News/International

HONG KONG - When Fr. Joseph Zhang Yinlin was ordained coadjutor bishop of Anyang Diocese, he became the first publicly ordained Chinese bishop in three years and the first since the Vatican and China restarted its dialogue in June 2014.

VATICAN CITY - The U.S. ambassador to the Holy See believes Pope Francis is not traveling to the United States in September to scold anyone, but to challenge the country's people to live up to their ideals.

WASHINGTON - The head of the U.S. bishops' pro-life committee Aug. 3 urged U.S. senators to take the federal money that goes to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and instead fund women's health care providers that do not promote abortion.

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles County Superior Court James Chalfant ruled July 30 that the contested sale of the former convent of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to restaurateur and urban developer Dana Hollister is invalid.

At the time of the unauthorized transaction, the archdiocese had already accepted an alternate offer from pop star Katy Perry, supported by three of the five sisters.

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy - Pope Francis is shunning the expansive papal summer palace in Castel Gandolfo for the third time since 2013, a choice that is causing frustration among locals who rely on the tourists a papal visit brings.

OTTAWA - Pro-life groups and at least one pro-life Member of Parliament have condemned Health Canada’s July 29 approval of abortion drug RU-486 or mifepristone.

WASHINGTON - As if it couldn't get worse for the television industry.

Younger people are leaving TV for other modes of visual entertainment -- the computer and the smartphone, for example. This makes TV viewing more and more the province of older Americans, who have been watching the boob tube ever since the kids of the baby-boom generation welcomed the first TV set their parents brought into the house.

ROME - The canonization of Blessed Junipero Serra honours a famous missionary who was motivated by love of God, but it also is a call to recognize how the process of evangelization must respect peoples and their cultures, said the head of the Franciscan order.

Pope Francis knows the family is made up of real people living in the real world, which is why he often gives down-to-earth advice.

OXNARD, Calif. - It is uncertain that a California pro-life group's ongoing series of undercover videos that show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the illegal marketing and sale of fetal tissue will lead to defunding for the nation's leading provider of abortion services.