International News

News from outside of Canada.

Pressure to allow hijab in basketball mounts as decision looms

August 12, 2016

Something you won’t see in sun-worshipping, skin-baring Rio de Janeiro as the 2016 Olympics continue: women covering their heads on the basketball court.

Assembly OKs document marking 50 years of Lutheran-Catholic dialogue

August 12, 2016

NEW ORLEANS – A key action at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Churchwide Assembly in New Orleans was the approval Aug. 10 by 980 voting members of a document that marks 50 years of Lutheran-Catholic dialogue.

Kaine, Trump address faithful of different stripes

August 11, 2016

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine, recounting his work as a missionary and his role as a tenor in his Catholic church choir, cheered the efforts of a historically black Baptist denomination to get out the vote this election season.

Muslim-on-Muslim violence highlighted in new U.S. State Department report

August 11, 2016

WASHINGTON – While in past years the wave of Muslim violence against Christians has been prominent in the U.S. State Department's annual report on international religious freedom, the latest report, released Aug. 10, focuses on Muslim violence against other Muslims.

Pope invites Syrian refugees to lunch

August 11, 2016

VATICAN CITY – At a luncheon that was part reunion and part progress report, Pope Francis invited 21 Syrian refugees to join him at the Vatican Aug. 11.

U.S. ambassador: Religious freedom seriously lacking for three-fourths of world’s population

August 11, 2016

WASHINGTON – The U.S. State Department warned that religion-based terrorists as well as some governments across the globe are threatening the liberties of religious minorities.

U.N. Refugee Olympic team: 'The victory scream of all refugees'

August 10, 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO – Glued to the improvised screen set up on the patio of the Caritas house, the refugees yelled and they cried. But most of all, they cheered. They cheered for their two Congolese colleagues, Popole Misenga, 24, and Yolande Mabika, 28, who were competing in judo as part of the United Nations' Refugee Olympic team.

Bangladeshi Catholic editor flees country amid harassment, threats

August 10, 2016

WASHINGTON – Rosaline Costa heard people tell her "be careful" so often she decided that she had to flee her native Bangladesh for the United States to stay alive.

Pope pays 'private' visit to convents outside Rome

August 10, 2016

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis "snuck" out of the Vatican Aug. 9 for a drive, a walk in the woods and lunch with an Italian bishop at a small convent.

Philippine church leaders feel powerless to stop extrajudicial killings

August 10, 2016

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Catholic leaders say they are powerless to stop a growing number of extrajudicial killings that have come with President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs.