International News

ROME -- Catholic bishops in Malta said that while they support equality and are against discrimination, they are concerned that two new bills meant to protect people's rights would instead threaten personal freedoms.

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Bishops in Colombia prayed for the victims of police violence and urged protesters not to take justice into their own hands, following a chaotic week in which 13 people were killed during protests over law enforcement in the South American country.

BRISBANE, Australia -- A new law requires priests in the state of Queensland to break the seal of confession to report child sex abuse to police or face three years in jail.

BEIRUT -- Sister Marie Justine el Osta had just begun a spiritual retreat in a mountain convent 27 miles north of Beirut. Even in that remote location, the blast that rocked Lebanon's capital Aug. 4 could be felt, like an earthquake.

BEIRUT -- Bringing a message of hope to Lebanon, a month after a double blast struck Beirut, Pope Francis' closest collaborator assured the Lebanese: "You are not alone. The whole world supports you."

BEIRUT -- Bringing a message of hope to Lebanon, a month after a double blast struck Beirut, Pope Francis' closest collaborator assured the Lebanese: "You are not alone. The whole world supports you."

LAHORE, Pakistan -- Human rights activists were shocked after Asia Bibi dissociated herself from her autobiography, due out later in September.

WARSAW, Poland -- The president of the Belarusian bishops’ conference has been barred from re-entering his country from abroad, after warning in a pastoral letter that the nation’s worsening crisis could spill into civil war.

WASHINGTON -- Pope Francis’ efforts to bring reform in the Catholic Church are meeting resistance in some Church circles, according to one panelist at an Aug. 31 online forum sponsored by Georgetown University’s Office of the Vice President for Global Engagement.

WARSAW, Poland -- Poland's bishops called on Catholics to show respect for people connected with the LGBT movement, but urged them to resist LGBT calls for a "social and cultural transformation" in conflict with church teaching.