Catholic leaders in northeastern Nigeria appealed for prayers and humanitarian support as devastating floods engulfed Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, known as the epicenter of the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram’s insurgency.

A bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers gathered Sept. 18 to call for the immediate release from prison of prominent Hong Kong Catholic, philanthropist and media mogul Jimmy Lai, who is facing a trial on what they called bogus charges.

The Diocese of Buffalo, N.Y., plans to reduce the total number of its 160 parishes by 51 percent following a Sept. 10 announcement of final decisions on closures and mergers.

With some prudence, Catholics can benefit spiritually from the messages and spiritual practices associated with the alleged apparitions of Mary in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, said the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Six young people, aged 10 to 16, said Mary began appearing to them in June 1981 in Medjugorje, a town in what was then Yugoslavia and is now Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Among the ballot measures voters will consider in November, Colorado voters will decide whether to keep a provision in their state constitution banning same-sex marriage that was rendered moot by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision legalizing such unions nationwide.

Father Moisés Lira Serafin has been beatified in a ceremony at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in his native Mexico, where he is beloved as a protector of life from conception and is credited with the miracle of saving an unborn child’s life.

As the Emmaus Community for the poor investigates accusations of sexual abuse against its once-iconic, now disgraced, founder Abbé Pierre, the case made international headlines as Pope Francis commented on it while on his return voyage to Rome from Asia last week.

Catholic church leaders in the Middle East condemned a second wave of explosions of hand-held devices across Lebanon and in the capital, Beirut, apparently targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

A new report identifies what researchers call “three big myths” about faith and politics in the U.S., concluding that the nation is less polarized around such issues than popularly believed — and that faith leaders are key to healing division in American society.