VATICAN – Pope Francis welcomed top officials of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Vatican the day before the officials inaugurated their first temple in the city of Rome.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame has decided to keep famed explorer Christopher Columbus under wraps.

AUSTIN, Texas – As police investigated a series of package explosions in central Texas that killed two people and injured four others, two of the state's bishops said their thoughts and prayers were with the victims and families and friends of those victimized by the explosions.

OTTAWA – As waves of asylum seekers continue to cross illegally into Canada from Donald Trump’s America, Catholic dioceses in Quebec and eastern Ontario are mobilizing to provide the border crossers with food, shelter and pastoral support.

WASHINGTON – With the haunting lyrics of a song that refers to a lynching sung in the background, a group of African-American Catholics in Los Angeles gathered in mid-August to meditate on the fatal shootings of unarmed black men and boys, linking their suffering to the persecution and crucifixion of Jesus.

WASHINGTON – Is there a Catholic vote? Well, yes. Kind of.

WASHINGTON – Around the United States, Catholic organizations, parishes, clergy and laity are taking action and bolstering efforts to build peace and battle racism, following a summer of violence.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines urged state lawmakers to pass legislation that would legalize medical marijuana.

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.

WASHINGTON - As U.S. President Barack Obama offered a long-awaited plan to close the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, organizations advocating for the closure welcomed the news and called for an end of the policy of holding remaining detainees without charges.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis called on Christians to pray for victims of several natural disasters that have hit parts of the United States, Great Britain and Paraguay.

Pope Francis’ first U.S. visit gave his already-high favourability ratings only a modest bounce with most Americans — and no bounce at all among Catholics.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis' meeting with Kim Davis, the county clerk from Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses, does not equate support for her "position," a Vatican spokesman said.

PHILADELPHIA - In the 1970s feminist writers had a slogan they wanted to share with the world: “The personal is political.”

PHILADELPHIA - When Pope Francis pleaded with immigrants to hold on to their traditions and culture, a big “yes” rose in Alicia Ledda’s heart. That’s what she came to Philadelphia to hear.