News/International

MEXICO CITY – An attack on four high school-age seminarians by pro-government thugs has sparked outrage in Venezuela and underscored the tense political situation and social unrest in the South American country.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis has met the parents of an American teenager who died in suspicious circumstances just after he arrived to start a foreign study program.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Violent protests in Zimbabwe reflect people's frustrations in extremely difficult times, a church official said.

VATICAN CITY – The world community needs to get serious about ending the conflict in Syria and call out those who claim to support peace while making money off of arms sales, Pope Francis said.

A Belgian court has fined a Catholic care home for refusing to let a terminally ill woman receive a lethal injection on their property.

NEW YORK – Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and prolific author who died July 2 at age 87 in his New York home, has been remembered in tributes from around the world for standing up for human dignity and for being a witness to the world of the atrocities of the Holocaust.

A South African cardinal who recently rejected calls for the Catholic Church to apologize to gay people has said the abortion rate among black women in the U.S. is “a genocide” and added: “Isn’t this something we should be apologizing for?”

LILONGWE, Malawi – In Malawi, where 40 percent of the population needs food aid, the country's bishops have called for international help to avert a crisis.

The city council in Pensacola, Fla., will consider ending the traditional practice of inviting local clergy to deliver an opening prayer at meetings in order to thwart an invocation planned for July 14 by a representative of the Satanic Temple West Florida.

JERUSALEM – Stuart Levy, a nurse at a Jerusalem hospital, updates his ward’s work schedule several times a week, with staffers’ vacations, birthdays and more religious holidays than many people know exist.