News/International

South Sudanese policemen and soldiers stand guard along a street following renewed fighting July 10 in Juba. Pope Francis have send a high-ranking cardinal to the war-torn country to urge peace.

Pope sends cardinal to South Sudan to urge peace

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ROME – Pope Francis sent a high-ranking cardinal to South Sudan to urge for a peaceful end to the escalating violence in the country.

Paramedics rush a young woman to a waiting ambulance July 14 as they evacuate victims from the scene where a truck crashed into the crowd during the Bastille Day celebrations in Nice, France. More than 80 people were killed and the death toll was rising.

Pope offers to help, meet families following massacre in Nice

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VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis offered his help to the people of Nice in a surprise phone call following a deadly attack during Bastille Day celebrations, said the head of an association of Italians living in France.

Alec Richardson, Brennan Moore, Adam Salman and Blake Koelz hunt Pokemon stops July 14 around the grounds of Assumption Church in St. Louis.

Churches among those swept up in Pokemon Go craze

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ST. LOUIS – Since its release in the United States July 6, Pokemon Go has quickly become a cultural phenomenon.

Salvadorans carry a photo of Archbishop Oscar Romero and other victims during a 2008 rally in San Salvador to commemorate the 28th anniversary of their deaths. El Salvador's Supreme Court declared the country's amnesty law unconstitutional; human rights defenders say now restorative justice can bring relief to victims.

El Salvador’s amnesty law unconstitutional, nation needs reconciliation, says bishop

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SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – Salvadorans must not overreact to the Supreme Court decision to declare the country's amnesty law unconstitutional, said Auxiliary Bishop Gregorio Rosa Chavez of San Salvador.

Law enforcement personnel gather July 18 near the scene where police officers were shot in Baton Rouge, La. A former Marine dressed in black shot and killed three Baton Rouge law enforcement officers the previous day, less than two weeks after a black man was fatally shot by police here in a confrontation that sparked nightly protests nationwide.

Bishop feels 'deep ache in my heart' after fatal shootings of police

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BATON ROUGE, La. – Baton Rouge Bishop Robert W. Muench renewed a call for a diocesan-wide week of prayer, fasting and reflection after the latest fatal shootings in the city, which this time took the lives of three law enforcement officers.

Retired Bishop John H. Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, is pictured in a 2010 photo. When he was growing up in segregated Baton Rouge, La. the threat of being pulled over by police and arrested for something that even "hinted of going beyond the status quo" was very real, the bishop said in an interview.

Healing racial divides starts with dialogue, black bishops say

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WASHINGTON – The threat of being pulled over by police and arrested for something that even "hinted of going beyond the status quo," was very real to retired Bishop John H. Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, when he was growing up in segregated Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Jesuit Father Anthony Egan, a theologian and lecturer in medical ethics at the Faculty of Health Science at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, speaks at a panel discussion during a July 16 gathering before the International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa.

Church leaders gather before AIDS conference, focus on children, stigma

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa – One-third of HIV-positive children "die before their first birthday, and half before their second birthday," so Catholic groups are advocating for changes in treatment, said Msgr. Robert Vitillo, Caritas Internationalis special adviser on HIV and health.

A man prays in front of a makeshift memorial July 15 in Nice, France, as people pay tribute near the scene where a truck ran into a crowd killing more than 80 people the previous evening.

Pope Francis telephones Nice leaders: ‘What can I do for you?’

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Pope Francis has telephoned leaders of the terror-stricken French city of Nice, asking him what he could do to help in the wake of last week’s gruesome truck attack and promising to meet with the families of the victims as soon as possible.

People attend a July 15 Mass at the Catholic cathedral in Nice, France, to pay tribute to victims of a Bastille Day attack. Pope Francis condemned the July 14 attack, calling it an act of "blind violence."

Pope prays for grieving families following terror attack in France

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VATICAN CITY – Remembering the victims of the tragic terrorist attack in Nice, France, Pope Francis prayed that God may give comfort to grieving families and foil the plans of those who wish to harm others.

Southern Baptist Convention leaders pray together on the stage during the National Call to Prayer for Spiritual Leadership, Revived Churches and Nationwide and Global Awakening during the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday, June 14, in St. Louis.

After recent shootings, white churches take stock on race

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In the wake of a string of racially tinged shootings, majority white churches — even those quiet in past years about racial prejudice — have begun to find their voices.

A "porn kills love" bill board seen in San Francisco in 2015. The anti-porn group Fight the New Drug has been pushing a social media campaign to show the harmful effects of pornography through scientific research.

Organizations combat trend toward moral acceptance of pornography

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WASHINGTON – A recent Gallup poll found that most Americans deem pornography largely unacceptable, but that majority is shrinking.

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