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News/International

Ukrainians attend a funeral in Kiev Feb. 2 for a serviceman killed in the eastern Ukrainian conflict with Russia.

Pope tells Ukraine's bishops not to politicize their role as pastors

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VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis urged Ukraine's Catholic bishops to focus on the social and human tragedies unfolding in their country and avoid politicizing their role as Church leaders.

People demonstrate silently in this 2012 file photo of a protest in Athens, Greece, against a rising surge of racism, anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism in Europe.

Catholic justice leaders condemn Europe's growing racism, nationalism

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OXFORD, England - Catholic leaders condemned "racism and xenophobia" in Europe and urged religious communities to speak out against a growing "nationalism of exclusion" of the type that preceded both world wars.

In the United States, physician-assisted suicide is protected by legislation or case ruling. These states include Oregon, Washington, Vermont, New Mexico and Montana.

New York bishops put high priority on fighting moves to allow assisted suicide

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ALBANY, N.Y. - As New York lawmakers began to consider a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide, the New York State Catholic Conference launched a new website "to offer Catholics moral clarity and guidance on the church's teachings regarding end-of-life decision-making."

Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregoire III Laham is pictured in this 2013 photo in a church in Damascus, Syria. In a Lenten message, the Melkite patriarch called the situation in the Middle East the greatest tragedy since World War II.

Patriarchs' Lenten messages focus on struggles of Mideast Christians

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BEIRUT - The Middle East is suffering a "Way of the Cross" that is the greatest tragedy since the Second World War, Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregoire III Laham said in a Lenten message about suffering.

A man rides his bike across a bridge during a winter storm in Boston Feb. 5.

In the face of unrelenting snow, New England churches soldier on

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If God brought all this snow, He also made it very hard to get to church.

New Englanders, clobbered by four major storms in the past month and bracing for a fifth, are finding it difficult to travel anywhere, including to services on Sundays.

Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired bishop of Hong Kong, wears a protective mask and holds a picture of Bishop Cosmas Shi Enxiang of Yixian Feb. 14 outside a government building in Hong Kong. Bishop Shi is said to have died under detention.

Hong Kong's Cardinal Zen seeks whereabouts of two bishops

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HONG KONG - Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired bishop of Hong Kong, protested at the Chinese Liaison Office in the city and asked the whereabouts of Bishop Cosmas Shi Enxiang of Yixian, who was said to have died in detention.

Egyptian Christians hold placards during a Feb. 16 protest in Cairo against what is said to be the killing of Coptic Christians by Islamic State militants in Libya. Egyptian jets bombed Islamic State targets in Libya Feb. 16, a day after the group there released a video showing what is said to be the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians.

Martyrs in Libya 'whispered' name of Jesus before death, bishop says

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VATICAN CITY - The 21 Coptic Christians who were beheaded by Islamic State militants died as martyrs, invoking the name of Jesus, said an Egyptian Catholic bishop.

Neighbors and friends of the relatives of Egyptian men said to be killed in Libya attend Mass at a church south of Cairo Feb. 16 and pray in front of a banner with pictures of the victims. Egyptian jets bombed Islamic State targets in Libya Feb. 16, a day after the group there released a video showing what is said to be the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians.

Pope seeks prayers for Egyptians beheaded by Islamic State

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VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis called for prayers for the Egyptian Christians beheaded by Islamic State militants in Libya and asked that God recognize these men killed for their faith.

A Coptic Christian woman cries during a prayer service at a church in Cairo May 8.

Coptic Christians increasingly feel endangered in Libya and Egypt

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CAIRO - The gruesome video released by militants from the Islamic State showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts in Libya has focused the world’s attention on the plight of Christians there and the government’s ability to respond.

Families of the 27 Egyptian Coptic Christians workers kidnapped in the Libyan city of Sirte, hold pictures of their kidnapped relatives in front of the U.N. office in Cairo January 19, 2015.

Pope Francis condemns Islamic State’s executions of Christians in Libya

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VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on Monday (Feb. 16) denounced the brutal slayings of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya by militants linked to the Islamic State, saying “they were assassinated just for being Christian.”

Some Christians object to the abortion link to vaccines, but it's a connection that is both clouded and complicated.

Vaccines and abortion? The links are cloudy and complicated

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WASHINGTON - With measles outbreaks in 14 states and health authorities imploring parents to weigh the minimal risks of vaccines against the ravages of preventable disease, some Christians are raising an objection of a completely different sort: the abortion connection.

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