News/International

Cardinal Raymond Burke, a senior American churchman in Rome who has been one of the most outspoken critics of Pope Francis’ push for reform, is roiling the waters yet again, this time arguing that the Catholic Church has become too “feminized.”

AY, Jordan - Christian clergy led by the Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal of Jerusalem visited the family of the Muslim Jordanian pilot captured by Islamic State and expressed support and continued prayers.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida's Catholic bishops said they were disappointed by a U.S. federal judge's ruling striking down the state's ban of same-sex marriage as well as with higher courts that denied a stay of the decision.

NEW YORK - Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo’s funeral will be held on Tuesday (Jan. 6) at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, a Jesuit-run parish in Manhattan that has often served as the venue for bidding a final farewell to the rich and/or famous.

Among the well-known Catholics whose funerals were held at St. Ignatius:

AMMAN, Jordan - For most Americans, Epiphany (Jan. 6) passes with little celebration.

Traditionally, the 12th day of Christmas is marked by Eastern Orthodox, Catholics and some mainline Protestants as the day the three kings visited the baby Jesus. For Eastern Rite Christians, Epiphany (also called Theophany) emphasizes the revelation of Jesus as the son of God through his baptism and the beginning of his public ministry. Thousands of believers make pilgrimage on that day to the Jordan River where John baptized Jesus.

JERUSALEM - The site where Jesus may have been tried, prior to his crucifixion, is now open to the public for the very first time.

ROME - Catholic bishops from the southern Italian region of Calabria have broken their silence and spoken out against the “inhumane” power of the Mafia that dominates their poverty-stricken area.

VATICAN CITY - Becoming a mother or father is a gift from God, but women and men have a duty to embrace that gift and be astonished by its beauty, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY - Exactly 31 years after St. John Paul II personally forgave him for shooting and trying to assassinate him, Mehmet Ali Agca returned to the Vatican with a bunch of white roses and laid them at the late pope's tomb.

MEXICO CITY - A Catholic priest was kidnapped from a seminary and found murdered in Guerrero, the same state in southern Mexico where 43 students were kidnapped and probably killed in September.