Reuters

• Italian missionary priest kidnapped in Niger

  There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the kidnapping, which was confirmed on Tuesday by the Nigerien and Italian governments.

• Russia's Orthodox Church freezes ties with Constantinople over Ukraine spat

  Ukraine's pro-Western political leaders have sought step by step to take the former Soviet republic out of Moscow's orbit.

• Pope Francis expels Chilean priest accused of child sex abuse

  Pope Francis on Saturday expelled a Chilean priest under investigation in a case involving the sexual abuse of children.

• Pope tells the Mafia to repent

  Pope Francis appealed to Sicily's Mafia on Saturday to abandon a life of crime and violence, saying the island needed "men and women of love, not men and women 'of honor,'" using the term mobsters apply to themselves.

• Indian nuns demand justice for sister allegedly assaulted by bishop

  A group of Indian Catholic nuns are staging a rare street protest in the southern state of Kerala demanding justice after an alleged sexual assault of a nun by a bishop.

• Pope orders inquiry into bishop as US Catholic leaders discuss abuse crisis

  Pope Francis has ordered an investigation of an American bishop accused of sexual misconduct with adults and accepted his resignation, deepening a worldwide clerical abuse scandal.

• Russians in UK spy case say they wanted to see cathedral; Britain calls it 'lies'

  Two Russians resembling men Britain accuses of jetting to England to murder a former spy said on Thursday that they were innocent tourists who had flown to London for fun and visited the city of Salisbury to see its cathedral.

• New study details sexual abuse by German Catholic priests over decades, magazine claims

  Asked about the report, a spokesman for the Bishops' Conference told Reuters: 'We are checking the matter.'

• Slamming the door: How Donald Trump transformed the US refugee programme

  A week after his inauguration, Trump issued an executive order temporarily banning travel from several Muslim-majority countries and halting all refugee admissions.

• Land dispute sees evangelicals, soccer fans fight pitched battle

  A soccer stadium in Peru was the site of pitched battle on Monday, but not between two sports teams.

• Vatican is preparing a response to Vigano accusations of abuse cover-up

  The Vatican is preparing a response to bombshell allegations made by an Italian archbishop who asked Pope Francis to step down.

• Former bishop named as suspect in sex abuse cover-up investigation

  A former Chilean bishop staunchly defended by Pope Francis after being accused of helping to conceal sexual abuse has been named a suspect in two criminal investigations into alleged cover-ups