ROME -- The president of Focolare has accepted the resignations of the lay movement's top leaders in France and announced the group will ask an independent committee to investigate how allegations of the sexual abuse of minors have been handled.

TORONTO - The Toronto Focolare organization and its friends want to confront divisions within politics with ideals of unity and communion.

FRASCATI, Italy - Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement, "lit a new light in the Church's journey toward unity," Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY - The sainthood cause of the founder of the Focolare movement, Chiara Lubich, was to open officially Jan. 27 in the cathedral of the Italian Diocese of Frascati, which includes the town where the international lay movement is based.