World News
Syrian refugee crisis has reached ‘tipping point,’ say USCCB officials
"Without more international support, we will find Syrians fleeing extremists being turned away and forced back to danger," said Anastasia Brown, interim executive director for USCCB's Migration and Refugee Services.
With Christians under new attacks by Islamic State, call for help renews
UPDATED - Syria's northeast Hassakeh province is emerging as the new battlefield in the fight against the extremist group. Analysts say the province, which extends into Iraq and Turkey, could become the fault line of a new and lengthy war.
Euthanasia threatens improvements in end-of-life care, experts say
Legalizing euthanasia risks undermining people's access to loving, holistic care as they face the natural end of their life, many experts at a Vatican conference said.
Pope asks theologians, canon lawyers to focus on mercy
Pope Francis asked academics in every discipline of theology -- including moral theology, spirituality and canon law -- to focus on how their area of study "can reflect the centrality of mercy" in the Gospel.
Pope: Mass in vernacular helps people understand God, live the faith
Allowing priests to celebrate Mass in the language of the local congregation rather than in Latin allowed the faithful to understand and be encouraged by the word of God, Pope Francis said.
Pope thanks women as dozens gather in Vatican to share faith stories
On International Women's Day, Pope Francis thanked women, "who in thousands of ways, witness to the Gospel and work in the church."
Investigation of stolen Michelangelo notes underway after ransom demand
A top Vatican official received a ransom demand for the return of Renaissance-era documents by the artist Michelangelo.
Help ‘baptized non-Christians’ return to life of faith, pope says
Catholics need to reach out to Christians who have forgotten or walked away from their faith, Pope Francis told about 7,000 members of the Neocatechumenal Way today in Rome.
Vatican official for U.N. urges all countries to abolish death penalty
The Catholic Church firmly opposes the death penalty and urges all states to move toward its abolition, said the Vatican's permanent observer to United Nations agencies. He cited the teachings of the past three popes.
In Pope Francis, church is reaching the world’s ‘seekers’
An international group of philosophers, sociologists and theologians discussed how to renew the church in a secular age, and many said that is exactly what Pope Francis is doing.