As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the globe, people are still creating their own moments of solidarity and community.

Italy has been hit hard by the coronavirus and has taken drastic measure to try to stop the spread. With the streets almost empty, the country’s most famous landmarks look remarkably different without tourists.

A tiny wooden relic that some Christians believe to be part of Jesus’ manger arrived Saturday in its permanent home in the biblical city of Bethlehem 1,400 years after it was sent to Rome as a gift to the pope. Cheerful crowds greeted the ornately encased relic with much fanfare before it entered the Franciscan Church of St. Catherine next...

The lawyer of one of the two American teenagers jailed in Rome over the slaying of a Carabinieri police officer says their trial has been fast-tracked and will begin early next year.

Pope Francis on Sunday decried that the “greed of a few” wealthy people is compounding the plight of the poor before sharing a meal with the jobless and the homeless that has become a tradition of his papacy. Celebrating a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica dedicated to heightening awareness about poor people worldwide, he lamented the lack of concern about...

The lawyer for one of two American teenagers being held in the slaying of an Italian police officer said Saturday that he has dropped a request for his client to be released. Finnegan Lee Elder’s lawyer, Renato Borzone, said in a statement that the defense still needs more time to get a full picture of what happened. He added that...

A Catholic school in Tennessee has removed the Harry Potter books from its library after the school’s priest decided they could cause a reader to conjure evil spirits. In an email obtained by The Tennessean , the Rev. Dan Reehil of Nashville’s St. Edward Catholic School said he consulted exorcists in the U.S. and Rome who recommended removing the books....

Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn perched there without a care in the 1953 film “Roman Holiday.” But the Spanish Steps in Rome are no longer a place for sitting. Enforcing an ordinance that took effect last month, police officers patrolled the famed stone staircase Wednesday to tell locals and visitors “Please, no sitting” on one of the Eternal City’s most...

The father of one of the two Bay Area teens accused of killing an Italian police officer has returned home after visiting his son in a Rome jail. He issued a statement Saturday evening.

The family of one of the two California teenagers held in the Rome slaying of a police officer is looking “forward to the truth coming out and our son coming home,” an attorney for the family said Saturday.

Two American teenagers who were classmates at a California high school spent a second night in a Rome jail Saturday after they were interrogated for hours about their alleged roles in the murder of an Italian policeman. Investigators contended in written statements Saturday that the pair had confessed to their roles in the grisly slaying. Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega,...

The American won his semifinal heat in 49.50 seconds — 0.32 seconds better than Phelps’ mark set at the 2009 world meet in Rome at the height of the high-tech suit era.

The mystery of the 1983 disappearance of the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee took yet another twist Saturday following excavations this week at a Vatican City cemetery: The Vatican said it had discovered two sets of bones under a stone manhole that will be formally opened next week. The Vatican on Thursday had pried open the tombs of two...

Multiple protesters dropped to the ground on San Francisco’s Market Street Sunday morning, halting the city’s world-famous Pride parade for about one hour as they spoke out against police and corporations being involved in Pride festivities.

Despite the consensual nature of Engelhardt’s relationship with Father Robert Dreisbach, she frequently referred to those days as “hell.” She didn’t reveal to her son the true identity of his father until he was 8 years old.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI has published an analysis on the Catholic Church’s clergy sex abuse scandal, blaming it on the sexual revolution of the 1960s and church laws that protected priests. The essay immediately raised eyebrows, seeming to interfere with or even contradict Pope Francis’ own efforts to confront one of the most critical issues facing the church. One church...

George Clooney is calling for the boycott of nine hotels in the U.S. and Europe with ties to the sultan of Brunei, which next month will implement Islamic criminal laws to punish gay sex by stoning offenders to death.

Two young children were found locked in a dog kennel near Rhome, the Wise County Sheriff’s Office said according to the Wise County Messenger.

The Vatican blocked U.S. bishops from taking measures to address the clergy sex abuse scandal because U.S. church leaders failed to sufficiently consult with the Holy See beforehand about legally problematic proposals, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.