10 Things to Know for Today

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. ‘I NOW DO RECALL’ Ambassador Gordon Sondland is likely to be unpredictable when he faces questions in the impeachment inquiry about his evolving accounts of the Trump administration’s...

Pope arrives in Thailand to encourage Catholic minority

BANGKOK (AP) — Pope Francis arrived in Bangkok on Wednesday to begin a tour of Thailand and Japan, beginning a mission to boost the morale of those countries’ tiny minority Catholic communities and speak about issues of concern including human trafficking and peacemaking. He is expected to highlight...

Pope Francis arrives in Bangkok to begin tour of Thailand, Japan

Pope heading to Thailand to encourage Catholic minority

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is heading to Thailand to encourage members of a minority Catholic community in a Buddhist nation and highlight his admiration for their missionary ancestors who brought the faith centuries ago and endured bouts of persecution more recently. After an overnight flight,...

Rich in dramatic Catholic history, Nagasaki awaits the pope

NAGASAKI, Japan (AP) — It’s fitting that Pope Francis will start his first official visit to Japan in Nagasaki, the city where Christianity first took hold in the country and where nearly 500 years later it remains steeped in blood-soaked symbolism, both religious and political. It was here that a...

5 things to know about Pope Francis’ visit to Thailand

BANGKOK (AP) — Pope Francis arrives in Thailand on Wednesday for the first visit here by the head of the Roman Catholic Church since St. John Paul II in 1984. Some things to know about the visit and the history of the church in Thailand: IT’S A MORALE BOOSTER Francis is certain to address some of...

Vatican financial watchdog now a ‘shell’ after police raid

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A board member of the Vatican’s financial watchdog has resigned in the wake of a Vatican police raid that resulted in the agency’s suspension from the global communications network of financial intelligence units. Marc Odendall, a Swiss-German retired banker, tendered his...

Vatican’s financial 007 leaves amid fallout from police raid

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The head of the Vatican’s financial watchdog agency is leaving his post after a raid by Vatican police on the agency’s offices breached the Holy See’s international financial obligations and jeopardized its reputation. Pope Francis thanked Rene Bruelhart for his...

Cypriot president says Pope Francis to visit island in 2020

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus’ president says Pope Francis has accepted his invitation to visit the east Mediterranean island nation next year. President Nicos Anastasiades made the announcement after talks with the pontiff in the Vatican on Monday. In 2020, Cyprus will mark the 60th year of its...

Tolerant Thailand to welcome pope, but martyrs tale haunts

SONGKHON, Thailand (AP) — When Pope Francis makes his first trip to Thailand this week, he will be visiting a country that welcomed Roman Catholic missionaries more than five centuries ago and whose Buddhist population remains strikingly tolerant of other religious beliefs. But in 1940, as militarism and...