Colombia’s Catholic bishops urged the government and armed rebels to commit to an indefinite cease-fire while a new peace deal is negotiated after voters rejected an agreement that would have formally ended the Western Hemisphere’s longest-running war. Following a meeting on Oct. 13-14,
Signs Of the Times
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News Briefs
The Florida Supreme Court ruled on Oct. 14 that the death penalty cannot be imposed unless the jury is unanimous in the decision, aligning Florida with sentencing standards in most other states. • As Catholics and Lutherans mark the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation o
Posted inPolitics & Society, Signs Of the Times
Nineveh Christians Await Outcome Of Mosul Offensive Against ISIS
More than 100,000 Christians from the area had already left. The archbishop of Mosul begged the remainder to flee, too.“They [Kurdish fighters] left us alone, and we were few in number with no weapons, and we could do nothing to face the Islamic State,” said Banni. “We ran.”A
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Discerning a New Role
“Well, she read in the newspaper that you pick up after yourself and you cook your own food and wash your own clothes,” Archbishop Tobin recalled telling him. “She’s had it up to here with the sort of monarchic church!”The future pope laughed, and the remarks apparently
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In South Africa, are student demonstrations a sideshow to the nation’s real problems?
Chaos and intransigence in the universities is matched by absurd criminal charges against a minister of finance who may only be doing his job too well.
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Black Lives Matter in Canada, too
In a country known for maple-syrupy trivialities and over-politeness, the idea that the U.S.-based campaign against police brutality could secure or even need a national foothold may come as a surprise.
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News Briefs
In his message for World Food Day on Oct. 14, Pope Francis urged consumers to take responsibility for their use and waste of food and actions that harm the environment. • The Diocese of Baton Rouge has been helping flood victims deal with the stress of “letting go” and adjusting to
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New Leader of Jesuits Worldwide Is Latin American ‘Historic Choice’
Jesuits from 62 countries have chosen “a man of deep prayer” in electing Venezuelan-born Arturo Sosa Abascal as the new superior general of their order, said Timothy P. Kesicki, S.J., president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, a few hours after the decision was a
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Recovery Will Take Long-term Effort in Haiti
The people of southern Haiti are traumatized and the landscape has suffered “complete devastation.” Hurricane Matthew survivors “have never seen anything like this,” Christopher Bessey, the country representative for Haiti for Catholic Relief Services, reports. The Category 4
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Cardinal Surprises
A 5 a.m. wake-up call from a friend in Rome alerted Cardinal-designate Blase J. Cupich of Chicago to the news that Pope Francis had added his name to the list of church leaders soon to be made cardinals. The previous six archbishops of Chicago received a red hat, but Pope Francis has recently skippe