News/International

WASHINGTON - As millions of immigrants to the United States celebrate the possibility of protection from deportation under a new Obama administration plan, among those who cannot take advantage of it will be the 68,445 families and 68,541 unaccompanied minors who were apprehended at the border in the last fiscal year.

ST. LOUIS - While the timing of the grand jury decision involving the Michael Brown shooting remained uncertain, Catholic schools in the Ferguson area were already prepared in case the ruling comes down with classes in session.

ROME - Every human being has a right to food, and no business plan or economic policy can override that right, Pope Francis told world leaders gathered in Rome.

VATICAN CITY - Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput says hot-button socio-sexual issues won’t be the central focus when the World Meeting of Families welcomes Pope Francis to the City of Brotherly Love next year.

THRISSUR, India - The Catholic Church in Pakistan has presented a series of demands to the government, calling for a fair and thorough investigation into the beatings and burning of a young Christian couple accused of desecrating the Quran.

JERUSALEM - After an early morning synagogue attack left four Israelis dead and eight injured Nov. 18, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal called for an end to all violence in the Holy Land.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has lifted its ban on the ordination of married men to the priesthood in Eastern Catholic churches outside their traditional territories, including in the United States, Canada and Australia.

WASHINGTON - Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said a U.S. federal appeals court that ruled against his organization in its challenge to the federal contraceptive mandate "is wrong, and we will not obey the mandate."

TORONTO - The memory of six Jesuit scholars, their housekeeper and her daughter should encompass more than the mass murders 25 years ago that sparked international outrage, said Jesuit philosophy student Kevin Kelly. 

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis’ penchant for austerity and humility will face a diplomatic challenge when he visits Turkey’s new ostentatious presidential palace on his first visit to the country later this month.