VATICAN CITY – The Catholic Church is not a fancy medical clinic for the rich, but a "field hospital" that – often literally – provides the only medical care some people will ever receive, Pope Francis said.

WARSAW, Poland - Ukrainian church leaders condemned plans to permit same-sex partnerships under a series of constitutional reforms.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Anti-gay activists, including conservative clerics, traditional elders and politicians, are threatening to resist any push by U.S. President Barack Obama for gay rights during his Kenya visit this week, with tactics that range from throwing rotten eggs to marching naked and boycotting his speeches.

OTTAWA - On July 20, 2005 same-sex marriage became legal in Canada. Ten years later, Canada has experienced a steady erosion of religious freedom and conscience rights, undergone negative changes in sex education and parental rights, while also seeing a shift in the rights of children, according to several observers.

WASHINGTON - The questions raised by U.S. Supreme Court justices as they considered April 28 whether they should rule that same-sex marriage should be made legal nationwide covered a gamut of rights concerns — religious, equal protection, states' ability to enact their own laws.

ItöÏÓãÊÓƵapp interesting how often the media picks up on bad news about religion — in particular, news about Catholic schools — and judiciously avoids some of the positive news from around the country.  

Right and wrong are not black and white for Canadians. ThereöÏÓãÊÓƵapp at least 50 shades of grey in the answers Canadians gave the non-profit Angus Reid Institute to questions about morality and ethics.

TORONTO - Some doctor, somewhere in Ontario, is heading for court. The only question is how and when, according to Catholic Civil Rights League president Phil Horgan.

OTTAWA - Doctors’ conscience rights are threatened by a proposed policy of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) that may force them to refer patients for morally problematic procedures, warn some physicians’ organizations.