NATION/WORLD

Hell has touched Sydney, but the darkness let loose on a terrorized city cannot overcome the light of Christ, the city's archbishop said at a special Dec. 16 Mass after a lone gunman took 17 people hostage in a cafe, killing two before being shot by police.

Nicole Hockley's message from Newtown, Connecticut, to people at two different venues in the Dubuque area was clear: "Our hearts are broken, but our spirit is not."

The only city officially announced for a September visit by Pope Francis is Philadelphia, but other cities are still making their bid to be part of a papal itinerary.

One of Rome's best-kept secrets is the collection of 100,000 ethnological artifacts housed in a special section of the Vatican Museums.

The October extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family was not the scene of "a clash between factions, but of a debate among bishops," a work that will continue with the 2015 general synod "for the good of families, the church and society," Pope Francis said.

For those who have never been inside any of the Vatican Museums, seeing a documentary about them done with a 3-D effect on the big screen could be a real treat.

Aid to Women Center, whose work surrounds the Arizona State University community, became the 125th member of American Life League's Associate Program.

People are seeking an understanding of why race is such a contentious subject in St. Louis, wanting to get to the "underlying issue" of why it is "so embedded" in its history, said Laura Downing, a student at St. Louis University.

Young Africans are being seduced into modern slavery by the promise of a dream that never comes true, an English cardinal told a conference on human trafficking.

Pope Francis called on world leaders, activists and people of faith to pull together to rid the world of the threat of nuclear weapons.