National Catholic Reporter

The Independent News Source

Global

Peruvian diocese, first in South America, celebrates 475 years

When Jose Venero Villafuerte was 5 years old, his mother took him to see the statue of Our Lord of the Earthquakes for the first time.

"In this moment my path to God was opened," said Venero, now...

More

Philippine government and rebels sign peace agreement

The government of President Benigno Aquino and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed a landmark peace agreement Oct. 16 aimed at ending four decades of conflict on the Philippines’ southern island of...

More

World Youth Day organizers expect attendance bump from Argentine pope

 | 

Members of the local organizing committee for World Youth Day say with the recent election of an Argentine pope, they expect up to 2.5 million young people at the international event in Rio de Janeiro.

"We currently have 200,000 pilgrims already registered, but registrations go on until the last day of the event," said Carol de Castro, press coordinator for the local organizing committee. She said the committee expects 800,000 pilgrims to have registered by the start of the event, which runs July 23-28.

Irish Catholic leaders say country must remain vigilant about violence

 | 

The Irish cannot afford to be complacent about violence, even though they have lived with a peace agreement for 15 years, said Ireland's most senior Catholic leader.

"Just as they can contribute to the sources of conflict, issues of social and economic justice constitute an integral element of the work of peace," said Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, president of the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference.

Bishop: North Korea's threats might aim to increase aid, preserve pride

The head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea said North Korea's recent threats of aggression may be an attempt to shore up foreign aid while preserving pride.

"It is our presumption that they wish to draw out some financial assistance from abroad without conceding their pride or self-esteem," Bishop Peter Kang U-Il of Cheju, South Korea, wrote in an email Tuesday to Catholic News Service.

He said Catholic bishops "feel very sorry" that tension provoked by North Korean threats are making "the whole world very uncomfortable and anxious."

Pope, U.N. head meet, discuss crises in Syria, Korean peninsula

 | 

Recognizing the important role each other plays on the global stage, Pope Francis and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met Tuesday at the Vatican, discussing common efforts to promote peace and protect human dignity.

"The United Nations and the Holy See share common goals and ideals," the U.N. secretary-general told the pope as the two sat across from each other at a desk in the papal library. Reporters were ushered out of the room at that point.

Millennium Development Goals must be reached, clerics say

With fewer than 1,000 days left to meet the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, religious leaders from the G-8 countries are pushing heads of government to renew their efforts to meet the anti-poverty benchmarks by 2015.

The MDGs are eight development targets that were established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000 and include targets on reducing extreme poverty, improving child mortality and combating HIV/AIDS.

Syrian Christian refugees turn to churches for help

 | 

Churches and monasteries in Turkey are struggling to shelter a rising number of Syrian Christian refugees who are reluctant to seek help at government-run relief camps because of reported Muslim extremism, said a Catholic Relief Services staffer.

Sleiman Saikali, program officer for the U.S. bishops' relief and development agency, told Catholic News Service that he met Christian refugees living in and around the southeastern Turkish cities of Mardin and Midyat; some lived in churches and two ancient monasteries.

Pages

10 years after the Iraq War authorization, what have we accomplished?

Viewpoint: There may have been widespread support at the time, but a decade later, consequences are all that remain.

More

Vatican consistory upends meeting of Asian bishops

A gathering of Asian bishops originally scheduled for November had to be rescheduled after the Vatican announced it would hold a consistory to create six new cardinals in that timeframe.

More

Wisconsin priest named auxiliary bishop in Bolivia

Pope Benedict XVI has named a Wisconsin-born missionary, Fr. Robert H. Flock, to be an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Flock, who will celebrate his 56th...

More

Sisters' Stories; read more

NCR Email Alerts

 

In This Issue

May 10-23, 2013

May10-cover.jpg

Not all of our content is online. Subscribe to receive all the news and features you won't find anywhere else.