VATICAN CITY - A momentous and divided gathering of global bishops ended Oct. 24 by endorsing ways that could lead to greater participation by divorced and remarried Catholics — a major source of friction here — while the 270 bishops declined to take up the even more controversial issue of how and whether to be more welcoming to gays.

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VATICAN CITY - Two of the 13 final small-group reports of the Synod of Bishops for the family contained apologies: one for ways in which a lack of pastoral care may have contributed to the breakdown of marriages and one for "harsh and merciless" attitudes toward unwed mothers and their children, the divorced and homosexuals.

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VATICAN CITY - A papal astronomer gave his reassurances that the world will not end Dec. 21, 2012.

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