In the Year of Mercy, the Catholic Church's annual day of reflection and prayer on the situation of migrants and refugees will include a special reminder that "welcoming the stranger" is a corporal work of mercy.

Exploitation and discrimination abound among refugees from Myanmar's ethnic minority communities who have landed in Malaysia, a five-member contingent from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops learned.

Some Catholics in South Korea said the exchange of shots on Aug. 20 between North and South Korea along their common border was bigger news outside their country than locally.Maryknoll Sister Jean Maloney has lived in South Korea since the last year of the Korean War in 1953. She told Catholic News

Christian educators warn that funding discrimination by the Israel's Ministry of Education may force the closure of about 48 Christian schools, affecting some 33,000 pupils—roughly half Christian, half Muslim—who attend the institutions.

“How are LGBT people supposed to feel welcome in the Catholic Church when church officials will not allow them to speak?” asked Francis DeBernardo, executive director at New Ways Ministry, one of the organizers of the workshop.

Colombia's bishops express optimism about peace process that began in late 2012