News/International

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Catholic Register writers and editors were honoured with 10 awards, including three first-place prizes, at a gala banquet held June 20 to recognize excellence in Catholic journalism.

BETHLEHEM - Hospitals are mostly in the habit of receiving patients. In Bethlehem, Holy Family Hospital also receives pilgrims.

ROME  - Anna Ferretti has been married for more than 40 years, and she and her husband are the proud parents of four children. There’s only one catch: Her husband is a Catholic priest.

WASHINGTON - Saying the United States has a special responsibility to the people of Iraq, the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace called for diplomatic measures rather than a military response to the crisis facing the country.

AMMAN, Jordan - Desperate to reunite with family in Europe, a young Syrian refugee recently paid thousands of dollars to a human trafficker to help him and his brother travel abroad. Instead, the pair found themselves tricked, half-way on the opposite side of the world — in China.

Religion News Service - The U.S. Catholic bishops’ point man on opposing same-sex marriage defended his decision to take part in today's March for Marriage in Washington, saying support for traditional man-woman marriage is not “anti-LGBT … anti-anyone or anti-anything.”

NAIROBI, Kenya - The Kenyan bishops' justice and peace commission criticized the five-hour-long massacre in the coastal town of Mpeketoni and asked: "Where was the security? Where was the intelligence? Where were the police? What happened to the various roadblocks?"

OXFORD, England - Catholic Church representatives have welcomed a European Court judgment reaffirming the autonomy of religious communities, but warned that pressure could continue to restrict religious rights.

PEORIA, Ill. - The possible miracle needed for the beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen took another step toward papal recognition June 17 when a panel of theologians met at the Vatican, the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation announced.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Christian and Muslim leaders united June 17 to demand government action after a deadly terror attack in Kenya’s coastal region.