News/International

PARANAQUE, Philippines – A long-venerated icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help turned 150 last year, and many Filipinos’ Marian devotion has never been stronger.

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – Sister Lucia dos Santos, one of the three children who witnessed the Marian apparitions at Fatima, died in 2005. But before her death, she predicted that the final battle between Christ and Satan would be over marriage and the family.

SANTIAGO, Chile – Dawn breaks in the city of Santiago de Chile. Amid the hustle and bustle of the waking city, a narrow wooden door welcomes in the “dear brothers of the street,” as they are affectionately called.

ZAHLE, Lebanon – Balancing boxes and bags filled with warm clothes for his family, Malak Elias Mnayeri waited for a taxi in the near-freezing temperatures outside Caritas Lebanon's center in Zahle, close to the Syrian border.

WASHINGTON – Syrians don't want to leave their homeland, they want a safe place to live in peace, said a Franciscan friar from Aleppo, Syria, who spoke on Jan. 5 with the Archdiocese of Washington's Holy Land Committee.

LAHORE, Pakistan – Supporters of Pakistan’s strict blasphemy law attempted to march in Lahore on Wednesday, but were thwarted when police made more than 150 arrests.

OXFORD, England – A church leader in Turkey said Catholics are fearful about attending church after recent terrorist attacks, but insisted local Christians can count on government protection.

Norway and its church are getting a divorce — or maybe they’re just separating.

CAIRO, Egypt – The Egyptian army corps of engineers has completed the restoration of Saint Mark's Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, where a terrorist attack last month left 27 dead.

ROME, Italy – An Italian priest from northern Italy has been accused of pimping out some 15 women, as well as organizing and filming orgies in his rectory.