HOUSTON – Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S .Conference of Catholic Bishops, was taken to the hospital late March 15 after experiencing symptoms of what tests March 16 confirmed was a mild stroke, according to an archdiocesan statement.

BANGUI, Central African Republic – Despite last month’s peace agreement between the Central African Republic government and rebel factions, the country’s citizens, especially children, continue to face violence and famine.

LONDON – A council in London could become the second local authority in the U.K. to approve an exclusion zone around an abortion clinic.

Medical ethics can’t be limited to patient choice, or even the health problems patients face, according to the president of the World Medical Association.

Should doctors start prescribing a leisurely walk in the forest to improve health and well-being? According to researchers from Japan, the answer is a resounding yes. 

SAO PAULO, Brazil – Researchers from Brazil announced Tuesday that a baby had been born to a mother who had received a transplanted uterus from a deceased woman.

VATICAN – Antimicrobial resistance poses a "great challenge" to global public health and puts the most vulnerable in our society at risk, said Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

MONTREAL – The re-introduction of sex education into Quebec schools goes against fundamental rights of parents, says the president of the Association of Catholic Parents of Quebec.

The grim truth is that legalized euthanasia is not going away. This is not giving up but stating a hard truth. 

AMSTERDAM – An initiative to identify and properly treat children living with HIV has gained new momentum as international organizations and pharmaceutical companies respond to a Vatican push to look past profit to doing the right thing.

OTTAWA – Kevin Dunn first met Aurelia in the Netherlands at a conference on euthanasia for young people.

MANCHESTER, England – Britain's highest court has ruled that doctors can withdraw food and fluid from patients who are in a vegetative state or minimally conscious without seeking permission from judges.

VATICAN – Love is a miraculous force that helps the parents of sick children focus on the beauty of their children's lives and keeps the flame of hope for a cure alive, Pope Francis told an Italian couple and a group of their supporters.

VATICAN – During a customary visit to a prison on Holy Thursday, Pope Francis revealed that he has cataracts and is planning to have an eye operation to correct them next year.

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The head of Regina Coeli prison in Rome made a comment during the visit about the importance of being “far-sighted” about prisoners’ rehabilitation.

Pope Francis responded, “This is good. Because at my age, for example, cataracts arrive and one does not see reality well. Next year, we will have to have an operation.”

He encouraged the inmates to have clear eyes – what he called “cataract surgery for the soul” – in order to see and spread hope.

Cataracts, a clouding of the eye’s lens that is common as people age, is usually correctable with a routine surgery.

The pope, who turned 81 in December, maintains a rigorous schedule and still makes several international trips per year. He had a portion of one lung removed when he was young, due to an infection, but is considered to be in generally good health.

I don’t mean to be a downer, but an unhealthy diet is the leading risk factor for chronic diseases in Canada. This has been the case for the past two decades, according to research cited in the medical journal Canadian Family Physician, the official publication of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.