News/International

PARIS - Germany’s Christian churches, long the most positive voices greeting waves of Middle Eastern refugees pouring into the country in recent months, have begun to admit the need to limit the flow now that public opinion towards the newcomers has turned from welcoming to wary.

HAVANA - At long last, Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow embraced, kissing each other three times.

MEXICO CITY - With anticipation growing in the streets of Mexico City for Pope Francis' visit, a group of local pilgrims found time to thank their "mother" and prayed that it would give their country a spiritual awakening.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO - Esteban Alanis, 23, once ran with a local gang known as “Los Parqueros,” which would accost people for their cash and cellphones in a working-class neighbourhood of southeast Ciudad Juarez. He called the crimes “easy money,” while gang activities offered a sense of belonging and an adolescence of parties, girls and underage drinking.

MEXICO CITY - A prison riot in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey has claimed 52 lives, offering another example of the problems plaguing Mexico's prison system and casting a pall over the arrival of Pope Francis in the country.

MEXICO CITY - On a recent morning outside the Church of San Agustin in the middle-class neighbourhood of Narvarte, two students sell bric-a-brac and blast the Beatles’ “Let It Be” through a smartphone hooked up to speakers.

Nobody wants the Pope to meet Moscow’s Orthodox patriarch more than the Ukrainian Catholics, but the Eastern-rite Catholics want to be sure their Church is treated as a full partner in the dialogue between Rome and Moscow.

BEIJING - A top Politburo official told faith leaders that religious groups must promote Chinese culture and become more compatible with socialism.

TAINAN, Taiwan - Pope Francis sent condolences to Taiwan following an earthquake that left at least 37 people dead as the island prepared to celebrate Chinese New Year, reported ucanews.com.

In an exclusive commentary for Religion News Service, President Barack Obama makes the case for religious freedom.