Saying he wanted to protect the rights of members of religious orders facing expulsion, Pope Francis made small changes to canon law, giving them more time to appeal their dismissals.

VATICAN CITY -- A series of laws and procedures promulgated by now-retired Pope Benedict XVI and, especially, by Pope Francis to protect children, promote the investigation of allegations of clerical sexual abuse and punish offenders are included in a heavily revised section of the Code of Canon Law.

VATICAN CITY -- Recognizing "the gifts of each baptized person" -- women and men -- Pope Francis ordered a change to canon law and liturgical norms so that women could be formally installed as lectors and acolytes.

VATICAN CITY -- A change to the Code of Canon Law made by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 provides a canonical path to allow the ordination of women deacons, a Brazilian bishop said.

VATICAN – Abuse survivors and support groups were very clear about what they want the world's bishops, religious superiors, the pope and the Vatican to do to protect children and end clerical sexual abuse.

VATICAN – Internal documents relating to the public crisis that led to the resignation of the grand master of the Knights of Malta in 2017 were released by WikiLeaks.

WASHINGTON – On Jan. 22, the New York Statehouse burst into cheers after a landmark abortion bill had been passed.

A proposal by American bishops has borrowed from medieval practice to offer a solution to the complex canon-law conundrum of how to hold bishops to account for sexual misconduct and abuse coverups.

One of the world’s leading experts in Church law as it applies to the liturgy has been removed as a full professor at Ottawa’s Saint Paul University after a complaint from a man who says he was abused as a teen.

VATICAN – Any member of the clergy accused of the sexual abuse of a minor is tried according to procedures outlined in the Code of Canon Law and specific norms spelled out in "Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela" ("Safeguarding the Sanctity of the Sacraments").

DUBLIN, Ireland – Former Irish President Mary McAleese has said that the baptism of infants is a form of coercion, calling on the Catholic Church to change its practice.

VATICAN – The changes in canon law Pope Francis made to ensure that marriage annulment cases were handled more quickly, more pastorally and with less expense mean that some changes should be made in the way church law is taught, said the Congregation for Catholic Education.

TORONTO – The oldest and longest serving priest in the history of the Archdiocese of Toronto has died. In his 78th year of priesthood, 101-year-old Msgr. Vincent Foy was proud of his longevity, his loyalty and his defence of Catholic teaching.

Pope Francis never claimed to be a canon lawyer, but he knows Mary and he knows mercy. Mary and mercy are the keys to understanding the first major reform in the Church’s marriage laws since 1741 and the first changes to the Code of Canon Law under Pope Francis, said the only North American among 12 canon lawyers consulted on changes to Church marriage annulments.

In 1741 Pope Benedict XIV was concerned that some bishops were dissolving marriages too freely so he established stringent protocols to govern annulments. Those canon laws remained virtually unchanged through 18 papacies until now, 274 years later, when they are being rewritten by a Pope who is affixing his stamp of mercy on a process that is often long, expensive and painful.