VATICAN CITY — Entering in silence and lying prostrate on the floor in front of the main altar of St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Francis commemorated Jesus' death on the cross.

KINGSBURG, Calif. - Every year on Good Friday, Catholic communities throughout the world re-enact the Way of the Cross with live performances of the story of Christ’s final journey of His earthly life as a powerful reminder of His suffering and sacrifice.

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Praying the Stations of the Cross is a popular Lenten activity for Catholics, but for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, it can be a difficult, sometimes impossible challenge to follow along with the story of Jesus’ Passion.

COCHIN, India - Church officials dismissed rumours of social media messages that said an Indian Salesian priest kidnapped by suspected Islamic terrorists in Yemen March 4 is being tortured and will be crucified on Good Friday.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Police officials said they were tightening security in predominantly Catholic East Nusa Tenggara province for Holy Week celebrations, reported ucanews.com.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee March 2 unanimously passed a bipartisan measure condemning as genocide the killing of Christians, Yezidis and other ethnic and religious minorities by Islamic State militants in the Middle East.

SYDNEY - For a third consecutive day, a top Vatican official gave testimony to an Australian commission about what he knew of the Church's reassignment of abusive priests.

SYDNEY - When former Bishop Ronald Mulkearns of Ballarat moved a pedophile priest from parish to parish in the early 1970s without divulging the underlying reasons for the moves, the appointments implied the bishop had confidence in the priest, Cardinal George Pell told Australia's Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

SYDNEY - The Vatican's Prefect for the Secretariat of the Economy, Cardinal George Pell, told a special hearing of Australia's Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he was not trying "to defend the indefensible."

TAMPA, Fla. - Fourteen bishops from Canada, the United States and Latin America explored ways to invite the faithful into what Pope Francis has called "an encounter with Jesus Christ" during three days of prayer and discussion.