World News
Dozens of Christians feared to be among 230 kidnapped in Syria
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Syria-based activist Bebars al-Talawy said they have no information where militants took their captives after overrunning the heavily populated town of Qaryatain. Al-Talawy put the number of Christians abducted at 60.
Pope recognizes martyrdom of Syriac Catholic bishop killed in 1915
Signing the decree recognizing the martyrdom of Syriac Bishop Flavien-Michel Malke clears the way for his beatification. Pope Francis signed the decree Aug. 8.
Pope marks Hiroshima anniversary by calling for nuclear weapons ban
Seventy years after the Aug. 6, 1945, bombing of Hiroshima and the bombing of Nagasaki three days later, "this tragic event still gives rise to horror and revulsion," the pope said Aug. 9 after reciting the Angelus with visitors gathered in St. Peter's Square.
Pope designates Sept. 1 as World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation
The day of prayer, the pope said, will give individuals and communities an opportunity to implore God's help in protecting creation and an opportunity to ask God's forgiveness "for sins committed against the world in which we live."
Pope talks to youths about discernment, grandparents, Eucharist
Following Jesus and doing the right thing gives believers a sense of peace, but sometimes "it comes wrapped in the cross," Pope Francis told a group of teenagers and young adults.
In Japan, U.S. bishop says USCCB will push for nuclear disarmament
"It's important for an American delegation to be here with the Japanese in this moment, because we celebrate the efforts they have made for peace, and we stand in solidarity with them."
French, British bishops urge solution to migrant crisis in channel port
"These men and women crowded together in no man's land around the city of Calais, waiting to cross secretly to England, are not murderers or terrorists. They're often young and have risked everything for months to find a better life far from the conflicts and persecutions of their home-countries," said Bishop Marc Stenger.
In message to Iraqi refugees, pope condemns world’s silence
One year after Islamic State militants drove out thousands of Iraqi Christians and Yezidis, Pope Francis prayed "the international community would not stand by mute and unresponsive."
Divorced and remarried are not excommunicated, pope says at audience
At his last audience, June 24, he talked about the damage caused especially to children when couples fight and hurt each other. "Today," he said, "I want to draw our attention to another reality: how to care for those who, after the irreversible failure of the matrimonial bond, have undertaken a new union."
Missionaries of Charity care for the dying in Nepal’s holiest temple
The sisters are joined in their work to feed and bathe the dying elderly in Kathmandu by local volunteers, including Hindus. The sisters "bring joy here and inspire many."