News/International

Police stand guard on the roof of a Jerusalem synagogue involved in a fatal attack Nov. 18. Two Palestinians are said to have killed four people with a meat cleaver and a knife before being shot dead by police, the deadliest such incident in six years in the holy city amid a surge in religious conflict.

Jerusalem patriarch calls for end to violence in Holy Land

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JERUSALEM - After an early morning synagogue attack left four Israelis dead and eight injured Nov. 18, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal called for an end to all violence in the Holy Land.

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, leads a prayer during an ecumenical service at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington Sept. 9, 2014. The Vatican has lifted its ban on the ordination of married men to the priesthood in Eastern Catholic churches outside their traditional territories.

Vatican lifts ban on married priests for Eastern Catholics in diaspora

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VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has lifted its ban on the ordination of married men to the priesthood in Eastern Catholic churches outside their traditional territories, including in the United States, Canada and Australia.

Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said the federal contraceptive mandate "is wrong, and we will not obey the mandate."

Priests for Life won't 'obey' HHS mandate

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WASHINGTON - Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said a U.S. federal appeals court that ruled against his organization in its challenge to the federal contraceptive mandate "is wrong, and we will not obey the mandate."

Visitors look at the names of six Jesuits killed during El Salvador’s civil war in the chapel of Central American University in San Salvador. The priests, their housekeeper and her daughter were killed Nov. 16, 1989.

Salvadoran division that led to Jesuit massacre still evident

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TORONTO - The memory of six Jesuit scholars, their housekeeper and her daughter should encompass more than the mass murders 25 years ago that sparked international outrage, said Jesuit philosophy student Kevin Kelly. 

Pope Francis was asked to avoid President Recep Tayyip Erdogan new 1,000-room palace known locally as the “White Palace” during his visit to Turkey on Nov. 28.

Pope Francis asked to avoid Turkey’s lavish 1,000-room presidential palace

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VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis’ penchant for austerity and humility will face a diplomatic challenge when he visits Turkey’s new ostentatious presidential palace on his first visit to the country later this month.

Doves fly over Filipinos lighting candles as they offer prayers and flowers at a mass gravesite in Tacloban, Philippines, Nov. 8. One year after one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded crashed across the central Philippines, church leade rs in some of the worst-hit parts looked to Pope Francis' brief January visit to Leyte Island with hope, and slight trepidation.

A year after Typhoon Haiya, Filipinos look forward to Pope Francis' visit

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PALO, Philippines - One year after one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded crashed across the central Philippines, Church leaders in some of the worst-hit parts looked to Pope Francis' brief January visit to Leyte Island with hope, and slight trepidation.

An anti-government protester is helped after being shot in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Oct. 30. Burkina Faso's Catholic bishops sent a "message of peace and hope" to the West African country after its 27-year president, Blaise Compaore, fled prompting a m ilitary takeover.

Burkina Faso Church rules out prelate as head of transitional council

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OXFORD, England - The Catholic Church in Burkina Faso has welcomed an agreement on restoring civilian rule after a late-October military takeover, but rejected suggestions the handover of power could be supervised by a Catholic bishop.

U.S. bishops include Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput (pictured) have chosen a mixed slate of delegates for next year’s Vatican summit on the family.

U.S. bishops send new delegates, mixed message, to 2015 Vatican family synod

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The nation’s Catholic bishops have chosen a mixed slate of delegates for next year’s high-level Vatican summit on the family, including outspoken culture warriors who are sometimes viewed as out of step with Pope Francis’ priorities.

Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri

Cardinal O'Malley says Rome 'urgently' needs to look into Bishop Finn

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WASHINGTON - In an interview with the CBS newsmagazine "60 Minutes" scheduled to air Nov. 16, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston said the Vatican needs to "urgently" address the situation of Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, who was convicted in 2012 on one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse.

People stand in front of an altar Oct. 30 with food offerings during a protest for the 43 missing students of the Ayotzinapa Teacher Training College Raul Isidro Burgos, in Chilpancingo, Mexico. The students disappeared in Iguala on Sept. 26 after they c lashed with police and masked men. Security forces have combed the area around Iguala in search of the students, whose disappearance has sparked massive protest marches in Mexico.

Mexican bishops call violence a 'national crisis'

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MEXICO CITY - The Mexican bishops' conference issued an impassioned plea for peace and an end to the bloodshed in a country consumed with the crisis of 43 teacher trainees allegedly captured by crooked cops, killed by organized crime and burned.

Catholic, Muslim forum urges dialogue, condemns violence, persecution

Catholic, Muslim forum urges dialogue, condemns violence, persecution

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VATICAN CITY - Gathering at "a time of severe tension and conflict," particularly in the Middle East, 24 Catholic and Muslim leaders and scholars urged dialogue to promote greater respect and understanding and condemned all acts of violence committed in the name of religion.

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