WASHINGTON — The Archbishop of Boston said in an Aug. 10 statement that he has asked the rector of its main archdiocesan St. John Seminary to go on sabbatical leave immediately and is asking for an investigation of allegations made on social media about activities there "directly contrary to the moral standards and requirements of formation for the Catholic priesthood."

MEXICO CITY — The Argentine Senate voted against a bill that would have decriminalized abortion during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. Senators voted 38-31 against the measure early Aug. 9 following a 15-hour debate. The measure had been approved in June by the lower house of Congress.

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Catholic hospitals in Indonesia have sent medical teams to treat hundreds of people injured by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck the tourist island of Lombok near Bali Aug. 5.

NUBA MOUNTAINS, Sudan — The Nuba Mountains region in southern Sudan is a land the world has largely forgotten, except for the Catholic Church, which for more than three decades has stood with the people as they endured hunger, bombing and neglect.

WASHINGTON — Archbishop Theodore McCarrick "will rightly face" a Vatican canonical process regarding sexual abuse allegations against him, but the U.S. Catholic Church must take steps to respond to church leaders' "moral failures of judgment," said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

SYDNEY — Exactly 10 years to the day -- July 18, 2018 -- Ricky Peterson of Kansas City, Kansas, knelt once more at the tomb of St. Mary MacKillop in suburban North Sydney, Australia, this time with a prayer of thanksgiving for the seemingly miraculous event that had changed his life a decade earlier.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has accepted the resignation from the College of Cardinals of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, and has ordered him to maintain "a life of prayer and penance" until a canonical trial examines accusations that he sexually abused minors.

BOSTON — Boston Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley said "a major gap still exists" when it comes to the Catholic Church's policies on sexual abuse and conduct as it pertains, not just to priests, but in cases of accusations against cardinals and bishops. It was a clear reference to recent sex abuse allegations made against Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the retired archbishop of Washington.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The presence in the United States of about 3,000 priests and religious from countries in Africa is a great contribution to the U.S., said Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey.

WASHINGTON — Editorials in national Catholic publications have taken the U.S. Catholic Church to task for its failure to root out all forms of clergy sexual abuse in the light of allegations made by former seminarians against Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington.

ROME (CNS) -- Tweeting with hashtags that translate as "Closed ports" and "Open hearts," Italy's interior minister disputed claims that the Italian government was complicit in leaving a migrant to die in the Mediterranean Sea as she clung to a board from a destroyed fishing boat.

ROME — The "prosperity gospel" that U.S. President Donald Trump and many of his advisers and followers seem to espouse does not promote solidarity for the common good, but sees God as giving his blessings to the rich and punishing the poor, said an influential Jesuit journal.

NAIROBI, Kenya — Catholic bishops in the Central African Republic have distanced themselves from a group that is promising to defend the church and avenge the deaths of priests.

WASHINGTON — Some of migrant children under age 5 separated from their families by the government were reunited with loved ones July 9 with help from Catholic organizations.

NUBA MOUNTAINS, Sudan — While tense relations between religious groups contribute to violence in many parts of the world today, Christians and Muslims in the war-ravaged Nuba Mountains of Sudan say they are getting along just fine.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced July 9 that his nominee for the Supreme Court is Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a federal appeals court judge in Washington and a Catholic who once clerked for retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.

PHILADELPHIA — Sister Hanna Klaus is an OB-GYN, a member of the Medical Mission Sisters and best known as founder of the TeenSTAR adolescent sex education program, which is used around the world.

WASHINGTON — The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged U.S. senators July 6 not to support using the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion as a litmus test for confirming judicial nominees.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has the chance to reshape the Supreme Court by filling the vacancy created by Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement.

MEXICO CITY — The Mexican bishops conference extended congratulations to presidential election winner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who won a landslide victory on an agenda of change and promises to combat corruption and poverty.

SAN JUAN, Texas — In less than 48 hours, a group of Catholic bishops saw the faces of triumph and relief from migrants who had been recently released by immigration authorities, but ended their two-day journey to the border with a more "somber" experience, visiting detained migrant children living temporarily within the walls of a converted Walmart.

VATICAN CITY — A new document driven by a fresh approach taken by the official Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue commission reflects a major development in ecumenism where difference is not cause for suspicion or reproach, but is used as an enriching opportunity for mutual listening, learning and conversion.

WASHINGTON — With House passage of a new five-year farm bill in the rearview mirror and passage of a Senate version looming straight ahead, it's going to take a House-Senate conference committee to reconcile what is turning out to be considerably different versions of the farm bill.

BALTIMORE — While Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Baltimore offered prayers and support for the families and loved ones of five people murdered June 28 at the offices of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, a former longtime sports editor for the newspaper mourned his friends as exceptional journalists who also were good human beings.

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced June 27, the last day of the Supreme Court's current term, that he is retiring July 31.