Catholic News Service

Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON – As U.S. bishops gathered in early January at a seminary in Illinois to pray and reflect about the American church's sex abuse crisis, reports trickled out about the possible fate of one their own being decided overseas.
HONG KONG – Pope Francis has sent condolences and a blessing to the Hong Kong Diocese following the Jan. 3 death of Bishop Yeung Ming-cheung, 73, of liver failure.
VATICAN – The saints were Christians who were "crazy for concreteness," knowing that faith is not an idea, but a relationship with Jesus, which leads to actions that demonstrate love, Pope Francis said.
VATICAN – As it did prior to the Second World War, the rise of nationalism in the world poses a threat to peace and constructive dialogue among nations, Pope Francis said.
VATICAN – People find Jesus only through humble love, and once they find him, they are called to offer him the gifts of their prayer, their adoration and their care of others, Pope Francis said.
VATICAN – The Catholic Church teaches that sterilization is morally unacceptable, but a hysterectomy could be morally acceptable if the uterus could not sustain a pregnancy, said the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
WASHINGTON – German Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising called for change in long-standing church tradition as the German bishops' conference prepares for a workshop debate to "review" the issue of celibacy for priests.
VATICAN – A bishop from Argentina who had been working in the Vatican's real estate administration office is the object of a preliminary diocesan investigation after accusations came to light of sexual abuse, abuse of power and mismanagement in his former Diocese of Oran.
MANILA, Philippines – A former head of the Philippines' Catholic bishop's conference, has called on people to ignore President Rodrigo Duterte's repeated rants against the church.
COCHIN, India – Ouseph Pappachan, a physically challenged farmer in flood-ravaged Kerala, said he and his wife are alive now because of Sister Regin Mathew.