News from Around the World

On the first anniversary of a massive explosion in Beirut which claimed many lives and caused widespread destruction, Pope Francis appeals for the Middle Eastern country of Lebanon, calling on the international community to provide “concrete assistance.”

A UN humanitarian chief decries Ethiopian government accusations that aid workers in the nation’s war-struck Tigray region are biased in favour of rebel forces.

Catholics from Latin America and the Caribbean are invited to take part in an ongoing listening process ahead of a regional Ecclesial Assembly that will take place in Mexico Nov. 21-28.

A year ago, when a massive explosion at a warehouse obliterated much of the bustling port of Beirut, the eyes of the world were fixed on Lebanon and the vast human, structural, and economic devastation that had been caused.

The scene at Louisiana’s largest hospital in recent weeks is déjà vu to spring 2020: A COVID-19 patient surge, in-person visitations to those patients restricted, elective surgeries paused, inadequate staffing numbers, and not enough beds available to those in need.

Following the summer break in July, Pope Francis will resume holding his weekly General Audience, beginning this Wednesday, 4 August.

Christians in the north African country of Algeria are facing increasing harassment, with three churches shut down due to alleged concerns over building safety regulations and the lack of permits.

Fifty years from now, Italians now alive probably will still smile whenever someone mentions the summer of 2021, what’s now being described as the greatest summer in the history of Italian sports, its “summer of gold.”

Pope Francis and Cardinal Robert Sarah were the protagonists of an unexpected coincidence Sunday: Both addressed 50,000 youth gathered in the site of an alleged Marian apparition.

Professor Donna Theo Strickland, 2018 Nobel prize laureate and professor at the University of Waterloo, Canada, joins other academicians as a new member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

A small delegation of Catholic bishops in South Sudan paid a courtesy visit to South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit last week to request a seat at the table in formal peace negotiations – a request they say was met with a positive response.

Human rights advocates and Catholic leaders are objecting the Brazilian government celebrating Farmers’ Day in Brazil with a picture of a man holding a shotgun.

Nicaragua’s lone cardinal says that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is ready to face the persecution the government might carry out against them, and that they will continue speaking up in favor of democracy, unafraid of the consequences.

Bishops in the US welcome government efforts to evacuate and save Afghan nationals who helped US troops during the two decades of US military campaign in Afghanistan. They insist that the sacrifices that these people have made "should not go unacknowledged."

Pope Francis joins religious organizations and world leaders in calling for an end to the scourge of human trafficking on the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.

What is probably the Vatican’s highest stakes trial yet began this week, featuring a cast of both new and familiar characters being indicted for an array of financial crimes.

This year’s World Day Against Trafficking in Persons is being observed July 30 under the theme, Victims’ Voices Lead The Way.

In a new report, FAO and WFP warn that fighting, red tape and lack of funding are blocking famine relief efforts, leading to worsening acute food insecurity in the world.

From Thursday, the Global Catholic Climate Movement will be known as the Laudato sí Movement. Climate and integral ecology are at the heart of the Movement, which takes its cue from Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical on care for our common home. Speaking with Vatican News, the executive director of LSM, Tomás Insua, speaks about a “synodal journey” aimed at a deeper ecological conversion. As the Movement continues to renew itself, Pope Francis offers a word of thanks for its work.