News/International

Pope Francis is pictured in a file photo praying as he visits the Chapel of the Apparitions at the Knock Shrine in Knock, Ireland. Because of the COVID pandemic, the Marian shrine has announced it will close Aug. 14-16 to discourage pilgrims from coming for the feast of the Assumption, usually its busiest day of the year.

COVID forces Knock shrine to close Aug. 15 to discourage crowds

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KNOCK, Ireland -- The Marian shrine at Knock announced Aug. 10 that in addition to postponing the popular Knock Novena and pilgrimage because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the shrine and its church would be closed for the Aug. 15 feast of the Assumption of Mary to ensure pilgrims do not arrive anyway.

Smoke rises from the site of an explosion in Beirut Aug. 4, 2020.

Lebanese rise up against government

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AMMAN, Jordan -- Viewing the burned wasteland of the Beirut port, one’s eye catches a grey concrete slab in the foreground. It bears this stark message scribbled by the Lebanese in black ink: “My Government Did This.”

Suspended priest excommunicated for still saying Mass, teaching against pope

Suspended priest excommunicated for still saying Mass, teaching against pope

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A suspended priest in the Diocese of Sacramento has been automatically excommunicated because he continued to celebrate Mass despite being instructed not to do so by Bishop Jaime Soto, and he also has refused to acknowledge Pope Francis as head of the Catholic Church.

A young woman is pictured in a file photo near a church in Rajaf, South Sudan. The murder of three young girls in South Sudan's capital, Juba, has generated response from Catholic leaders and united the entire country.

'These were innocent children,' archbishop says of South Sudan murders

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NAIROBI, Kenya -- The Catholic archbishop of Juba condemned "in the strongest terms possible" the murder of three young girls, killed while watching television in their Juba home.

Smoke rises from the site of an explosion in Beirut Aug. 4, 2020. Two massive explosions ripped through the Lebanese capital, injuring many people and blowing out windows in buildings in the city's port region.

Explosion in Beirut adds suffering to Lebanon's dire situation

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AMMAN, Jordan -- Hospitals in the Lebanese capital are overwhelmed with those suffering injuries from a massive explosion in Beirut's port, causing widespread damage the city and rocking the tiny Mediterranean nation already devastated by the coronavirus and its worst financial crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.

Workers wearing protective masks wait for shuttle services in Manila, Philippines, Aug. 4, 2020, the first day of the government's reimplementation of a stricter pandemic lockdown.

Eleven Philippine dioceses suspend Masses in effort to control COVID-19

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MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine government issued new orders restricting movement in an effort to control a spike in COVID-19, resulting in 10 dioceses suspending public Masses.

In this 2018 file photo, peace activists hold a Catholic prayer service of repentance near the White House for the use of nuclear weapons on Japan during World War II. Bishops from Japan and the U.S. explored Catholic efforts to end the danger of nuclear weapons during an Aug. 3, 2020, webinar commemorating the 75th anniversary of the nuclear bomb drop on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Bishops from Japan, U.S. call Catholics to work for nuclear disarmament

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CLEVELAND -- The path to true peace requires the world to abolish nuclear weapons, an American bishop and a Japanese archbishop said as the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings at the end of World War II approached.

A residence hall formerly named for Flannery O'Connor at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore is seen in this undated photo. It is being renamed for Sister Thea Bowman.

Loyola University Maryland removes Flannery O'Connor's name from hall

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BALTIMORE -- Thirteen years after naming a new residence hall at Loyola University Maryland in honor of the Catholic author Flannery O'Connor, Jesuit Father Brian Linnane, the university's president, removed the writer's name from the building.

A man in Athens, Greece, has a chain wrapped around his wrists in this photo illustration.

Caritas warns of rise in human trafficking

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VATICAN CITY -- As governments and world leaders struggle to contain the coronavirus pandemic, they must also work harder to protect victims of human trafficking, said the Vatican-based international network of Catholic charities.

Refugees in Lacolle, Que., sit outside one of the tents set up to house the influx of asylum-seekers near the U.S. border in 2017.

Refugee advocates declare victory

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Refugee advocates are applauding a Federal Court ruling that Canada’s Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by sending refugees who arrive at Canadian land borders back to detention in the United States.

A German photo illustration shows tools used in euthanasia. On July 27, 2020, a court in Italy acquitted two "right-to-die" activists who aided in the suicide of a person suffering from multiple sclerosis, which may force the Italian government to legalize assisted suicide in the country.

Controversial verdict may force legalization of assisted suicide in Italy

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ROME -- The acquittal of two "right-to-die" activists who aided in the suicide of a person suffering from multiple sclerosis may force the Italian government to legalize assisted suicide in the country.

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