Login      Register  
Subscription

Armenian bishops elect former U.S. pastor as patriarch

The bishops of the Armenian Catholic Church elected Archbishop Raphaël François Minassian, the ordinary for Armenian Catholics in Eastern Europe, to be their church’s new patriarch. Upon his election, the 74-year-old patriarch took the name Patriarch Raphaël Pierre XXI Minassian, the Vatican said in an announcement Sept. 23. The patriarch-to-be and his 11 confreres began […]

Leadership is distorted by thirst for power, betraying charism, pope says

Pope Francis praised Catholic lay movements and associations for living out the Gospel in their everyday lives and for promoting education, social support and evangelization in the world’s peripheries. They show how “we don’t have to wait for a priest to come, for the priest to evangelize or a missionary,” he said, applauding the way […]

Collegiality, synodality needed to face challenges in Europe, bishops say

Heads of several bishops’ conferences and councils around the world called for greater collegiality and communion among bishops to confront the challenges facing the church in Europe and across the globe. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, who addressed the plenary assembly of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences Sept. 24, called on the […]

Moroccan Christians Welcome End of a Decade of Islamist Government

Turnout surged to 50% as liberals routed the Justice and Development Party (PJD), which led the North African nation’s parliament the past 10 years. Its share of the 395-seat legislature dropped from 125 to 13. The PJD finished eighth overall. “We thank Jesus, the Islamists are gone,” said Imounan, a church planter who lives in the southern […]

Olympic champion gets hero’s welcome at Maryland Catholic school alma mater

For three-time Olympian Katie Ledecky, her incredible journey to winning four more Olympic medals at the Summer Games in Tokyo began many years ago and winds through several roads. Among them are two Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Washington, a few area pools and the tight-knit community of her Bethesda hometown. Stone Ridge School […]

New Swiss Guard barracks will allow room for families, maybe female guards

A complete rebuild and expansion of the living quarters for the Swiss Guard will not only improve life for guards and their families, it will also allow for the future possibility of recruiting women. Currently, applications to serve in the 15-year-old corps are open only to Swiss male citizens who served in the Swiss Army […]

Forced conversions a religious duty in Pakistan

Pir Abdul Haq, alias Mian Mithu, specializes in marrying off Hindu women to Muslim men in Pakistan and converting them to Islam simultaneously. His certificates preceded court verdicts before the partition of British India. “Even at that time, my father was jailed for four months when the local Hindus protested. The British gave us a […]

Helping resettle Afghans fits ‘mission’ of Nashville Catholic Charities

Over the course of the next six months, Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Nashville will help resettle 150 Afghans into local communities as part of the effort to help them escape Taliban rule under the U.S. State Department’s Afghan Placement Assistance Program. “We serve people because we can address their needs, and addressing the […]