WASHINGTON - In a landmark ruling, a divided Supreme Court June 26 said same-sex marriage is constitutional nationwide.

Americans have less confidence in organized religion today than ever measured before — a sign that the Church could be “losing its footing as a pillar of moral leadership in the nation’s culture,” a new Gallup survey finds.

NEW YORK - Syriac Catholic Archbishop Yohanna Moshe of Mosul, Iraq, called on the world's government to oust Islamic State militants from northern parts of the country so thousands of displaced Christians can return home.

WASHINGTON - An Associated Press survey of abortion in the United States this decade has revealed that the number of abortions has gone down by 12 per cent since 2010.

Right-to-die legislation passed a milestone in California Thursday (June 4) when the state Senate approved a bill to legalize physician-assisted dying in a 23-14 vote.

PHILADELPHIA - Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the head of the Pontifical Council for the Family and lead Vatican organizer of September's World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, is under investigation by Italian prosecutors for alleged embezzlement.

Pope Francis has declared a special jubilee to help the world encounter the awesome, awful and awe-filled mercy of God. The world prefers cheap grace, and thinks it can get it from the Holy Father. The world — represented recently by Raul Castro and Al Gore — will be disappointed.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis was scheduled to meet Cuban President Raul Castro at the Vatican May 10, less than five months ahead of the pontiff's visit to the island nation.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis will visit Cuba in September before his trip to the United States.

A splendid idea percolated last month out of Montreal, where Archbishop Christian Lepine and Mayor Denis Coderre invited Pope Francis to visit Quebec in 2017.

ROME - The move to normalize relations between Cuba and the United States has inaugurated "a new time ... for encounter and dialogue" between the two countries and is cause for great hope, said the cardinal of Havana.

Following half a century of hostility, and guided by the intervention of Pope Francis, the United States and Cuba have agreed to try to become good neighbours. The detente announced between the two nations on Dec. 17 is welcomed news to end a year that witnessed too much hatred.

VATICAN CITY - Prominent U.S. evangelicals Russell Moore and Rick Warren blasted the sexual revolution at a Vatican conference Nov. 18 and said it is destroying the institution of marriage.

VATICAN CITY - Twelve Chaldean religious men and priests living in the United States, Canada, Australia and Sweden have been suspended from exercising their priestly ministry for not receiving permission from their superiors before emigrating from Iraq.

WASHINGTON - Rulings that overturned state bans on same-sex marriage in five U.S. states will be allowed to take effect, after the Supreme Court Oct. 6 declined to consider appeals of seven lower court rulings that such prohibitions are unconstitutional.