A gunman opened fire at a school festival at St. John Baptist de la Salle Catholic Church in Southern California on Saturday morning wounding at least two people. The suspect was reloading the weapon when festival-goers wrestled him to the ground and held the man until police arrived.

Father Albert Gondek, a Catholic priest from the Diocese of Charlotte returns to ministry after being cleared of misconduct allegations.

A film called "The Golden Compass" opens December 7. It is based on the first book of a trilogy titled His Dark Materials. The author of this children's fantasy is Philip Pullman, a noted English atheist. It is his objective to bash Christianity and promote atheism. To kids. "The Golden Compass" is a film version of the book by that name, and it is being toned down so that Catholics, as well as Protestants, are not enraged.

23 churchmen from all over the world were appointed to the top ranks of the Catholic Church hierarchy by Pope Benedict XVI. He told each prelate that he must be willing to shed his blood for the Christian faith.

More than 250,000 Roman Catholic pilgrims are expected to converge on the shrine of Fatima in Portugal over the next three days for the opening of one of the world's largest churches.

A law legalising abortion in Portugal has come into force, putting the traditionally Catholic country on a par with most European countries that allow the practice. The law will allow pregnant women to abort in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $660 million to 500 victims of sexual abuse dating back as far as the 1940s in the largest compensation deal of its kind, the plaintiffs' lawyers said on Saturday.

Pope Benedict XVI has approved a document released Tuesday that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches.

The Vatican on Saturday made public a letter Pope Benedict wrote to Catholics in China. In the letter, the pope said it is a priority of his papacy to restore diplomatic ties between the Vatican and China. The pope also extended an olive branch to Beijing, saying he hoped to reach an agreement with the officially atheist state, where millions of Catholics pray under a state-controlled church that does not recognize his authority. Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome.

Roman Catholic bishops will discuss the ways of fighting anti-Semitism next year in Vatican. An entire section of a preparatory document released by the Vatican on Friday is devoted to the Church's relationship with Jews, noting the "close associations of the two in faith" and calling for efforts "to overcome every form of anti-Semitism."

Cardinal Egan of Archdiocese of New York Releases Statement on Jesus "Statue" to be displayed at Roger Smith Hotel in Manhattan.

The Vatican Secretary of State in an interview with the French magazine "Le Figaro," has complained about media distortion of Vatican statements. "We face a serious problem," Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone told Le Figaro.