An unprecedented global canvassing of Catholics has called for the church to take concrete steps to promote women to decision-making roles, for a "radical inclusion" of the LGBTQ+ community and for new accountability measures to check how bishops exercise authority.

The Vatican on Tuesday released the synthesis of a two-year consultation process, publishing a working document that will form the basis of discussion for a big meeting of bishops and laypeople in October. The synod, as it is known, is a key priority of Pope Francis, reflecting his vision of a church that is more about the faithful rank-and-file than its priests.

The phone has been ringing nonstop for a year. Linda Prine, a New York doctor, repeats her advice on a loop: "Make sure you're drinking plenty of fluids;" "Take some ibuprofen;" "Everything's fine, you can relax."

The Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline, which Prine co-founded, is now staffed by around 70 health care professionals on a voluntary rotational basis, providing advice and fielding questions from American women seeking to end their pregnancies.

Writer Salman Rushdie has been awarded a prestigious German prize for his literary work and for his resolve and positive attitude in the face of constant danger, the prize organizers said Monday.

The Peace Prize of the German Book Trade said the British-American author would receive the award in Frankfurt on Oct. 22.

French President Emmanuel Macron has created a brouhaha in France after being filmed downing a bottle of beer with Toulouse's rugby players after they clinched the domestic league title at the weekend.

Video has emerged on French TV channels and on social media showing the president being handed a bottle of Corona in the Toulouse changing room after the end of the game at the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday, which Macron watched from the VIP enclosure.

Interpol has issued an international warrant for a Lebanese man suspected of trafficking stolen antiquities, weeks after he was questioned in Lebanon, judicial officials said.

The Red Notice was unsealed 10 months after a criminal court in New York issued an arrest warrant for Georges Lotfi, 82, charging him with criminal possession of stolen property as well as possessing looted artifacts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, is a "disgrace" to people of his faith.

The new blockbuster movie "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" was abruptly removed from cinema listings in more than a dozen Muslim-majority countries without explanation, apparently over the inclusion of a blink-and-you-miss-it transgender poster in the background of one frame.

Empire Entertainment, the Middle East distributor for the computer-animated Sony Pictures film, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Pope Francis on Friday was discharged from the Rome hospital where he had abdominal surgery nine days earlier to repair a hernia and remove painful scarring, with his surgeon saying the pontiff is now "better than before" the hospitalization.

Francis, 86, left through Gemelli Polyclinic's main exit in a wheelchair, smiling and waving and saying "thanks" to a crowd of well-wishers, then stood up so he could get into the small Vatican car awaiting him. In the brief distance before he could reach the white Fiat 500, reporters thrust microphones practically at his face, and the pontiff seemed to bat them away, good-naturedly.

Two women were detained in Stockholm after they threw "some kind of paint" at a painting by French artist Claude Monet and then glued themselves to the frame, Sweden's National Museum said Wednesday.

The painting, "The Artist's Garden at Giverny," was on display as part of an exhibition at the museum. Spokesperson Hanna Tottmar said artwork was encased in glass and "is now being examined by the museum's conservators to see if any damage has occurred."

Pope Francis and a leading Sunni imam have made calls for peace as the U.N. Security Council met to discuss the importance of "human fraternity" and condemn the hatreds that kindle conflicts.

The pope, who is in hospital recovering from abdominal surgery, sent a statement saying that a third world war is being fought "piecemeal" and with the potentially catastrophic effects of nuclear weapons "the time has come to say an emphatic 'no' to war."