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On November 4, the Supreme Court seemed likely to side with a Catholic social services agency in a dispute with the city of Philadelphia over the agency’s refusal to work with same-sex couples as foster parents.

The case is a big test of religious rights on a more conservative court.

Catholic Social Services, which is affiliated with the Archdiocese of Phila­del­phia, says its religious views keep it from certifying same-sex couples as foster parents. And it says it shouldn’t be shut out of a contract with the city to find foster homes for children. Philadelphia says

In mid-October, questions swirled about the origins of Pope Francis’s bombshell comments endorsing same-sex civil unions, with all evidence suggesting he made them in a 2019 interview that was never broadcast in its entirety.

The Vatican refused to comment on whether it cut the remarks from its own broadcast or if the Mexican broadcaster that conducted the interview did. And it didn’t respond to questions about why it allowed the comments to be aired now in the documentary Francesco, which premiered on October 21 at the Rome Film Festival.