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Several Christian denominations in the Philippines have pledged their support for the Catholic observance of "Red Wednesday" next week, which remembers Christians who have been persecuted.

The Chinese government is defending its policy of mass detention and re-education of Muslims in the country's northwest as an appropriate measure against terrorism, following a New York Times report that showed the direct involvement of senior government officials in ordering the policy.

Bishops and Catholic leaders from West Africa concluded a two-day meeting last week by reaffirming their commitment to work for an end to the violence plaguing the region.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican reiterated its call for a two-state solution in the Holy Land after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the United States would no longer recognize the illegality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

VATICAN CITY - In a message to young Catholics in Vietnam, Pope Francis offered prayers for a group of Vietnamese migrants who died while being smuggled into Great Britain in late October.

"That the Catholic faith not being passed on by the parents to their children is a big problem," Tokyo's archbishop said. "This is due primarily to the collapse of the traditional Japanese family system in the context of our present society.”

MEXICO CITY - A pro-government mob entered the cathedral in Managua, Nicaragua, damaging property, attacking hunger strikers inside the building and jostling a priest and nun.

Thirty years after the massacre of six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter during El Salvador's civil war, what the victims left behind in their heroic deeds, their writings and speeches has inspired others to continue the slain Jesuits' work on behalf of the poor.  

MEXICO CITY - A Nicaraguan priest has denounced intimidation by the police, who surrounded his parish in the city of Masaya, cut power and water to the building and prevented family members of political prisoners from attending a Mass in their honor.

QUEBEC CITY - The great doorway to growing in the Christian faith is narrowing from year to year in Quebec as baptisms have significantly declined in since 2012 and there's no indication the trend will reverse. ​​​​​​​Confronted with a shift away from traditional practices of transmitting the faith in childhood, leaders in the Quebec church are rethinking how to approach children's spirituality.

The remarkable story of a missionary bishop who, with no formal plan and few resources beyond a few priests and a motivated laity, built his diocese in rural India from 900 baptized Catholics in 1979 to 90,000 today.

The Vatican Museums opened Thursday an exhibit of recently restored paintings of the Virgin Mary by early Renaissance painter Carlo Crivelli.

Tensions are reportedly running high between French authorities overseeing the rebuilding of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, as they create plans to rebuild the church damaged by fire earlier this year.

Chile's bishops called for national dialogue and an end to the violence that has wracked the country for the past month.

The seeming indifference of the Filipino faithful to thousands of drug-related killings across the country has pushed a Catholic bishop in Manila to the point of calling himself a failure as a pastor.

Pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong have continued to escalate into violence, with many apparent incidents of forceful police tactics, including at a Catholic church, caught on camera and uploaded to social media.

Austin and Catherine Mardon ave been married since 2003. Both are writers, and their experiences have led them to devote themselves to working on behalf of people with mental illnesses, many of whom, they said, end up without a family and living on the street.

An award named after Mother Teresa was given this week for outstanding efforts in social justice to a U.S.-based non-profit that has unmasked forced organ harvesting in China.

​​​​​​​PHILIPPINES - When the earth trembled, Nenita Catubay ran for her life but only after snatching an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus from the wall of her house. At the evacuation site in the lowlands, where hundreds of residents sought shelter, people sat beside their religious images.

The grisly discovery last week on an industrial estate near London, a magnet for Vietnamese migrants, has shone a spotlight on people smugglers bringing the poor of Asia, Africa and the Middle East on perilous journeys to the West.