Pope Francis urged prayers and assistance for the Philippines on Nov. 10 and made an initial donation of $150,000 for Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts. • A mortar round hit the apostolic nunciature in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Nov. 5, causing limited damage to the building but no casualties

“Corruption is theft from the poor,” warn the Bishops of the South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference in a pastoral letter released on Oct. 16. Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town said the issue is especially poignant in a region as poor as southern Africa. “Money diver

The Syrian Christian town of Sadad was taken over by Islamist militias in mid-October, then re-conquered by the Syrian army on Oct. 28. What the army discovered “is the most serious and biggest massacre of Christians in Syria in the past two years and a half,” said Archbishop Selwanos Bo

Bishops around the world are being asked to examine the situation of families under their care.

‘It’s almost as if we’re in a sort of civil war,” the Rev. Andres Larios, pastor at St. James the Apostle Parish said, somberly assessing the increasing lawlessness which afflicts his community. Some in his village of Coalcomán in Mexico’s western Michoacán State have

The pope will create his first cardinals during a consistory on Feb. 22.