International News

While Pope Francis was hospitalized in Rome's Gemelli hospital, one of the cardinals closest to him traveled to Lebanon to demonstrate the pope's ongoing concern for refugees and for peace in the Middle East.

The body of Shiri Bibas -- the mother of two red-headed boys who became a symbol of Israeli hostage suffering, both confirmed dead -- was eventually returned Feb. 21, with the Bibas family confirming Feb. 22 that it was the body of the boys' mother.

The British army veteran prosecuted for silently praying in front of an abortion clinic was, to his own surprise, caught in the global spotlight when his case was cited by U.S. Vice President JD Vance in a Feb. 14 speech at a landmark security conference in Munich.

As the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approached, a sense of urgency to end the Russia-Ukraine war emanating from the United States created a flurry of traffic on social media and in news outlets.

The recent decision to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has rocked the world of nongovernmental organizations, south of the border and beyond.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sued the Trump administration Feb. 18 over the suspension of funding of refugee resettlement assistance.

One out of four people living in Lebanon is a refugee, and the majority of children born in refugee camps are unregistered at birth, said Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

The head of the Tuscan Bishops' Conference said the passage of a new law in Italy allowing medically assisted suicide was "not an achievement, but a defeat for everyone."

The election of Joseph Aoun, a Maronite (Eastern-rite Catholic), as the 14th president of Lebanon and a fragile ceasefire have raised hopes that the war-ravaged and crisis-ridden country will finally reverse its steep descent into chaos.

Even though a pilgrimage peak is some months away, the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes celebrated its wintery feast day Feb. 11 with a number of pilgrims who flocked to the French holy site on the anniversary of the first apparition of the Blessed Virgin to St. Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.