Catholic News Service

Pope Francis acknowledged Fr. Stanley Rother's martyrdom in December, making the Okarche, Oklahoma, native the first recognized martyr to have been born in the United States.

To mark the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation Sept. 1, the pope said he and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople "prepared a message together."

As waves of asylum seekers continue to cross illegally into Canada from the United States, Catholic dioceses in Quebec and eastern Ontario are mobilizing to meet their needs. 

Several priests and laypeople defending church property were injured during an assault by security officers and workers in China's northern Shanxi province.

God wants people to live with hope and joy — not bitterness — and to dream with him of a better world, Pope Francis said Aug. 30 during his weekly general audience.

Guatemala's bishops criticized the country's president for expelling an international anti-corruption commissioner and called for public protests to remain peaceful.

Catholic dioceses and charities are quickly organizing to help in the aftermath of a Category 4 hurricane that made landfall with heavy rains and winds of 130 miles per hour.

After the visit Nov. 27-30 to the cities of Yangon and Naypyitaw in Myanmar, the pope will travel on to Dhaka, Bangladesh, Nov. 30-Dec. 2, the Vatican said Aug. 28.

On Sept. 23, Oklahomans will get a front row seat to the beatification of Fr. Stanley Rother, an ordinary man who died extraordinarily as a martyr in Guatemala while serving in a mission.

Latin America has some of the highest income disparities in the world. Tourists flock to the Caribbean city’s beach resorts, which contrast with the poverty in which most of the city’s Afro-Colombian population lives.

Police evicted hundreds of refugees from an abandoned building in the center of Rome Aug. 19. The way police went about it led to violence, said Rome's Caritas agency.

Around 20,000 Venezuelans have arrived in Chile this year; the vast majority of them say they are fleeing the political crisis in their country in search of a better life. 

The president of the 2018 World Meeting of Families stressed that the church is seeking to promote the ideal of the family through the international gathering of families in Ireland.

The Catholic Church must continue to work to understand the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council and why they were made, rather than rethinking them, Pope Francis said.

The Field Hospital: For three years, Sacred Heart Church in McAllen has used its parish hall as a waystation for asylum seekers.

Fr. William Aitcheson, a priest of the Diocese of Arlington, asked forgiveness for having been a member of the Ku Klux Klan years ago as "an impressionable young man."

Catholic priests from the Central African Republic whose villages have been attacked have taken to Facebook to express outrage and appeal for help.

While the world reels from terrorism, natural disasters and division, God weeps with those who suffer and offers the hope of a future full of joy and consolation, Pope Francis said.

A Polish archbishop who inspected Bosnia-Herzegovina's Medjugorje shrine for the pope predicted the Vatican will soon recognize its Marian apparitions.

Bishop Francis DiLorenzo of Richmond died at St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond late Aug. 17 from heart and kidney failure. He was 75.