NATION/WORLD

A homeless man who faithfully attended Mass at a church inside Vatican City for decades was buried in a Vatican cemetery after it was discovered he had died and was left unidentified in a hospital morgue.

The Middle East is suffering a "Way of the Cross" that is the greatest tragedy since World War II, Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregoire III Laham said in a Lenten message about suffering.

The flow of people out of Syria has overwhelmed neighboring countries, with grave long-term ramifications for the region, said John Klink, who has spent much of his life with humanitarian agencies.

Two-month-old Gabriel Caicedo is one of 78 children who have been saved by a new medical protocol being used to reverse the effects of the RU-486 abortion regimen in its early stages. The baby is "the light of our life," said his father, Chris Caicedo.

Lebanon has seen around four times as much precipitation as the same period last year. The weather, along with the substandard living conditions, has exposed half a million refugees living in some 600 tented settlements to additional hardship.

Lent is a journey of purification and penance, a movement that should bring one tearfully back to the loving arms of the merciful Father, Pope Francis said at an Ash Wednesday Mass that began with a procession on Rome's Aventine Hill.

The Catholic Church cannot call itself church if it is a "closed caste" where the sick, the wounded and sinners are shunned, Pope Francis told the 20 new cardinals he created.

In a Valentine's Day ceremony to create 20 new cardinals, Pope Francis offered a meditation on Christian love and, especially, what it means for those who guide and minister in the church.

A nationwide measles outbreak that began at an amusement park in Southern California has fostered an ongoing debate about people's social obligation to have themselves and their children vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella and other diseases.

Music is a vital part of the heavily Christian, tiny island of Tonga. Children throughout the Diocese of Phoenix make up half the choir and lead the prayers of the faithful during the monthly Tongan Mass in Tempe.