BLUEFIELDS, Nicaragua – Thousands of people living in Nicaragua’s remote northeast lost everything to the winds of Hurricane Felix, but a bishop in the affected area said the church would accompany them as they rebuild. “The winds and flooding have destroyed a lot. People will have to start with nothing. And since flooding has destroyed...Read More

WASHINGTON – As a vote neared on a bipartisan abortion amendment to the Senate’s version of health care reform legislation, three leading U.S. bishops said the proposed revision “simply corrects ... grave departures from current federal policy.”Read More

WASHINGTON – Thirteen human embryonic stem-cell lines have been approved for use in federally funded research and approval of many more lines is expected to follow, the head of the National Institutes of Health announced Dec. 2.Read More

WASHINGTON – The number of Americans living in poverty went down slightly last year, according to the Census Bureau’s annual report, but the number of uninsured Americans rose a bit.Read More

VATICAN CITY – For the first time in a decade, summer tourists could make their way down steep stone steps deep into the dark, dank interior of a papal fortress and crawl into prison cells that housed countless common criminals as well as Rome’s errant elite. The 1,900-year-old Castel Sant’Angelo, which stands near the Tiber...Read More

WASHINGTON – A gradual decline in funding in recent years is forcing the National Pastoral Life Center to close Nov. 30.Read More

Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien has permanently revoked Monsignor Thomas Bevan’s faculties to function as a priest as a result of what the archbishop called “credible allegations of child sexual abuse made against him.”Read More

Asked what he wants to be when he grows up, 11-year-old Diallo Bratcher didn’t pause for a moment before he replied with the most serious expression he could produce. “A lawyer,” he answered. Why? “Because I talk a lot,” Diallo said, and this time his almost ever-present, infectious grin returned. Diallo, his 10-year-old brother and...Read More