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August 10, 2016
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis "snuck" out of the Vatican Aug. 9 for a drive, a walk in the woods and lunch with an Italian bishop at a small convent.
WASHINGTON – Rosaline Costa heard people tell her "be careful" so often she decided that she had to flee her native Bangladesh for the United States to stay alive.
RIO DE JANEIRO – Glued to the improvised screen set up on the patio of the Caritas house, the refugees yelled and they cried. But most of all, they cheered. They cheered for their two Congolese colleagues, Popole Misenga, 24, and Yolande Mabika, 28, who were competing in judo as part of the United Nations' Refugee Olympic team.
August 11, 2016
WASHINGTON – The U.S. State Department warned that religion-based terrorists as well as some governments across the globe are threatening the liberties of religious minorities.
VATICAN CITY – At a luncheon that was part reunion and part progress report, Pope Francis invited 21 Syrian refugees to join him at the Vatican Aug. 11.
The world abounds in conspiracy theories. It was always thus.
WASHINGTON – While in past years the wave of Muslim violence against Christians has been prominent in the U.S. State Department's annual report on international religious freedom, the latest report, released Aug. 10, focuses on Muslim violence against other Muslims.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine, recounting his work as a missionary and his role as a tenor in his Catholic church choir, cheered the efforts of a historically black Baptist denomination to get out the vote this election season.
August 12, 2016
NEW ORLEANS – A key action at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Churchwide Assembly in New Orleans was the approval Aug. 10 by 980 voting members of a document that marks 50 years of Lutheran-Catholic dialogue.
Something you won’t see in sun-worshipping, skin-baring Rio de Janeiro as the 2016 Olympics continue: women covering their heads on the basketball court.
PARIS – Violent Islamist attacks in France and Germany have piled pressure on the two governments to search for new ways to confront the grim challenge they now face: radicalized Muslim youth.
August 13, 2016
OXFORD, England – Germany's Catholic bishops praised Martin Luther, who started the Protestant Reformation, as a "Gospel witness and teacher of the faith" and called for closer ties with Protestants.
Most American churchgoers are hearing politics from the pulpits of their churches during this presidential election season, according to a new survey.
When Team USA members David Boudia and Steele Johnson emerged simultaneously crying and smiling from their final dive Aug. 8 at the Rio Olympics, the silver medal in men’s synchronized platform diving was theirs.
August 14, 2016
VATICAN CITY – The Apostolic Penitentiary has nothing to do with a jail cell and everything to do with ensuring repentant sinners experience God's mercy.
CALCUTTA, India – A group of young independent photographers are busy clicking away, taking photos of the "City of Joy."
August 15, 2016
BALTIMORE – The same day a federal Department of Justice report cataloging systemic abuses by Baltimore's police was issued, Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore called that report "sobering and distressing."
SAN NICOLAS DE LOS ARROYOS, Argentina – Once a month, thousands of devout Catholics descend on this small industrial city, where a woman with little education but great faith said she began seeing visions of the Virgin Mary on Sept. 25, 1983.
ROME – As millions of people around the world enjoy their annual summer vacation, Pope Francis is providing a beach escape for those who cannot afford it.
VATICAN CITY – Celebrating the feast of the Assumption just three days after visiting a group of young women rescued from the sex trade, Pope Francis prayed for all exploited women and girls.