World News
Iraqi priests sanctioned for seeking asylum without superiors’ consent
Twelve Chaldean religious men and priests living in the United States, Canada, Australia and Sweden have been suspended from exercising their priestly ministry for not receiving permission from their superiors before emigrating from Iraq.
Pope Francis: Abolish death penalty and life imprisonment
Pope Francis called for abolition of the death penalty as well as life imprisonment -- calling it a "hidden death penalty" -- and denounced what he called a "penal populism" that promises to solve society's problems by punishing crime instead of pursuing social justice.
Amid insurgency, Iraqi priest is guardian angel of ancient manuscripts
Just as the so-called Monuments Men salvaged European masterpieces stolen by Nazi forces during World War II, a Dominican priest is protecting priceless manuscripts from falling into the hands of rampaging militants in northern Iraq.
As elections approach, Catholic leaders say they see a new Ukraine
The task of the Catholic Church is not only to teach people how to pray, but how to live authentically Christian lives, two leaders of the Ukrainian Catholic Church said.
Libya church pledges to continue mission despite new fighting
Catholic clergy in eastern Libya vowed to continue ministering to local church members despite an upsurge in fighting around the provincial capital of Benghazi.
U.N. nuncio decries growing violence against children around world
Millions of the world's children today are victims of armed conflict, pornography and sexual trafficking, and still more "are denied the most fundamental right to life," said the Vatican's nuncio to the United Nations.
Pakistani Catholic: Church to appeal death penalty for blasphemy charge
Catholic leaders in Pakistan will appeal to their country's Supreme Court after a lower court upheld the death penalty for a blasphemy ruling against a Christian mother of five children.
Winter temperatures challenge displaced Ukrainians, Caritas response
The Ukrainian capital enjoyed an Indian summer in early October, but the temperatures dropped dramatically in the middle of the month, making residents gasp and catching displaced people completely unprepared.
Family synod came to ‘real consensus,’ Cardinal Wuerl says
"The pope at the very beginning said speak with clarity and charity and listen with humility, and that's what happened," Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington said about the Oct. 5-19 Synod of Bishops on the family. He called its final report "a consensus document."
Family synod’s dynamics recalled Vatican II
In both the recent synod of bishops and the Second Vatican Council, a charismatic pope called an assembly early in his pontificate seeking to preach the Gospel in terms of contemporary culture and apply Catholic teaching with mercy.