Catholic News Service

Church leaders in the Philippines warned of more killings after the national police announced it is relaunching the government's controversial anti-narcotics war.

Even when a situation is hopeless, people must not lose hope, Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, South Africa, told parishioners at the Gaza Strip's only Catholic parish.

Prayer is a "high stakes" endeavor, requiring courage, perseverance and patience, Pope Francis said.

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Dubuque is preparing to end its refugee resettlement program after 77 years in operation.

The vice president of the German bishops' conference has urged a debate on whether Catholic clergy should bless same-sex unions.

The Vatican named a Colombian bishop to be the trustee of the scandal-plagued Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a Catholic movement based in Peru.

Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of Wenzhou has been released by Chinese authorities after being detained for more than seven months.

A U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco Jan. 9 temporarily blocked the Trump administration's decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program by March.

The silence that precedes the opening prayer at Mass is an opportunity for Christians to commend to God the fate of the church and the world, Pope Francis said. 

The U.S. Supreme Court sent a death-row case back to the lower courts Jan. 8 in a summary ruling.

Chile and Peru, the two countries that Pope Francis will visit Jan. 15-21, have recently received thousands of migrants seeking safety and opportunities. 

Like the scribes and Pharisees of old, pastors end up leading a double life when they detach themselves from God and his people, the pope said in his homily Jan. 9.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit struck down a Baltimore ordinance that would have forced pro-life pregnancy centers in the city to post signs stating they do not provide or refer for abortions or contraceptives.

After new Federal Communications Committee chair Ajit Pai announced his intentions in April to redo federal policy on net neutrality, the Dec. 14 vote to rewrite the rules should have seemed anticlimactic.

A lifestyle that is environmentally ethical cannot be "schizophrenic" — for example, by showing more care for animals and forests, than for the plight of people, Pope Francis said.

A border bishop pleaded with the Trump administration to think about the well-being of some Salvadoran immigrants' children who are U.S. citizens.

A bishop, seven Trappist monks and 11 other religious men and women killed by extremists in Algeria in the 1990s will soon be recognized as martyrs, the postulator for their causes said.

In late December, three bishops from Kazakhstan published a statement on "the immutable truths about sacramental marriage" in response to Amoris Laetitia.

As 2017 was drawing to a close, the horrors of war and people's yearnings for peace were on Pope Francis' mind and in his prayers.

Pope Francis' weeklong trip to Chile and Peru in January will take him to two regions where environmental issues and demands for indigenous land rights have led to sometimes-violent conflict.