shared between friends like beer or cake, said a former senior adviser to two popes.

Even a consensus among German Catholic bishops allowing intercommunion with Protestants cannot change Catholic teaching, says a Canadian archbishop.