News/International

Carol Remer of Battle Creek, Iowa, leads a chant during a "Women Betrayed" rally in Sioux City July 28. Demonstrations were held in 65 cities across the country calling for an end to federal funding of Planned Parenthood.

Videos on value of fetal tissue prompt renewed call to pro-life awareness

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OXNARD, Calif. - It is uncertain that a California pro-life group's ongoing series of undercover videos that show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the illegal marketing and sale of fetal tissue will lead to defunding for the nation's leading provider of abortion services.

Jesse Craig, vice president of Right to Life at the University of Utah, speaks at the Women Betrayed event in Salt Lake City July 28. Demonstrations were held in 65 cities across the country calling for an end to federal funding of Planned Parenthood.

'Women Betrayed' rallies across U.S. urge defunding of Planned Parenthood

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SALT LAKE CITY - Pro-life advocates from across the Salt Lake Valley rallied peacefully in front of Planned Parenthood July 28, calling for state and federal officials to investigate and defund Planned Parenthood.

An undercover video published by The Center for Medical Progress shows a Planned Parenthood official discussing selling fetal body parts and the abortion procedure needed to keep them intact.

Cardinal says Planned Parenthood videos illustrate 'throwaway culture'

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WASHINGTON - Boston Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley said that Planned Parenthood officials' videotaped descriptions of how fetal tissue and organs are procured for researchers during abortions illustrates what Pope Francis calls today's "throwaway culture."

A banner over the entrance to the Vatican's Braccio Di Carlo Magno hall announces the opening of the exhibit, "A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People."

Exhibit honours how St. John Paul changed Catholic-Jewish relations

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VATICAN CITY - Helping to inaugurate an exhibit at the Vatican, the chief rabbi of Rome noted just how much "times have changed."

Servicemen from the Aydar battalion throw a Ukrainian flag from the building of Ukraine's Defense Ministry in Kiev during a protest against the disbanding of the battalion in this Feb. 2 file photo.

Ukrainian bishop warns of mass starvation, flight of millions

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WARSAW, Poland - A Ukrainian bishop said a Russian-backed separatist rebellion has plunged his country into its worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War and warned that "millions of refugees" could soon head for Europe to escape starvation.

A newly arrived Somali refugee child receives a polio drop at the Ifo extension refugee camp near the Kenya-Somalia border, August 1, 2011.

Kenya Catholic bishops call for polio vaccine boycott

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NAIROBI, Kenya - Roman Catholic bishops in Kenya have urged citizens to boycott a mass polio vaccination campaign, unless the safety of the vaccine has been confirmed through scientific tests.

Marilyn Korzekwa, when she’s not swimming.

Elements, jelly fish can’t stop swim for Good Shepherd

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Cold waters, an overnight storm and countless jelly fish were not enough to slow down swimmer Marilyn Korzekwa during her historic three-province Atlantic Ocean swim to raise funds for the Good Shepherd in Hamilton, Ont.

In this June 29, 2014 file photo, a Boy Scout carries a rainbow flag during the San Francisco Gay Pride Festival in California. Boy Scouts of America lifted a ban on openly gay troop leaders today.

Catholic officials, others react to Boy Scouts' decision to allow openly gay leaders

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WASHINGTON - The top leaders of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting have made an uneasy peace with the Boy Scouts of America's decision July 27 to allow openly gay troop leaders and employees to serve in their ranks at the national level.

Benedictine Father Nikodemus Schnabel poses for a photo inside a chapel in the Dormition Abbey on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem July 27. Christian leaders want Israel to step up protection of Christian sites.

Church leaders want Israel to step up protection of Christian sites

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JERUSALEM - Although Israeli officials have publicly criticized the June arson attack that seriously damaged the Benedictine Church of the Multiplication in Tabgha, anti-Christian violence is not new, said a representative of the religious order.

Israeli Border Police patrol the the site in Jerusalem's Old City known as Haram al-Sharif by Muslims and that Jews refer to as the Temple Mount Nov. 6. Recent tensions at the site, which is important to the faith life of Jews and Muslims, led the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land to call for calm, saying that attachments to holy places should not be a cause of bloodshed, hatred or violence.

Arab parliament member denies Jewish claim to Temple Mount, sparking Israeli outrage

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JERUSALEM - An Arab-Israeli parliament member drew harsh criticism from Jewish Israelis July 27 when he claimed that Jews have no religious ties to the Temple Mount, considered the holiest site in Judaism.

Pope Francis welcomed the new patriarch for the Armenian Catholic Church, Gregoire Pierre XX Ghabroyan of Cilicia, in writing on July 25. In this photo, Pope Francis waves in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, July 10.

Pope welcomes election of new Armenian Catholic patriarch

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VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has welcomed the election of a new patriarch for the Armenian Catholic Church, extending what is known as "ecclesial communion" to Patriarch Gregoire Pierre XX Ghabroyan of Cilicia, who was elected by his fellow Armenian bishops July 24.

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