International News

Israel's minister of diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism asked Pope Francis to clarify his remarks about the need to investigate whether the current war in Gaza constitutes a genocide.

For Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, driving home for Christmas means taking a different route each year. In 2024, he marks his second Christmas in war-torn Ukraine.

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, appointed in June as apostolic nuncio to the Baltic states, has shared his insights on his new diplomatic and pastoral responsibilities.

Firefighters and police officers formed a human chain to rescue the crown of thorns from the inferno at Notre Dame on April 15, 2019. On Dec. 13, 2024, this holiest relic of Paris' cathedral was returned to its proper home on the Île de la Cité.

Police in Madison, Wisconsin, said they are investigating a mass shooting at that city's Abundant Life Christian School Dec. 16 that left at least two killed and six injured, authorities said. The gunman is also dead, they said.

Mexico's Catholic clergy have called for a truce on Dec. 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and on Christmas Day as criminal violence wracks swaths of the country and clergy working in conflictive regions come under threat.

Gunfire and shouts of jubilation echoed through the streets of Damascus, Syria’s capital, as rebel forces opposed to Bashar Assad’s government took control of the city on Dec. 7. But Christians in Syria are not ready to join the victory dance.

The head of the U.S. Catholic bishops' international justice committee is calling on nations to help Syria after the Dec. 8 fall of the Assad dictatorship in a lightning rebel offensive.

A Sister of Charity in northern Italy was placed under house arrest after a nearly four-month investigation by prosecutors revealed she allegedly used her prison ministry to connect local mafia bosses with inmates.

Chilling rain and the "City of Lights" completely locked down due to high profile guests did not stop the crowds from arriving as close to Notre Dame Cathedral as possible for its inaugural Mass celebrated Dec. 8. The beloved Paris icon also opened its doors to the public for the first time after the devastating fire in 2019, with the second Mass that Sunday for Parisians and tourists.