Seven-hundred and forty-six kids, Grades 9 to 12, shouted, laughed, sang, prayed. Some of them even cried. They came to the Ordinandi Youth Event for one reason — to hear a story.

SANTIAGO, Chile – Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati Andrello of Santiago on Thursday denied knowing and giving money to the complainant in a rape case in the cathedral which took place in 2015.

VATICAN – The Archdiocese of Rouen concluded its sainthood inquiry into the life and death of a French priest who was killed while celebrating Mass.

VATICAN – Answering the Lord's call demands the courage to take a risk, but it is an invitation to become part of an important mission, Pope Francis said.

MEXICO CITY – The Mexican bishops' conference has presented an action plan for protecting minors from sexual abuse by clergy and pastoral agents.

VATICAN – The percentage of Catholics in the world has remained steady, while the number of priests has decreased for the first time in almost a decade, according to Vatican statistics.

What if Catholic men are set apart from the rest of the men in the world?

VATICAN – When the Vatican Congregation for Clergy developed guidelines a decade ago for handling cases of priests who father children, the first objective was to make it easier for those men to leave the priesthood to care for their children and be real dads, said the prefect of the congregation.

QUEBEC – The apostolic nunciature in Ottawa, Ontario, confirmed Feb. 26 that it received a first complaint of sexual misconduct concerning Archbishop Luigi Ventura, the Vatican's ambassador to Canada from 2001 to 2009.

VATICAN CITY – The issue of married priests is something for the universal Catholic Church to discuss and is not the focus of the upcoming Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, said Peruvian Cardinal Pedro Barreto Jimeno of Huancayo.

Even before Pope Francis called on bishops from around the globe to meet for a Vatican sex abuse summit, a Toronto priest was travelling to parishes to talk about the origins of and solutions to clergy abuse of minors.

Long ago, a childhood friend and I were walking across an old wooden bridge in the small town where we lived when a car stopped to offer us a ride. The local priest was at the wheel.

VATICAN – Only together, by humbly sharing their experiences, encouragement and corrective advice, can the bishops and leaders in the Catholic Church work to prevent the abuse of minors and help bring healing to survivors, said the head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India.

VATICAN – The abuse crisis in the Catholic Church is a call for bishops to unmask the deep-seated clericalism that placed protection of the institution of the church above the sufferings of victims, said the head of the council of Latin American bishops. 

DUBLIN – Ahead of a major Vatican summit on the protection of minors, Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, Northern Ireland, has criticized Catholics who use the issue of clerical abuse to score points against people they disagree with in the church.