Roman Catholicism

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatian lawmakers have approved an international treaty on women's rights despite fierce opposition and protests from right-wing groups and the Catholic Church. The parliament on Friday voted 110-30 to back the Istanbul Convention, which also has caused divisions within the...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Eight victims of the Catholic Church's most notorious pedophile are pressing the Legion of Christ religious order to compensate them for the sexual abuse they endured and the psychological harm they say resulted from the order's prolonged campaign to discredit them. The men,...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican's commission of Latin American church leaders is demanding greater decision-making opportunities for women in the church and proposing that Pope Francis call a special meeting of the world's bishops to discuss women. The Pontifical Commission for Latin America said...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican said Thursday that Pope Francis' apology to Chilean sex abuse victims and his request that the country's bishops come to Rome to discuss reforms amounts to a "spiritual state of emergency" declaration for the Chilean Catholic church. In an interview with The...

BERLIN (AP) — Catholic authorities in Bavaria say the Vatican has granted their request to close Germany's last Bridgettine Order abbey. The Munich-Freising diocese in a statement Wednesday did not describe plans for the abbey and its expansive property near Munich. Altomuenster Abbey had housed...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis admitted Wednesday he made "grave errors" in judgment in Chile's sex abuse scandal and invited the victims he had discredited to Rome to beg their forgiveness. In an extraordinary public letter, Francis also summoned all of Chile's bishops to the Vatican for an...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Latest on the Vatican's response to clergy sex abuse in Chile (all times local): 9:05 p.m. Pope Francis has thanked the 64 people who gave testimony to his envoys about Chile's sex abuse scandal, as well as the media for its "professionalism" in covering the case. Francis...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is urging Buddhists to work with Christians to combat corruption, saying corrupt political, business and religious leaders put lives at risk, damage the environment and threaten governance. The Vatican's interreligious dialogue office issued a message to Buddhists to...

NEWCASTLE, Australia (AP) — A Roman Catholic archbishop has denied under oath in an Australian court that two former altar boys ever told him that they had been sexually abused by a priest. Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson is the most senior cleric in the world to be charged with covering up for a...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis called Tuesday for unity in the Catholic Church and blamed its divisions on the devil. It was the second time in as many days that Francis has warned about the destructive work of the devil after making headlines recently by seeming to deny the existence of hell...