World Youth Day 2019

News/International

Teens comfort each other during a vigil for a friend who committed suicide. A Michigan priest, criticized for emphasizing suicide during a recent homily at a teenager's funeral, has apologized and said he "fell well short" of providing the family with the comfort they desperately needed.

Priest apologizes for funeral homily that focused on teen's suicide

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WASHINGTON – A Michigan priest criticized for emphasizing suicide in his homily during a recent funeral for an 18-year-old who took his own life has since apologized.
In this 2017 file photo, Pope Francis speaks during his annual pre-Christmas meeting with top officials of the Roman Curia and members of the College of Cardinals in Clementine Hall at the Vatican.

Church will spare no effort to end abuse, bring justice, Pope Francis tells Curia

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VATICAN – Acknowledging the gravity of the clerical sexual abuse crisis, Pope Francis told members of the Roman Curia that the church's strength does not depend on its members' perfection, but on the willingness to recognize its failings and correct them.
Pope Francis exchanges gifts with Truong How Binh, vice prime minister of Vietnam, during a private audience at the Vatican Oct. 20.

Vietnam's communist government, Vatican agree to upgrade diplomatic relations

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VATICAN – Delegations from the Vatican and from Vietnam reported continued progress in their discussions, including agreeing on "upgrading" relations with a permanent papal representative "in the near future," a Vatican press statement said.
A preliminary report released Dec. 19 by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan shows clergy sexual abuse of minors in the state to be "significantly more extensive" than what the state's dioceses had previously reported, it said. Madigan is pictured in a 2014 photo.

Illinois attorney general says dioceses failed to address clerical sex abuse

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CHICAGO – Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's report claiming that the clergy sexual abuse of minors in the state is "significantly more extensive" than what the state's dioceses had previously reported is unfair and "just false," according to the top lawyer for the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Pope Francis greets Catholicos Karekin II, patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church, during a private audience Oct. 24 at the Vatican.

Armenian Apostolic Church appoints first-ever representative to the Holy See

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VATICAN – The Armenian Apostolic Church, one of six in the Oriental Orthodox communion, will have a fixed representative in Rome, similar to the Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, and Methodists.
Indonesian police bomb squad members check a cathedral prior to the Christmas Eve Mass in 2016 in Bali. This year nearly 50,000 churches across Indonesia, including some previously attacked by terrorists, are to be guarded during the Christmas period.

Police, Muslim youth help guard churches at Christmas in Indonesia

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JAKARTA, Indonesia – More than 90,000 police and soldiers and a moderate Muslim youth group will help guard nearly 50,000 churches across Indonesia, including some previously attacked by terrorists, during the Christmas period.
Pope Francis meeting journalists aboard his flight from Rome to Dublin Aug. 25

Pope assigns Italian journalists to key posts in Vatican communications

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VATICAN – Pope Francis made new appointments to the Dicastery for Communication, naming Andrea Tornielli, an Italian journalist, as its "editorial director" and Andrea Monda, an Italian journalist and religion teacher, as editor-in-chief of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.
Pope Francis meets representatives of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops at the Vatican Dec. 6. Pictured from left are Archbishop Richard Gagnon of Winnipeg, Manitoba, CCCB vice president; Bishop Lionel Gendron of Saint-Jean-Longueuil, Quebec, CCCB president; and Msgr. Frank Leo Jr., general secretary of the conference.

Pope Francis asks bishops to meet with sex abuse victims before February meeting

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VATICAN – Before traveling to Rome for a major Vatican summit on the clerical sex abuse crisis and child protection, each participating bishop should meet with survivors of abuse, said the committee organizing the meeting.
Metropolitan Epiphanius, newly elected head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, conducts a Dec. 16 liturgy at St. Michael's Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine.

Head of Ukrainian Catholics welcomes leader of new independent Orthodox church

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WARSAW, Poland – The head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church welcomed the election of a leader for the country's new independent Orthodox church.
Central American immigrants who had just arrived Nov. 13 to Tijuana, Mexico, wait in line for a meal at a migrant shelter.

Politicians blaming 'every evil' on migrants is unacceptable, Pope Francis says

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VATICAN – In today's climate of mistrust, rejection and nationalism, the world urgently needs peacemakers and politicians who protect and lovingly serve others, Pope Francis said in his annual message for the World Day of Peace Jan. 1.
COP24 President Michal Kurtyka speaks during a final session of the U.N. climate change conference in Katowice, Poland, Dec. 15.

Catholic groups raise concerns that UN climate rulebook lacks ambition

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WARSAW, Poland – Catholic participants and observers criticized a "lack of ambition" by government negotiators at a U.N. conference on climate change that ended Dec. 15 with agreement on a rulebook to implement the 2015 Paris climate accord.
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