CARMEL, Calif. - Days after St. Junipero Serra was canonized by Pope Francis in Washington, a statue of the 18th-century Franciscan missionary and other property at the Carmel Mission where the saint is buried were defaced.

MISSISSAUGA, ONT. - A 22-year-old Mississauga man has been charged in connection with alleged hate crimes committed at St. Catherine of Siena Church and its neighbouring elementary school over the past two months.

JERUSALEM - The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem called a continuing wave of vandalism against Christian, Muslim and Druze properties a "blight on Israeli democracy" and urged authorities to step up prosecution against the perpetrators.

JERUSALEM - Ahead of Pope Francis’ Holy Land visit, the heads of Christian churches in the region plan to launch an international awareness campaign following a series of anti-Christian vandalism believed to have been carried out by Jewish extremists.

LAGOS, NIGERIA - Nigerian Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie criticized oil pipeline vandalism that led to the death of more than two dozen youths, saying if they had had jobs, their deaths might have been avoided.