ROME -- About half of the U.S. seminarians and priests living at the Pontifical North American College and the Casa Santa Maria in Rome have left the locked-down city, the rector said.

One of the more encouraging signs for the Catholic Church in Canada may have been Cardinal Thomas Collins planting his foot on top of a shovel in the backyard of an old house on Toronto’s St. George Street in early November.

No social media. No alcohol. No sweets. No hot showers. No secular music. 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – In an exclusive report from the Associated Press, the former vicar to Argentine Bishop Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta said that the Vatican had had information about sexual abuse allegations against Zanchetta for several years.

WASHINGTON – As U.S. bishops gathered in early January at a seminary in Illinois to pray and reflect about the American church's sex abuse crisis, reports trickled out about the possible fate of one their own being decided overseas.

VATICAN – In a book-length interview to be published next week, Pope Francis addressed gifts and challenges for clerical and religious vocations, among them the challenge of homosexuality in the clergy.

VATICAN – There is no growth without some form of crisis and no victory without a battle, Pope Francis told a group of Jesuits.

VATICAN – Having some doubts is definitely better than having no doubts at all, Pope Francis told a group of seminarians.

Hayden Straczala had just finished a fruitful year in parish internship when news broke of a Pennsylvania report that identified 1,000 victims who were sexually abused by Catholic priests. As more stories began to come out in Chile, Germany and other parts of the world, it weighed heavily on him as he returned to his academic studies in St. Augustine’s Seminary in Toronto. 

The Roman Catholic Church today has nearly 3,000 dioceses and archdioceses, each with at least one bishop.

VATICAN – While the faith of Catholics in Ireland is strong, the scandal of abuse and cover-up by church leaders has caused a decline in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, Pope Francis said.

VANCOUVER – By the time Fr. Justin Huang stands before St. Anthony of Padua Church on a Sunday morning, he has done 10 hours of preparation and written about seven drafts of what he’ll say.

BOSTON – The Archdiocese of Boston announced Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley will not attend the World Meeting of Families in Dublin Aug. 21-26.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. bishops as "are shamed by and sorry for the sins and omissions by Catholic priests and Catholic bishops" that have led to sexual abuse and caused great harm to many, said an Aug. 14 statement from the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the chairman of its child protection committee.

WASHINGTON – In a June 2015 letter to Boston's Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley obtained by Catholic News Service, a New York priest tells the prelate about "sexual abuse/harassment/intimidation" allegations he had heard concerning then-Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick and asks that if the matter doesn't fall under his purview, to forward it to the "proper agency in the Vatican."