News/International

Physician-assisted dying will become legal in California under a bill signed into law on Monday (Oct. 5) by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown.

VATICAN CITY - Canadian Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher of Gatineau, Quebec, said the synod should reflect on the possibility of allowing for female deacons as it seeks ways to open up more opportunities for women in church life.

VIENNA - The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church has urged the Vatican to show greater support for his country, as a senior Vatican diplomat warned the country risked becoming "a kind of Somalia."

JERUSALEM - Unrest flared in early October throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem, which has experienced tensions during September, largely over the status of the contested holy site of the Temple Mount or Haram al-Sharif.

ROSEBURG, Ore. - The gunman behind the Oct. 1 massacre at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg reportedly asked students whether they were Christian.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has until midnight Oct. 7 to sign or veto a controversial bill that would legalize physician-assisted dying in the United States’ most populous state.

OXFORD, England - An archbishop in the Central African Republic has vowed to continue an interfaith peace mission, after new communal violence left at least 36 dead two months before a planned visit by the Pope.

OTTAWA - Archbishop Paul-André Durocher, in one of his last duties as president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, has asked the prime minister to use his influence with Israel to prevent its security wall from cutting off Palestinian families from their farmland.

VATICAN CITY - Indifference to the crises and tragedies today's migrants and refugees are facing lead to complicity when people remain silent or refuse to act, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican does not deny reports that while in Washington, Pope Francis briefly met with Kim Davis, the county clerk from Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses.