International News

News from outside of Canada.

Mexican archbishop: We need to ask emigrants for forgiveness for failure to provide

January 31, 2017

MORELIA, Mexico – The head of an archdiocese in the western Mexican state of Michoacan has said the country needs to seek forgiveness for failing to provide for its people who seek a better life in the United States.

Trump ban will hurt Christian refugees fleeing conflict, says Iraqi Archbishop

January 30, 2017

ROME – As confusion continued over President Donald Trump’s ban on refugees and travellers from seven Muslim countries, Catholic leaders from Iraq are warning that the policy change will hurt thousands of Iraqi Christians languishing in Middle East refugee camps.

Iraqi Christian leader visiting Mosul sees little future for Christians

January 30, 2017

MOSUL, Iraq – As some residents of the city of Mosul celebrate their new freedom from the Islamic State group, an Iraqi Christian leader who visited the war-torn city said Christian residents are unlikely to return.

Trump's ban on refugees prompts outcry from U.S. Catholic leaders

January 30, 2017

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's executive memorandum intended to restrict the entry of terrorists coming to the United States brought an outcry from Catholic leaders across the U.S.

Iraqi patriarch: Fast track for Christian refugees will fuel tensions

January 30, 2017

VATICAN CITY – Giving priority to Christian refugees for settlement programs would be "a trap" that discriminates and fuels religious tensions in the Middle East, said Iraq's Chaldean Catholic patriarch.

"We express our pain and rejection" – Mexico's bishops react to Trump's border wall

January 30, 2017

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – The bishops of Mexico on Thursday reacted to United States' president Donald Trump's executive order to build a wall on the nations' border by urging a more thoughtful response to legitimate security concerns.

Knights of Malta appoint interim leader, reinstate Grand Chancellor

January 30, 2017

VATICAN CITY – After Pope Francis asked Knights of Malta Grand Master Matthew Festing to resign earlier this week, the Order has accepted the resignation, named an interim leader and reinstated their former Grand Chancellor, Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager.

Pope's homily: strength of the Church is in the small, persecuted Churches

January 30, 2017

The greatest strength of the Church today is in the little, persecuted Churches. That was the message of Pope Francis at the morning Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta. At the heart of the Pope’s homily were the martyrs: “Today there are more than in the first ages” – but the media says nothing about them, he continued, because it’s not news. Pope Francis invited us to remember those who suffer martyrdom.

Church implements Colombian peace accord with reflection, action, prayer

January 29, 2017

NEW YORK – No sector of society can unite Colombia single-handedly after a half-century of war, but the Catholic church's painstaking local reconciliation effort is a significant step to address the complex situation, Msgr. Hector Fabio Henao said.

Christians assess damage on Iraq's Nineveh plain, ravaged by ISIS

January 28, 2017

ERBIL, Iraq – “I don't understand how people can harm each other so much,” sighs security guard Louis Petrus. Petrus recently returned to his hometown for the first time: the Christian city of Qaraqosh, near Mosul, which he had to flee in August 2014, when Islamic State captured the largest Christian city on the Nineveh plain.