Catholic News Service

Catholic News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. - Louisiana's Supreme Court has ruled that a priest may be compelled to testify as to what he heard in the confessional in 2008 concerning an abuse case.

JERUSALEM - Catholic leaders in the Holy Land called for an end to the cycle of violence and criticized Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and its collective punishment of Palestinians.

KHARTOUM, Sudan - Meriam Ibrahim, a Catholic woman originally sentenced to death for marrying a Christian, was released from prison June 23, but apprehended again the next day at the Khartoum airport with her husband, who is a U.S. citizen, and their two children, her lawyer said.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysia's highest court upheld a lower-court ruling that a Catholic newspaper may not use the word "Allah" to refer to God in its Malay-language edition.

KHARTOUM, Sudan - Meriam Ibrahim, 26, a Catholic woman convicted of apostasy for marrying a Christian, was released from prison June 23, her lawyer said.

PEORIA, Ill. - The possible miracle needed for the beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen took another step toward papal recognition June 17 when a panel of theologians met at the Vatican, the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation announced.

PHOENIX - An attack at a downtown Phoenix church left one priest dead and another critically wounded.

KIEV, Ukraine - Ukrainian Catholic bishops thanked people around the world for their prayers over the last six months and asked for continued prayers for peace in their country.

OXFORD, ENGLAND - King Juan Carlos of Spain received a tribute from the country’s bishops after he announced his decision to abdicate the throne in favour of his son.

ROME - Meeting more than 50,000 Catholic charismatics in Rome's Olympic Stadium, Pope Francis admitted he was not always comfortable with the way they prayed, but he knelt onstage as they prayed for him and over him by singing and speaking in tongues.