With months to go still until his March 5-8 trip to Iraq, Pope Francis began shaping his message, urging a network of Catholic charities to help Christians who have fled the region to return home if they want to do so. In a video message sent to a Vatican-organised summit focused on the ongoing humanitarian…

Letter from Argentina Self-described as the “light blue majority” and backed by polls that show most Argentines oppose legalisation of abortion pushed by the government, thousands of families rallied in 400 cities across Pope Francis’s native country last Saturday to voice support for the life of the unborn child and that of the expectant mother.…

In that brief intermezzo over the summer between what turned out to be the first and second great surges of the Covid-19 pandemic, Pope Francis held a series of appropriately socially distanced, “virtual” conversations with his premier English-language explicator about what he believes needs to be done for the world to be better than it…

After almost a year of civil unrest, interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, Chileans overwhelmingly approved a bid to scrap the constitution written under the mandate of General Augusto Pinochet, a dictator who ruled the country until 1990. The Chilean conference of Catholic bishops called the referendum, where almost 80% of those who cast a vote…

According to an Armenian archbishop, Turkey is perpetrating a “third genocide” against the oldest Christian nation in the world. He claims Turkey is using Azerbaijan to attack the Christian community in Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority-Armenian region of Azerbaijan that has been a de facto independent state since the 1990’s. Recent fighting in the region has seen its churches…

Calling it “necessary and urgent” to return to public Masses as soon as Covid-19 measures permit, the Vatican’s top official for liturgy has urged Catholic bishops around the world not to let religious worship be relegated to a priority level below “recreational activities” or treated as just another public gathering. Signed by Cardinal Robert Sarah…

Marking an historical first in Pope Francis’ home country, the Diocese of San Luis in northern Argentina invited a transgender woman to read one of the prayer intentions at a public Mass celebrated by the local bishop. The invitation was issued to Francia López by civil officials to recognize the work she does among the…

At Sunday Mass celebrated at Argentina’s largest Marian shrine the head of the national bishops’ conference said it was necessary to “discern priorities” and that abortion cannot be one of them. The comments from Bishop Oscar Ojea of San Isidro came on a day recognised by the United Nations (UN) as being dedicated to women…

The fact that five million children under the age of five will die this year due to extreme poverty is something that should motivate the world to act, according to Pope Francis. Speaking at a summit in Rome with some of the world’s most powerful financial officials, the Holy Father also alluded to the situation…

According to one bishop, Nicaragua has been living a “moral cold war” since the civil uprising that has left hundreds of people dead began in April 2018; Colombia is no longer in a state of “emergency, but of social survival”; and the papal representative in Chile shared his thoughts on the situation of the local…