VATICAN CITY – Italy defended the display of the crucifix in public schools before Europe’s human rights court, arguing that it is a symbol of the country’s cultural heritage and not an imposition of religious belief on students.Read More

VATICAN CITY – Early July is when things usually slow down at the Vatican, as top church officials wrap up loose ends and prepare to go on vacation.Read More

HUANCAYO, Peru – With its fields of potatoes and artichokes, the Mantaro Valley in the central Andes region of Junin is known as Peru’s breadbasket.Read More

MANILA, Philippines – Church leaders have tempered their welcome to new President Benigno Aquino III with a call to the Filipino people to remain vigilant while presenting the new leader with a 13-point agenda focusing mostly on social issues.Read More

QUEZON CITY, Philippines – Bishop Francisco Claver, a vocal defender of civil rights in the martial law era of the 1980s, died July 1 in Manila from a blood clot in the lung. He was 81.Read More

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Soccer fans know all about the World Cup, the quadrennial competition taking place in South Africa that is sending people around the globe into a frenzy while boosting – or deflating – national pride.Read More

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has chosen Swiss Bishop Kurt Koch of Basel to be the new president of Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews.Read More

Sister Patricia Anne Bossle smiles at the symmetry of her next assignment. Into her sixth decade as a Daughter of Charity, she’ll return to Emmitsburg, where the order was founded by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in 1809. Sister Patricia Anne will research and write grant proposals for that town’s Mother Seton School and the Elizabeth...Read More