After facing intense scrutiny for his handling of sex abuse cases in Pittsburgh in the 1980s and 1990s, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., has withdrawn from participating in the World Meeting of Families in Ireland.
International News
Vatican Responds to Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report
Regarding the report made public in Pennsylvania this week, there are two words that can express the feelings faced with these horrible crimes: shame and sorrow. The Holy See treats with great seriousness the work of the Investigating Grand Jury of Pennsylvania and the lengthy Interim Report it has produced.
Spanish Jesuit Murdered in Peru Remembered as ‘Exemplary’
A Spanish Jesuit priest who was found murdered in the boarding school where he lived was buried Aug. 12 in Chiriaco, in the Apostolic Vicariate of Jaen in Peru’s northern Amazon region.
Was Coptic Reform Reason for Orthodox Bishop’s Murder?
An ex-monk has confessed to killing an Egyptian bishop, but what is controversial is that their monastery has long been a witness to a struggle between two streams in the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Rwanda Closes Churches, Bishops Urge Protection of Religious Rights
The Rwandan Catholic bishops’ conference urged the government of President Paul Kagame to preserve religious rights after government officials closed thousands of churches and mosques.
Six-Person Terror Cell Behind Failed Attack on Egyptian Church
Egyptian authorities have arrested four men and two women suspected to be members of a terrorist cell behind a failed suicide attack on a church in Qalubiya governorate, the interior ministry said in a statement last Sunday.
Parents from Argentina’s ‘Brady Bunch’ Will Speak at World Meeting of Families
“The person who falls in love with me, will have to fall in love with the four of us,” is what Pablo Lonegro told Liliana Perez when they met over two decades ago. Soon after, the friendship they’d fostered after meeting turned to love, and they married, personifying the real-life version of the 1968 classic film “Yours, Mine and Ours” or the ’70s television series “The Brady Bunch.”
Senators in Pope’s Argentina Reject Liberalization of Abortion
Senators in Pope Francis’ native Argentina voted against a bill that would have legalized abortion on demand until week 14 of a pregnancy early Aug. 9, following a marathon session that came as the latest twist in a three-month national debate marked with massive public rallies both in favor and against the measure.
Irish Pro-Life Leader: ‘Near-Total Media Bias’ Behind Referendum Defeat
The referendum result was a wound to the soul, perhaps the darkest day in Ireland’s history. An unspeakable cruelty will now be inflicted on the most innocent of all our people, on our preborn children. Worst of all, two thirds of the Irish people are now complicit in this cruelty. It bears their stamp: every abortion is one they voted for, even though many of those votes were won by a relentless campaign of misinformation and deceit.
Iraqi Christians Struggle to Rebuild After ISIS
When ISIS stormed into the villages of Karamless and Qaraqosh in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains on August 6, 2014, the Feast of the Transfiguration took on a whole new meaning for Christians, with ISIS burning and looting their homes and churches while inhabitants fled for their lives.