Pope Benedict XVI has received a warm welcome in Brazil, the world's largest Catholic-majority nation. But President Lula says decriminalizing abortion is a healthcare necessity and that one moral stance cannot be imposed on all.

The United States congress has linked federal minimum wage legislation to the bill for the Iraq war - and a number of faith and labour leaders are upset about it, including the head of the ecumenical council.

The Vatican has issued a censure against Jon Sobrino, a founding figure of liberation theology – the movement which argues that the church should be on the side of the poor and downtrodden

Churches in Latin America are engaging positively with Pentecostals, but not back-peddling on social justice

Defying perceptions of widening division between the two faiths, Muslims have joined an Indian sit-in organized by Christians.

The heads of five American Christian denominations have sent a joint letter to all members of the new Democrat-majority US Congress, calling for a compassionate and just federal budget in 2008.

Tackling poverty and witnessing to the Gospel message are among the first shared concerns of the newly constituted Christian Churches Together in the USA, a pan-church body which celebrated its official launch in Pasadena, California, at a 6-9 February 2007 gathering.