WASHINGTON – Sr. Wendy Beckett has been widely described as both an unlikely art critic and television star, but that may have been what made her all the more likeable.

KINSHASA – Catholic church leaders in Congo have questioned the official outcome of the Dec. 30 elections, saying the officially published results "do not correspond with the data collected" by the church's 40,000 observers.

WASHINGTON – Nationwide efforts to confront human trafficking received a boost in the new year as President Donald Trump signed a bill reauthorizing federal expenditures for prevention and assistance programs across the federal government.

VATICAN – God is a father who never ignores his children when they call to him in times of suffering, loneliness and despair, Pope Francis said.

WASHINGTON – Many will make sacrifices to attend the upcoming World Youth Day in Panama in late January, but few compare to the challenges facing young Catholics in nearby Nicaragua as the country deals with political and economic upheaval, some of it involving violent clashes with government forces that have plagued the Central American nation since last year.

DUBLIN – The primate of All-Ireland insisted that the country’s new abortion law that took effect Jan. 1 has “no moral force” and it “must be resisted” by Catholics.

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Months after Indonesia's military was summoned to unclog Jakarta Bay, Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo has joined a chorus of disapproval of the nation's growing plastic waste problem by calling parishioners to action.