Catholic World News

A record crowd called for legal protection for the unborn during the annual March for Life in Washington. The Associated Press reported that “thousands” took part, while pro-life journalists who...

Authorities in the central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, which has been ruled by a former Communist Party chief since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has fined four Jehovah's...

Thirty Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders have called upon the Obama administration to take a “bold new initiative” for Israeli-Palestinian peace. “We know the challenges are daunting, but we...

A Franciscan friar who was accused of abuse by dozens of his former male students has committed suicide. Brother Stephen Baker, TOR, worked as a teacher and coach at John F. Kennedy Catholic High...

The altar at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte was recently desecrated. A person, or persons, broke into the church through a stained-glass window during the night, knocked over the...

The Synod of the Chaldean Catholic Church has convened in Rome to elect a new Patriarch of Babylon. The 15 bishops of the Chaldean Synod are meeting under the direction of Cardinal Leonardo...

Proposed legislation to allow for legal recognition of same-sex marriage could force changes in existing laws regarding divorce, legal experts in Britain have warned. The government’s plan to...

Eight months after Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was dismissed as president of the Vatican bank, his successor has still not been appointed and Tedeschi’s dismissal remains controversial. Andrea...

An Italian archbishop has revealed that he was confined to his home, forced to remain inside his “besieged” residence, when homosexual activists staged a protest there earlier this month, and warned...

Pope Benedict XVI has sent a message of condolence or Archbishop Helio Adelar Rubert of Santa Maria, Brazil, on the death of 231 youth people at a dance club. In his message—releayed in a...

Pope Benedict XVI has approved a plenary indulgence for all those who participate in the 21st World Day of the Sick observances in Altotting, Germany, in February. Cardinal Manuel Monteiro de...

At his midday audience on Sunday, January 27, Pope Benedict XVI said that the day’s Gospel challenges Catholics to live out their faith fully today. Invoking the old Latin motto, Carpe diem, the...

Pope Benedict XVI called attention to International Remembrance Day on January 27, praying that the horrors of the Holocaust would never be repeated. At the conclusion of his regular Sunday...

A New York Times editorial has suggested that Cardinal Roger Mahony could be vulnerable to lawsuits because of his efforts to cover up sexual abuse by priests in the Los Angeles archdiocese. The...

The “current crisis of faith” has led to a crisis in marriage, Pope Benedict XVI said in a January 26 address to members of the tribunal of the Roman Rota. “Contemporary culture, marked by a...

A US district court judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the HHS mandate filed by the Archdiocese of Washington, Catholic University of America, Catholic Charities of DC, and two other local...

An Iranian judge has sentenced Saeed Abedini, a 34-year-old American citizen who was born in Iran, to eight years in the notorious Evin prison for engaging in evangelization. Abedini, a convert...

Large Protestant churches are blossoming in Angola, the historically Catholic nation that has been ruled by an erstwhile Marxist president since 1979. “Recent churches like the Pentecostals have...

Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, said that the immigration-reform principles announced by eight senators on January...

A spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America has announced that the organization may soon permit local troops to decide whether to allow homosexuals to serve as scoutmasters. The president of the...

Pope Benedict XVI will preside at all the usual liturgical ceremonies of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter, the Vatican has announced. Although he requires more rest as he approaches his 86th birthday,...

At a January 29 press conference, held to brief reporters on Pope Benedict’s message for the World Day of the Sick, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski said that the Pope’s message, released earlier this...

As Italian Catholics await formal Vatican approval for a new translation of the Mass, a lively debate continues over the translation of the words “pro multis” as per molti rather than per tutti. The...

Pope Benedict XVI has asked for two young Lebanese Catholics to prepare the meditations for the Way of the Cross devotion on Good Friday at the Coliseum in Rome. The Pope has asked Maronite...

"The respect and protection of human rights in our Country is deteriorating at an alarming rate," the Catholic bishops of Zambia have warned in a pastoral letter. The bishops’ letter criticize...

A Filipino man has been sentenced to a 13-month prison term for disrupting Mass at the cathedral in Manila to deliver a message in favor of contraceptive use. Carlos Celdran was found guilty of...

A Mennonite pastor in Vermont has been jailed for contempt of court after he refused to testify in a case involving a woman who fled with her daughter to avoid a court order requiring the daughter...

