Religion, Church | featured news

A Vatican court on Saturday sentenced the pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, to 18 months in prison for leaking confidential documents to a journalist in one of the most serious breaches of vaunted Vatican secrecy in modern history.

Paolo Gabriele took the stand Tuesday in a Vatican courtroom to defend himself against accusations of his role in one of the most damaging scandals of Benedict's pontificate. Prosecutors say Gabriele stole the pope's letters and documents alleging power struggles and corruption inside the Vatican and leaked them to a journalist in an unprecedented papal security breach.

It's not just the collection plate that's getting passed around this fall at hundreds of mainly African-American and Latino churches in presidential battleground states and across the nation....

An American nun’s book on sex has put Catholics at risk of “grave harm,” the Catholic Church announced Monday.

The Boston Archdiocese says the six-figure salaries paid to a growing number of church employees are commensurate with their talents and work duties.

Pope Benedict XVI waded deep into U.S. campaign politics Friday, denouncing what he called the "powerful" gay marriage lobby in America.

Banks are foreclosing on America's churches in record numbers as lenders increasingly lose patience with religious facilities that have defaulted on their mortgages, according to new data.

The Vatican was shaken by a corruption scandal Thursday after an Italian television investigation said a former top official had been transferred against his will after complaining about irregularities in awarding contracts.

Bishop Eddie Long, head of one of the nation's largest mega churches, announced Sunday he will take "time off" from the pulpit to work on his family. The announcement came three days after his wife Vanessa filed for divorce.

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.