International News

News from outside of Canada.

As alleged coup plotter's movement contracts in Africa, some worry over power vacuum

August 31, 2016

NAIROBI, Kenya – As Turkish authorities push for the closure of African schools affiliated with Imam Fethullah Gulen — accused of masterminding this summer’s coup attempt in Turkey — some caution that the crackdown could inadvertently benefit Islamic fundamentalists on the continent.

Temperance movement never more needed

August 30, 2016

OTTAWA – Founded in the United States more than a century ago to battle the “evils of alcohol,” the World Women’s Christian Temperance Union has grown into a world-wide organization confronting 21st-century social ills that include everything from drug addiction to Internet pornography and human trafficking.

CWL seeking protection of conscience in health care

August 30, 2016

HALIFAX – The Catholic Women’s League of Canada is calling on its members to pressure politicians to guarantee freedom-of-conscience protection for healthcare institutions and medical practioners who refuse to participate directly or indirectly in providing assisted dying.

At memorial, murdered nuns recalled for their generosity, service in Mississippi

August 30, 2016

JACKSON, Miss. – The deaths of Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill demand justice, but not revenge, Franciscan Father Greg Plata said during a memorial Mass for the women religious in the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle.

Catholic missionaries stay in South Sudan after attack on foreigners

August 30, 2016

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – While most expatriate aid workers left South Sudan after a brutal attack on foreigners in the capital, a group of Catholic missionaries chose to stay.

Turkey gives early release to man convicted of murdering priest

August 30, 2016

ROME – A man imprisoned for killing an Italian Catholic priest in Turkey was released after serving almost half of his 18-year sentence.

Bishop in southern Philippines backs military push against Abu Sayyaf

August 30, 2016

MANILA, Philippines – A Catholic bishop in the southern Philippines is backing a military campaign against Abu Sayyaf militants, who claim to have links with the Islamic State group.

Judge won’t stop California assisted suicide law or suit challenging it

August 30, 2016

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A California judge ruled Aug. 26 that he will not put the state's new assisted-suicide law on hold while a group of doctors are challenging it, but he also ruled that their challenge could continue.

Murdered nuns committed lives to serving poor, vulnerable people in Mississippi

August 29, 2016

NAZARETH, Ky. – The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth commit in their mission statement to "risk their lives" in their ministry to the poor and vulnerable.

Stop the cancer of Islamic State, urges Iraq's Chaldean patriarch

August 29, 2016

BAGHDAD – Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad called for a united and strong stance – by Muslims and non-Muslims alike – to stop the spread of the "cancer" of Islamic State and other terrorist groups.