World News

Syrian refugees: Aid agencies adapt, begin plans to resettle some

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- With an estimated 6.5 million Syrians -- one-third of the country's population -- displaced from their homes, aid agencies are scrambling to meet needs that go beyond traditional emergency assistance. Many people are crowding into established cities and towns, taxing services like electricity, water and sewage systems, and overcrowding schools.

Priest says ministry in L.A. prepared him for strife-ridden Egypt

CAIRO (CNS) -- A Comboni priest ministering to young people in Cairo refuses attempts by well-meaning colleagues and friends to brand him "a hero." "To be a hero, go to South Central L.A.," he tells them, referencing the 12-years he spent in Los Angeles working with homeless people and juvenile gangs beginning in 1991.

To better evangelize, Pope Francis turns church’s gaze within

Bishops repeatedly cited the threat of militant secularism in a post-Christian West. But in writing "The Gospel of Joy," Pope Francis focused mostly on the shortcomings of the church herself. He pointed out problems that impede the church's mission to "elicit a positive response from all those whom Jesus summons to friendship with him."

Pope says only men can be priests, but women must have voice in church

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Catholic Church is not going to change its position on the inadmissibility of women priests, Pope Francis said, but it does have to stop linking all decision making to ordination and allow women to have a voice in deliberations. In his apostolic exhortation, “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”), […]

Pope frames vision for church outreach at every level

We review the main points of Pope Francis' new 50,000 word blueprint for renewal of the Catholic Church.

Pope: Opposition to abortion isn’t ‘conservative,’ it’s result of faith

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Defending human dignity and protecting society's most vulnerable necessarily means protecting the unborn and defending their right to life, Pope Francis said in his apostolic exhortation, "Evangelii Gaudium" ("The Joy of the Gospel").

Vatican officials say pope’s document provides map for church’s future

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation on sharing the joy of the Gospel is a call to faith-filled optimism, recognizing challenges but knowing that God's love and lordship will prevail, said Archbishop Rino Fisichella, introducing the text to the media.

In document, pope lays out his vision for an evangelical church

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In his first extensive piece of writing as pope, Pope Francis lays out a vision of the Catholic Church dedicated to evangelization in a positive key, with a focus on society's poorest and most vulnerable, including the aged and unborn. "Evangelii Gaudium" ("The Joy of the Gospel"), released by the Vatican Nov. 26, is an apostolic exhortation, one of the most authoritative categories of papal document.

U.N. climate change summit disappoints Catholic delegates

The summit, attended by delegates from 195 nations, failed to foster a "global consensus" or resolve a "disconnection" between U.N.-backed initiatives and national policies, said a representative of a Brussels-based alliance of 17 Catholic aid groups in attendance. The summit failed to achieve steps to limit rising temperatures to an average of two degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

Pope Francis, Russia’s Putin, discuss war in Syria

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Peace in the Middle East, particularly the ongoing war in Syria, topped the agenda Nov. 25 as the pope welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Vatican.