The plight and vulnerability of Lebanon, surrounded by the chaos of Syria on the north and east and threatened by the tensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the south, were brought into sharp focus during a visit to the United States by Cardinal Bechara Rai, patriarch of the Maronite Cathol

Syriac patriarchs, marking the two-year anniversary since Islamic State militants expelled Christians from a large part of Iraq, denounced “the ethno-religious genocide” of their people and called for the liberation of those areas. Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan and P

Because most people today do not understand that sacramental marriage really is a bond that binds them to each other for life, many marriages today can be considered invalid, Pope Francis said on June 16. “We are living in a culture of the provisional,” he told participants in the Dioces

Ten months after an agreement ended armed conflict between forces loyal to South Sudan’s top political rivals, South Sudan’s bishops called for the nation to “rise above negativity” and pull together to achieve lasting peace in the world’s youngest nation. The prelates

"They’re telling Venezuelans to eat fried rocks.”

UNICEF reported on June 17 that 92 percent of some 7,600 children who made the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea from Libya so far this year have been unaccompanied by adults, up from 68 percent last year. • The Rev. Hermann Scheipers, the last surviving priest to have been imprisoned