St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, Dingman Twp, PA

Vilnius, Lithuania -- Pope Francis began his four-day visit to the three Baltic States by praising Lithuania's history of accepting people of various backgrounds and ethnicities, calling on the country to "build bridges not walls and prefer mercy, not judgment."

The Vatican has announced the signing of a "provisional agreement" with Chinese authorities to address a seven-decade dispute over the appointment of Catholic bishops in the world's most populous country.

Scripture for Life: To get to the Resurrection, Jesus had to pass through the shoals of death. He had to trust love to carry him all the way through. It was Jesus' faith and vulnerability that allowed God to raise him. No theory is sufficient. 

Just Catholic: As the church recoils at sex abuse, bishops will soon gather in Rome to talk about young people. But, like water dripping on a stone, the same story is wearing people's patience thin.

Hundreds of thousands of people around the world will celebrate when Pope Francis formally declares that Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, El Salvador, are saints.

Religious hostility is a major challenge for the estimated 200 self-identified lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender refugees at Kakuma, which hosts almost 180,000 refugees from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia and Uganda.

The Dutch bishops' conference said it had worked to prevent further sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, but said a recent report by a leading newspaper was "old news."

Welcome to our online letters to the editor column. It's online but based on the old-fashioned letters to the editor format: Send me your thoughts and ideas, reactions and responses. I will collect them, curate them, and post a collection to the NCR Today blog.

A liturgical canonist and teacher who had admitted abusing a minor while serving as an associate pastor in the United States is no longer teaching at the Canadian pontifical university where he had been a full professor.

Halfway through four-year encuentro consultations, Hispanic Catholic delegates from throughout the United States gather for national discussion and reflection Sept. 20-23 in Texas.