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A new church management program founded between an American and a Roman university will train church workers in ethics and managing finances.

Deal imports American bottom-line accounting to Italy’s Catholic churches

VATICAN CITY - A number of Catholic parishes in Italy are set for a management overall, following a new training program launched May 5 between the Villanova School of Business in the United States and the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

The Vatican unveiled the logo for the Holy Year of Mercy, which opens Dec. 8 and runs until Nov. 20, 2016.

Vatican unveils logo, prayer, details of Holy Year of Mercy

VATICAN CITY - The Holy Year of Mercy will be an opportunity to encourage Christians to meet people's "real needs" with concrete assistance, to experience a "true pilgrimage" on foot, and to send "missionaries of mercy" throughout the world to forgive even the most serious of sins, said Archbishop Rino Fisichella.

A illustration by Sandro Botticelli of the infernal abyss from Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" is part of the manuscript collection of the Vatican Library.

Pope suggests 'Divine Comedy' as important reading for Year of Mercy

VATICAN CITY - Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" is more than a literary masterpiece, it is an invitation "to rediscover the lost or obscured meaning of our human path and to hope to see again the glowing horizon on which the dignity of the human person shines in its fullness," Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis and Jordan's King Abdullah II pose for photos during a private audience at the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse at the Vatican April 7, 2014. The Jordanian king honoured Scarboro Missions for their interfaith efforts in a ceremony April 20, 2015.

Jordan’s King honours Scarboro Missions’ for its interfaith efforts

TORONTO - In a world where the Islamic State threatens religious minorities in the Middle East, Boko Haram kidnaps Christian girls in Nigeria, Jews worldwide are forced to defend the existence of Israel, it might be said that interfaith relations are no walk in the park.

Pope Francis attends a special audience with members of the German Evangelical-Lutheran Church at the Vatican Dec. 18, 2014.

Issues of marriage, sexuality should not threaten ecumenism, says Pope

VATICAN CITY - The dignity of human life, family, marriage and sexuality are "urgent" issues that "cannot be silenced or ignored for fear" of threatening ecumenical achievements, said Pope Francis during an audience with Archbishop Antje Jackelen of Uppsala, Sweden.

Pope Francis accepts a relic of Blessed Junipero Serra from Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles at the conclusion of Mass celebrated at the Pontifical North American College in Rome May 2. It was the first papal visit to the U.S. seminary since 1980. The Pope said that while some people seem to relish the idea of listing Bl. Serra's defects, he wondered how many would have the courage he had to leave everything and preach the Gospel.

Pope defends Blessed Serra, prays for missionary zeal in Americas

VATICAN CITY - People seem to enjoy finding the shortcomings of candidates for sainthood like Blessed Junipero Serra, but they should ask themselves if they would have his generosity and courage to leave everything behind to care for the poor and bring them the Gospel, Pope Francis said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses an April 28 summit on the moral dimensions of climate change and its impact on the poor. Also pictured is Italy's President Sergio Mattarella, lower left.

Vatican kicks off environmental push with climate change summit

Top officials from the Vatican, the head of the United Nations and leading scientists came together at a summit Tuesday (April 28) in Vatican City to label the fight against man-made climate change as a “moral issue.”

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses an April 28 Vatican summit on the moral dimensions of climate change and its impact on the poor.

U.N. head looks to religions for 'moral leadership' on climate change

VATICAN CITY - Promoting sustainable development and mitigating climate change will take more than just global policies and agreements, it will also take a strong, unified stance from the world's religions, the secretary-general of the United Nations said at the Vatican.

The Shroud of Turin is displayed during a preview for journalists at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, April 18. A public exposition of the shroud, believed by many to be the burial cloth of Jesus, runs from April 19 through June 24, 2015.

Turin expecting millions of pilgrims for shroud exposition

TURIN, Italy - A thin white cloth draped over the glass-covered Shroud of Turin was pulled down and billowed to the floor, marking the official opening of the venerated icon’s exposition to the public.

French media are reporting that France’s potential ambassador to the Vatican, Laurent Stefanini, was rejected because he was homosexual. The French government is waiting on a response from the Vatican on whether Stefanini is accepted or rejected.

French media report ambassador to Vatican rejected because he is gay

VATICAN CITY - Despite media reports that Pope Francis refused the candidate France proposed as its next ambassador to the Holy See — speculating that it is due to the fact Laurent Stefanini is homosexual — the French government has yet to receive an official response from the Vatican, said a spokesperson for the French government.

An Italian police bomb disposal vehicle is parked outside the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican in Rome Dec. 29, 2010.

Italians arrest suspected terrorists; Vatican says no current threat

VATICAN CITY - Italian police arrested at least nine people in what officials described as a terrorist cell that had planned, in 2010, to strike at the Vatican with a suicide bomber.

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