A federal court in Ohio has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a former Congressman against a pro-life activist group. Former US Rep. Steve Driehaus, an Ohio Democrat, had charged that the Susan B....

Noting that “our country continues to suffer grave crises, disasters and challenges,” the bishops of the Philippines have issued a pastoral statement lamenting “the promotion of a culture of death...

Rebels in the Central African Republic have seized control of Alindao, a city of 160,000 that is the seat of one of the nation’s nine dioceses, destroyed the city hall and police stations, and...

Five Armenian Christians have been attacked recently in an Istanbul neighborhood. One 85-year-old murder victim was stabbed repeatedly and had a cross carved on her corpse. “Opinion remains...

As the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has filed briefs in their...

In a statement for Catholic Schools Week, Bishop Joseph McFadden of Harrisburg, chairman of the Committee on Catholic Education for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, stated that...

A long-overdue diplomatic accord between the Vatican and Israel is finally near completion, according to a top Israeli negotiator. Israel’s deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon—who took part in...

At his weekly public audience on January 30, Pope Benedict XVI continued a series of meditations on the Creed, with a focus on the description of God as the “almighty Father.” The Pope...

Maronite Catholic Patriarch Bechara Rai has charged that the governments who are arming both sides in Syria’s civil war bear a moral responsibility for the bloodshed. The Lebanese prelate...

In interviews with LifeSite News, three American Catholic bishops said that they were prepared to go to jail rather than accept implementation of the contraceptive mandate in the Obama...

A Pakistani Christian has been acquitted by an appeals court, after having been sentenced to death on blasphemy charges. Rimsha Masih, who had spent 18 months in prison, was freed when an...

A Philadelphia priest and former Catholic elementary school teacher have been convicted of sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy in 1998 and 1999. “I’m overjoyed that there was a conviction, mostly...

The Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has endorsed the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, an initiative that calls for...

Reversing a decision by a private mediator, a Los Angeles superior court judge has directed the Archdiocese of Los Angeles not to black out the names of Cardinal Roger Mahony, his auxiliary bishops,...

The Diocese of Worcester has canceled an appearance by Robert Spencer, the author of several books on Islam. Spencer had been invited to speak at a diocesan Catholic men’s conference. “Although...

Two Catholic religious communities have been forced to abandon their residences in Libya, and others are planning to leave, because of mounting pressure from Islamic militants. “The situation is...

At a January 31 press conference in Rome, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, observed that young people today are frequently “disconnected” from...

The Vatican has announced a donation of €100,000 (about $135,500) to underwrite repairs to the roof of the basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The ancient church—originally constructed in...

Negotiators for the Holy See and the Palestinian Authority have announced progress toward the completion of an accord that would define the legal rights of the Church on Palestinian land. After...

The director of the Vatican Museums has warned that Italy’s cultural institutions are being plundered, and “our immense national heritage is vanishing,” as criminals loot museums and...

A federal appeals court has given another legal victory to a Catholic-owned business challenging the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate, while another court has thrown out a challenge...

Immediately complying with a judge’s order, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has released the personnel files of 87 clergy accused of sexual abuse and has posted the files online. Archbishop José...

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York touted the academic successes of Catholic schools and challenged Catholic educators “to be bold in our thinking and daring in...

Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans joined with civil and athletic officials in a public-service announcement designed to raise awareness about human trafficking. The announcement came on...

The Vatican Library, in collaboration with the University of Heidelberg and with financial assistance from the London-based Polonsky Foundation, has posted 256 documents online. Msgr. Cesare...

The Obama administration has announced a new policy that would allow religious employers to provide employees with health-care plans that do not include coverage for contraceptives. The...

Archbishop Louis Sako, who has headed the Chaldean Catholic archdiocese of Kirkuk, Iraq, since 2003, has been elected the new Patriarch of Babylon and worldwide leader of the Chaldean Catholic...

Christian faith and an impulse to charity are “intimately linked” and can never be in conflict, Pope Benedict XVI writes in his Lenten Message for 2013. In his message-entitled "Believing in...

Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II in May 1983, now claims the assassination attempt was ordered by the late Iranian Islamic leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Agca—who has...