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A newborn girl was found abandoned in a shopping bag Sunday afternoon in an Illinois church parking lot.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie attacks senior figures in the Catholic church over gay marriage. Mr Rennie criticised threats by church leaders to invoke a block vote against proposals to allow same-sex couples to marry in a religious ceremony.

Churches in the southern Indian state of Kerala are offering cash incentives to couples who produce more children, parish officials say, amid concerns about the declining number of Christians.

A gunman killed a person Sunday at a central Florida home, then wounded two others at a church about a block away, authorities said. It was unknown if a suspect had been caught.

The Vatican on Saturday vigorously rejected claims it sabotaged efforts by Irish bishops to report priests who sexually abused children to police and accused the Irish prime minister of making an “unfounded” attack against the Holy See. The Vatican issued a lengthy response to the Irish government following Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s unprecedented July 20 denunciation of the Vatican’s handling of abuse, in which he cited the “dysfunction, the disconnection, the elitism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day.”

A sketch done by Dutch painter Rembrandt was taken by thieves from under the nose of distracted curator, but authorities say they have now recovered the artwork.

Catholic Church officials are mounting a full-court press to convince lawmakers in Albany to vote against same-sex marriage legislation, which stands a vote or two from becoming law in New York State.

The Catholic bishops are reviewing church sex abuse policies but not speaking publicly on reports questioning their effectiveness.

Crystal Cathedral Ministries, known for the towering Orange County megachurch where “Hour of Power” is taped, has agreed to sell its campus to a real estate investment group as part of a plan to emerge from bankruptcy.

A provincial spokesman in Afghanistan said more than 100 people were demonstrating against the the burning of a Quran by a American pastor in Florida.