By Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service  ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM TEL AVIV — Pope Francis will meet with a group of sex abuse victims for the first time in June, he told reporters May 26. During a wide-ranging inflight news conference on his return to Rome from the …

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service  VATICAN CITY — Asking prayers for his May 24-26 trip to the Holy Land, Pope Francis said his visit to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories would be “strictly religious.”

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service  LOURDES, France— It looked like any other military parade with bands playing, flags waving and thousands of men and women marching in colorful uniforms decorated with medals and ribbons.

CNS Reports God makes no one struggle with life’s challenges alone, pope says VATICAN CITY (CNS) — God is always by our side, never giving us more than we can handle, Pope Francis said. The countless women and men who stand tall through enormous difficulties, pain and especially persecution, are …

CNS Reports Appeals court stays Texas execution over claim of mental disability AUSTIN, Texas (CNS) — An execution scheduled for May 13 in Huntsville was stayed by a federal appeals court in New Orleans two hours before Robert James Campbell was set to be put to death.

By Malea Hargett Catholic News Service  LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas took center stage in the same-sex marriage debate May 9 when a state judge overturned a 10-year constitutional amendment that banned same-sex unions in the state.

By Catholic News Service  WASHINGTON (CNS) – U.S. military chaplains around the world are receiving copies of new “Armed with the Faith” prayer books for Catholics in the armed forces.

By Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service  VATICAN CITY — When Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople meets Pope Francis in Jerusalem May 25, one of their main discussion topics will be the “diminishing Christian minorities in the Middle East,” the patriarch told Catholic News Service.

By Catholic News Service  WASHINGTON — The recent rebuke of the officers of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious by the head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office should be viewed as one part of his entire remarks and one aspect of the group’s visits and ongoing dialogue with Vatican officials, …

By Peter Ajayi Dada Catholic News Service LAGOS, Nigeria — Religious groups in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state have organized prayer sessions and other activities to support the rescue of kidnapped schoolgirls.