International News

News from outside of Canada.

Christian leaders call for end to US strikes in Iraq, focus on peaceful resolution

August 29, 2014

Even as some prominent Christians are calling on the United States to take more forceful military action against Islamic extremists in Iraq and Syria, more than 50 mainly Catholic and Protestant leaders are telling President Barack Obama to halt American airstrikes and pursue solely peaceful means to resolve the conflict.

Experts say papal visit to China not likely in near future

August 29, 2014

STONY BROOK, N.Y. - What are the prospects of the world witnessing a papal motorcade driving through the streets of Beijing in the near future?

Political correctness may have led UK officials to ignore reports of sex abuse

August 29, 2014

CANTERBURY, England - Muslims have reacted with horror to a sensational report revealing that 1,400 children were subjected to rapes, abductions and beatings by gangs of men, mostly of Pakistani origin, in the northern English town of Rotherham.

Middle East patriarchs meet diplomats, call for wiping out terrorists

August 28, 2014

BEIRUT - Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs of the Middle East denounced attacks on Christians and called upon the international community to work toward eradicating terrorist groups.

Catholic aid groups hope latest Israeli-Hamas ceasefire holds

August 27, 2014

JERUSALEM - Catholic aid organizations are hopeful that the most recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will hold as they begin to assess the needs in Gaza after 50 days of war.

Syriac patriarch calls Islamic State actions 'attempted genocide'

August 27, 2014

BEIRUT - Returning from a visit to the Kurdish region of Iraq, Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan called the Islamic State invasion "pure and simple religious cleansing and attempted genocide."

Groups lash out at new opt-out rules for HHS mandate

August 25, 2014

WASHINGTON - Pro-life groups that have battled with the federal government since the first rules were issued on contraceptive coverage in 2012 derided the government's latest rules allowing religious institutions -- and potentially some for-profit companies -- to opt out of the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act.

Slain journalist Foley lauded for living his faith through his reporting

August 25, 2014

ROCHESTER, N.H. - Slain journalist James Foley, who sent images and copy from different war zones, was described as living his faith through his work.

Panic, hunger spread among quarantined West Africans in Ebola areas

August 25, 2014

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Hunger and panic are spreading among people unable to work because of restrictions aimed at containing the spread of Ebola in Liberia and Sierra Leone, say church workers in West Africa.

Force alone cannot stop 'religious cleansing' in Mideast, custos says

August 25, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Although Christians, Muslims and Jews have struggled for hundreds of years to live peacefully alongside each other in the Middle East, "we have never seen the kind of 'religious cleansing' we are witnessing today," said the head of the region's Franciscans.