International News

News from outside of Canada.

Catholic groups raise concerns that UN climate rulebook lacks ambition

December 17, 2018

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.

Catholic social agency needed now more than ever, retiring CFS director says

December 17, 2018

If Denis Costello can take anything away from more than a quarter century with Catholic Family Services Toronto, it’s knowing that the need for the agency has never been greater.

Death penalty is inhuman, ignores mercy, Pope Francis says

December 17, 2018

VATICAN – The death penalty is an inhumane form of punishment that ignores the primacy of mercy in the name of justice, Pope Francis said.

Vatican Museums to launch full virtual tour to improve accessibility

December 17, 2018

VATICAN – In the technology support department at the Vatican Museums, Villanova University student Justin Myers is spending a semester creating virtual tours of galleries, part of a larger project to make the museums accessible to everyone.

Pope Francis celebrates 82nd birthday with pediatric patients

December 17, 2018

VATICAN – If the Holy Family lived in Rome and the baby Jesus had a cold or flu, Mary and Joseph certainly would bring him to the Vatican pediatric clinic for help, Pope Francis said.

Iraqi priest rebuilds church in war-torn Mosul, hopes returning Christians will follow

December 17, 2018

MOSUL, Iraq (CNS) -- Christians are cautiously returning to Mosul, the once-bustling Iraqi city that for three years was the capital of the caliphate established by the Islamic State group.

Israel's foreign workers visit pop-up Christmas market to help cure homesickness

December 14, 2018

TEL AVIV, Israel – For foreign workers and other nonlocal Christians living in Israel, celebrating Christmas far from loved ones in a country where Christians are a minority can be a difficult time.

Catholics ask for more 'heart and soul' at UN environmental conference

December 14, 2018

Standing on the outside looking in as the world’s environment ministers and their armies of technocrats hammered out the rulebook for Paris Agreement on climate change, Canadian Josianne Gauthier wished there was an injection of urgency onto the agenda.

Postwar orphans were sex abuse victims of German clergy, investigation finds

December 14, 2018

An investigation by the Diocese of Hildesheim, Germany, is shedding new light on child sex abuse in Catholic children's homes in the country in the 1950s. A central figure in the inquiry is an esteemed and controversial figure, Bishop Heinrich Maria Janssen, a former priest in Nazi-occupied Poland awarded Germany's highest federal decoration in 1966 for postwar charity work.

Proposal would increase power of archbishops in dealing with sex abuse

December 14, 2018

A proposal by American bishops has borrowed from medieval practice to offer a solution to the complex canon-law conundrum of how to hold bishops to account for sexual misconduct and abuse coverups.