News/International

Officials deliver legal documents to the High Court in London Nov. 2, 2020. Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth and Catholic doctors welcomed the court ruling stopping children from accessing sex-change therapies.

Catholic doctors, bishop welcome U.K. ruling against puberty blockers

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MANCHESTER, England -- A U.K. court has ruled children are unable to consent to taking drugs to change gender, in a landmark case welcomed by Catholic doctors and a bishop.

Cardinal Czerny

Morality needed at the forefront of COVID recovery

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Science, medicine and economics are going to all play important roles in the global post-pandemic recovery, but from the Church’s point of view there needs to be a moral recovery first, Cardinal Michael Czerny explained in a Nov. 27 address at Tokyo’s Sophia University.

A woman wears a protective mask as she walks past holiday decorations in Rome Dec. 2, 2020. The Italian bishops have said Christmas Eve "midnight Mass" must end before a 10 p.m. nationwide curfew in place by the government to battle COVID-19.

Italian bishops say 'midnight Mass' must end before 10 p.m. curfew

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ROME -- As rumblings and grumblings grew in the press and on social media, the permanent council of the Italian bishops' conference met to discuss the problem of Christmas "midnight Mass" when the government has imposed a 10 p.m. curfew as part of its measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

People gather at the site of an explosion in al-Bab, Syria Nov. 24, 202,0 in this picture obtained from social media. Religious workers say worsening coronavirus pandemic and economic conditions in Syria are further deepening poverty and hardship.

Pandemic, economy worsen situation for Syria's minority Christians

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AMMAN, Jordan -- The worsening coronavirus pandemic and economic conditions in Syria are further deepening poverty and hardship for Christians, who find themselves trapped in a political stalemate, religious freedom advocates say.

An Ethiopian child and young woman, who fled the ongoing fighting in the Tigray region, are seen at the al-Fashqa refugee camp in Sudan on Nov. 13.

Ethiopian fighting could spark new refugee crisis

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Church networks are getting ready for a humanitarian disaster and a massive wave of new refugees as the civil war in Ethiopia rages on.

The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington is pictured May 3, 2020. In a 5-4 opinion, the court late Nov. 25 sided with the Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., and two synagogues in ruling that some of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's pandemic restrictions on houses of worship violated the First Amendment guarantee of religious freedom.

Court says N.Y. pandemic limits on houses of worship restrict religious freedom

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WASHINGTON -- In a 5-4 decision issued just before midnight Nov. 25, the Supreme Court lifted the pandemic restrictions on congregation sizes at houses of worship imposed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Mohammed al-Jadaan, Saudi Arabia's minister of finance, wears a protective mask as he attends a virtual meeting of G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors July 18, 2020.

Plenty of talk with little action from G20 summit

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Discovering a hint of moral backbone at this year’s G20 negotiations, hosted by Saudi Arabia online over the Nov. 20th weekend, was more than Canada’s representative to the G20 Interfaith Forum expected.

Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest to demand the resignation of President Alejandro Giammattei in Guatemala City Nov. 22, 2020.

Guatemala's bishops call on president to veto budget amid protests

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GUATEMALA CITY -- Guatemala's bishops urged the country's president to veto the budget, but also called for calm as some protesters set the country's Congress on fire.

German Archbishop Stefan Hesse of Hamburg is pictured in an April 18, 2015, photo. Archbishop Hess stepped down as spiritual assistant to the Central Committee of German Catholics amid abuse cover-up allegations.

Amid cover-up allegations, German prelate steps down from lay organization

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BONN, Germany -- Hamburg Archbishop Stefan Hesse has stepped down from his post as spiritual assistant to the Central Committee of German Catholics, the most important laypeople's organization of the church in Germany, pending clarification of all the allegations about his possible role in covering up sexual abuse cases during his time in Cologne.

Cardinal Michael Czerny marked the 31st anniversary of the 1989 slaughter of seven people, including five Jesuits. Former Salvadoran Col. Inocente Orlando Montano was found guilty in September of planning and ordering the murders.

Thirty-one years later, ‘vindication’ for murder victims

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VATICAN CITY -- The September conviction of a former Salvadoran colonel for the murder of five Spanish Jesuit priests during El Salvador’s civil war is a major step forward on the path to gaining justice and healing old wounds, Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny said.

Archbishop Allen Vigneron, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and USCCB president Archbishop José Gomez are pictured in the studio at USCCB headquarters in Washington Nov. 16.

Bishops, in abuse report’s wake, ponder ‘predator’ prevention

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WASHINGTON -- The recently released report on former cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, describing his ascent to highest rungs of the Church, even amid rumours of abuse, reads like a list of the seven deadly sins, a bishop told the U.S. Conference Catholic Bishops’ fall assembly.

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