Pope Benedict XVI canonizes the first Native American saint. Foreign policy takes center stage in presidential debate. The Gender Gap. 

(RNS) Former Sen. George McGovern was a friend to anyone concerned about the issue of hunger and malnutrition in the world, always making hunger a top concern, even when the political winds did not favor that fight as a topical concern. By John McCullough.

NEW ORLEANS (RNS) As pediatricians gathered here for the American Academy of Pediatrics convention, they were greeted by protesters urging the medical group to rethink its position on an issue that makes most people squirm: the circumcision of newborn boys. By John Pope.

NEW YORK (RNS) Switching from jabs to jokes, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney set aside an evening between debates to make fun of themselves and each other during one of the few other campaign rituals that brings the candidates together on stage. By Martha T. Moore. 

(RNS) The Romney-Ryan ticket is the first Republican presidential campaign in history without a Protestant candidate, but that hasn't deterred evangelicals from launching massive get-out-the-vote and registration efforts to help win back the White House. By Jackie Kucinich/USA Today. 

BERKELEY, Calif. (RNS) Without Gerald Heard, the "godfather of New Age," some of the major spiritual developments of 20th-century America might never have happened. And at least one skeptical California newspaperman might never have sobered up. By Kimberly Winston.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) After the screening of a controversial video, Islam has emerged as one of the main themes of a global gathering of Catholic bishops. By Alessandro Speciale.

Cardinal Dolan keeps Mitt Romney and President Obama from having a food fight, Rachel Held Evans doesn't see what all the fuss is about, and another nail in the DOMA coffin. Read all about it in today's Religion News Roundup.

(RNS) The Diocese of South Carolina announced on Wednesday (Oct. 17) that it has disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church, escalating a long-running skirmish and setting the stage to become the fifth diocese to secede from the national church. By Daniel Burke. 

(RNS) Dinesh D’Souza resigned as president of The King’s College Thursday (Oct. 18) amidst a scandal involving the married intellectual’s relationship with a woman who is not his wife.

(RNS) Leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church overwhelmingly passed a statement Tuesday (Oct. 16) calling decisions by two of its U.S. regional groups to approve ordination of women pastors “serious mistakes.” By Adelle M. Banks.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) An American prelate who played a key role in trying to bridge the gap between Rome and U.S. nuns was transferred to Indianapolis only two years after taking up his Vatican post. By Alessandro Speciale.

(RNS) The Knights of Columbus, a wealthy and influential Catholic charitable organization, is a leading funder in efforts to make same-sex marriage illegal in four states that have ballot measures on the issue this fall, according to a coalition of gay rights groups. By David Gibson.

Christian culture warrior Dinesh D'Souza (“2016” documentarian, president of The King’s College) tells Christianity Today that the reports about his marital troubles – getting engaged while not yet divorced, e.g. – are a “vendetta.”