VATICAN CITY – No matter the position one takes on national migration policy, Pope Francis, Caritas Internationalis and national Catholic charities across the globe want Catholics to meet a migrant or refugee and listen to his or her story.

HONG KONG – Chinese propaganda chiefs have ordered mainland journalists not to describe outspoken Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun as the "emeritus" bishop of Hong Kong, but to instead use the word "former."

NEW YORK – A court ruling that the New York Archdiocese did not discriminate against a school principal when it did not renew her contract affirms "the freedom of a church to decide who will serve as its religious leaders," said the Alliance Defending Freedom.

HONG KONG – The Chinese Communist Party's top leader in charge of religion has made it clear that Beijing intends to retain a tight grip on the Catholic Church.

WASHINGTON – For some aspiring priests and religious, the biggest obstacle to pursuing their vocation is student debt.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court said grandparents can be included among those who have a "bona fide" relationship with refugees seeking to enter the United States from six majority-Muslim countries under the Trump administration's temporary travel ban.

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone – Catholic bishops in Sierra Leone called on citizens to refrain from actions to destabilize the West African nation and to come together before next year's elections in the same spirit that helped end the country's civil war and overcome its Ebola epidemic.

YAOUNDE, Cameroon – The bishops' conference of Cameroon launched a private lawsuit over the alleged murder of Bishop Jean-Marie Benoit Bala of Bafia, whose body was found floating in a river in June.

WASHINGTON – After efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act collapsed late July 17 in the U.S. Senate, Catholic health care leaders said they hope Congress will work together, in small steps, to fix flaws in the current legislation.

NEW YORK – The national director of Priests for Life in New York welcomed a London court's decision allowing a U.S. doctor to go to England to examine a 10-month-old terminally ill British infant at the centre of a medical and ethical debate.