At the end of his Lenten retreat, Pope Francis said he and his closest collaborators at the Vatican “want to follow Jesus more closely, without losing hope in his promises and without losing a sense of humor.”

The thing Pope Francis dislikes most about his job as pontiff is the paperwork, he told residents of an Argentine slum in which he used to minister.

Msgr. Tomas Halik, a Czech priest, has been named the 2014 Templeton Prize winner for his work in promoting interfaith dialogue and understanding throughout the world.

The doors used to stay shuttered on the chapel of Our Lady of the Miracle chapel in a shantytown on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, opening only on Saturdays for catechism classes and Sundays for a single, sparsely attended service.

On a recent Sunday morning, the congregation at Santo Nino Parish in Tacloban crammed into a space one-third the true size of the church. The crowd spilled out onto the courtyard, which had two big gray tents bearing the logo of a Buddhist foundation.

A Ukrainian Catholic priest in Crimea said church members are alarmed and frightened by the Russian military occupation and fear their communities might be outlawed again if Russian rule becomes permanent.

Catholic bishops of Syria called for a cease-fire in Syria and for the pursuit of the Geneva peace talks to end the crisis in the war-torn country.

As leader of the universal church, a pope must direct his ministry in both of the ways traditionally described by the Latin terms “ad intra” and “ad extra”: inwardly to the church itself, and outwardly to the rest of the world.

Because his cassock doesn’t have a breast pocket, Pope Francis said he wears a cloth pouch under his white robes to carry the crucifix he took from a deceased priest.

Egypt’s minority Christians have various opinions regarding claims that they are being persecuted in their predominantly Muslim country.