HUMAN AND ANIMAL HEALTH

The Rev. James Martin Editor's Note: The Rev. James Martin is a Jesuit priest, editor at large of America and author of the new novel  "The Abbey." The views expressed in this column belong to Martin. Author Father James Martin (CNN) The Synod on the Family, the gathering of bishops from around the world that just concluded, changed no Catholic doctrine. None. But you wouldn't know that from the fierce reactions the synod evoked. Even the possibility that the church might deal more openly with, for example, divorced and remarried Catholics or the LGBT community, sent some Catholics into a near frenzy. It seemed out of proportion to the synod's discussions as well as the final document, a rather workaday overview of issues related to the family. The final report did not, for example, say that divorced and remarried could return to Communion. Instead it talked about possible avenues of reconciliation that already existed. Nor did it approve...

By DAVID GIBSON Religion News Service Pope Francis smiles as she arrives for the afternoon session of the last day of the Synod of bishops, at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015. Catholic bishops from around the world vote Saturday on a final document to better minister to families following a contentious, three-week summit that exposed deep divisions among prelates over Pope Francis' call for a more merciful and less judgmental church. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) Vatican City • A momentous and divided gathering of global bishops ended Saturday by endorsing ways that could lead to greater participation by divorced and remarried Catholics — a major source of friction here — while the 270 churchmen declined to take up the even more controversial issue of how and whether to be more welcoming to gays. The final document was an obvious compromise intended to gain support from both reformers and hard-liners and achieve as much consensus as possible. The three-week meeti...

By Laura Bernardini, CNN This is week 22 of an ongoing series:  A Catholic Reads the Bible . Read  Week One,   Week Two  and  Week Three . As I read the Book of Nehemiah, I couldn't contain my surprise. The introduction said that there was a section of the book that was a "memoir." But, I didn't anticipate this: All of a sudden, every sentence started with "I" and it was a personal narrative. (Duh, Laura...that is the definition of a memoir.) For the first time in the Bible that I can recall, the "I" speaking isn't God. It was a guy I had never ever heard of before called Nehemiah. He was talking about how his life and role in restoring the walls of Jerusalem. Wait. What? Who was this guy? Why was he talking directly to me? This story came out of nowhere and had me looking at other resources for answers. First, I didn't really know that Ezra and Nehemiah were. And now, Nehemiah -- a name I couldn't spell in m...

  By  NICOLE WINFIELD . View gallery . VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis called Saturday for a Catholic Church that is far more decentralized, where they laity play a greater role, bishops conferences take care of certain problems and even the papacy is rethought. Related Stories Pope encourages Cuba to provide Church with 'freedom'   Reuters How The Catholic Church In America Is Doing On The Eve Of Pope Francis's Visit   Huffington Post Does Pope Francis Have Sharp Words In Store For American Bishops?   Huffington Post Pope Francis, Inequality and Abortion Huffington Post Pope Francis Simplifies Rules on Marriage Annulments   The Wall Street Journal Francis issued the call during a ceremony Saturday to mark the 50th anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops, a consultative body formed during the Second Vatican Council that was intended precisely to encourage more collegiality in the running of ...

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. View gallery . DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP) — Wildlife activists are applauding the arrest by Tanzanian authorities of a Chinese woman for alleged ivory smuggling but caution that it's a small step toward stemming the "slaughter of industrial proportions" of elephants According to the government, Tanzania's elephant population plummeted from an estimated 109,051 in 2009 to 43,330 in 2014. Yang Feng Clan, 66, was charged Wednesday in Dar es Salaam alongside two Tanzanians with smuggling 1.9 tons of ivory between Jan. 1, 2000 and May 22, 2014. Their case was adjourned to Monday. "We are very happy to hear about this arrest since Tanzania has been facing a major catastrophe with the death of 30 elephants per day for several years now," Paula Kahumbu, a top wildlife conservationist, said Friday Tanzania has been largely in denial about the crisis, and anyone reporting on it has been threatened, she said. Kahumbu says she is ...