News/International

Pro-life supporters stage a silent demonstration Nov. 30, 2019, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Abortion will become legal in Northern Ireland March 31.

Abortion legalized in Northern Ireland

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MANCHESTER, England -- The British government has pressed ahead with the legalization of abortion in Northern Ireland.

Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad Ahmadabadi, an Islamic scholar, answers reporters' questions in Rome Oct. 14, 2010, before giving a presentation at the Vatican.

Iranian cleric pleads with Pope Francis to help end U.S. sanctions

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VATICAN CITY -- Citing the increasing loss of lives to COVID-19 and a lack of medical resources, an Iranian cleric has urged Pope Francis to do what he can to help get U.S. sanctions against Iran lifted.

The Pontifical North American College on the Janiculum Hill overlooking St. Peter's Square.

North American College decides to send all its seminarians home

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ROME -- With more than half of its seminarians already back in the United States, the Pontifical North American College in Rome is sending its students home.

Auxiliary Bishop Michael Gielen of Auckland, New Zealand, poses with his father, Deacon Henk Gielen, after his episcopal ordination Mass March 7.

Deacon dad and his son … the new bishop

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AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- In a first for New Zealand, a permanent deacon participated in the episcopal ordination Mass of his son.

The graveyard at the Eyam Parish church is filled with victims of the plague.

England’s ‘plague village’ offers lesson in humanity

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Greater love has no one than to lay their life down for their friends, said Jesus. 

A nurse speaks with patients at the door of a new COVID-19 clinic opening at Mount Barker Hospital in Adelaide, Australia, March 17, 2020.

Australian bishops begin canceling Masses to contain COVID-19

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SYDNEY -- Catholic dioceses in Australia began canceling Masses as the government limited indoor gatherings to fewer than 100 people in mid-March in an effort to contain COVID-19.

Former French priest Bernard Preynat is seen in a Lyon, France, courthouse Jan. 13, 2020. On March 16 he was sentenced to jail for five years for the sexual assaults of Scouts.

Former French priest sentenced for sexual assaults

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LYON, France -- A former French priest was sentenced to jail for five years for sexual assaults against Scouts.

The Pontifical North American College on the Janiculum Hill overlooking St. Peter's Square is seen Aug. 28, 2019.

Amid COVID-19, half of U.S. seminarians in Rome returned home

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ROME -- About half of the U.S. seminarians and priests living at the Pontifical North American College and the Casa Santa Maria in Rome have left the locked-down city, the rector said.

A nun walks next to an empty St. Peter's Square in Rome during the outbreak of coronavirus March 12, 2020.

Italian priests, religious women are among victims of COVID-19

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ROME -- A number of priests and religious women have been among the nearly 2,000 people who have died in Italy because of illness connected with COVID-19.

Father Joseph Bature Fidelis of Adamawa, Nigeria, is seen during an interview with Catholic News Service in Washington March 9, 2020.

Priest cites religious freedom violations in northern Nigeria

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WASHINGTON -- A priest who serves as director of the Justice, Development and Peace Commission in his diocese in northern Nigeria cited an ongoing series of religious freedom violations in his region of the country, which is majority Muslim.

Employees from a disinfection company sanitize a bench as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus in Beirut March 5, 2020. The number of cases is steadily increasing in Lebanon, which announced its second death from COVID-19 March 11.

Lebanon grappling with COVID-19

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AMMAN, Jordan -- A group of priests in Lebanon have quarantined themselves while a pair of their elders are fighting coronavirus. A Catholic hospital in another part of the tiny Mediterranean country has also seen a spread of the COVID-19 as fear of the disease grips the cash-strapped nation.

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