News & Commentary

A wounded Palestinian Christian woman is brought into Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza City July 17, 2025, following what initial reports and medics said was an Israeli tank attack on the church of the Holy Family Parish -- the only Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip.

3 dead, Holy Family Gaza pastor injured after mid-morning Israeli attack

Three people were confirmed dead and nine were injured, including a parish pastor, following what initial reports say was a mid-morning Israeli tank attack on the Holy Family Parish Church in Gaza on July 17.
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U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan may risk civil war, says priest in Kabul

The biggest risk Afghanistan might face with a withdrawal of U.S. troops could be civil war, said the Italian priest in charge of the small Catholic community in Afghanistan.
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Pandemic blamed for creating conditions for increased human trafficking

The pandemic-related economic downturn, business closures, increase in global unemployment and reduced incomes have contributed to greater human trafficking of children, women, domestic workers and migrants without legal status.
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Faith is bolstered by prayer, not money, power, media, pope says

Without prayer, everything crumbles and any initiatives for church reform will just be proposals by some group and not the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis said.
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Bishop urges unity to find solutions to violence after Knoxville shootings

Bishop Richard F. Stika of Knoxville offered prayers for a teenager who was killed and an injured police officer involved in a school shooting.
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Cardinal unveils major Vatican conference on priesthood in 2022

Increasing vocations to the priesthood, improving the way laypeople and priests work together and ensuring that service, not power, motivates the request for ordination are all possible outcomes of a major symposium being planned by the Vatican in February 2022.
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‘Profound evil’ of abuse must be eradicated, Pope Francis tells symposium

As religious leaders, scholars, experts and abuse survivors come together online to participate in a three-day international symposium on faith, healing and prevention, Pope Francis sent a message as part of a series of opening remarks for the event.
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