International

By the numbers: Consistory keeps expanding variety in College of Cardinals

Pope Francis led a number of major events at the end of August, starting with the creation of 20 new cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica. Inducting the appointees into the College of Cardinals at an ordinary public consistory Aug. 27, the Pope will give each new cardinal: a scarlet biretta — the “red hat” — […]

Nicaragua: Police arrest Bishop Álvarez, priests and assistants

Bishop Rolando Álvarez is under house arrest in Nicaragua’s capital Managua after being detained by police August 19 in a pre-dawn raid. Bishop Álvarez had been confined to his residence for two weeks along with five priests, a seminarian, and a cameraman of a religious television channel. The priests and cameraman have reportedly been put […]

Shia LaBeouf embraces the Catholic faith: Here’s what we know

Shia LaBeouf, an actor known for his roles in such movies as “Transformers” and “Fury,” made headlines this week for the personal details he shared about how his on-screen portrayal of Padre Pio led him to a newfound love of the Catholic faith. In an 80-minute-long inter-view with Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of […]

South Korea records world’s lowest fertility rate – again

South Korea has broken its own record for the world’s lowest fertility rate, according to official figures released Wednesday, as the country struggles to reverse its years-long trend of declining births. The country’s fertility rate, which indicates the average number of children a woman will have in her lifetime, sunk to 0.81 in 2021 — […]

Young Sudanese woman to be stoned to death

A court in Sudan has sentenced a 20-year-old woman to be stoned to death for alleged adultery. The judgment comes as violence toward girls and women soars in the wake of last year’s military coup. Civil society and human rights groups in Sudan and beyond have called for the abolition of the obligatory sentence of […]

Nondenominational Churches Are Adding Millions of Members. Where Are They Coming From?

Over the last decade Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and every other Protestant family has declined except for those who say they are nondenominational. The 2020 US Religion Census, due out later this year, tallied 4,000 more nondenominational churches than in 2010, and nondenominational church attendance rose by 6.5 million during that time. At the same […]

Raising banner, protesters raise questions about ‘Doctrine of Discovery’

In a brief protest at a papal Mass in Canada, Indigenous women unfurled a banner that said, “Rescind the Doctrine.” The protest July 28 was a momentary but graphic reminder of how, when representatives of Canada’s First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities met Pope Francis at the Vatican in March and April, they asked him […]

Religious orders call for international intervention in Haiti

Religious orders working in Haiti have called on the inter-national community to directly intervene to address the reign of terror of armed gangs they described as “diabolical, frightening and unacceptable.” The same gangs are responsible for nearly four kidnappings a day in 2022 and violence that killed more than 200 and forced 3,000 to flee […]

Eviction-facing Indian Catholics to fight Muslim charity’s claims

Goans oppose tourism project near 16th century basilica