Pope Francis has considered the possibility of visiting Cuba in September—before or after his trip to the United States—but discussions with Cuban authorities are so preliminary that the idea cannot be considered more than a hypothesis, the Vatican said."Contacts with the Cuban auth

A northwest side native, he was the sixth Cardinal to lead Chicago's 2.3 million Catholics.

The San Francisco Archdiocese said the full-page advertisement in the San Francisco Chronicle April 16 urging Pope Francis to oust San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone over morality clauses and other policies "is a misrepresentation of Catholic teaching."The ad also is "a

What can the U.S. learn from other nations' policies?

The process of arriving at new statutes and bylaws was not always smooth.

Eradicating male and female identities does nothing to solve the problem of unfair or disrespectful treatment based on people's gender, Pope Francis said."Getting rid of the difference is the problem, not the solution," he said April 15 during his general audience (Spanish version