PARIS – The prosecutor in a French trial involving the Church of Scientology has asked that the group be banned in France and handed a hefty fine if convicted on fraud and other charges. The persecutor’s office has asked that fines of €2 million ($2.77 million) be levied against the group and its French bookstore,…

NEW ORLEANS — Conventional wisdom holds that history requires years to render judgment on leaders, but this much is sure of New Orleans Archbishop Alfred Hughes: The two greatest catastrophes ever to befall the Catholic Church in New Orleans both detonated on his short watch. Hughes’ seven-year tenure opened with the firestorm of a national…

(RNS) Pregnant women who are Jehovah’s Witnesses are six times more likely to die during childbirth and three times more likely to have serious complications than the general population, according to a new study by Dutch researchers. All of the cases of death examined by the researchers were caused by major obstetric hemorrhage, according to…

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Justice Department has moved to dismiss the first gay marriage case filed in federal court, saying it is not the right venue to tackle legal questions raised by a couple already married in California. The motion, filed late Thursday, argued that the case of Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer does…

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