A five-year court odyssey for a Pakistani Christian mother of five will continue after an appeals court in Lahore, Pakistan, on Oct. 16 upheld a death sentence for “blasphemy.” Asia Bibi, 45, has been imprisoned since 2009 while appealing her conviction. Accused by co-workers after a dis
After several days of animated debate over its official midterm report, the Synod of Bishops on the Family agreed on a final document more clearly grounded in traditional Catholic teaching. The assembly failed to reach consensus on the especially controversial questions of Communion for those who ar
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Oct. 10 to Kailash Satyarthi of India and Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan, heroic advocates for children’s rights, especially the right to education. • In the Maiduguri Diocese in northeastern Nigeria, nearly 200 churches have been destroyed or razed by B
Captors released a Franciscan priest who was among about 20 Christians kidnapped from a Syrian village near the border with Turkey. Father Hanna Jallouf was being held under house arrest in a religious residence in Knayeh, a small Christian village in northwestern Syria, according to a statement on