International News

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Caritas Indonesia (Karina) has joined the Jakarta Archdiocese in distributing aid to people hard hit by floods that have killed dozens of people in and around Indonesia's capital.

As some of the worst wildfires in Australian history rage across four states, thousands of people in affected areas in New South Wales and Victoria continue to be evacuated to safety.

Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako, responding to a U.S. drone attack in Baghdad that killed Iran's top general, said "wisdom is required to avoid the 'volcanic eruption' we are about to face."

MANCHESTER, England -- An English cardinal has condemned "all expressions of hatred" after anti-Semitic graffiti was daubed across shops, cafes and a synagogue in London.

LOS ANGELES -- Decrying the acts of religious violence that have taken place during the Christmas season, the president of the U.S. bishops declared: "Violence in the name of God is blasphemy."

LOS ANGELES -- An attorney who specializes in lawsuits for victims of clergy sexual abuse has announced plans to file 12 suits in nine California dioceses under California's new Child Victims Act, which takes effect Jan. 1, extending the state's statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse survivors.

WASHINGTON -- A host of voices from throughout the religious spectrum condemned the Dec. 28 knife attack at the suburban New York City home of a Hasidic rabbi that wounded five, one of them critically.

WASHINGTON -- Two Texas Catholic bishops offered words of condolence and prayers to the members and families of the victims of a church shooting in which two worshippers were killed.

WASHINGTON -- Two popes and multiple priests, cardinals and archbishops received part of $600,000 in financial gifts from former Washington Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, who controlled a discretionary fund, according to a report published Dec. 27 by The Washington Post.

ROME -- Demonstrating a strong "chain of abuse," the Legionaries of Christ said its founder, the late Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, sexually abused at least 60 minors and that at least another 51 youngsters were abused by Father Maciel's victims or victims of his victims.