ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA - One of the leading voices among Africa’s bishops predicts a new flexibility in Catholic teaching at this October’s Synod on the Family, allowing bishops and bishops’ conferences in different parts of the world to adapt Church teaching on the family to the culture, economic situation and political landscape in their part of the world.

OXFORD, England - French and British Catholic bishops urged their governments to settle a growing refugee crisis around the port of Calais, where highways have been blocked and migrants from Africa and the Middle East have died attempting illegal crossings of the Channel Tunnel, or Chunnel.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Pope Francis’ announcement that he will visit East and Central Africa in November has resounded in churches here, with Catholic bishops greeting it as an opportunity to boost the faith in the region.

A new report mapping the Catholic Church’s more than 1.2 billion souls — on track to reach 1.64 billion by 2050 — holds some surprises.

And not all bode well for the Church’s future as it faces major demographic and social shifts.

BUKAVU, Congo - Bishops from eastern Congo criticized the failure of their government and the United Nations to act against "genocide, jihadist fundamentalism and Balkanization" in the country, which is widely considered Africa's most Catholic.

VATICAN CITY - Promoting dialogue, education and strong families, the Catholic Church in Africa fulfills its mission to proclaim God's love and to work for the common good, Pope Francis said in separate meetings with the bishops of Mozambique and of Togo.

One of the dynamics of last year’s Synod on the Family was the contrast between the German-speaking bishops, who have been preoccupied with finding a way for those in invalid marriages to receive Holy Communion since Joseph Ratzinger and Walter Kasper were young theologians, and the African bishops. The latter, not to put too fine a point on it, objected that it was not possible for the Church to teach that simultaneous polygamy was immoral for poor black Catholics in Africa while serial polygamy was okay for rich, white Catholics in Europe.

From imprisonment to torture to beheadings, more Christians worldwide live in fear for their lives than at any time in the modern era.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Some church leaders are criticizing a British musicians’ charity group raising funds for the West African Ebola crisis, saying its new single reinforces negative stereotypes of Africa.

Fifty years ago Len Kraemer was young, strong, intelligent and rural, which is why he was helping bring in a crop of hay on the family farm near Walkerton, Ont. As he jammed his gloves on harder and lifted bales of hay under the afternoon sun, young Kraemer started thinking about Africa.

A relaunched corporate social responsibility policy for Canadian mining companies has Development and Peace hopeful that Canadian companies will be held accountable for their environmental, labour and community investment records in Latin America, Africa and Asia. 

OXFORD, England - Burkina Faso's Catholic bishops sent a "message of peace and hope" to the West African country after its 27-year president, Blaise Compaore, fled prompting a military takeover.

For Fr. Stan Chu Ilo, the fight to help African women escape the “unacceptable conditions” in which they live is personal. 

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - A Liberian bishop unable to attend the Synod of Bishops on the family has urged his fellow bishops to use their influence to help West African families in their enormous suffering caused by Ebola.

As the ebola death toll in West Africa surpassed 3,300, North American media were reporting a single, isolated case in Dallas with minute-by-minute, 24-hour coverage. For the Caritas network the focus is on Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone where fragile, underfunded health care systems are faced with daily deaths and new infections.