International News

The recent decision to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has rocked the world of nongovernmental organizations, south of the border and beyond.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sued the Trump administration Feb. 18 over the suspension of funding of refugee resettlement assistance.

One out of four people living in Lebanon is a refugee, and the majority of children born in refugee camps are unregistered at birth, said Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

The head of the Tuscan Bishops' Conference said the passage of a new law in Italy allowing medically assisted suicide was "not an achievement, but a defeat for everyone."

The election of Joseph Aoun, a Maronite (Eastern-rite Catholic), as the 14th president of Lebanon and a fragile ceasefire have raised hopes that the war-ravaged and crisis-ridden country will finally reverse its steep descent into chaos.

Even though a pilgrimage peak is some months away, the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes celebrated its wintery feast day Feb. 11 with a number of pilgrims who flocked to the French holy site on the anniversary of the first apparition of the Blessed Virgin to St. Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.

Pro-life groups welcomed comments by the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales bitterly criticizing attempts by government-aligned parliamentarians to rush through a bill allowing doctor-assisted suicide.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Feb. 5 barring biological males from competing in women's sports.

The Catholic community in Sheffield, England, is in shock after the "tragic" stabbing of 15-year-old schoolboy Harvey Willgoose at All Saints Catholic High School led to the death of a student hailed as "one of our own" and "a best friend to all."

Pope Francis said he was "deeply saddened" by the tragic shooting in a Swedish school, sending "assurance of his spiritual closeness to all affected by this traumatic incident," in which 10 students of an adult education centre lost their lives.