A document called "Infinite Dignity" details what the Vatican sees as grave violations of dignity. Poverty, war and the abuse of migrants lead the list.
Bishop Rolando Álvarez and the other clergy were jailed more than a year ago, in most cases, as part of a crackdown on the opposition and Catholic Church by President Daniel Ortega.
Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the first cardinal ever prosecuted by the Vatican criminal court, was convicted in a complicated financial trial that aired the Vatican's dirty laundry.
Roman Catholic leaders from around the world are gathering at the Vatican for a synod, or meeting, to address issues facing the church, including whether to allow women to become deacons.
In a letter to conservative cardinals, the pope suggested that such blessings for same-sex unions could be studied if they didn't confuse the blessing with sacramental marriage.
Catholic women's groups that have long criticized the Vatican for treating women as second-class citizens immediately praised the move as historic in the 2,000-year life of the church.
The doctrine, with origins in the 15th century, was invoked as a legal and religious standing by Europeans who "discovered" new lands and violently seized it from people who had been living there.
The leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics has steered his church leftward after more than two decades of conservative leadership. Opposition within the Vatican is fierce.
The Vatican opened a file on the disappearance of a teenage girl months after a new Netflix documentary aired on the case and weeks after her family asked the Italian Parliament to take up the cause.
Pope Francis has revealed in an interview published Sunday that shortly after being elected pontiff in 2013 he wrote a resignation letter in case medical problems impede him from doing his duties.
Pope Francis began a visit to Canada on Sunday to apologize to Indigenous peoples for abuses at residential schools, part of the the Catholic Church's efforts to reconcile with Native communities.
