SYDNEY – Five Australian archbishops testified before a government commission on child sexual abuse, reiterating apologies and taking responsibility for actions that occurred before they were church leaders.

AGANA, Guam – U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, accompanied by an official from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and three canon lawyers, spent two days in Guam interviewing witnesses and alleged victims in a clerical sexual abuse case against Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron of Agana.

WASHINGTON – In a Feb. 16 statement, U.S. Catholic Church leaders said they were encouraged that President Donald Trump may be considering an executive order to protect religious freedom and said they would be grateful if he would move forward with the pledge that his administration would "do everything in its power to defend and protect religious liberty."

OTTAWA – Church groups calling for the scrapping of the Safe Third Country agreement in response to U.S. President Trump’s refugee policies are likely to remain disappointed.

DAKAR, Senegal – Catholic bishops from North Africa urged greater support for church life in their region, where migrants from sub-Saharan Africa now make up a large proportion of Catholic communities.

WASHINGTON – The chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Migration welcomed a federal appeals court ruling that upheld a temporary restraining order against President Donald Trump's travel ban on refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries that also temporarily suspended the country's refugee resettlement program.

SYDNEY – As an Australian government commission heard testimony on how the Catholic Church responded to decades of child abuse in its institutions, church leaders were asking the same questions as the government: How could this have happened? How can we keep it from happening again?

WASHINGTON – Saying “religious freedom in America has suffered years of unprecedented erosion,” U.S. Catholic bishops have posted an online letter for Catholics to send to President Donald Trump urging him to sign an executive order promoting religious freedom.

SYDNEY – Catholic experts told an Australian government commission that the church needed to re-examine its culture of clericalism if it wanted to help put an end to clergy sexual abuse.

UNITED NATIONS – Saying poverty is the greatest challenge facing humanity, the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations called on nations to seek solutions to poverty not only based on economics but to also address personal, social and environmental factors that contribute to it.