News/International

Cliff Barrows, who led songs for evangelist Billy Graham for six decades, died under hospice care in Charlotte, N.C., a memorial website disclosed. He was 93 years old.

The alliance between Roman Catholics and evangelical Protestants on a range of issues dear to social conservatives has been one of the biggest storylines in religion and politics in recent decades.

OTTAWA – Religious persecution is becoming more widespread, more violent and contributing to an “explosion” of refugee cases around the world, says a new report from Aid to the Church in Need.

BALTIMORE – Earlier this year, as communities faced tensions, protests and violence, following a spate of shootings and killings of black men by police, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, asked dioceses across the country to observe a day of prayer for peace.

Cuba is granting pardons to to 787 prisoners in response to Pope Francis' call for clemency during the Year of Mercy.

VATICAN CITY – A year after Pope Francis released his encyclical on the environment, Laudato si', the Vatican has stepped up its efforts in the recycling game by creating a new central waste collection point within Vatican City.

VATICAN CITY – Cardinal-designate Kevin J. Farrell believes the U.S. bishops as a whole should have discussed pastoral guidelines for implementing Pope Francis' exhortation on the family before individual bishops began issuing guidelines for their own dioceses.

BALTIMORE – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on Tuesday elected Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston as its president, and Archbishop Jose Gómez of Los Angeles vice-president.

VATICAN CITY – Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin has said that Francis’ decision to give a red hat to the longtime papal envoy to Syria is a sign of the Pope’s closeness to the Church and people on the ground amid the country's dire situation.

BALTIMORE – As the country recovers from a divisive election and many in the U.S. are living in uncertainty, the Church must offer everyone hope, the outgoing president of the U.S. bishops' conference maintained Monday.