World News
Church must listen to women, pope says
Women can be appointed heads of some offices of the Roman Curia, Pope Francis said, but more important, they must be listened to. He also spoke off the cuff about lay people as spiritual directors.
Faith is expressed in charity, unity, pope says at canonization Mass
The new saints, proclaimed during a Mass May 17 in St. Peter's Square, included two Palestinians -- Sts. Marie-Alphonsine, founder of the Rosary Sisters, and Mary of Jesus Crucified, a Melkite Carmelite -- as well as French St. Jeanne Emilie de Villeneuve and Italian St. Maria Cristina Brando.
As violence spirals, Salvadorans look to Archbishop Romero as example
If there's a place in need of salvation at this moment, it's this country named after Jesus Christ. Even as it gets ready to mark one of the biggest events in its history -- the May 23 beatification of slain archbishop Oscar Romero -- El Salvador, which in Spanish means "the savior," is in the midst of one of its most violent periods.
New Palestinian saints promoted women, encouraged peace, priest says
Two Palestinian nuns, among the four nuns Pope Francis will canonize May 17, were instrumental in promoting women in the Arab world and working for interreligious dialogue toward peace, said a Jordanian priest.
Church workers reach out to quake victims in remote Himalayan villages
"Sir, because of luck, we all survived. But, we may die of hunger," Mithuram Pariyar said when a church relief team arrived after a four-hour drive from Kathmandu.
Families are first victims of violence and poverty, pope says
Wherever there is conflict or poverty, families are the first victims. But the family is also the best place for teaching peace, Pope Francis told African bishops.
Pope gives coaches game plan for building team spirit, ethical players
The pope's message was presented to participants -- including a local woman from Neumann University -- at an international seminar on the role of coaches as educators.
Exhaustion, no hope: Bishop says life in Syria needs ‘attitude of faith’
Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo, Syria, and his people are exhausted. The bishop, who is president of the church's charitable agency, Caritas Syria, left the country for a few days to attend the general assembly of Caritas Internationalis in Rome May 12-17.
Help us ‘go back home,’ displaced Iraqi sister urges U.S. Congress
"We want nothing more than to go back to our lives; we want nothing more than to go home," Sister Diana, a Dominican Sister of St. Catherine of Siena of Mosul, Iraq, told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Israel downplays media flurry over Vatican agreement with Palestine
On May 14, the day after the announcement at the Vatican, the news did not make the front page of morning papers. No official statement had been released from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, although officials told journalists on the condition they not be named that Israel was "disappointed" by the terminology used.