During his Nov. 20-26 visit to Thailand and Japan, Pope Francis will deliver a message at the "hypocenter" or ground zero park in Nagasaki and will hold a meeting for peace later that day at the peace memorial in Hiroshima.

Is there an ars moriendi for empires?

This is only the latest wave of Syrian refugees and internally displaced people from Iraq to seek safety in Iraqi-Kurdistan, which already hosts 38 camps. So far 12,000 Syrian civilians have taken refuge across the border.

The good news is that “trends in women’s empowerment are heading in the right direction globally. Some 59 countries recorded significant progress since the first edition while only one country (Yemen) experienced major deterioration.”

Kevin Spinale, S.J., the moderator of the Catholic Book Club, led discussions of two very different books this spring and summer. The first, 'Catholic Modern,' by James Chappel, is a heady look at how the church remade itself at a time of social and political upheaval. The second, 'Say Nothing,' by Patrick Radden Keefe, is a gripping account of some of the key players in the period in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles.

As tensions rise again with the approach of a Nov. 12 deadline for the creation of a unity government, Bishop Kussala has a message for the conflict-weary people of South Sudan. “The church is here to stay,” he said. “We serve the people; we don’t run away.”