International News

The Jesuit-run Central American University in Managua suspended operations Aug. 16 after Nicaraguan authorities branded the school a "center of terrorism" the previous day and froze its assets for confiscation -- actions marking an escalation in the regime's repression of the Catholic Church and its charitable and educational projects.

The Pakistani Catholic church strongly condemned the Muslim mob attack on churches and Christian properties Aug. 16 and demanded justice.

The Colombian bishops' conference has welcomed the beginning of a six-month ceasefire between the nation's military and the largest remaining rebel group in the country, and began to train dozens of priests and lay workers from different parts of the country on how to help monitor the truce.

"For us, it's like a miracle," Msgr. Terrence Watanabe, the Honolulu Diocese's vicar of Maui and Lanai, said about Maria Lanakila Catholic Church in the town of Lahaina being seemingly untouched by the fierce Maui wildfires Aug. 8-9.

Catholic Charities Hawai'i in the Honolulu Diocese has appealed for donations to help the agency meet housing, food and other needs of what could be thousands of victims from wildfires raging on the island of Maui that wiped out an entire town and drove people to seek refuge in the ocean.

Catholics in Slovenia are rallying emergency aid and turning to prayer as record floods have ravaged that nation, killing at least six and leaving hundreds homeless.

Fifteen World Youth Day pilgrims from Ukraine, most of whom had lost a father or other close relative in the war, had a private meeting with Pope Francis Aug. 3.

Joyful, singing crowds were walking through Lisbon long after the opening Mass of World Youth Day 2023 was over Aug. 1. The atmosphere surprised even those that lived in the Portuguese capital throughout their lives.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed into law a bill moving the official observance of Christmas Day to Dec. 25 from Jan. 7, when Moscow and the Russian Orthodox Church mark the holiday.

With 80% of people identifying as Catholic, Portugal is among the countries with the highest church presence in Europe. The signs of the nation's intimate relationship with Catholicism are visible all across Lisbon, where thousands of youth have already arrived for World Youth Day. Pope Francis is joining them Aug. 2-6.