News/International

WASHINGTON- A month-long review of a key nuclear weapons treaty saw the nuclear powers stepping back from an opportunity to alter the status quo, much to the disappointment of Catholic peace advocates.

VATICAN CITY - The presidents of the bishops' conferences of Germany, France and Switzerland decided their preparation for the Synod of Bishops on the family could benefit from listening to theologians, biblical scholars and canon lawyers from all three countries, said the spokesman for the German bishops.

JUBA, South Sudan - Human rights in South Sudan are abused "on the battlefield and in peaceful areas," and much of the country is without effective governance, church leaders said.

DUBLIN - Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has said the Church needs a "reality check" after Irish voters overwhelmingly supported same-sex marriage.

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - On the occasion of the beatification of El Salvador's Archbishop Oscar Romero, Pope Francis sent a note that was read to those present for the May 23 ceremony.

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - Some thought this day would never arrive. Others hoped and some always knew it would.

VATICAN CITY - More than 55,000 people have signed a petition calling for Cardinal George Pell to return to his native Australia and face a government commission on child sex abuse, after allegations that he tried to bribe the victim of a pedophile priest.

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- The use of modern media to move and consume news of the beatification of Oscar Romero might be a fitting tribute to the Salvadoran archbishop.

After a judge sentenced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death for his role in the Boston Marathon bombings, religious leaders in that city found themselves on both sides of the issue. Lawmakers in Nebraska are considering a bill to ban the death penalty there, which would make it the first conservative state to do so in four decades. And Christian leaders such as Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice and religious broadcaster Pat Robertson have provided support for movements such as Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.

VATICAN CITY - Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero's preferential love for the poor "was not ideological, but evangelical," said Cardinal Angelo Amato, the prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes.