International News

News from outside of Canada.

Maronite bishops: Mideast turmoil threatens to change regional map

June 23, 2014

BEIRUT - Maronite Catholic bishops expressed their concern about the war in Syria and Iraq and warned that Lebanon's presidential vacuum poses a dangerous risk to the country, particularly amid the escalating regional turmoil that they said threatens to change the map of the Middle East.

Catholic Register honoured with 10 awards by Catholic Press Association

June 23, 2014

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Catholic Register writers and editors were honoured with 10 awards, including three first-place prizes, at a gala banquet held June 20 to recognize excellence in Catholic journalism.

Order of Malta hospital central to Bethlehem’s faith community

June 22, 2014

BETHLEHEM - Hospitals are mostly in the habit of receiving patients. In Bethlehem, Holy Family Hospital also receives pilgrims.

Italian women seek freedom to marry the priests they love

June 21, 2014

ROME - Anna Ferretti has been married for more than 40 years, and she and her husband are the proud parents of four children. There’s only one catch: Her husband is a Catholic priest.

Diplomacy, not force, needed to resolve Iraq crisis

June 20, 2014

WASHINGTON - Saying the United States has a special responsibility to the people of Iraq, the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace called for diplomatic measures rather than a military response to the crisis facing the country.

Refugees in Jordan say they never thought they would have to leave home

June 19, 2014

AMMAN, Jordan - Desperate to reunite with family in Europe, a young Syrian refugee recently paid thousands of dollars to a human trafficker to help him and his brother travel abroad. Instead, the pair found themselves tricked, half-way on the opposite side of the world — in China.

San Francisco archbishop defends decision to join rally against gay marriage

June 19, 2014

Religion News Service - The U.S. Catholic bishops’ point man on opposing same-sex marriage defended his decision to take part in today's March for Marriage in Washington, saying support for traditional man-woman marriage is not “anti-LGBT … anti-anyone or anti-anything.”

After massacre, Kenyan bishops ask, 'Where was the security?'

June 18, 2014

NAIROBI, Kenya - The Kenyan bishops' justice and peace commission criticized the five-hour-long massacre in the coastal town of Mpeketoni and asked: "Where was the security? Where was the intelligence? Where were the police? What happened to the various roadblocks?"

European Church leaders welcome court ruling on religious rights

June 18, 2014

OXFORD, England - Catholic Church representatives have welcomed a European Court judgment reaffirming the autonomy of religious communities, but warned that pressure could continue to restrict religious rights.

Theologians at Vatican move Archbishop Sheen's cause closer to beatification

June 17, 2014

PEORIA, Ill. - The possible miracle needed for the beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen took another step toward papal recognition June 17 when a panel of theologians met at the Vatican, the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation announced.