News from Around the World

In one of the regions of El Salvador most battered in a bloody war funded by American dollars, four Catholic women from the U.S. were hailed as examples of solidarity, of Christian faith and martyrdom, as Salvadorans remembered them Dec. 2, the 40th anniversary of their assassination.

Archbishop Lépine accepted Capriolo's conclusions "in humility and a deep sense of regret." On behalf of the church and "speaking for myself personally, I wish to say to the victims, to your loved ones and your parish communities how sorry we are that you experienced the effects of such terrible criminal acts, which should never occur, never."

The Vatican confirmed that a bishop recently ordained in China is in full communion with the pope and that more Vatican-approved nominations would be coming.

While confusion has arisen in recent days in the media over "the moral permissibility" of using the COVID-19 vaccines just announced by Pfizer Inc. and Moderna, it is not "immoral to be vaccinated with them," the chairmen of the U.S. bishops' doctrine and pro-life committees said Nov. 23.

Mexico's bishops, the Mexico City government and other religious and civil authorities have announced the closure of the basilica Dec. 10-13, 2020, due to COVID-19 concerns. Normally an estimated 8 million pilgrims visit the basilica for the Dec. 12 feast of the national patroness.

A Nigerian nun working in Ghana urged parents of children with disabilities to see their situation as gift from God and not a curse.

"Illness, the failure of a marriage or a business, some great disappointment or betrayal," he said, are moments that "generate a tension, a crisis that reveals what is in our hearts."

Environmental activist and campaigner Mya-Rose Craig, 18, holds a cardboard sign reading "youth strike for climate" as she sits on the ice floe in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, hundreds of miles above the Arctic Circle, Sept. 20, 2020. Young people from around the world met virtually in Assisi, Italy, Nov. 19-21 to talk about the economy and ecology, including from the point of view of Pope Francis' encyclical, "Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship."

Religious freedom is once again under assault.

Filipinos appealed for help as a fifth tropical storm or typhoon hit their country in a three-week period. These included the strongest typhoon since 2013 and the biggest floods since 2009.

"Biden will be directed by hard-core, pro-abortion forces," said Mark Harrington, executive director of the Ohio-based Created Equal, a nonsectarian pro-life organization.

“In the face of a deeply individualistic culture we offer community. Against consumerism, we talk about the things that have value but not a price. Against cynicism, we dare to admire and respect. In the face of fragmenting families, we believe in consecrating relationships”.

A Catholic priest expressed gratitude that parishioners are safe, but their iconic cathedral sustained damages from a powerful earthquake that struck Turkey's western city of Izmir Oct. 30.

The United States and 32 other U.N. member nations have signed on to the Geneva Consensus Declaration, which reaffirms the inherent "dignity and worth of the human person" and states that "every human being has the inherent right to life." The document calls on countries to "promote the rights of women and strengthen the family" as the foundational unit of society. It also emphasizes there is "no international right to abortion" and states that "in no case should abortion be promoted as a method of family planning."

Pope Francis and Austrian church leaders expressed dismay and sorrow after terrorists attack that left at least five dead in central Vienna, and they urged citizens to uphold key values of tolerance and respect.

French bishops conducted a "penitential rite of reparation" inside a church in which three people were murdered in late October. The Nov. 1 Mass of reparation was celebrated in Notre Dame Basilica by Nice Bishop André Marceau, who was joined by Archbishop Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille and Archbishop Dominique-Marie David of Monaco.