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August 6, 2016
IRBIL, Iraq – The upcoming military offensive to root out Islamic State militants from Mosul and surrounding villages will be a "huge challenge," the United Nations says, as it expects about 1.5 million people to flee the warfare in a short amount of time.
As Armenian Catholics, the Moubayed’s don’t want to disagree with the Pope. But as Syrians who fled their home in Aleppo last year while the bombs came closer and closer, the married couple are not so sure peace is possible.
August 7, 2016
Dear Mr. Eisen, I have been asked to write a review of your book, By Chance Alone. I took this on with trepidation. After all, what can I say?
AINKAWA, Iraq – Abu and Um Sabah had to trade a tent anchored in a soft, grassy patch in a park for a roughly hewn, five-story unfinished cement building as they sat out their forced displacement by Islamic State militants for a second year.
There is a global refugee crisis, but it’s not in the rich west, the international director of the Jesuit Refugee Service told The Catholic Register in an e-mail.
August 8, 2016
When Vice President Joe Biden last week tweeted a photo of himself proudly officiating at the same-sex civil wedding of two White House staffers, it quickly became fodder for news stories and commentary both pro and con — the latter by religious conservatives who thought Biden was betraying his Catholic faith and deserved a rebuke.
VATICAN CITY – In a personal message addressed to each of the 10 members of the new Refugee Olympic Team, Pope Francis wished them success in their events and thanked them for the witness they are giving the world.
NEW DELHI – The Catholic Church in Pakistan has condemned a suicide blast at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan, where at least 70 people – many of them lawyers and journalists – were killed and more than 120 injured.
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Aug. 14, (Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10; Psalm 40; Hebrews 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53) Few people like to hear the unvarnished truth. Instead, most prefer truth that is sugar coated and in line with what they want to hear. This applies even more to those in power, for they are often surrounded by yes-men that communicate a view of reality that is very slanted and distorted.
VATICAN CITY – Innocent men, women and children are paying the ultimate price in the continuing conflict raging in Syria, especially in Aleppo, where they are caught in the crossfire between rebel and government forces, Pope Francis said.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – With a growing number of U.S. travelers returning from abroad with the Zika virus and with several cases of Zika-related microcephaly and birth defects reported in the U.S., the disease has inflamed the abortion debate domestically.
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Aug. 21 (Isaiah 66:18-21; Psalm 117; Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13; Luke 13:22-30) The third section of the Book of Isaiah has a universal outlook that is both inspiring and moving. During their exile in Babylon, the people of Israel continued to reflect on their understanding of God and their new experience in an alien land. Their vision of God evolved — no longer was God merely Israel’s deity, but the God of all humanity.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Florida residents, officials and health care leaders have their hands full this summer containing the Zika virus outbreak, which prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue its first domestic travel advisory.
The XXXI Olympic Games, the 16-day athletic love-fest to a samba beat in Rio de Janeiro, are a secular endeavour featuring more fanfare than faith, more spectacle than spirit.
August 9, 2016
MEXICO CITY – A priest in the Mexican state of Puebla said parish and archdiocesan officials are attempting to assess the needs of isolated and impoverished pockets of eastern Mexico, which were hit hard with heavy rains and mudslides, leaving at least 40 dead and dozens of settlements incommunicado.
DUBLIN – Bishop Edward Daly of Derry, known for his tireless advocacy for peace and reconciliation during decades of sectarian tension in Northern Ireland, died in a hospital in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Aug. 8.
AINKAWA, Iraq – Iraqi Christians appear divided about whether they will be able to return home after Islamic State militants are flushed out of the battle-scarred Ninevah Plains region. They say their safety must be guaranteed at all costs.
August 10, 2016
If you did not feel empowered by Pope Francis' homily during the welcoming ceremonies at World Youth Day, then you weren't really listening. The Holy Father game a passioned speech about the hope that we carry for the Church as young people.
RIO DE JANEIRO – A Brazilian priest mentioned in Spotlight, the Oscar-winning film about clergy sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston, committed suicide Aug. 7 in his cell.
MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Catholic leaders say they are powerless to stop a growing number of extrajudicial killings that have come with President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs.