News/International
D&P receives $5.95 million in matching funds for Syrian refugees
By Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic NewsOTTAWA – The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace has received $5.95 million in additional funding from the federal government’s Syria Emergency Relief Fund.
Trip to Greece is humanitarian, not political, Vatican spokesman says
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY – In a "humanitarian and ecumenical gesture," not a political one, Pope Francis is to join Orthodox leaders in personally meeting with hundreds of refugees and migrants stranded in Greece, the Vatican spokesman said.
Vatican reiterates Polish archbishop should shun public Church events
By Jonathan Luxmoore, Catholic News ServiceWARSAW, Poland– A Polish archbishop who resigned after sexually molesting Catholic seminarians has been warned by the Vatican to stay away from commemorations of Poland's Christian conversion and an upcoming visit by the Pope.
Together on the margins: Lesbos trip to be ecumenical sign of service
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY – Before St. John Paul II arrived in Greece in 2001 there were protests by Orthodox faithful and an all-night prayer vigil by Orthodox monks on Mount Athos, praying that the pope would not come.
Religious groups say 'yes' to U.S. Supreme Court's idea on contraceptive coverage
By Catholic News ServiceWASHINGTON – The American religious nonprofits challenging their participation in the contraceptive mandate under the Affordable Care Act agreed with a U.S. Supreme Court proposal that such coverage be provided through an alternative health care plan without involving the religious employers in a legal brief filed with the court.
Pope's visit to Greece comes at time of fear, uncertainty for refugees
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY – Pope Francis' trip to Lesbos, Greece, April 16 comes at a frightening and critical time for tens of thousands of refugees and migrants waiting and wondering where they will end up, said members of Catholic aid agencies.
Hope and frustration mark anniversary of Chibok kidnappings
By Fredrick Nizwili, Religion News ServiceTwo years after the abduction of nearly 300 Chibok schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants in northeast Nigeria, some parents are still hoping their daughters will one day be rescued.
Highly religious people say they’re happier, too, survey finds
By Cathy Lynn Grossman, Religion News ServiceLook around. Three in 10 people you see claim they are pretty satisfied with life, happy, healthy and moral, too.
Syrian Christian families who fled to Europe begin to return home
By Gaby Maniscalco, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY – Hundreds of Christian families are returning to Sadad, Syria, more than two years after their city was overrun by terrorists, a local official said.
U.S. Catholic leaders visiting Iraq challenged to go home, work for peace
By Paul Jeffrey, Catholic News ServiceIRBIL, Iraq – A delegation of U.S. Catholic leaders visiting northern Iraq was challenged to go home and work for peace in the troubled region.
Defendant in 'VatiLeaks' trial denies giving documents to reporters
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY – The man who served as executive secretary of a commission Pope Francis established to study Vatican finances said he never gave documents of any kind to Italian journalists and, in fact, met the two reporters only when he and they entered a Vatican courtroom to face charges connected to the leaking of the documents.