Pope Benedict XVI has “taken extraordinary leadership” on a host of issues that could form the basis for additional U.S.-Vatican cooperation, President Obama told religion writers at the White House earlier today. Obama and the pope are scheduled to meet July 10.

Commentary July 10, Pope Benedict XVI will receive President Obama at the Vatican. That kind of reception is no small honor for anyone and surely a symbol of dialogue and listening at the highest level of Vatican diplomacy. So will U.S bishops who denounced Notre Dame University of host the president denounce the Vatican, too? And if not, what is that saying?

WASHINGTON -- As they work with lawmakers this summer to help craft health care reform legislation, Catholic health ministry leaders say they will push for measures that will sustain principles of human dignity and justice, and extend coverage to the nation’s poor and vulnerable.

The general who overthrew the democratically elected president of Honduras on Sunday is a two-time graduate of the U.S. Army School of the Americas, an institution that has trained hundreds of coup leaders and human rights abusers in Latin America.

Mission Management Unemployment is difficult. For many, it's downright tragic. But at least when the hammer falls there's the guarantee of a half year's worth of benefits through the government's unemployment compensation system. Unless you work for the church.

The Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences is sponsoring a May 15-19 "study week" in Rome on genetically modified organisms. The meeting brings together roughly 40 scientists and activists, the vast majority of whom agree that opposition to GMOs is costing lives and standing in the way of a second "Green Revolution" in the developing world.

The U.S. food supply is controlled now by a handful of corporations that put profit ahead of food safety, the livelihood of farmers, the safety of workers and the environment, according to a new documentary, “Food, Inc.” The film investigates the unintended consequences and hidden costs of our current system of producing food.

Commentary The reality of the systemic abuse in church institutions reveals a deep disdain for the very people the church has pledged to serve. There is something radically wrong with the institutional Catholic Church. This is painfully obvious. Moreover, the church cannot and will not fix itself.

In the taxi taking my wife and me to the airport in San José, Costa Rica, I noticed a magnetized icon on the dashboard. It turned out to be La Negrita, the local nickname for the beloved Virgin Mary. If it had been Argentina, she would have been named the Virgin of Lujan, that country’s patron saint; if Mexico, Our Lady of Guadalupe, “Patroness of the Americas.” Shrines to Mary are found all over the globe. There are no shrines to God the Father. Why do Catholics love Mary so much more than they love God?

June 20 marked World Refugee Day. As an expression of solidarity with Africa, which hosts the most of the world’s refugees and which traditionally has shown them great generosity, the United Nations General Assembly in 2000 adopted a resolution establishing the commemorative day.

The Catholic conversation in the public square has undergone a significant change during the past two years and with the help of some unlikely participants. The first of those would be the new president, who has drawn significant fire from certain episcopal quarters and another would be the Vatican, which has been playing against type. A third set of players is high profile neoconservative Catholics in the United States.