News/International

An altar girl receives the Eucharist from a priest.

San Francisco priest bars altar girls, sparks another controversy

By

SAN FRANCISCO - A Catholic priest who recently took charge of a San Francisco parish has said only boys can be altar servers, a move that is sparking both criticism and praise and comes amid a wider debate over conservative concerns that the Catholic Church has become too “feminized.”

On Jan. 28, Greek Catholic archbishop Nikolaos Printezis welcomed the new anti-austerity government and believes Catholics in the country will benefit from the changes. Printezis said that Catholics and Protestants faced hardships as minorities of the Orthodox-majority country. The same day, the Syriza party held its first meeting under Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras.In this photo, Tsipras speaks to an audience, dated May 19, 2014.

Archbishop welcomes Greece's new government, hopes for changes

By

WARSAW, Poland - A Greek Catholic leader welcomed his country's new anti-austerity government and predicted Catholics would benefit from changes.

Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs meet in Bkerke, Lebanon, Jan. 27 to address the crises in the Middle East. Pictured from left to right are Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregoire III Laham; Greek Orthodox Patriarch John X of Antioch; Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai, Maronite patriarch; Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II; and Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan.

Christian leaders meet in Lebanon, call for end to financing terrorists

By

BEIRUT - Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs called for an end to financing terrorists and suggested that borders be closed when necessary to prevent their movement.

Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare movement, is pictured in 2003. Lubich died in 2008 and the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes has approved the opening for her sainthood cause.

Sainthood cause for Focolare founder Chiara Lubich formally begins

By

FRASCATI, Italy - Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare Movement, "lit a new light in the Church's journey toward unity," Pope Francis said.

Holocaust survivor Hy Abrams, 90, poses for a portrait Jan. 15 in the Brooklyn borough of New York with a book that documents all the different concentration camps he was held in during World War II. Abrams was taken at age 20 by German Nazi soldiers an d separated from his mother, father, brother and three sisters.

Catholics join in marking 70th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation

By

WARSAW, Poland - Catholic leaders joined in commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, where 1.2 million mostly Jewish prisoners were killed by the Nazis during the Second World War.

Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, N.M., distributes Communion to displaced Iraqi Christians during a Jan. 20 visit to northern Kurdistan. Bishop Cantu traveled to northern Iraq with a delegation from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Jan. 16-20 to see the needs of displaced Christians and other religious minorities.

U.S. bishops' group travels to Iraq, meets with those who fled ISIS

By

AINKAWA, Iraq - One of Iraq's Christians chased out of her historic homeland quietly prayed the rosary as a bishop who traveled halfway around the world to meet her and others displaced celebrated Mass for them.

On Jan. 26, Anglican archbishop of York John Sentamu laid hands on the Rev. Libby Lane in an ordination ceremony. In this photo, Sentamu speaks as Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury, the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion looks on during the Church of England's General Synod at Church House in central London Nov. 20. The Church of England's law-making body voted in favour of female bishops that day, a move that ended a 20-year impasse and could see women ordained as senior clergy.

First female bishop ordained in Church of England amid ongoing controversies

By

CANTERBURY, England - More than 1,000 people watched as Uganda-born Archbishop of York John Sentamu, laid hands on the Rev. Libby Lane Monday (Jan. 26), making her the eighth bishop of Stockport and the first woman bishop in the Church of England.

Msgr. John Kozar, president of the U.S.-based Catholic Near East Welfare Association, and Bishop Lionel Gendron of Saint-Jean-Longueuil, Quebec, celebrate Mass at St. Charbel convent in Annaya, Lebanon, Jan. 19. Msgr. Kozar, Bishop Gendron and other officials spoke with Catholic News Service at CNEWA's Beirut office about their Jan. 19-23 visit to Lebanon

CNEWA officials look at long-range needs of Lebanon's refugees

By

BEIRUT - Officials of a pontifical aid agency said they saw much that needed done in Lebanon -- if they could get beyond crisis mode.

Locals run with items from a shop in Soweto, South Africa, Jan. 22. Local media reported that violence broke out Jan. 19 after a 14-year-old South African was allegedly shot dead by a foreign shop owner.

Jesuits say violence continues South African history of xenophobia

By

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - A week of violence targeting foreign nationals and their businesses in Soweto and other Johannesburg townships is a national disgrace and "continues South Africa's shameful history of xenophobia," said The Jesuit Institute South Africa.

Pope Francis arrives to lead ecumenical vespers at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome Jan. 25. The service marked the closing of the Week of Prayer for Christian unity as well as the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.

Persecuted for faith, Christians are united in bloodshed, Pope says

By

VATICAN CITY - Christians are united in bloodshed as they suffer from violence and persecution in various parts of the world, Pope Francis told Christian leaders.

Men start reconstruction on a church in Niamey, Niger, Jan. 23 that was destroyed in violent protests against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. Archbishop Michel Cartateguy of Niamey said the church would rebuild after rioters destroyed places of worship during an assault on local Christians.

Archbishop says church in Niger will rebuild after riots

By

OXFORD, England - An archbishop in Niger said the church would rebuild after rioters destroyed its places of worship during protests over cartoons mocking depictions of Muhammad by the French satirical newsweekly Charlie Hebdo.

Page 444 of 651