World News
Chileans must address root causes of violent protests, bishops say
UPDATED - The demonstrations came after the government announced a 10% increase in electricity rates and a transit fare hike equivalent to about $0.04. Though apparently small, the fare increase triggered a reaction to growing inequality.
They come at night: Syrians flee to Iraq as cease-fire set to expire
Humanitarians expressed concern over the situation of Syrian civilians displaced by the Turkish invasion of northeastern Syria. As the cease-fire there is about to expire, they are seeing increasing numbers of refugees fleeing into Iraq while others are trapped inside the country.
‘We are all responsible’: Bishop urges lifestyle change to protect Amazon
Solutions to environmental problems discussed at the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon must involve not just Amazonian nations, but countries in Europe and North America, bishops said.
Focus more on peace, not power-sharing, say South Sudan bishops
South Sudan's war, which broke out two years after the country achieved independence in 2011, has left nearly 400,000 dead and displaced nearly 4 million people.
Cardinal talks about listening at the synod, being loyal to the pope
Cardinal Christoph Schonborn said that as a European member of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, his first task is to listen and his second task is to examine ways his lifestyle and that of his community contribute to the suffering of the Amazonian people.
Judgment Day: New book claims Vatican close to financial ruin
An Italian author who was once tried and acquitted by a Vatican court for publishing leaked documents is claiming in a new book that decades of mismanagement, shady deals and decreasing donations will leave the Vatican no choice but to default.
‘Loving neighbor as yourself implies caring for earth,’ theologian says
The Synod of Bishops for the Amazon is calling Catholics to an ecological conversion in their personal lives and in the church throughout the world, a theologian participating in the synod said.
Historian works to reconstruct Canadian saint’s face from a mortuary mask
The death mask of St. Mary of the Incarnation was found a few decades ago in the attic of the monastery of the Ursulines in Old Quebec. The order's oral tradition relates it to its founder.
Thieves steal statues used at synod prayer, throw them in the river
UPDATED - Two men entered a Catholic Church near the Vatican early Oct. 21 and stole copies of a statue of a pregnant woman that had been a centerpiece of several prayer services connected to the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon.
Christians, Hindus must show world peace is possible, official says
The president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue issues a message to Hindus each year for the feast of Diwali, a three-day religious festival focusing on the victory of truth over lies, light over darkness, life over death and good over evil.