Catholics debate how hard to hit ISIS in Middle East

From scholars to Catholics in the pews, people are discussing whether and how much military force should be used in the Middle East to protect defenseless people from violent Islamic State extremists. (Watch a related video)

Synod ends by affirming tradition, leaving controversial questions open

Ater several days of animated debate over its official midterm report, the Synod of Bishops on the family agreed on a final document more clearly grounded in traditional Catholic teaching. Yet the assembly failed to reach consensus on especially controversial questions of Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried and the pastoral care of homosexuals.

Archbishop Kurtz urges more transparency at next family synod

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, said the October 2015 world Synod of Bishops on the family should return to the practice of previous synods in publishing participants' interventions, for the benefit of their discussions and the information of the outside world.

Bishop says Ebola makes Liberians feel ‘God has forsaken us again’

A Liberian bishop unable to attend the Synod of Bishops on the family has urged his fellow bishops to use their influence to help West African families in their enormous suffering caused by Ebola.

Christians, Hindus must seek ‘culture of inclusion,’ Vatican says

Despite its many positive advancements, globalization also has brought about greater indifference, exploitation and suffering, said the leaders of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

Today’s teaching on the family

See the daily excerpt from the preparatory catechesis for the 2015 World Meeting of Families, “Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive.”

Catholic youths urged to service others, ‘shine brighter and brighter’

Immaculee Ilibagiza, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, told a crowd of more than 6,000 junior high and high school students that if she can forgive the person who killed most of her family in the 1994 massacre, then "anybody can forgive."

Cardinal Pell: Synod says no to ‘secular agenda’

Cardinal George Pell said working-group reports from the Synod of Bishops on the family finally give a true picture of the assembly's views, counteracting what he characterized as a misleading midterm report.

Cardinal says balancing truth, mercy always difficult, always needed

Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna, one of the Catholic Church's best known cardinal-theologians, said the Catholic Church must hold together truth and mercy, even if it is criticized for its attempt.

Speaker talks to teens about virtue of chastity, calls purity ‘a gift’

Research shows that people who get married as virgins have a divorce rate about 70 percent lower than couples who don't wait for marriage to have sex, Jason Evert told a recent gathering of Iowa high school students.