IMAGE: CNS By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Twisted ideas of power and authority in the Catholic Church have contributed to the clerical sexual abuse crisis, leaders of religious orders said, but sometimes the positive "sense of family" in their own communities also made them slow to act. "Pope …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When presented with an accusation that a priest has sexually abused a child, "whether it’s criminal or malicious complicity and a code of silence or whether it is denial" on a very human level, such reactions are no longer …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Vatican’s removal from the priesthood of Theodore McCarrick "is a clear signal that abuse will not be tolerated," said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Feb. 16. "No bishop, no matter how influential, is above the law of …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis has confirmed the removal from the priesthood of Theodore E. McCarrick, the 88-year-old former cardinal and archbishop of Washington. The Vatican announced the decision Feb. 16, saying he was found guilty of "solicitation in the sacrament of confession …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Jose Luis Gonzalez, Reuters By Rhina Guidos WASHINGTON (CNS) — Catholic bishops near the U.S.-Mexico border, joined by other U.S. prelates, voiced opposition immediately after President Donald Trump’s Feb. 15 declaration of a national emergency so he can order construction of a barrier along parts of the border …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Even if Christians struggle to recognize him with his "torn clothes (and) dirty feet," Jesus is present in the migrants and refugees who seek safety and a dignified life in a new land, Pope Francis said. If Jesus’ words, …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Chaz Muth By Rhina Guidos WASHINGTON (CNS) — A group of city commissioners in the border city of McAllen, Texas, voted in mid-February to remove from a building a popular Catholic-administered center run by Sister Norma Pimentel, who has been praised by Pope Francis for her work with …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Sean Gallagher, The Criterion By Sean Gallagher INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) — The openness to people of other faiths that Pope Francis modeled during his Feb. 3-5 visit to the United Arab Emirates has been embraced for more than 20 years at a weekly lunch shared by Muslims, Catholics and …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Barbara Fraser By Barbara J. Fraser LETICIA, Colombia (CNS) — Rafael Noteno Capinoa, a Kichwa Indian, worries about what could happen to the forest around his village on Peru’s Napo River if an oil company begins drilling in the area. "The forest is where we are born, we …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves ROME (CNS) — Sustainable development in rural areas is key to making poverty and hunger a thing of the past, Pope Francis said. In an address to members of the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s governing council Feb. 14, the pope said …