World News

‘I don’t see, I don’t hear’: Mexican bishop on working with crime bosses

Retired Bishop Salvador Rangel Mendoza spoke of how he worked for years with the drug cartel leaders and farmers in his diocese, achieving a measure of peace and ample criticism.

German bishop responds to letter criticizing Synodal Path

After more than 70 bishops worldwide expressed several concerns, Bishop Georg Bätzing said the German church's process "in no way undermines the authority" of the universal church or Pope Francis.

Ukrainian Marine to pope: Mariupol ‘what hell on earth looks like’

"The time has come when prayers are not enough," wrote Major Serhiy Volyna in an April 18 plea to Pope Francis for aid to the besieged city, where "the wounded die every day because there is no medicine, no water, no food."

Risen Christ brings peace to broken world, pope says at Easter Vigil

Pope Francis urged those at Mass in St. Peter's Basilica to bring the joy of the risen Jesus "into our everyday lives: through gestures of peace in these days marked by the horrors of war (and) through acts of reconciliation amid broken relationships."

Christ’s resurrection brings hope amid ‘Easter of war,’ pope says

Pope Francis spoke to 100,000 people in Rome as he offered an Easter blessing for the world. Earlier, he celebrated Mass for 55,000, but substituted a period of silent prayer for his homily.

Ukrainian, Russian women hold cross together at Rome’s Via Crucis

While a controversial prayer was changed for the Good Friday service led by Pope Francis and attended by 10,000, the two women, who are friends, participated.

Pope says ‘forces of evil’ are at work in Ukraine war

Jewish, Muslim, Anglican, Orthodox, Catholic, Buddhist and Hindu leaders met in a Ukrainian city where a message by Pope Francis urged peace efforts amid "abominable" attacks on innocent people and widescale destruction by Russian forces.

Ukrainians ask Vatican to reconsider Good Friday service

The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church asked Pope Francis to scrap plans to have a Ukrainian woman and a Russian woman carry the cross together during the pope's Way of the Cross service in Rome April 15.

German bishops counter Catholic youth on abortion advertising

Germany's Catholic bishops opposed the Federation of German Catholic Youth's call to end the country's ban advertisements for abortion. Germany’s new coalition government favors abolishing the ban.

‘Let an Easter truce begin’ in Ukraine, pope says

"What kind of victory will it be to plant a flag on a pile of rubble?" Pope Francis said on Palm Sunday, April 10. Without specifically naming the war in Ukraine, he said Jesus invites humanity to break the vicious cycle of evil.