PARIS – The president of the French bishops' conference wrote French President Francois Hollande to express his worries about fast-tracked legislation that would extend illegal interference on abortions to websites. Archbishop Georges Pontier of Marseille, president, said the bishops think the legislation questions the very foundations of liberties in France, and he urged Hollande to not allow the bill's passage.

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VATICAN CITY – In a world filled with frustration and fear, seeking the common good is more important than ever, Pope Francis told French politicians.

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ST.-DENIS, France – Miriam clearly remembers the day she was cut, bundled by two village women into a bathroom at the age of 7, where a third performed the procedure. “It was very, very painful,” the young Malian woman says softly, as her two tiny children pinch her cheeks, crying for attention.

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VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis met privately at the Vatican with French President Francois Hollande, who said he felt it necessary to thank the Pope in person for his words after the slaying of a French priest and other terrorist attacks in France.

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PARIS – Violent Islamist attacks in France and Germany have piled pressure on the two governments to search for new ways to confront the grim challenge they now face: radicalized Muslim youth.

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ROUEN, France – During the Aug. 2 funeral Mass for Father Jacques Hamel, killed a week earlier by men claiming allegiance to the Islamic State, Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen stressed the need for forgiveness.

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WASHINGTON – Father Jacques Hamel's gruesome murder in northern France July 26 – by men claiming allegiance to the Islamic State – prompted sorrow and outrage from Muslim leaders around the world.

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PARIS – The urgent pleas for national unity heard after every terrorist attack in France are sounding ever more strained as the killers inspired by the Islamic State group nimbly shift their tactics and targets and confound the politicians struggling to combat them.

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ROME – France was convulsed by another horrific attack as armed men burst into a Catholic Church near Rouen and slit the throat of a priest who was saying Mass.

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VATICAN CITY – The murder of a priest in northern France, taken hostage with a handful of other faithful during a weekday morning Mass July 26, is another act of "absurd violence" added to too many stories of senseless violence and death, said the Vatican spokesman.

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A French priest was killed and another person seriously wounded after two attackers took hostages inside a church in northern France this morning.

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On the longest day of the year, I stood on a mountain trail in the middle of the French Alps a mile above sea level. I had every reason to count my blessings.

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Pope Francis has telephoned leaders of the terror-stricken French city of Nice, asking him what he could do to help in the wake of last week’s gruesome truck attack and promising to meet with the families of the victims as soon as possible.

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VATICAN CITY – Remembering the victims of the tragic terrorist attack in Nice, France, Pope Francis prayed that God may give comfort to grieving families and foil the plans of those who wish to harm others.

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VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis condemned the attack on Bastille Day celebrations in France, calling it an act of "blind violence.”

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