No surprise, transparency has no place in the conclave; all participants must take a pledge of secrecy. Indeed, how can we even expect transparency when many of the cardinal electors stand accused of the very behavior they claim to deplore?

But what does it say about the conscience of church leadership when it does not support and uphold LGBT families?

Pope’s leaked papers show fractured Vatican: Pope Benedict XVI’s correspondence shows tales of betrayal and rivalries, allegations of corruption...

By stepping down from the papacy, a candidate from Latin America, Asia or Africa could be elected as pope. The familiar (read: European) face of the papacy may one day become all but a distant memory.

It is not going to be easy given the powerful cultural and lobbying forces opposing gun control. But religious groups may have to play a major role in changing America's gun culture.

When there is only Adam and Eve -- only you and me -- then there's a kind of awakened awareness that comes to you, is there not?

In a blog for The Huffington Post, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, Director of Media Relations for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, takes the ...

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor PARIS, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Carlo Maria Martini, the Italian cardinal due to be buried in Milan late on...

ROME, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The former archbishop of Milan and papal candidate Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini said the Catholic Church was "200 years out...

Today's Catholic episcopate seems increasingly marred by a bitter-end spirit of strife and faction. Where's the humble recognition that the political squabbles of this world should not rend asunder the Church of Christ?

Rather than cutting social welfare programs, Catholics overwhelmingly believe that the government should ask the rich to pay a greater share, a strategy that clearly conflicts with the Ryan plan.

The bishops may take some satisfaction in an approval rating of 70 percent, but raising poll numbers was never their goal. The year 2012 still presents challenges, especially in the area of sexual abuse.

Let's face the question squarely: Should people who are not members of the community in which some "teachers" are abusive keep their noses out of the abuse?

The controversial contraception mandate proposed by the president had Congress debating about the morality of birth control, however according to a re...