Pope apologizes after being quoted using vulgar term about gay men in talk about ban on gay priests

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis apologized Tuesday after he was quoted using a vulgar and derogatory term about gay men to reaffirm the Catholic Church’s ban on gay priests. The ruckus that ensued underscored how the church’s official teaching about homosexuality often bumps...

A look at Pope Francis' comments about LGBTQ+ people

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis' apology Tuesday for using a vulgar term to refer to gay men was the latest comment to make headlines about the Catholic Church's teachings on homosexuality. Francis has made a hallmark of reaching out to LGBTQ+ Catholics, but his 11-year...

Pope Francis apologizes after he was quoted using a vulgar term to reaffirm the Catholic Church’s ban on gay priests

Florida priest accused of biting woman who grabbed Holy Communion wafers during Mass

ST. CLOUD, Fla. (AP) — The Diocese of Orlando is defending a Catholic priest accused of biting a woman who tried to grab Holy Communion wafers during Mass at a central Florida church. The confrontation occurred Sunday afternoon at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in St. Cloud....

Baltimore's Catholic archdiocese will cut parishes as attendance falls and infrastructure ages

BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore's Catholic archdiocese, the nation's oldest, will cut the number of parishes in the city and nearby suburbs by about two-thirds as part of a realignment plan responding to falling attendance and aging infrastructure. Under the final plan released...

Catholic diocesan hermit approved by Kentucky bishop comes out as transgender

(RNS) — Diocesan hermits by nature don’t get much attention. A small subset of religious persons, hermits mostly spend their lives engaged in quiet prayer. Brother Christian Matson, a Catholic diocesan hermit in Kentucky, has spent years doing just that. His monk’s habit might...

Vatican makes fresh overture to China, reaffirms that Catholic Church is no threat to sovereignty

ROME (AP) — The Vatican made another big overture to China on Tuesday, reaffirming the Catholic Church poses no threat to Beijing's sovereignty and admitting that Western missionaries had made “errors” in past centuries in their zeal to convert the Chinese faithful. The Vatican...

Why US Catholics are planning pilgrimages in communities across the nation

A long-planned series of Catholic pilgrimages has begun across the United States this weekend, with pilgrims embarking on four routes before converging on Indianapolis in two months for a major gathering focusing on Eucharistic rites and devotions. The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage...

Some of the Catholic Church's best-known approved, and not approved, reports of apparitions of Mary

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has revised how it evaluates purported supernatural events, such as reported visions of the Virgin Mary, to guard against hoaxes and account for news going viral. Previous approved apparitions have turned these sites into major pilgrimage...

Vatican moves to adapt to hoaxes, Internet and overhauls its process for evaluating visions of Mary

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican on Friday overhauled its process for evaluating alleged visions of the Virgin Mary, weeping statues and other seemingly supernatural phenomena that have marked church history, putting the brakes on making definitive declarations unless the event is obviously...