Rodrigo Duterte, a controversial town mayor dubbed “Dirty Harry” and “The Punisher” for his tough stance on crime—and against the Philippine Catholic Church—was sworn in as the 16th president of the Philippines on June 30. • Thousands of Syrians stranded on t

A new report dedicated to a British politician assassinated after promoting religious diversity finds a sharp rise in anti-Muslim attacks in the United Kingdom. There were 437 incidents of anti-Muslim hatred recorded in 2015, up from 146 the year before. They included assault and verbal abuse,

"May the Lord convert the hearts of the violent and sustain our feet into the way of peace," Pope Francis said.

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis issued a decree on June 4 that makes it possible now to remove diocesan bishops for neglecting their duties, in particular in regard to protecting minors and vulnerable adults from sexual abuse. The decree comes in the form of an apostolic letter issued motu proprio, responding to many

Speaking to judges and prosecutors at a Vatican summit on human trafficking and modern slavery on June 3, Pope Francis said, “You are responsible for executing justice,” the ones “called to give hope.” The pope had been given a warm welcome by some 100 judges and prosecutors

Maria de Lourdes Ruiz Scaperlanda, a writer and author in the Catholic press since 1982, received the 2016 St. Francis de Sales Award from the Catholic Press Association during its annual conference in St. Louis, Mo., on June 3. • The treacherous Mediterranean Sea crossing from Libya to Italy c