News/International
European bishops call on EU to welcome migrants fleeing war, poverty
By Simon Caldwell, Catholic News ServiceMANCHESTER, England - Bishops across the European Union are calling on member states to be generous toward tens of thousands of migrants flooding across the Mediterranean.
Christians call for justice in demonstration at Galilee church hit by arson
By Judith Sudilovsky, Catholic News ServiceJERUSALEM - Druze, Muslims and Jews joined thousands of Christians in a demonstration in Galilee three days after an arson attack seriously damaged the Benedictine Church of the Multiplication.
Papal envoy, Maronite patriarch visit displaced Christians in Iraq
By Catholic News ServiceBEIRUT - Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan, representing Pope Francis, and Cardinal Bechara Rai, the Maronite Catholic patriarch, traveled to Irbil, Iraq, to meet with Christians who had fled from Islamic State forces.
Mexico Supreme Court ruling makes same-sex marriages legal nationwide
By David Agren, Catholic News ServiceMEXICO CITY - Mexico's Supreme Court has declared state-level laws, defining marriage only as the union of a man and a woman, discriminatory and unconstitutional. The decision, in effect, legalizes same-sex marriages in all 31 of the country's states.
Archbishop wants G-7, Vatican to do more to ensure Ukraine's security
By Jonathan Luxmoore, Catholic News ServiceWARSAW, Poland - The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church expressed concern that the world's richest countries are failing to honour a 1994 agreement that promised Ukraine security for giving up its Soviet-era nuclear weapons.
People express heartache, outrage as they mourn shooting victims
By Daniel O'Shea, Catholic News ServiceWASHINGTON - The tragic taking of nine lives at a historically black church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, brought an outpouring of solidarity, compassion and sorrow from around the country.
Pope Francis chides world powers for failing to push for peace in Syria
By Rosie Scammell, Religion News ServiceVATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on June 19 criticized world powers for their failure to find a solution to the Syrian conflict, saying the country’s Christians had been united by “the blood of the martyrs” lost in war.
Church leaders see encyclical as opening new wave of climate action
By Catholic News ServiceMEXICO CITY - Pope Francis aims to touch the hearts of people so that they act to stem climate change and change their lifestyle to reduce negative impacts on the planet in his encyclical on the environment, said a priest at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina.
Religious leaders decry arson at Jerusalem church
By Judith Sudilovsky, Catholic News ServiceJERUSALEM - The Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land issued a strong condemnation against an early morning arson attack on the Benedictine Church of the Multiplication at Tabgha on the Sea of Galilee on June 18.
Emanuel AME Church: the latest victim of violence against black churches
By Adelle M. Banks, Religion News ServiceFor many, the massacre at a black church in Charleston, S.C., is simply another mass shooting. But for African-Americans, church violence has historic dimensions.
Papal fan club takes to the media after encyclical
By Kimberly Winston, Religion News ServiceRabbi Arthur Waskow, author of a rabbinical letter on climate change, said he can sum up his response to Pope Francis’ groundbreaking encyclical on the environment in one word:
Hallelujah.