NATION/WORLD

Pope Francis will meet with a group of sex abuse victims for the first time in June, he told reporters May 26.

Memorial Day, the traditional kickoff of summer marked by family getaways, cookouts, picnics and parades, also includes somber events the day was created for such as wreath-laying ceremonies, prayer services and visits to war memorials. A few miles from the major war memorials, two Vietnam veterans at the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home, planned to mark the holiday without any fanfare.

Pope Francis invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres to pray together at the Vatican for peace between their nations.

A long line of cars trailed down the road next to the Church of the Nativity as Franciscan Father Ibrahim Faltas helped coordinate the placement of the electricity generator for the May 25 papal Mass.

Christine Accurso said she made the trip of a lifetime in traveling to Rome for the April 27 canonization of St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II.

Religious groups in Nigeria's northeastern Borno state have organized prayer sessions and other activities to support the rescue of kidnapped schoolgirls. Groups had increased their prayers after about 200 villagers were killed in the state earlier in the week.

Christianity is not a school of ideas or a collection of beautiful temples and lovely art; it is a living people who follow Jesus and give witness to him every day, Pope Francis said.

Receive Communion every Sunday and read the Gospel every day to keep discouragement and the blues away, Pope Francis said.

Catholic politicians and judges who support laws in conflict with church teaching on abortion, euthanasia, marriage and related issues commit "sacrilege" and cause "grave scandal" if they receive Communion, said the U.S. cardinal who heads the Vatican's highest court.

The united front of President Barack Obama and advocates for comprehensive immigration reform has tarnished and taken on an increasingly bitter tinge over deportations.