Catholic Church

Archbishop William E. Lori sat quietly Monday as six men and women stood in court and spoke of surviving violent and sometimes years-long sexual abuse at the hands of priests and staff employed by the Archdiocese of Baltimore. One woman said her abuse began in first grade. Another said a priest routinely threatened her with a gun and once held…

Some men and women abused at the hands of priests told their stories of survival in court Monday as part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s bankruptcy proceedings. The church filed for bankruptcy last fall just days before a Maryland law took effect that allows survivors to sue regardless of when their abuse happened. Investigative Reporter Tracee Wilkins and the News4...

The Vatican has declared that gender-affirming surgeries and surrogacy are grave violations of human dignity.

Pope Francis has rallied from respiratory problems to lead some 60,000 people in Easter celebrations and make a strong appeal for a cease-fire in Gaza and a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine. Francis presided over Easter Sunday Mass in a flower-decked St. Peter’s Square. He then delivered a heartfelt prayer for peace in his annual roundup of global crises,...

Many services on Palm Sunday included prayers for peace amid conflicts around the world. News4’s Derrick Ward reports.

In a court filing, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown pushed back against the Archdiocese of Washington’s motion dismiss a class-action lawsuit filed under the Child Victims Act. Investigative Reporter Tracee Wilkins and the News4 I-Team have been following the legal battle.

In a speech to his diplomatic core on Monday, Pope Francis compared surrogacy to human trafficking and called for a universal ban on the practice. “I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child.”

Pope Francis delivered his annual Christmas Day speech from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to the throngs of people in the piazza below.

The Vatican said Monday that Pope Francis had approved Catholic priests to bestow blessings to people in same-sex relationships.

A Maryland man behind a class action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Washington said the assault he endured as a child by a priest caused decades of substance abuse, shame and depression. “From age 15 until I was 40 … I used alcohol to cope with the pain, but all that did was turn me into an alcoholic,” said the…

Investigative Reporter Tracee Wilkins and the News4 I-Team sat down with a man behind a sex abuse lawsuit that triggered the Archdiocese of Washington to challenge Maryland’s Child Victims Act.

The Archdiocese of Washington is seeking to overturn the Maryland law that allows survivors of child sex abuse to bring forward claims no matter when the abuse happened, the News4 I-Team learned. Depending how courts decide, the Child Victims Act could affect survivors of abuse across the state, and not just those abused in church. The Archdiocese of Baltimore said…

Here are four of the big issues the News4 I-Team and legal experts say they’re watching as the Archdiocese of Baltimore bankruptcy process unfolds.

Here are four of the big issues the News4 I-Team and legal experts say they’re watching as the Archdiocese of Baltimore bankruptcy process unfolds.

Authorities in Mexico say the roof of a church has collapsed in northern Mexico during a Mass, killing at least nine people and injuring about 50.

Because of a procedural change in how the U.S. government processes some green cards, faith communities across the country may lose thousands of leaders and workers.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore announced Friday it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization days before a new state law goes into effect removing the statute of limitations on child sex abuse claims.

A new chance for justice begins this weekend for some sex abuse survivors in Maryland. The Child Victims Act of 2023 takes effect on Oct. 1, lifting the statute of limitations on abuse cases so victims from even decades ago can pursue justice through civil cases.

On Sunday, the Maryland Child Victims Act of 2023 takes effect, lifting the statute of limitations on sex abuse cases so that victims from decades ago can pursue justice through civil cases. Though schools or other groups could be affected, much of the focus is on the Catholic Church, which could face suits from potentially hundreds of victims of abuse...

A Louisiana grand jury has charged a now-91-year-old disgraced priest with sexually assaulting a teenage boy in 1975.