Pope Francis urged bishops on Monday to speak their minds without fear about contentious issues like contraception, gays, marriage and divorce at the start of a two-week meeting aimed at making the church's teaching on family matters relevant.

Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan Dolan was quick to issue a statement of support for the parade organizers, accepting their decision -- but some conservatives want the archbishop to withdraw from the event.

Archbishop John Nienstedt announced Tuesday that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is investigating him after allegations of inappropriate behavior surfaced several months ago.

Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee are among more than 70 leaders who have called on San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone to not participate in NOM’s "March for Marriage" on June 19.

Pope Francis is calling for a meeting in October with other Catholic Church officials to discuss the Church’s teachings on hot button issues, including gay marriage, contraception and divorce.

A recent speech given to a group of Charlotte, N.C., high school students against homosexuality, single parenthood and masturbation caused an uproar, sparking a Change.org petition from parents, teachers, students and alumni.

Catholic pontiffs have been outspokenly anti-gay in recent decades. Under Pope Francis, that might be changing -- and for GLTB Catholics, life is already getting better.

Thousands of pages of documents showing how the Archdiocese of Chicago handled the sexual abuse of children by priests will be made public Tuesday, providing the broadest look yet into the details of what the archdiocese knew and did - or didn’t do

The new leader of the nation’s bishops says he will draw on his years as a pastor to guide American bishops as they attempt to shift focus under Pope Francis, who wants more emphasis on compassion than on divisive social issues such as gay marriage.

Pope Francis made international waves for his off-the-cuff homilies with comments how he won’t judge gays. But he’s gotten into some trouble and the Vatican has gone into damage-control mode to clarify, correct or put his comments into context.