Signs Of the Times

A Dutch Jesuit in the besieged Syrian city of Homs said those who remain are facing shortages of food and fuel. “Disease has captured some of us and is knocking on the door of others,” Frans van der Lugt, S.J., wrote in a letter released by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need

Mary Jurgensmeier, a member of St. Peter Catholic Church in Greeley, Colo., said she knows people in her community who have lost everything. “We still have the Lord,” said Jurgensmeier. “We will never lose him.” Jurgensmeier is one of thousands of Colorado residents who have

Bishop Paul Nguyen Thai Hop of Vinh Diocese on Vietnam’s north-central coast, has appealed for “international support and solidarity” following violent attacks against Catholics in Nghe An Province on Sept. 4 that left at least 40 people seriously injured. Bishop Nguyen Thai Hop ha

Quebec’s proposed Charter of Quebec Values imitates the “unjust” imposition of antireligious secularism in France, said the Canadian constitutional lawyer and religious freedom expert Iain Benson. “The recent proposals from Quebec mirror those from France, where both countrie

An international panel of cardinals charged in April with preparing recommendations for the pope on reforming the Curia will issue their report and meet with Pope Francis on Oct. 1-3. • According to reports from the Sudan Catholic Radio Network in September, the Sudanese air force continues to

Writing in one of Italy’s major secular newspapers, Pope Francis called for a “sincere and rigorous dialogue” between the church and nonbelievers as an “intimate and indispensable expression” of Christian love. An “open and unprejudiced dialogue” between Chr

Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., described in detail the financial situation of the diocese in two recent letters to parishioners that were read during weekend Masses. The most recent letter, read during weekend Masses on Sept. 7 and 8, announced the diocese’s plans to consider fi