Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice told Breed that "San Francisco’s treatment of places of worship raises serious concerns about religious freedom."

"Pandemics and disasters are like springtime for phony priests," said Rodolfo Soriano-Núñez, a sociologist who studies the Mexican church.

The social unrest and divisions in general Hong Kong society have carried over to the Catholic community, said Cardinal John Tong Hon, who encouraged Catholics instead to follow what Jesus taught in the beatitudes.

The pastoral, which is in English and Spanish, is titled "Transformed by Hope, Let Us Rebuild Our Tomorrow!" and addressed to all the people of the Archdiocese of San Antonio.

A Pew Research Center study released in September shows that teens' religious practice is less than that of their parents. The lessened observance cuts across all denominational lines.

Four Catholic thinkers, including Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, helped unpack some of the thought processes and frameworks that ought to be going on in the mind of Catholic voters as the U.S. approaches the Nov. 3 presidential election.