News/International

{mosimage}NEW DELHI - The head of the Pakistani Catholic bishops' conference expressed concern over the imposition of emergency rule that has led to widespread protests and a crackdown by the military regime of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president.

{mosimage}TORONTO - When Jesuit Father Peter Henriot arrived in Zambia 19 years ago life expectancy in the landlocked, southern African country was a rather dismal 52 years. Today Zambians can expect to be dead by 37.

{mosimage}VATICAN CITY - Just minutes before Pope Benedict XVI prayed that the example of newly beatified Spanish martyrs would spur Catholics to work for reconciliation and peaceful co-existence, a small fight broke out across town in front of a church run by Opus Dei.

{mosimage}VATICAN CITY - A Vatican cardinal beatified Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian farmer who was beheaded in 1943 after he refused to fight in Hitler's army.

{mosimage}VATICAN CITY - The Vatican is publishing a collector’s edition of documents on the Knights Templar, the medieval crusading order that became the focus of legends and mysteries.

{mosimage} WASHINGTON - For the first time, more than 100 senior Muslim leaders from around the world sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI and other Christian leaders proposing theological similarities as a basis for peace and understanding.

{mosimage}VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI named 23 new cardinals at the end of his weekly general audience Oct. 17 and said he would formally install the cardinals during a special consistory at the Vatican Nov. 24.

{mosimage}OTTAWA - Canadian Council of Churches (CCC)  executive director Karen Hamilton grilled the Iranian president during a recent meeting in New York, telling him his threats to wipe Israel off the face of the map were “unacceptable.”

{mosimage}VATICAN CITY - Anglicans and Roman Catholics should witness to the faith they share and work together to promote Christian values in the world, but they also must be realistic about issues still dividing them, said a recent document by Anglican and Catholic bishops.

{mosimage}ROME - Pope John Paul II’s personal physician has vehemently denied an Italian doctor’s claim that the late pope refused nutritional support that would have prolonged his life.