By Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service  VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis received U.S. President Barack Obama at the Vatican March 27. In what was their first encounter, the two leaders spoke in private for more than 50 minutes, an extraordinarily long time for such a meeting.

A Mass of Christian Burial for Sister of St. Francis Laurita Kroger was celebrated March 12 at the motherhouse chapel in Oldenburg, Ind.

A Mass of Christian Burial for Sister of St. Francis Jonette Scheidler was celebrated March 10 at the motherhouse chapel in Oldenburg, Ind.

A Mass of Christian Burial for Precious Blood Sister Carlotta Lammers was celebrated Feb. 28 at Salem Heights Chapel.

A Mass of Christian Burial for Precious Blood Sister Mary Anne Westerheide was held at Salem Heights Chapel in Dayton on March 19.

A Mass of Christian Burial for Sister of Charity of Cincinnati Rita Margaret Kroger was celebrated Feb. 24 in the motherhouse chapel.

A Mass of Christian Burial for Sister of Charity of Cincinnati Mary Josephine Bensman was celebrated March 14 at the motherhouse chapel

By Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service WASHINGTON — Oral arguments in two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court March 25 focused on whether for-profit corporations have religious grounds to object to the new health care law’s requirement that most employers provide contraceptive coverage in their employee health plans.

By John Mulderig Catholic News Service  NEW YORK — A classic bit of impertinence from 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche notwithstanding, it seems that “God’s Not Dead” (Freestyle).

A small group from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, including The Catholic Telegraph’s Megan Walsh, are in Nepal in for an interfaith mission trip to build relationships with the Maryknoll and Jesuit missionaries, and to visit the refugee camp in Jhapa. Below is a report from Megan, sent via Facebook directly from Bouddha, Nepal.