International News

Following a series of attacks on Christians in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces Dec. 16, including the killing of a mother and daughter at a Catholic church, the Israeli Defense Forces said that it "takes claims regarding harm to sensitive sites with the utmost seriousness." However, the statement did not make any mention of the shooting deaths of the two women in the Holy Family Parish premises.

Following the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem's denouncement of a series of attacks on Christians in Gaza by Israeli forces Dec. 16, including the killing of a mother and daughter at a Catholic parish, Pope Francis and numerous bishops across the globe also condemned the attack, calling for peace.

A pilgrimage is a source of spiritual enrichment, and the dream of a lifetime for many Catholics. And Andreia Lopo, 47, takes “pure delight,” as she says, in helping to make that dream come true.

Pope Francis has downplayed the discourteous comments toward him from Argentine President Javier Milei -- who previously accused the pope of preaching "communism" -- attributing the remarks to electioneering in his home country.

Plans to dramatically cut welfare benefits for refugees from Ukraine who flee to Ireland to avoid Russia's war are causing anxiety, according to a priest who works with the new arrivals. Officials in Dublin say that they want to "slow" the number of people arriving from Ukraine.

When Ukraine's embattled citizens gather this Christmas, their rich festivities will feel symbolically different -- as the festival is celebrated for the first time on Dec. 25, in line with the Western calendar.

A Nebraska priest has died after being attacked in the rectory of his parish in the early morning before he was to celebrate Mass for the Second Sunday of Advent.

Lala Mbabazi, who is three months pregnant, sat on a sofa in her one-bedroom mud house on the outskirts of Soroti, a town in eastern Uganda.

Senate Republicans Dec. 6 blocked an emergency spending bill to provide billions of dollars in wartime aid to Ukraine and Israel while calling for strict new policies at the U.S.-Mexico border opposed by some Catholic immigration advocates.

Russian occupation authorities have banned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and other Catholic ministries in occupied areas of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, according to the church's main communications office in Kyiv.