ROME – The traditional U.S. model of church-state relations has been praised by Pope Benedict XVI as a form of “healthy secularism,” but it risks being eroded by those who want to limit religion’s influence in public life, speakers at a Rome conference said.Read More

WASHINGTON – Two-thirds of Americans see religion as having a declining influence on U.S. society, marking one of the lowest ratings in the five decades since the Gallup Poll first began asking the question.Read More

WASHINGTON – More than a week before he was to take office, President-elect Barack Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, prompting advice and recommendations about how the two leaders’ governments should be handling immigration, among other matters.Read More

From the days of the ancient desert monks to new forms of community today, religious life has always responded to the challenges of the times. Here’s a sampling of the major moments in the history of religious life.Read More

Mary Ellen Russell is in for a baptism by fire in her inaugural year as executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference.Read More

WASHINGTON – After nearly 50 years when religious practice was discouraged by the communist government, Catholic bishops in Cuba these days are looking for support from U.S. Catholics to “try to bring back peoples’ religious memory,” as one bishop put it.Read More

WASHINGTON – U.S. Catholic leaders are mourning the loss of Rabbi Michael Alan Signer, an important figure in Jewish-Catholic relations and a professor at the University of Notre Dame who died Jan. 10 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.Read More

CEDAR KNOLLS, N.J. – A funeral Mass was celebrated Jan. 7 at Notre Dame of Mount Carmel Church in Cedar Knolls for Andrew “Drew” DeCoursey, who died Jan. 2. He was 74 and had been fighting prostate cancer since 1989.Read More