International News

THRISSUR, India -- Jesuit Fr. Stan Swamy, jailed on dubious terrorism charges since October, died July 5 at Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai. He was 84.

THRISSUR, India -- Syro-Malabar Bishop Kuriakose Bharanikulangara of Faridabad, India, urged India's prime minister to facilitate rebuilding of a church demolished by local government officials in the Indian capital of New Delhi.

BEIRUT -- In a flash, people's lives were forever changed shortly after 6 p.m. Aug. 4. And from the moment after the blast, the driving concern for Maronite Catholic Archbishop Paul Abdel Sater was to be beside the people of his archdiocese in their suffering and to keep them in their homes.

VATICAN CITY -- Condemning the "heinous assassination" of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, Pope Francis urged the people of Haiti to shun violence and make a commitment to dialogue and solidarity as the path to a better future.

MIAMI BEACH -- Staff members with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami were on location and developing a response strategy June 24 near the stunning wreckage of a partially collapsed beachfront high-rise apartment building.

BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- Graduating in July as part of Bethlehem University’s first software engineering class, students Marianna Bannoura, Oriana Sabat and Mariam Qumsieh already have a market-ready app under their belts.

WASHINGTON -- After a lengthy debate, the U.S. bishops have given the green light to a draft a document on the “meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the Church.”

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican has informed Italy that a draft law to fight homophobia and discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity could violate the freedom of Catholics to teach and practice their faith.

VATICAN CITY -- While acknowledging Vatican-mandated reforms in the handling of clerical sexual abuse, four U.N. special rapporteurs urged the Vatican to make it mandatory that church officials everywhere report abuse allegations to civil authorities.

BRUSSELS -- The bishops of the European Union, while applauding a proposed EU report on expanding the access of all women to adequate health care, take strong issue with the report's characterization of abortion as a human right and its claim that "a total ban on abortion care or denial of abortion care is a form of gender-based violence."