Betty Choate: it is a special privilege [one of those important things that women can do to make worship possible!] to have a private time of worship as I prepare the bread. Would you like the reci...

Pope Francis on Saturday sidelined a powerful American cardinal who has emerged as an unabashed conservative critic of the reform agenda and the leadership style that the Argentine pontiff has brought to the Roman Catholic Church.

In 2008, when the archbishop of the Church of Sweden convened a conference on the threats posed by climate change, the church’s investment managers took notice. The next year, they began removing fossil fuel companies from the church’s financial portfolio — a process that was completed last month with the removal of several natural gas companies.

Pope Francis may soon visit the U.S. to attend the World Meeting of Families. His visit would present a unique opportunity to have a conversation about families that moves past the usual culture war flash points.

As church-going diminishes, church buildings are repurposed, many retaining vital functions.

Pope Francis would absolutely baptize an alien from Mars, if one showed up at the Vatican and asked for it. During his weekly homily on Monday, Franics said that aliens — which he imagines could be "Green, with that long nose and big ears, just like children paint them" — should be baptized just like anyone else who asks for it, because it's not up to any human to decide who should receive the Holy Spirit.

Two popes will become saints this week. On Sunday, Pope Francis will officially add to the Roman Catholic canon the names of two of his recent predecessors: Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII. It would be better if he were not doing so.

Pope Francis said on Friday that he took personal responsibility for the harm done by priests who sexually abused children, and he pledged that the Roman Catholic Church would confront the issue unflinchingly and impose sanctions when necessary. “The church is aware of this damage,” he said. “It is personal moral damage, carried out by men of the church, and we will not take one step backward regarding how we will deal with this problem.

Pope Francis has formally accepted the resignation of a senior German Church leader suspended over his alleged lavish spending. The Vatican made the announcement in a statement on Wednesday. Bishop of Limburg Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst has been accused of spending more than 31m euros (£26m) on renovating his official residence.

The royal commission into child sex abuse has heard that Cardinal George Pell believes the Catholic Church should be able to be sued by victims of abuse. The statement was read by Senior Counsel Gail Furness in her opening address, with Cardinal Pell due to appear at the commission early next week.

Seven women who alleged they were sexually abused as children by former Christian ministry tycoon Tony Alamo were awarded $525 million by an Arkansas judge this week after an Alamo church failed to respond to a lawsuit.

Mater Dei Academy sits shuttered, blue drapes pulled across its windows, atop a hill in this working-class city. From its steps, you can peer across the mist-shrouded expanse of the Meadowlands to the distant spires of Manhattan.

Stan Mitchell talks about writing in the church

THE MINISTRY OF J. RANDAL & VICKI MATHENY WITH BARBARA OLIVER