News/International

A cellphone screen displays an image of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, patroness of Cuba, in early March. Using memory cards on cellphones, a small number of Catholic Cubans have access to texts, such as the Bible or the Liturgy of the Hours, to help them maintain a life of prayer throughout the day.

Cubans find technological workarounds to help transmit faith

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HAVANA - It's a scene all too familiar in the U.S., but not one you'd expect in Cuba: a group of schoolgirls cupping their cellphones with their hands, protecting them from the glare of the tropical sun. Most are looking at pictures or listening to music downloaded on the phone's memory card. Few can access the Internet using their phones.

A procession enters Havana's Cathedral of the Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception in mid-March. Some Catholic Cubans hold hope that better relations with the U.S. will also mean a better future for the church on the island.

John Paul II's visit marked 'a before and an after' for Cuban Church

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HAVANA - Sitting outside the church where she was baptized, 65-year-old Clementina Torres recalls the time when anyone who publicly admitted being a Catholic in Cuba faced a host of problems. It could mean not getting into the "right" university or program, being taunted by classmates or isolated by neighbours, or it resulted in being fired, demoted or not allowed to advance professionally.

People attend a memorial vigil in Nairobi, Kenya, April 7, for the 147 people killed in an attack on Garissa University College. Kenyan bishops are urging the government to step up security and for citizens to remain united after al-Shabab militants atta cked the college campus April 2.

Kenya cracks down on al-Shabab funding and recruitment after Garissa attack

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NAIROBI, Kenya - Faced with a fierce enemy driven by Muslim extremist ideology, the Kenyan government has cracked down on funding for al-Shabab, the Somali group that claimed responsibility for killing 148 mostly Christian students at Garissa University College a week ago.

On April 9, Pope Francis asked that God’s mercy help to heal past wounds and and help for countries to have reconciliation and peace as Armenian remember the 100th anniversary of the 1915 - 1918 genocide. In this photo, Pope Francis receives a skull cap as he arrives to lead his weekly audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 8.

Pope calls for hope, reconciliation as Armenia commemorates massacres

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VATICAN CITY - In the run-up to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, Pope Francis decried humanity's ability to systematically exterminate its own brothers and sisters.

Displaced Iraqi women sit outside of their tent at a camp for displaced people between the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, Iraq, March 12.

Canadian churches seek more than military response in Iraq, Syria

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OTTAWA - The Canadian Council of Churches in an open letter to Prime Minister Harper has urging a broader response to the crisis in Iraq and Syria than military intervention.

Displaced Assyrians, who fled from the villages around Tel Tamr, Syria, gather March 9 outside the Assyrian Church in Hassakeh as they wait for news about abductees remaining in Islamic State hands.

Protected zone for minorities sought in Iraq, Syria

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AMMAN, Jordan - A call for an area to protect Christians and other religious minorities in Syria and Iraq is gathering pace even as April marks the centenary of the 1915 genocide of Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Christians.

Muslims pray during the "All-Out-Peace" campaign in Manila, Philippines, March 6. Cardinal Orlando Quevedo of the Cotabato Archdiocese, whose population is half Muslim, announced the formation of a separate organization, "Friends of Peace," April 6 in Manila.

Philippine cardinal gathers advocates for Muslim autonomous region

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MANILA, Philippines - A Philippine cardinal has pooled a team of peace advocates to help push legislation that would see the creation of an autonomous region in the Muslim-majority section of Mindanao Island.

Protesters against the death penalty hold signs before closing arguments took place April 6 in the trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at the federal courthouse in Boston. The bishops of Massachusetts urged against a death sentence for the bombing defendant, reiterating Catholic teaching that says cases where capital punishment is acceptable are practically nonexistent.

Bishops object to death penalty as punishment in Boston bomber case

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BOSTON - As the trial of Boston Marathon bombing defendant Dzhokhar Tsarnaev went to the jury April 6, the Catholic bishops of Massachusetts released a statement reiterating the church's teaching on the death penalty.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Education and Research Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem arrive for a Jan. 22 news conference in Paris to announce new measures aimed at helping schools combat radical Islam, racism and anti-Semitism in reaction to deadly attacks.

A national campaign for ‘Islam a la Francaise’ takes root amid growing radicalization

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YON, France - Sunlight slants across a classroom at the Catholic University of Lyon, where the Bible dominates an evening lecture.

A woman sings during an Easter service in Nairobi, Kenya,i April 5 for the victims of the massacre at Garissa University College. Al-Shabaab militants raided the campus April 2, leaving 148 dead.

Cardinal calls Kenyans to prayer in wake of militants' college attack

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NAIROBI, Kenya - The president of the Kenyan bishops' conference called on Easter worshippers to commit themselves to praying for peace and security in their homeland after militants attacked a college campus days earlier.

A Red Cross worker comforts a mourner as bodies of the students killed in a Thursday (April 2) attack, arrive at the Chiromo Mortuary in Nairobi. At least 147 people died in an assault by Somali militants on a Kenyan university, as anger grew among local residents over what they say was a government failure to prevent bloodshed.

Kenya religious leaders urge unity in face of Garissa massacre

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NAIROBI, Kenya - As Good Friday services began here, Christian and Muslim leaders preached unity a day after a horrific terrorist attack at Garissa University College left 147 students dead, most of them Christians.

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