International News

News from outside of Canada.

Kenyan priest slain in ongoing violence

February 1, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya - A mob brutally killed a priest of the diocese of Nakuru in Kenya’s Rift Valley amid continuing post-election violence which has pitted rival ethnic gangs against each other.

Winnipeg Archbishop Weisgerber sees dire problems of Holy Land

January 29, 2008

OTTAWA - Winnipeg Archbishop James Weisgerber has returned from his first trip to the Holy Land with a deep understanding of the pressure and suffering the historic Christian community experiences there.

Tridentine Good Friday prayer to be revised

January 25, 2008

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI has decided to reformulate a Good Friday prayer in the 1962 Latin Roman Missal that was offensive to Jews, according to an Italian newspaper.

Italian university protesters miss Pope’s point

January 22, 2008

VATICAN CITY - It was a first, at least in modern times: In Rome, the centre of the Catholic world and the capital of Catholic Italy, a pope felt unwelcome to give a speech at the public university. When Pope Benedict XVI cancelled his planned visit to La Sapienza University Jan. 17, it marked a setback in the pontiff’s difficult dialogue with the contemporary scientific and intellectual world.

Jesuits choose new leader with wide international experience

January 21, 2008

ROME - Spanish-born Fr. Adolfo Nicolas, the newly elected superior general of the Jesuits, called on the more than 19,000 members of his order to strengthen their service to the poor and those excluded from the benefits of economic globalization.

Combination of factors lead to Kenyan turmoil

January 11, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya - Church leaders, pastors and bishops are working to change the channel on the cycle of ethnic and political violence which has claimed nearly 500 lives since Kenya’s disputed national elections Dec. 27.

Pope appeals for end to Kenyan violence

January 7, 2008

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI appealed for an immediate end to ethnic violence in Kenya and called on political leaders to resolve the conflict there through "dialogue and democratic debate."

Kenyan bishops appeal for dialogue to resolve violence

January 4, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya - Following days of violence and death after the announcement of disputed election results, Kenya's Catholic bishops appealed to political leaders to make every effort to engage in dialogue to resolve the crisis.

Bhutto assassination draws papal condemnation

January 3, 2008

THRISSUR, India - Catholic leaders in Pakistan and Pope Benedict XVI condemned the assassination at an election rally of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, leader of the opposition Pakistan People’s Party.

Development work in Myanmar next to impossible, aid agencies say

December 30, 2007

Six months after Cyclone Nargis killed approximately 100,000 people in Myanmar, Catholic aid and religious organizations are still struggling with how to help people in a corrupt police state. “Working in a police state? Well, it certainly means certain restrictions are in place,” wrote Jocelyne Dubois, Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace program officer for Asia in an e-mail from Myanmar.