Will World Youth Day Be a Wake-up Call? In what is often seen as one of the most intensely secular nations in the world, Australia received a wake-up call: the faith of the church on public display over the weeklong celebrations of World Youth Day. For young Catholics used to seeing a steady annual

Focolare Members Elect New President Maria Voce, a longtime close collaborator of the late Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare movement, has been elected the new president of the movement to foster worldwide unity. Almost 500 delegates from five continents voted nearly unanimously for Voce July 7

Washington Funeral Mass for Tim Russert The presumptive Democratic and Republican presidential nominees were among the scores of mourners at the private funeral Mass on June 18 for the NBC News Washington bureau chief and “Meet the Press” moderator Tim Russert, who died suddenly June 13

Few Iraqi Refugees Resettled in U.S. More than 1,000 refugees from Iraq arrived in the United States in May, the most in recent months, bringing the fiscal-year total to 4,742 so far, the State Department reported June 3. But with just four months left in the fiscal year, the administration’s

Meeting the Food Crisis Greater support for the world’s small farmers would enable them to produce more food in a sustainable manner and help address chronic hunger and malnutrition around the globe, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the United Nations said during a meeting of the worl

Caritas Increases Relief Efforts in Myanmar Caritas Internationalis is offering emergency response efforts in Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Division and the Yangon District, two of the areas hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis. An estimated 40,000 people will receive vital relief, including food, shelter, wat