ROME – The three-step process to elect a new prelate for Opus Dei, the predominantly lay organization, will begin Jan. 21 with a consultation involving more than three dozen women leaders.

VATICAN CITY – The overwhelming majority of sainthood causes the past decade have originated in Italy, said the head of the Vatican office responsible for investigating the causes.

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Jurors unanimously agreed to sentence Dylann Roof to death for killing nine black churchgoers.

ATLANTA – Olga Woltering, a bedrock member of her parish and the Atlanta Cursillo movement and beloved to her family and many friends, was among five people killed in the Jan. 6 shooting at a Florida airport.

MANILA, Philippines – The Archdiocese of Manila will build a rehabilitation centre for drug dependents amid Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, in which more than 6,000 people have been killed.

VATICAN CITY – In the wake of a deadly riot in a Brazilian jail, Pope Francis called for all prisons to offer dignified living conditions and be places for true rehabilitation.

COCHIN, India – The church in India's Kerala state has formed a group of priests, nuns and laypeople to respond to the pastoral needs of transgender people, reported ucanews.com.

PHILADELPHIA – Jesuit Father Joseph Fitzmyer, a leading Catholic biblical scholar, died Dec. 24 at Manresa Hall, a Jesuit infirmary in Philadelphia. He was 96.

BERLIN – As traditional family holiday celebrations continued with the coming of the New Year, an official with the German bishops' conference encouraged Catholic families to read Pope Francis' exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia ("The Joy of Love").

MANILA, Philippines – The emergency response to a major typhoon that hit the northern Philippines Christmas Day and killed at least six people was slowed because some government and aid workers were on holiday leave, a Catholic Relief Services official said.