News/International

Covering nude statues in Rome for Iran head draws Catholic leader’s scorn

Covering nude statues in Rome for Iran head draws Catholic leader’s scorn

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ROME - Controversy over Italy’s decision to cover nude statues during the visit of Iran’s president continued to spark debate as the leader of the Syrian Catholic Church criticized the episode, saying it pains persecuted Christians in Syria who feel forgotten.

People are silhouetted against the Cologne Cathedral in Germany Jan. 25. Catholic bishops in Germany and Austria urged their countries to continue accepting refugees, despite demands for new restrictions after New Year's Eve violence in Cologne and other cities.

Germany, Austrian bishops say keep doors open to refugees

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BERLIN - Catholic bishops in Germany and Austria have urged their countries to continue accepting refugees, despite demands for new restrictions after New Year's Eve violence in Cologne and other cities.

A man comforts David Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress, during a prayer and protest rally outside of the new Planned Parenthood building in Washington Jan. 21, the day before the annual March For Life. Daleiden's organization is being sued by the National Abortion Federation over a series of undercover videos on Planned Parenthood.

Pro-life law firm defends California centre in Planned Parenthood suit

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LOS ANGELES - A Chicago-based law firm known for supporting pro-life causes will defend the Centre for Medical Progress in a federal racketeering lawsuit filed Jan. 14 by Planned Parenthood against the centre.

U.N. peacekeepers patrol the street leading

Bishop warns Lord’s Resistance Army re-emerging in Central African Republic

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A senior Roman Catholic bishop in the Central African Republic is warning that the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel force that killed more than 100,000 people in northern Uganda in the 1980s and ’90s, is rising up again in his country.

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, speaks alongside Sheik Abdallah Bin Bayyah during the Marrakesh conference on the rights of religious minorities in the Muslim world, in Morocco Jan. 27.

Muslim leaders reiterate support for minority rights in Islamic nations

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MARRAKESH, Morocco - Muslim leaders from around the world adopted a declaration defending the rights of religious minorities in predominantly Muslim countries.

This 2009 photo shows the remains of St. Elijah Monastery in Mosul, Iraq. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the recent destruction of Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery after a preservation effort was mounted to save the 1,400- year-old site.

Priest laments destruction of Iraq's oldest Christian monastery

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AMMAN, Jordan - Catholic clergy lamented the destruction of Iraq's oldest Christian monastery, St. Elijah, and urged the international community to do more to stop such assaults.

A masked, black-clad militant, identified as a Briton named Mohammed Emwazi, brandishes a knife in this still image from a 2014 video. Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster planned to tell delegates at a London conference Jan. 28 to guard against the Internet recruitment of vulnerable secondary school students by the Islamic State group.

English cardinal warns teachers against Islamic State recruitment

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MANCHESTER, England - It can take just one month to turn a disenfranchised teenage Catholic student into fanatical Islamic terrorist, an English cardinal planned to warn Catholic teachers.

A man prays with others during a candlelight vigil in Nairobi, Kenya, Jan. 21 for soldiers killed while serving in the African Union Mission in Somalia. More than 100 Kenyan soldiers are believed to have lost their lives during a Jan. 15 attack by Somalia-based militant Islamist group Al-Shabab at El Added, a camp inside Somalia.

Kenyan bishops pray for families of soldiers killed in al-Shabab attack

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NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenya's bishops offered condolences to military families "who lost their loved ones" during an al-Shabab attack on Kenyan soldiers stationed in Somalia.

St. Basil’s Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow, which is now a museum.

Russian pressure forces historic Orthodox summit to meet in Crete

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PARIS - The first major council of the world’s Eastern Orthodox churches in over 1,200 years will take place in Crete after the influential Russian Orthodox Church said political tensions between Moscow and Ankara ruled out holding it in Turkey.

Imam Mohamed Magid is the executive imam of America’s second-largest mosque and received a medal earlier this year from the king of Morocco for his role in restoring historic Jewish cemeteries in Morocco.

Muslim leaders plan summit on protecting non-Muslims in their midst

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Hundreds of Muslim scholars will meet in Morocco next week to reassert the rights of non-Muslims living among them as Christians and other religious minorities flee extremism across the Middle East for safety and freedom elsewhere.

All Saints Cathedral in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi

After his death, Muslim Kenyan who shielded Christians hailed as hero

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NAIROBI, Kenya - A Muslim man who shielded Christians after a passenger bus was ambushed by suspected al-Shabab militants is being saluted as a symbol of unity.

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