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News/International

A Ugandan girl is pictured in a file photo carrying a bottle of water from a spring in Lira. The Catholic Church is fighting a battle for young girls in Uganda to end the plague of child marriage.

Church fights Uganda’s child marriage ‘plague’

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Lala Mbabazi, who is three months pregnant, sat on a sofa in her one-bedroom mud house on the outskirts of Soroti, a town in eastern Uganda.

Military aid, delivered as part of U.S. security assistance to Ukraine, is unloaded from a plane at the Boryspil International Airport outside Kyiv Feb. 13, 2022.

Senate Republicans block Ukraine-Israel emergency aid over border, raising Catholic concerns

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Senate Republicans Dec. 6 blocked an emergency spending bill to provide billions of dollars in wartime aid to Ukraine and Israel while calling for strict new policies at the U.S.-Mexico border opposed by some Catholic immigration advocates.

A destroyed residential building is seen in Orikhiv in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region Sept. 13, 2023, following a Russian airstrike. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church announced Dec. 7 it had just discovered that in an order dated Dec. 26, 2022, an official in the Russian-occupied regions of Zaporizhzhia banned all activities of the church, as well as the Knights of Columbus, Caritas and other Catholic ministries in the occupied area.

Russia bans Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Catholic ministries in occupied region of Ukraine

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Russian occupation authorities have banned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and other Catholic ministries in occupied areas of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, according to the church's main communications office in Kyiv.

An aerial view shows members of the media outside damaged homes during a visit to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in southern Israel, Oct. 15 in the aftermath of a deadly attack by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip. Anti-Semitism has been on the rise since.

Bishops seek dialogue as French anti-Semitism rises

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The Oct. 7 killing of about 1,200 people in Israel by armed Hamas militants represented the biggest killing of Jews since the Holocaust. It also started the war that has killed nearly 16,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run health ministry, followed by massive pro-Palestinian protests around the globe. What it also did was spark unprecedented instances of anti-Semitism.

A report on religious freedom, authored by Benedict Rogers (seated, second from left) was released in Ottawa Nov. 21. MP Garnett Genius, at the podium, hosted the launch on Parliament Hill.

Hong Kong churches under threat: report

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A report launched Nov. 21 in the Canadian parliament by Benedict Rogers, the British co-founder and chief executive of Hong Kong Watch, raised several red flags about the insidious but dangerous erosion of religious freedom in Hong Kong.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, poses for a photo while speaking to reporters at the Vatican Sept. 28, 2023.

Latin patriarch: Political leaders must seek diplomatic solution to Israel-Hamas conflict

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The current war between Israel and Hamas may finally force a diplomatic solution to the long intractable tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians in the Holy Land, said the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar speaks to media at the central count center in Dublin Castle Oct. 27, 2018, about results of that year's Irish presidential election and a blasphemy referendum. In 2024, voters will have to decide on a proposed referendum to the constitution to provide for a wider concept of family and also delete a provision on the role of stay-at-home mothers in favor of recognizing overall caregiving.

Proposed referendum for Irish Constitution calls for widening the definition of family

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A pro-family campaign group has warned that a proposed March referendum in Ireland to amend the country's constitution would be a "further downgrading of the importance of marriage to society."

Lanao Del Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr. stands among law enforcement officers as they investigate the scene of an explosion that occurred during a Catholic Mass in a gymnasium at Mindanao State University in Marawi, Philippines, Dec. 3, 2023.

Explosion at university in southern Philippines kills four people during morning Mass

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A deadly bomb that exploded during a Mass Dec. 3 killed at least four people and injured dozens at a university in a predominantly Muslim city in southern Philippines.

Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minn., arrives for the first working session of the assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican Oct. 4.

Bishop criticizes ‘rethinking’ morality teaching

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Bishop Robert E. Barron said he is in “frank disagreement” with a section of a report from the Synod on Synodality indicating that scientific advances could prompt “rethinking” of the Church’s teaching on sexual morality.

Pope Francis meets with participants from a seminar on ethics in health care management at the Vatican Nov. 30, 2023.

Pope Francis says he has serious bronchial infection

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At the brief meeting with participants in a seminar on the ethics of health care management, the pope said he was suffering from a "bronchial condition. Thank God it was not pneumonia," but he said it was a very serious bronchial infection.

Bishop Myriel is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables. A real figure behind the character is Bishop Bienvenu de Miollis of Digne — and the French bishops have just agreed to opening the diocesan process for his beatification. Bishop Miollis is pictured in an undated painting.

'Les Misérables' bishop on sainthood path

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The real bishop behind Victor Hugo’s famous Les Misérables character is likely to be beatified. The French bishops, gathered in Lourdes Nov. 3-8 for their plenary assembly, voted in favour of opening the diocesan process for his beatification.

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