World News
Pope tells parents to be mindful of children’s suffering
The deep hurts that spouses inflict on each other cause great suffering to their children and, in some cases, lead to a separation that is "morally necessary" to protect spouses and children from more serious forms of violence, Pope Francis said during his general audience in St. Peter's Square June 24.
Sister Nirmala Joshi, successor to Blessed Teresa, dies at 81
"She indeed carried forward the legacy of Mother Teresa, a legacy of love and service to the poorest of the poor through her nuns all around the world," said Archbishop Thomas D'Souza of Kolkata, where the order's global headquarters is based.
European bishops call on EU to welcome migrants fleeing war, poverty
French, German and Italian bishops have issued formal statements in response to a crisis that has seen more than 100,000 migrants, many of them refugees from wars in Syria and Eritrea, cross into Italy, Greece and Malta from North Africa and Turkey.
European practice on migrants is contradictory, Vatican official says
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi called on European leaders to consider a more farsighted approach to the growing challenge migrants pose to the continent.
Outline for synod on family calls for wide look at trials families face
The working document for this fall's Synod of Bishops on the family called for expanded discussion and pastoral solutions to challenges such as how economic disparity and environmental degradation affect families as well as the impact of infertility, aging and disability.
Synod working document expands scope of family issues, pastoral needs
The working document, intended to guide discussions at the Synod of Bishops on the family in October, included a much wider array of issues affecting the family than were in the final document released after the extraordinary synod last year.
Ukrainians displaced by fighting tell USCCB delegation their concerns
Young Artem is about to turn a year old, but all he has known in his short life is upheaval. He was 3 weeks old when his mother, Iryna, and two siblings had to leave Horlivka, 28 miles from rebel-controlled Donetsk, because of the armed conflict that erupted in eastern Ukraine.
Christians call for justice in demonstration at Galilee church hit by arson
Druze, Muslims and Jews joined thousands of Christians in a demonstration in Galilee three days after an arson attack seriously damaged the Benedictine Church of the Multiplication.
Pope says homilies must give people word of God, not ‘nice conferences’
"Please, do everything to help your brothers -- deacons, priests and bishops -- to give the word of God in homilies, so that it reaches the heart," he told the biblical scholars June 19.
Mexico Supreme Court ruling makes same-sex marriages legal nationwide
The court's decision, published June 19 in the Judicial Weekly journal, said "procreation" was not a purpose for marriage and therefore limiting marriages to heterosexual couples amounted to discrimination against other couples seeking marriage.