Analysis: Distinguishing Reporting From Spin on the Pope and Hong Kong

In a nutshell, commentators and news outlets known to be critical of Pope Francis are styling the omission as the latest chapter in what they see as the Vatican’s appeasement of China and its Communist leadership, generally linking it to a deal signed two years ago and shortly up for review that afforded Chinese authorities a role in the nomination of Catholic bishops.

U.S. Deporting Guatemalans Has Led to Spread of COVID-19, Report Says

A report by the Washington-based Refugees International organization charges U.S. immigration policy with helping the spread of the coronavirus in Guatemala, as federal agencies in the U.S. and Mexico have repatriated infected Guatemalans through deportations.

Vatican Says Don’t Deny Disabled People the Sacraments

In a set of updated guidelines for catechesis released June 25, the Vatican weighed in on what has long been a debate among theologians, insisting that the Church’s sacraments are a gift, and as such, they cannot be denied to disabled people.

Was His Quick Trip to Germany Pope Benedict’s Last Cameo?

Joseph Ratzinger, better known as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, now at the ripe age of 93, is scheduled to return to Rome this morning after a quick trip to Regensburg to visit his ailing 96-year-old brother – a trip which, given his increasing frailty and desire to keep a low profile, has been described by many observers as his last ‘cameo’.

N. Ireland’s Experience May Offer Insight Into U.S. Policing Issues

The U.S. demonstrations over police aggression toward minorities has an antecedent in Northern Ireland, according to a police commander in Salinas, California, who spent the first 10 years of his life in Northern Ireland in the midst of “the Troubles” there, then later wrote his master’s thesis on the applicability of its policing reforms to the United States.