Pope Benedict opened a global "Year of Faith" as he conducted mass in St. Peter's Square on Thursday, Agence France Presse reports. The Vatican is celebrating the 50th anniversary of a council that changed the face of Catholicism, as it tries to rekindle the religious fervor of the time amid rising secularism.
A Pew Research Center study released Tuesday found that one in five Americans is religiously unaffiliated, including one in three adults under 30.
Read a transcript of the Pope's homily at The National Catholic Register.
