The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights issued a depressing portrait on Jan. 1 of a year in death in Syria. According to the group’s tracking of the many casualties of the ongoing and complex conflict, the civil war in Syria claimed 76,021 lives in 2014. Its researchers acknowledged that this

Underscoring the geographical diversity of his selections, Pope Francis named 15 cardinal electors “from 14 nations of every continent, showing the inseparable link between the church of Rome and the particular churches present in the world.” The pope announced the names on Jan. 4 and sa

It’s your typical Hollywood story: In the late 1970s, a Jewish kid from Los Angeles answers an ad to work as secretary to a film producer. She wants to get in “the business,” but she doesn’t exactly have the pedigree. Dad’s an economist; Mom runs a bookstore. Growing up

In his World Day of Peace address on Jan. 1, Pope Francis continued his promotion of a world free of human trafficking and modern forms of slavery, calling for a globalization of solidarity which rejects a globalization of indifference. • The Italian coast guard took control on Jan. 1 of a carg

According to the findings of a German bishops’ report released on Dec. 22, most of the country’s 66 bishops now favor allowing divorced Catholics living in new civil unions to participate in confession and receive Communion in “particular justified instances.” The report said

The number of Catholics in the world has increased, with growth registered across all five continents, according to Vatican news agency Fides. The number of Catholics in the world stood at nearly 1.23 billion people, with an overall increase of more than 15 million over the 2013 numbers. The America