World News
Tanzanian archbishop calls attention to plight of albino children
TOLEDO, Ohio (CNS) -- Don and Gisela Stiles are on a mission to raise awareness of the plight of albino children who have been targeted in Tanzania by witch doctors for their body parts and subject to mutilation and slaughter in a wave of violent attacks.
Legionaries of Christ to receive Vatican-appointed adviser
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican will name a special "assistant" to advise the leadership of the troubled Legionaries of Christ, whose revised constitutions Pope Francis has still not approved four months after they were submitted to him.
Pope met Franciscan seminarians after order’s seminary closed
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis met privately in early June with seminarians belonging to the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Conception, a religious order placed under the direction of an apostolic commissioner a year earlier.
Even under attack, family shows its importance, Vatican official says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The continuing strength of many traditional families around the world and the longing of many people to have such a family demonstrate that "despite past or even current challenges, the family, in fact, is the fundamental unit of human society," said the Vatican observer to U.N. agencies in Geneva.
Sudanese woman rearrested with family at airport
KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNS) -- Meriam Ibrahim, a Catholic woman originally sentenced to death for marrying a Christian, was released from prison June 23, but apprehended again the next day at the Khartoum airport with her husband, who is a U.S. citizen, and their two children, her lawyer said.
Catholic newspaper cannot say ‘Allah’ in Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (CNS) -- Malaysia's highest court upheld a lower-court ruling that a Catholic newspaper may not use the word "Allah" to refer to God in its Malay-language edition. Doing so would "cause confusion in the community," it said.
Sudanese Catholic woman convicted of apostasy is released from prison
KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNS) -- Meriam Ibrahim, 26, a Catholic woman convicted of apostasy for marrying a Christian, was released from prison June 23, her lawyer said.
Maronite bishops: Mideast turmoil threatens to change regional map
BEIRUT (CNS) -- Maronite Catholic bishops expressed their concern about the war in Syria and Iraq and warned that Lebanon's presidential vacuum poses a dangerous risk to the country, particularly amid the escalating regional turmoil that they said threatens to change the map of the Middle East.
Pope calls torture a ‘very grave sin’
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis called for the abolition of torture, which he condemned as a "very grave sin."
Pope condemns mafia, says members are excommunicated
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In the stronghold of an Italian crime syndicate believed to be richer and more powerful than the Sicilian Mafia, Pope Francis said, "Those who follow the path of evil, like the mafiosi do, are not in communion with God; they are excommunicated!"