Signs Of the Times

“Since the end of the Second World War, the availability of food per person has increased by more than 40 percent,” Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, said, addressing the 25th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on M

Oral arguments in two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court on March 25 focused on whether for-profit corporations have religious grounds to object to the new health care law’s requirement that most employers provide contraceptive coverage in their employee health plans. Oral arguments lasted fo

Conditions remain dire in the Central African Republic, and a U.N. official urged the international community to step up humanitarian aid efforts dramatically. Despite the end of the large-scale violence that rocked the nation in December and January, people are still being killed every day. “

Representatives of the Catholic, Anglican and Muslim worlds launch Global Freedom Network.

In a serious escalation of tension in Crimea, three Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests have been seized and interrogated by pro-Russian forces. The Rev. Mykola Kvych, a pastor and Ukrainian military chaplain, was taken on March 15 after celebrating the liturgy. He was released later that day after hou

Just weeks before the canonizations of Blesseds John XXIII and John Paul II, hotels in Rome are reporting they are almost fully booked, and the Vatican has confirmed that the Mass will take place in St. Peter’s Square. That means hundreds of thousands of people will have to watch the ceremony

Meeting on March 20 with steelworkers in Terni, Italy, Pope Francis said solidarity is too often treated as “a dirty word,” yet the only way out of the global financial crisis is to put people first. • The new Muslim mayor of Nazareth, Ali Sallam, said on March 17 that it was his &l

The first anniversary of Pope Francis’ election provoked stories highlighting the unique style Francis has brought to the papacy. People appear to have forgotten how much of what passes today for papal “traditions” were actually innovations of Pope John Paul II. Frequent parish vis

As the first anniversary of the election of Pope Francis approached in mid-March, the Pew Research Religion and Public Life Project noted the pope’s overwhelming popularity but reported it could not tease out a discernible “Francis effect” in the behavior of American Catholics. Pew

Muslims are being “cleansed” from the western part of the Central African Republic, and thousands of civilians risk being killed “right before our eyes,” the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, António Guterres, told the U.N. Security Council on March 6. U.N. Emer