World News
Let me call you ‘brother’: Pope takes ecumenism one step at a time
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The only name Pope Francis wants divided Christians to call each other is "brother" or "sister."
Iraqi Christians brave heat to demand help from United Nations
MANCHESTER, England (CNS) -- Iraqi Christian refugees braved temperatures as high as 122 degrees Fahrenheit to demand that the United Nations intervene to protect them from persecution by Islamist militants.
For some Mideast Catholics, church is anchor of hope amid violence
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNS) -- As the death toll in Gaza surpasses 1,000, violent demonstrations in the West Bank leave dead and wounded, and an entire Christian community is exiled from the Iraqi city of Mosul by Islamic extremists, Christians in the Holy Land find themselves facing harsh realities.
All is lost with war, especially children’s lives, future, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- It's time to stop war, fighting and conflicts, which do nothing but kill and maim, leaving children unexploded ordnance for toys and lives without happiness, Pope Francis said.
German bishops mark WWI anniversary, acknowledge churches share guilt
BERLIN (CNS) -- As the world marks the 100th anniversary of World War I, Germany's Catholic bishops urged efforts to overcome "destructive self-interest" and acknowledged the shared guilt of churches for the conflict, which left 16 million dead.
Like good shepherd, church must seek out, help abused, says survivor
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Just as Jesus commanded pastors to leave their flock to find the lost sheep, the church must set out in search of all those who have been abused by clergy and offer them help, said one abuse survivor.
Resist mafia’s evil, protect environment, pope says in Caserta
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Being Christian is putting God first in one's life, which means having "the courage to say no to evil, violence and exploitation," Pope Francis said, visiting another southern Italian town scarred by mafia crime.
In El Salvador, priests work to fight influence of gangs
TONACATEPEQUE, El Salvador (CNS) -- Gangs once menaced this bedroom community on the outskirts of San Salvador; residents would lock themselves in their homes after dark. The gangs charged residents extortion -- "rent" -- to live in Tonacatepeque and carried out killings in the community -- sometimes attacking residents; other times settling scores among themselves in the streets.
Changes in synod process designed to increase discussion, cardinal says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family will be shorter than a usual synod and will include new rules aimed at helping the bishops really grapple with the issues together, said the general secretary of the synod.
Patriarch decries ‘mass cleansing’ of Mosul by ‘a bed of criminals’
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Syriac Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan, in Washington to meet with federal government representatives and members of Congress, decried the "mass cleansing" of Christians from Mosul, Iraq, by what he called "a bed of criminals."