Stricter gun laws and new civil society programs are needed to prevent the next mass shooting in the United States, says expert Karen Greenberg.

The surprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI has given rise to speculations that the next pontiff to lead the Catholic Church will hail from the developing world, says expert James P. McCartin.

Peter Steinfels, a prominent Catholic commentator and a former senior religion correspondent for the New York Times, says Pope John Paul II, who died April 2, will be remembered as “a giant historica…