GENEVA -- With increasing concerns worldwide about human rights violations in Nicaragua, a Vatican representative has called for an immediate return to negotiations and a rollout of reforms necessary to hold "free and transparent elections" there.

NEGOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has finally won a concession from Sri Lanka's government after widespread criticism of the investigation into the deadly Easter Sunday attacks.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis appointed three delegate presidents for the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon.

MIAMI -- In the wake of Hurricane Dorian's brutal blasting of the Bahamas, Catholic organizations in Florida continued to raise funds to aid victims there.

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. -- A yearlong investigation by Seton Hall University confirmed that Theodore McCarrick, the laicized cardinal who had been archbishop of Newark from 1986 to 2000, had sexually harassed seminarians during his tenure as head of the archdiocese.

WASHINGTON -- Catholic leaders across the United States reacted with sorrow and "heavy hearts" to a mass shooting in west Texas Aug. 31 that authorities said claimed seven lives and wounded 25 others.

FORT WORTH, Texas -- In an Aug. 26 letter to local Catholics, Bishop Michael F. Olson of Fort Worth said recent "purported apparitions, messages and miracles" of Mary that he had cautioned Catholics about weeks before "are, in fact, a fabrication."