St. Louis, Mo., Oct 17, 2019 / 04:50 pm (CNA).- Last year, Thomas Bruce was accused of assaulting three women and killing one of them at the Catholic Supply of St. Louis retail store Nov. 19 in Ballwin, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. Now, authorities are wondering if Bruce may be connected to a

Vatican City, Oct 17, 2019 / 02:22 pm (CNA).- The Congregation for the Oriental Churches has rejected the appeal of Sister Lucy Kalapura, who was dismissed from religious life in August for several acts of disobedience, including a protest of the handling of another nun's accusation that a bishop serially raped her. The congregation's Sept.

Washington D.C., Oct 17, 2019 / 12:41 pm (CNA).- A man claiming to be a former child victim of Theodore McCarrick has written an open essay in response to a recent interview given by the former cardinal. Writing under the name Nathan Doe, the man says that McCarrick sexually abused a series of minors during

Washington D.C., Oct 17, 2019 / 11:59 am (CNA).- One U.S. senator is looking to bring up a vote on protecting churches from attempts to police their beliefs, after a presidential candidate said churches should lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) has introduced a resolution in the Senate

Al-Hasakah, Syria, Oct 17, 2019 / 11:36 am (CNA).- Bishops in Syria and Iraq have called for worldwide prayer as fighting between Turkish and Kurdish forces further destabilizes northern Syria. “We were very concerned when we learned of the Turkish incursion at our borders, for our Christians,” Melkite Archbishop Jean-Clement Jeanbart of Aleppo told Vatican

Rabat, Morocco, Oct 17, 2019 / 10:39 am (CNA).- Morocco's king pardoned Wednesday a journalist, her fiance, and the medical team who last month were found guilty of procuring and performing an abortion. The country's penal code bars abortion except in cases when the mother's life is endangered. Mohammed VI's pardon was granted Oct. 16.

Washington D.C., Oct 16, 2019 / 01:24 pm (CNA).- Leaders in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops applauded the National Council on Disability for its recent research on the risks of assisted suicide for people with disabilities. “Every suicide is a human tragedy, regardless of the age, incapacity, or social/economic status of the individual,” said

Warsaw, Poland, Oct 16, 2019 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- The governing party in the Polish parliament has introduced a bill that could criminalize some forms of sex education in schools. The Law and Justice Party (PiS), which won a majority in the country’s recent elections, is supporting a “Stop Pedophilia” law in the Sejm, the lower

Vatican City, Oct 16, 2019 / 12:40 pm (CNA).- At a “moment of Amazon spirituality” Oct. 16, in a church just down the street from St. Peter’s Square, a woman told the Amazonian folk tale of a pink river dolphin who seduced a village girl. The story, and the conversation that ensued, is a poignant

Wrocław, Poland, Oct 16, 2019 / 11:20 am (CNA).- Readers who find this story through a search engine probably were looking for information about Hedwig, Harry Potter’s snowy owl. St. Hedwig of Silesia was not an owl. But read on anyway: she was a princess, a wife, a mother, and a builder of bridges between