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July 2016

July 1

Did same-sex marriage issue help sway regional elections in Mexico?

July 1, 2016

MEXICO CITY – Mexicans turned out in droves to oust the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party in June 5 regional elections. Exit polls showed voters citing crime and corruption for removing the party of increasingly unpopular President Enrique Pena Nieto in seven of the 12 states holding gubernatorial elections.

St. Joseph laid the foundation for a peaceful Canada

July 1, 2016

Canada Day often seems a rather tepid, bureaucratic affair celebrating the day Great Britain’s Parliament managed to pass a law granting four small North American colonies the right to elect their own politicians to a single House of Commons — not a shot fired and no declaration of independence. But why limit ourselves to such a paltry notion of Canada’s origins?

Patriarch urges refugee repatriation as long-term solution in Middle East

July 1, 2016

NEW YORK – Poor, destitute refugees now comprise half the people living in Lebanon, according to Cardinal Bechara Rai, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church.

July 2

‘Defusing Hate’: Holocaust museum publishes a handbook

July 2, 2016

WASHINGTON – Hoping to make the world safer, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has published a guidebook on countering dangerous speech, authored by a young American who helped quell intertribal conflict in Kenya during its 2013 elections.

Catholic military chaplains sometimes find peace in a war zone

July 2, 2016

SAN DIEGO – It may sound like an oxymoron, but Father Michael A. Mikstay says some of the most peaceful moments of his military chaplaincy have been spent in a war zone.

Some Colombians see papal visit as chance to examine Church role in war

July 2, 2016

BOGOTA, Colombia – When Pope Francis visits Colombia early next year, his visit may become a celebration of peace in a country with the longest-running war in the Western Hemisphere.

July 3

Is Pope Francis a Lone Ranger on apologizing to gays?

July 3, 2016

When Pope Francis said this week that the church should ask forgiveness from gay people for the way it has treated them, he sparked yet another round of global headlines about how his unpredictable papacy is changing Catholicism.

In Israel, followers of different religions help each other keep the faith

July 3, 2016

JERUSALEM – Stuart Levy, a nurse at a Jerusalem hospital, updates his ward’s work schedule several times a week, with staffers’ vacations, birthdays and more religious holidays than many people know exist.

Priests see difference between parish ministry and military chaplaincy

July 3, 2016

SAN DIEGO – There is something distinctive about the chapel where Father William J. Brunner now celebrates Mass. It floats. To be more precise, it's in a space aboard the U.S. Navy's warship USS America docked in San Diego.

July 4

Florida city council may halt opening prayers to stop Satanist’s invocation

July 4, 2016

The city council in Pensacola, Fla., will consider ending the traditional practice of inviting local clergy to deliver an opening prayer at meetings in order to thwart an invocation planned for July 14 by a representative of the Satanic Temple West Florida.

Organizers: World Youth Day in Poland 'will involve long walks'

July 4, 2016

WARSAW, Poland – Young people attending World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow, Poland, will have to walk 18 miles to and from one of its key sites, event organizers said.

July 5

Pope Francis to highlight divine mercy on visit to Assisi chapel

July 5, 2016

VATICAN CITY – To mark the 800th anniversary of the "Pardon of Assisi," an indulgence earned by visiting faithful who confess their sins and make a sincere promise of repentance, Pope Francis will visit a stone chapel rebuilt by St. Francis of Assisi.

TCDSB to get huge increase in renewal projects funding

July 5, 2016

TORONTO – Ontario's largest Catholic school board expects a huge increase in funding for renewal projects over the next two years following an injection of capital from the provincial government.

Pope says critics won't stop him from pursuing vision for church

July 5, 2016

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis said he will continue pressing for a church that is open and understanding despite opposition from some clerics who "say no to everything."

Religious freedom waning: ex-ambassador

July 5, 2016

OTTAWA – Canada’s recently departed Ambassador of Religious Freedom believes his former office has been “diminished” under the current government and he expressed alarm at a general waning of respect for religious freedom and conscience rights.

Bishops say 6.5 million Malawians need food aid

July 5, 2016

LILONGWE, Malawi – In Malawi, where 40 percent of the population needs food aid, the country's bishops have called for international help to avert a crisis.

South African cardinal calls U.S. abortion rate ‘a genocide’ for blacks

July 5, 2016

A South African cardinal who recently rejected calls for the Catholic Church to apologize to gay people has said the abortion rate among black women in the U.S. is “a genocide” and added: “Isn’t this something we should be apologizing for?”

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel remembered for role as world's conscience

July 5, 2016

NEW YORK – Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize recipient and prolific author who died July 2 at age 87 in his New York home, has been remembered in tributes from around the world for standing up for human dignity and for being a witness to the world of the atrocities of the Holocaust.

July 6

Prosecutors request jail time for defendants at Vatican trial

July 6, 2016

VATICAN CITY – As the Vatican trial of five people accused of complicity in leaking private documents moved toward a conclusion, Vatican prosecutors requested that four of the five defendants be convicted and that three of them serve jail time.

Catholic nursing home in Belgium fined for refusing euthanasia request

July 6, 2016

A Belgian court has fined a Catholic care home for refusing to let a terminally ill woman receive a lethal injection on their property.