News/International

A boy carries belongings Nov. 17 as he walks on the rubble of damaged buildings in Aleppo, Syria.

Jesuit's kidnapping forces JRS to reassess operations in risky areas

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ROME - The kidnapping of Jesuit Father Alexis Prem Kumar has made Jesuit Refugee Service reassess the way it operates in many high-risk countries, said an agency official.

Jesuit Father Alexis Prem Kumar, who was kidnapped in Afghanistan and was held for more than eight months, speaks on a cell phone on his arrival in New Delhi Feb. 22.

'God has saved me,' says Indian Jesuit after release from Afghanistan

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NEW DELHI - A Jesuit priest kidnapped in Afghanistan and held for eight months told reporters "God has saved me," but he said he did not want to discuss details of his captivity.

Clergy look out on St. Peter's Basilica from an upper level of a new building. The Italian government is on "high alert" after a video threat made from the Islamic State group mentioned the country.

Italy and Vatican on guard after threat from Islamic State

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ROME - The Italian government is on high alert after threats from the Islamic State called Italy “the nation signed with the blood of the cross.”

A clergyman stands near photos of people killed in Ukrainian protests in 2014, during a Feb. 20 commemorating ceremony in Kiev's Independence Square.

Ukrainian bishops seek to be heard over the din of rhetoric

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VATICAN CITY - As the Ukrainian Catholic bishops met in a private audience with Pope Francis Feb. 20, Ukraine was marking its first Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes, commemorating those who died in the Euromaidan movement one year earlier.

Ukrainians attend a funeral in Kiev Feb. 2 for a serviceman killed in the eastern Ukrainian conflict with Russia.

Pope tells Ukraine's bishops not to politicize their role as pastors

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VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis urged Ukraine's Catholic bishops to focus on the social and human tragedies unfolding in their country and avoid politicizing their role as Church leaders.

People demonstrate silently in this 2012 file photo of a protest in Athens, Greece, against a rising surge of racism, anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism in Europe.

Catholic justice leaders condemn Europe's growing racism, nationalism

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OXFORD, England - Catholic leaders condemned "racism and xenophobia" in Europe and urged religious communities to speak out against a growing "nationalism of exclusion" of the type that preceded both world wars.

In the United States, physician-assisted suicide is protected by legislation or case ruling. These states include Oregon, Washington, Vermont, New Mexico and Montana.

New York bishops put high priority on fighting moves to allow assisted suicide

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ALBANY, N.Y. - As New York lawmakers began to consider a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide, the New York State Catholic Conference launched a new website "to offer Catholics moral clarity and guidance on the church's teachings regarding end-of-life decision-making."

Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregoire III Laham is pictured in this 2013 photo in a church in Damascus, Syria. In a Lenten message, the Melkite patriarch called the situation in the Middle East the greatest tragedy since World War II.

Patriarchs' Lenten messages focus on struggles of Mideast Christians

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BEIRUT - The Middle East is suffering a "Way of the Cross" that is the greatest tragedy since the Second World War, Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregoire III Laham said in a Lenten message about suffering.

A man rides his bike across a bridge during a winter storm in Boston Feb. 5.

In the face of unrelenting snow, New England churches soldier on

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If God brought all this snow, He also made it very hard to get to church.

New Englanders, clobbered by four major storms in the past month and bracing for a fifth, are finding it difficult to travel anywhere, including to services on Sundays.

Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired bishop of Hong Kong, wears a protective mask and holds a picture of Bishop Cosmas Shi Enxiang of Yixian Feb. 14 outside a government building in Hong Kong. Bishop Shi is said to have died under detention.

Hong Kong's Cardinal Zen seeks whereabouts of two bishops

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HONG KONG - Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired bishop of Hong Kong, protested at the Chinese Liaison Office in the city and asked the whereabouts of Bishop Cosmas Shi Enxiang of Yixian, who was said to have died in detention.

Egyptian Christians hold placards during a Feb. 16 protest in Cairo against what is said to be the killing of Coptic Christians by Islamic State militants in Libya. Egyptian jets bombed Islamic State targets in Libya Feb. 16, a day after the group there released a video showing what is said to be the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians.

Martyrs in Libya 'whispered' name of Jesus before death, bishop says

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VATICAN CITY - The 21 Coptic Christians who were beheaded by Islamic State militants died as martyrs, invoking the name of Jesus, said an Egyptian Catholic bishop.

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