World News

Monsignor Hugues de Woillemont, director general of the French organization L’Œuvre d’Orient, said that Eastern Christians, especially Christians in the Holy Land, are facing existential challenges that threaten their historic presence. Chief among these challenges, he said, are migration, the pressure of economic crises, and war. The head of the social and humanitarian association told ... read more

L’Œuvre d’Orient marks 170 years with an appeal for solidarity with Christians in the East and highlights three major challenges threatening the future of Christians there. Monsignor Hugues de Woillemont looks out over the city during a visit to Taybeh, east of Ramallah, the last entirely Christian town in the ... read more

There's been no conspiracy to omit the mention of Jesus Christ, but there has been a hesitancy to place him at the center of our events. Pope Leo XIV aims to correct this state of affairs, writes Michael Sean Winters. ... read more

As immigration enforcement intensified this winter, Minneapolis organizers and parishioners navigated fear, exhaustion and moral responsibility. The trauma, they said, transformed churches, families and neighborhoods. ... read more

The Christian tradition is inherently a storytelling religion. And from the earliest days of the experimental Franciscan way of life, people told striking stories about what was unfolding in the town of Assisi. ... read more

The federal government's planned 1.3-mile wall across Mount Cristo Rey, seen as a holy site where "faith transcends borders," has drawn opposition from environmentalists and the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico. ... read more

Vatican City - The Holy Father, Leo XIV, has appointed Bishop Miguel Angel Nguema Bee Etete, S.D.B., currently Apostolic Administrator of the same See and Bishop of the Diocese of Ebebiyin, as Bishop of the Diocese of Bata. Miguel Angel Nguema Bee Etete was born on July 13, 1969, in Bata, Equatorial Guinea. After studying ... read more

Genoa – “Peace is a possible mission”: this, along with many other meaningful insights and reflections, represents the core of the new book with the equally emblematic title “I choose not to hate”, published by EMI and written by Father Pier Luigi Maccalli, a priest of the Society of African Missions.Father Gigi experienced first-hand “the ... read more

Ascensión de Guarayos – From May 13 to 15, the Apostolic Vicariate of Ñuflo de Chávez will host celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of this historic city in eastern Bolivia and the beginning of the Franciscan mission among the Guarayo people, which has profoundly shaped the spiritual and cultural identity of the region. Under the ... read more

As is customary, 13 ambassadors to the Holy See who have completed two years of service were awarded the title of Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Pius IX. Archbishop Paolo Rudelli, the new Substitute for General Affairs at the Secretariat of State, presented the awards on May 12. ... read more

Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, O.P., of Algiers, Algeria, has written the preface to a forthcoming book, Homos et Cathos: L’Église à l’épreuve du réel (Gays and Catholics: The Church Put to the Test of Reality). “I like the definition given by James Alison in his contribution: homosexual orientation is a regularly occurring non-pathological minority ... read more

The Diocese of Salford opened the beatification cause of Pedro Ballester, a lay member of Opus Dei who died in 2018 at the age of 21. “Shortly after beginning university, Pedro was diagnosed with advanced pelvic cancer,” the diocese said in a May 13 statement. “He accepted his illness with remarkable faith, offering his ... read more

Continuing his series of Wednesday general audiences on the Second Vatican Council and its documents, Pope Leo XIV devoted his May 13 general audience (video) to the Blessed Virgin Mary. ... read more

The Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication announced that daily video programming will be broadcast on giant screens in Rome and Milan beginning on May 17. “In the coming months, the project is expected to expand progressively to additional screens in other Italian cities, further extending the reach of Vatican content beyond traditional media platforms,” according ... read more

The number of Muslim students in public schools in Vienna, Austria, exceeds the number of Christians. 42% of the approximately 114,000 students are Muslims. 17% are Catholic, 14% are Eastern Orthodox, and 23% have no religious affiliation. “The newer Muslim communities often come from more explicitly religious environments and tend to practice a ... read more