NEW YORK (RNS) Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert will headline the famed Al Smith Dinner to raise funds for Catholic charities. Colbert frequently riffs on his Catholic faith on his show, and here we collect his best Catholic quips.

WASHINGTON (RNS) As the government shutdown enters its second week, some religious groups are starting to feel the pinch, and they're also finding ways to reach out.

(RNS) Further proof that the series’ drama is profoundly religious is the fact that theologically minded people are still fiercely disputing exactly what the ending meant, and what the series -- and its anti-hero, Walter White -- stood for in moral and metaphysical terms.

(RNS) The survey shows that two in three adult Catholics said they agreed with Pope Francis' observation that the church has become too focused on issues such as homosexuality, abortion and contraception.

In a lengthy, wide-ranging interview with journalists from his own Jesuit order, Pope Francis makes a number of stunningly frank comments that are likely to rattle the church and to cement his reputation as a leader more concerned with a pastoral approach than a doctrinal hard line.