WASHINGTON - What the president of The Catholic University of America called a "three-continent endeavour" has resulted in an agreement by the university in Washington and the Australian Catholic University to share a campus in Rome.

HONG KONG - Bishop Cosmas Shi Enxiang of Yixian, 94, a member of the so-called underground Catholic Church who has not been seen since his arrest in 2001, has died, a relative said.

FRASCATI, Italy - Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement, "lit a new light in the Church's journey toward unity," Pope Francis said.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida's Catholic bishops said they were disappointed by a U.S. federal judge's ruling striking down the state's ban of same-sex marriage as well as with higher courts that denied a stay of the decision.

NEW YORK - New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan joined in mourning what he called the "brutal and irrational execution of two young, promising and devoted police officers" fatally shot Dec. 20 as they sat in their New York Police Department cruiser on a Brooklyn street.

SEOUL, South Korea - A South Korean cardinal prayed for reunification with the North so that, "through trust and reconciliation, may we become one big family again."

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis decried the "inhuman terrorist acts" that killed scores of people the previous day in Australia, Pakistan and Yemen.

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine church officials said the pope will be riding in open vehicles during his five-day visit in January.

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the U.S bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace said acts of torture outlined in a Senate Intelligence Committee report "violated the God-given human dignity inherent in all people and were unequivocally wrong."

VIENNA - Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad implored moderate Muslims to reject "terrorism in the name of religion" and step up to challenge the actions of Islamic State militants against minority communities in Iraq.