NEWS

WARSAW, Poland - Churches in Ukraine are opposing expanded freedoms for homosexuals as a precondition for closer ties with the Europe Union.

AMMAN, Jordan - A priest with strong interfaith ties in the Middle East said the global superpowers must find a political resolution to the Syrian civil war and humanitarian crisis but cautioned any armed intervention would result in longer-term instability.

OTTAWA - The Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF) has published a booklet warning that yoga, meditation, Reiki and other activities of the New Age movement are dangerous.

Church governance, prayer, Jesuit spirituality, preaching, hope, gender equality, art, music, novels, the Second Vatican Council, prayer — in 12,000 words Pope Francis had plenty to talk about in an exclusive interview that made international headlines.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Dominican-run Providence College said the provost's decision to cancel a guest lecture supporting same-sex marriage is "not really about academic freedom, but rather goes to the meaning of being a Catholic college."

SAINTE-ADELE, Que. - Charity or caritas needs to begin face-to-face, at the local parish level, Caritas Internationalis president Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga told Canada’s bishops Sept. 24.

TORONTO - Inside the Paulist Ministry Centre on the International Day of Peace Sept. 21, three panellists discussed their respective organization and organically concluded that a relationship between the environment and peace exists.

SAINTE-ADÈLE, Que. - Canada’s Catholic bishops have responded to Pope Francis’ call to minister to those on the periphery of society while making efforts to ensure the Church herself is not marginalized, said the bishops' conference's outgoing president.

KARACHI, Pakistan - The president of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops' Conference called the suicide bomb attack Sept. 22 at All Saints' Church in Peshawar a "shameful act of cowardice," adding that all Christian educational institutions in the country would be closed Sept. 23-25 in mourning and protest.

NAIROBI, Kenya - As Kenyan security forces worked to end a standoff at an upscale mall in Nairobi, the nation's Catholic leaders praised their fellow citizens for "the Kenyan spirit."