Signs Of the Times

The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference called on the Confederation of African Football to postpone the Africa Cup of Nations 2015 soccer tournament, scheduled for Jan. 17 to Feb. 8, because of the Ebola threat. • New light is shining on the Sistine Chapel after a state of the art LED ligh

Catholic bishops and aid agencies criticized a move by European nations to scale down the rescue of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean Sea, where hundreds drown each month attempting to reach Europe.“What we’re seeing is almost a nightmare vision. Any policy which causes people t

Church involvement could undermine aims of Hong Kong’s Occupy Central.

Seven months after a delegation of U.S. bishops quietly met with Iranian religious leaders, their efforts appear to be on track. At a program on Oct. 29 on the dialogue and the relevance of moral questions about nuclear weapons, Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, who met with Iranian ayato

Maronite Bishop Gregory J. Mansour of Brooklyn, N.Y., spoke in Nashville, Tenn., to Belmont University students on Oct. 22 about the need for all Christians to respond to persecution with “profound defiance,” which is markedly different from vengeful retaliation or submissive inaction. &

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila said the Synod of Bishops on the Family was more than a series of discussions on divorce and same-sex unions and that the impact of poverty on families, especially in Asia, was a major concern of participants. “Poverty is really affecting the Filipino fami

Burials that are dignified and safe are urgently needed for Ebola victims in West Africa, where corpses are frequently left unattended for days and then thrown into graves without ceremony, a U.S. church aid official said.“So many people are dying that there has not been the capacity to respon

Recalling the words of St. John Paul II—“Don’t be afraid! Open your hearts wide to Christ”— Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J., of Ottawa urged Canadians to remain steadfast after a shooting that left a Canadian soldier dead on Oct. 22. • Twelve Chaldean religio

Bishop calls for stronger monitoring and transparency in coal mining practices.

President Obama’s promised executive actions to fix parts of the immigration system will not come until after the Nov. 4 elections, but some analysts are predicting anything he does will be treated contentiously, with legal challenges and calls for impeachment. Nevertheless, the possibility th