The Vatican’s representative at the United Nations told a congressional panel on Feb. 11 that “flagrant and widespread persecution of Christians rages in the Middle East even as we meet.” Archbishop Francis A. Chullikatt has witnessed the violence firsthand. Before taking his post

A bishop in northwestern Kenya said people are so hungry they are eating wild fruit, roots of trees and dog meat. “Food must reach here soonest to save the people from death,” said Bishop Dominic Kimengich of Lodwar, where most residents are animal farmers and ethnic Turkana. The area ha

As some African nations continue or contemplate a legislative clampdown on gay and lesbian people, The Southern Cross, South Africa’s Catholic weekly, urged Catholic Church leaders to do more to confront societal homophobia and laws that it might inspire. In an unsigned editorial published on

An emotional Cardinal Luis Tagle of Manila, Philippines, welcomed U.S. Catholic leaders on Feb. 3 to review recovery efforts after Typhoon Haiyan, saying that the work to rebuild devastated communities can show the world a church united in the service of people in need. • A statement released b

Almost two weeks after the national March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., the Guttmacher Institute reported a 13 percent drop in national abortion rates between 2008 and 2011, making for the lowest rate since 1973, when abortion on demand was legalized in the United States. “No evidence wa

Reports from bishops’ conferences in Germany and Switzerland show a clear divergence between what the church teaches on marriage, sexuality and family life and what Catholics—even those active in parish life—personally believe. The differences are seen “above all when it come