News/International

Father Leszek Gesiak, spokesman of the Polish bishops' conference, left, is seen at a Jan. 9, 2024, press conference in Warsaw with university professors explaining church financing and taxation of clergy. The newly installed Polish government coalition, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, said it would abolish a state Church Fund as part of its reforms. Church leaders said Jan. 9 they were not contacted by the government to discuss such a move and they needed to clarify "often inaccurate information on church financing or taxation of clergy."

Poland's bishops pledge dialogue with new government; others see conflict ahead for church

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Poland's bishops have pledged dialogue with their country's new liberal government, but leading Catholics warned that government plans for rapid secularizing change could spark conflict as the ruling coalition plans to limit religious classes in public schools and abolish the state Church Fund.

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, is pictured in a March 25, 2022, photo.

'No' to same-sex blessings, say two Eastern Catholic bishops

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The apostolic administrator of Toronto’s Byzantine Catholic Eparchy has joined with a Ukrainian archbishop in rejecting a controversial Vatican document on pastoral blessings for same-sex couples and other unmarried couples.

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai, founder of Apple Daily, looks on as he leaves the Court of Final Appeal by prison van, in Hong Kong Feb. 1, 2021. Lai, Hong Kong's Catholic pro-democracy supporter, pleaded not guilty Jan. 2, 2024, to national security crimes.

Hong Kong Catholic Jimmy Lai pleads not guilty in national security trial

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Prominent Hong Kong Catholic, philanthropist and media mogul Jimmy Lai pleaded not guilty to endangering national security in a trial that democracy advocates around the world said includes bogus charges.

Demonstrators block a road during a protest against Argentine President Javier Milei's economic reforms, in Buenos Aires Dec. 28, 2023.

Argentine church stops receiving state funding

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Argentina's Catholic Church will no longer receive public funding, concluding a process established by the country's bishops' conference for the church to provide its own financing.

The Nicaraguan government released photos Jan. 2, 2024, of Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa receiving medical attention from a prison doctor. The U.S. Department of State has demanded earlier in the day the release of Bishop Álvarez and other imprisoned Nicaraguan religious leaders following a wave of detentions targeting Catholic clergy over the Christmas season. Dressed in a pink dress shirt and gray slacks, Bishop Álvarez appeared pale and gaunt as a physician took his blood pressure and performed tests. Church observers have expressed concern for the well-being of the arrested priests, whose status as detainees remains unknown. Bishop Álvarez is imprisoned for over 500 days in La Modelo prison outside Managua, the capital.

Nicaraguan regime publishes photos of Bishop Álvarez as US demands release of imprisoned bishop, other clergy

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The U.S. Department of State has demanded the release of Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa and other imprisoned Nicaraguan religious leaders following a wave of detentions targeting Catholic clergy over the Christmas season.

Flowers lie on caskets during a funeral Mass in the parish hall of St. Francis Xavier Church in Owo, Nigeria, June 17, 2022, for some of the 40 victims killed in a June 5 attack by gunmen during Mass at the church.

Christmas attacks target Nigerian Christians

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About 200 Nigerian Christians lost their lives in multi-day attacks that left hundreds more injured and displaced.

Members of the Christian community chant slogans as they hold placards during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan, Aug. 17, 2023, to condemn the attacks on churches and houses in the Jaranwala town of Faisalabad. A Muslim crowd vandalized churches and torched homes Aug. 16 after two Christians were accused of blasphemy.

Pakistan Christians end year of persecution hoping new government in 2024 will bring respite

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As 2024 begins, Christians in Pakistan are winding up a year of violence and mayhem, with the hope of a new government to bring respite to their suffering after the national elections in February.

Pope Francis prays during a memorial Mass for cardinals and bishops who have died over the past year, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Nov. 2, 2022, All Souls' Day.

Vatican news agency reports 20 missionaries murdered in 2023

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In its annual report on Catholic missionaries murdered during the year, the Vatican-based news agency, Fides, noted what many of them had in common was living a normal life in areas where violence had become common.

Parishioners pray at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Managua, Nicaragua, March 12, 2023, as a suspension of diplomatic ties between Nicaragua and the Vatican has been proposed according to a Nicaragua's foreign ministry statement.

Exiled Nicaraguan bishop asks world's bishops 'not to abandon us' as wave of priest arrests ends year in dictator-run country

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Since Christmas, Nicaraguan police and paramilitaries have detained more than a dozen priests, including an archdiocesan vicar, as the Sandinista regime escalates a campaign of terror against the Catholic Church -- an institution it has struggled to subdue.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, gestures during an interview with OSV News at the Latin Patriarchate in the Old City of Jerusalem Dec. 12, 2023.

In times of darkness, faith is all you have, says Cardinal Pizzaballa

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While faith cannot change anything in moments of great darkness such as the one Israelis and Palestinians are currently living through in the Israeli-Hamas war, it can, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa said, create "a small light" which will give "orientation."

Pope Francis waves during a general audience in St. Peter's Square.

Experts: Vatican declaration on blessings walks a fine line on marriage, pastoral care

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A new declaration from the Vatican on pastoral blessings does not change the Catholic Church's teaching on marriage, Catholic experts told OSV News, but seeks to extend the church's accompaniment to those in irregular situations.

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