Cameroon's bishops have confirmed that Bishop Jean-Marie Benoît Balla was murdered.
The Council of Cardinals has said it is looking for a "more systematic way" to include laity in choosing bishops.
Approximately half of Christians have left Syria and Iraq since 2011, according to a new report (full text).
Victor Gaetan reports that African refugees are embracing Catholicism in Rome.
Fr Myron Pereira SJ says that in "many" Indian dioceses the laity did not answer the family synod questionnaire because "bishops completed the answers themselves".
