World News

The church online: Synod calls for virtuous digital outreach

"Log on, but bring your brain, your Bible and your Christian values with you" could summarize one of the Synod of Bishops' messages to Catholics young and old.

People must choose: path toward holiness or nothing, pope says

Saints are not just the well-known men, women and young people on the liturgical calendar, Pope Francis said on the feast of All Saints.

Bible has power to transform lives, pope says

Through God's word, Christians can taste the sweetness of his love like honey and also feel the sharp sting of a sword that purifies them from sin, Pope Francis said.

Australian nun ordered to leave Philippines by Nov. 3

Sister Patricia Fox, Philippine superior of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion, had sought for six months to overturn repeated government decisions to deport her after she was accused of participating in partisan political activities.

In northeastern Kenya, Catholic priest finds, rescues vulnerable children

Father Francis Riwa, 62, has helped street children, orphans and poor nomadic children in the desert region of Kenya. He has founded several Catholic churches and schools in predominantly Muslim northern Kenya, where it has been always rare to find a place of Christian worship.

East Timor government blocks president’s planned visit to Vatican

The government of East Timor, one of Asia's most Catholic countries, is blocking a planned trip by its president to the Vatican, where he plans to invite Pope Francis to visit.

Christians, Hindus can unite to defend poor, marginalized, Vatican says

Members of both faiths have a "moral duty to care for the vulnerable," which is rooted in the belief "that we are all God's creatures and, as a result, brothers and sisters, equal in dignity, with responsibility for one another," Bishop Miguel Ayuso Guixot said.

Pakistan court sets aside death sentence for woman convicted of blasphemy

Pakistan's Supreme Court has set aside the death sentence of Asia Bibi, a Catholic convicted of blasphemy, and ordered her release from prison.

Fidelity is for every vocation, not just marriage, pope says

Married men and women, priests and religious are called to live out their vocation faithfully and follow the "path of love ... from receiving life to the ability to give life," Pope Francis said in a series of talks on the Ten Commandments.

Human bones discovered at Vatican nunciature in Italy

Italian media immediately surmised that the bones could be those of Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican employee who presumably was kidnapped in 1983 at the age of 15. The case has never been solved.