World & Vatican

ROME -- Three former students at a school for the deaf in Argentina traveled to Rome to demand Pope Francis and Vatican officials release records on priests who abused them and other students.

MANILA, Philippines -- A Catholic bishop in the Philippines has urged the faithful to abstain from clapping during Mass, saying that the Eucharist is "a memorial of Calvary."

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- The unborn child will lose all rights under a bill to change New Zealand’s abortion laws, and women pressured into abortion will not receive the help they need, the country’s Catholic bishops have warned.

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican’s archives on the pontificate of Venerable Pius XII will become available for study March 2, possibly bringing to light new information about the pope’s actions during World War II.

SYDNEY, Australia -- Parents of persons with Down syndrome are pressed to procure abortion, and their health care is negatively affected throughout their life, Australia's disability royal commission has heard.

Syrian government forces and Russian warplanes are bombing Idlib province, while tens of thousands of people are sheltering under strips of plastic tenting in the freezing cold and snow.

Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Vatican foreign minister, met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Feb. 14 on the margins of the Munich Security Conference.

A leaked document has revealed China’s criteria for deciding which members of the country’s Uighur population will be detained in camps.

An upcoming criminal trial alleges an elaborate cover-up of sexual abuse allegations against a former priest of the Legionaries of Christ whom an Italian court has convicted of sexual abuse of a minor.

At the Divine Providence food pantry in Cucuta, Colombia, up to 6,000 people receive a meal per day, mostly Venezuelan migrants.

HONG KONG, China -- The Vatican continues to make excessive compromises with communist China to renew a controversial pact on the appointment of bishops, say Catholic leaders apprehensive about last week’s rare diplomatic development.

VATICAN CITY -- An artistic masterpiece conceived by the Renaissance master Raphael was on display for one week in the Sistine Chapel to help celebrate the 500th anniversary of the artist's death.

There will be no suspension of Masses and Lenten rituals in the Philippines amid fears of the spread of the dreaded COVID-19 coronavirus but as a precautionary measure ashes may just be sprinkled on the head of Catholics instead of marking the forehead.