PHOENIX (CNS) – Clergy, religious and laity jammed into St. Catherine of Sienna parish in Phoenix for a standing-room-only funeral Mass for Father Kenneth Walker June 16.
International News
Brooklyn Welcomes Haiti’s First Cardinal
Haitians from throughout the diocese gathered at St. Jerome’s Church, East Flatbush, June 15 to pray with the first-ever-named cardinal of the Caribbean nation.
Iraqi Christians Were Targeted for Months
AMMAN, Jordan (CNS) – The fall of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, to Islamist militants in early June sent half a million residents scurrying for safety, but Christians from the city say they were targeted long before Iraqi security forces abandoned the major political and economic hub.
Pope Prays for Reconciliation in Iraq
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis expressed his fears over increasing violence in Iraq and prayed for peace and reconciliation in the country.
Pope Wants Church of Compassion
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – “I like to dream of a church that lives the compassion of Jesus,” Pope Francis told more than 7,000 priests, religious, catechists and parish council members from the Diocese of Rome.
Group Backs Married Priests for Orthodox
WASHINGTON (CNS) – The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation voted in early June to encourage the “lifting of the restrictions regarding the ordination of married men to the priesthood in the Eastern Catholic Churches of North America.”
Spain’s Bishops Praise King’s Decision to Abdicate
OXFORD, England (CNS) – King Juan Carlos of Spain received a tribute from the country’s bishops after he announced his decision to abdicate in favor of his son.
Fortnight Links Freedom To Church Service to Poor
WASHINGTON (CNS) – For Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, the third annual Fortnight for Freedom is an opportunity to consider the link between religious liberty and service to the poor.
Pope’s Peace Invite Sparks Curiosity Around World
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Inviting the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to the Vatican and praying alongside them for peace in the Holy Land does not insert Pope Francis into the political process but is another example of his efforts to help all people, said Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick.
Prayer Summit – Pope Prays for Peace with Israeli and Palestinian Presidents
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Praying for peace in the Holy Land alongside leaders of long-antagonistic nations, Pope Francis called on God to act where human efforts had failed, to end what he described as violence inspired by the devil.