Middle East - Africa News

Archbishop Jacques Mourad, the new Syrian Catholic archbishop of Homs, Syria.

Syrian Catholic monk once kidnapped by ISIS consecrated archbishop

Mar 6, 2023

By Walter Sánchez Silva

Father Jacques Mourad was consecrated as the new archbishop of Homs, Syria. Read more

Map of Nigeria.

Report: Wave of murders after elections in Nigeria forces Catholic diocese staff to evacuate

Mar 3, 2023

By Agnes Aineah

Dozens of people were reportedly killed in attacks on villages in Nigeria’s Benue State Wednesday, a diocesan official said. Read more

A group of people protest the outcome of the 2023 presidential elections and the emergence of the candidate of All Progressives Congress' (APC) Bola Tinubu as the president-elect in Abuja, Nigeria, on March 1, 2023.

Muslim-Muslim ticket proclaimed winner of Nigeria’s presidential election amid protests

Mar 1, 2023

By Douglas Burton

The country’s Catholic bishops, among others, have sharply criticized the Independent Nigerian Election Commission for its handling of the vote... Read more

Bassel Habkouk is reunited with his two children after being trapped for 52 hours after the devastating Feb. 6, 2023, earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

Survivor of Turkey earthquake: ‘God protected me and the Virgin Mary did not leave me’

Mar 1, 2023

By Guitta Maroun

Only a few hours after Bassel Habkouk arrived for a visit in Turkey on Feb. 6, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck... Read more

Kids in Tombua, South Sudan

After Pope Francis’ visit, South Sudan relief charity sees renewed interest and prayers

Feb 26, 2023

By Jonah McKeown

For workers at a relief agency that has supplied aid to the people of South Sudan for 25 years, the... Read more

Supporters hold a placard with pictures of the candidate of the Labour Party Peter Obi and running mate Datti Baba-Ahmed during a campaign rally of the party in Lagos, Nigeria, on Feb. 11, 2023.

Nigerians head to the polls to choose a new president — and brace for post-election violence

Feb 23, 2023

By Douglas Burton

Peter Obi, one of three leading candidates, is Catholic and a popular former governor. Read more

Cardinal Peter Ebere Okpaleke, bishop of the southern Nigerian diocese of Ekwulobia, pictured as he took possession of his titular church in Rome on Feb. 5, 2023.

Nigeria’s newest cardinal: Presidential election will ‘either make or break Nigeria’

Feb 23, 2023

By Courtney Mares

With Nigeria’s escalating violence, a lot is at stake in the presidential election this week in Africa’s most populous country,... Read more

A pedestrian uses a smartphone as she walks past a collapsed building in Antakya, southern Turkey on Feb. 21, 2023. A 6.4-magnitude earthquake late Feb. 20, 2023, rocked Turkey's southern province of Hatay and northern Syria.

Archbishop asks for prayers following new 6.4-magnitude earthquake in Turkey and Syria

Feb 21, 2023

By Ana Paula Morales

Antoine Chahda, the Syrian Catholic archbishop of Aleppo, Syria, asked for prayers after a new 6.3-magnitude earthquake shook Turkey and... Read more

Father Norberto Pozzi.

Missionary priest in Central African Republic injured in land mine explosion has foot amputated

Feb 16, 2023

By Agnes Aineah

Father Norberto Pozzi was injured when the car he was traveling in drove over a land mine, causing it to... Read more

Cardinal Peter Ebere Okpaleke offers Mass in Rome at his titular church, the Holy Martyrs of Uganda Catholic Parish, on Feb. 5, 2023.

Nigeria’s newest cardinal shares secret behind the highest Mass attendance in the world

Feb 14, 2023

By Courtney Mares

Cardinal Peter Ebere Okpaleke said Nigerian society as a whole has “a traditional worldview” that recognizes the presence of God... Read more

Pope Francis met young people and adults from the Diocese of Rumbek in Juba, South Sudan on Feb. 4, 2023.

Meeting Pope Francis ‘a dream come true’ for South Sudanese youth

Feb 11, 2023

By Hannah Brockhaus

“We thought we were just going to go and see the pope. But actually it has turned in to something... Read more

Greek Catholic priest Father Fadi Najjar, who serves in Aleppo, Syria, appealed for prayers as his community faced the death and devastation after an earthquake struck Syria and Turkey on Feb. 6, 2023.

Priest after earthquake in Syria: We have seen death before us

Feb 10, 2023

By Nicolás de Cárdenas

Greek Catholic priest Father Fadi Najjar related how he and his community have faced the devastation caused by the Feb.... Read more

Image of the Virgin Mary in the rubble of the Cathedral of Alexandria in Turkey, Feb. 6, 2023.

Statue of Mary untouched in earthquake that demolished cathedral in Turkey

Feb 7, 2023

By CNA Staff

The image of Our Lady was unharmed in the quake that brought down Annunciation Cathedral in the city of Alexandretta... Read more

A Syrian woman and her children warm by a stove at an emergency shelter in the center of the city of Maarat Misrin, in the rebel-held northern part of the northwestern Idlib province Feb. 7, 2023, one day after a deadly earthquake hit Syria and Turkey.

Catholic aid agencies respond after devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria

Feb 7, 2023

By Jonah McKeown

According to the latest available estimates as of midday Tuesday, the 7.8-magnitude quake ​​has left at least 6,200 people dead... Read more

A woman reacts as rescuers search for survivors through the rubble of collapsed buildings in Adana, Turkey, on Feb. 6, 2023, after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country’s southeast. The combined death toll for Turkey and Syria after the region’s strongest quake in nearly a century is in the thousands.

Pope Francis, Syriac Patriarch call for prayers after devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria

Feb 6, 2023

By AC Wimmer

The series of earthquakes — up to 7.8 magnitude — killed an estimated 1,700 people and injured thousands more, with... Read more

Pope Francis greets a young boy a Mass in Juba, South Sudan on Feb. 5, 2023.

Pope at Mass in South Sudan: In the name of Jesus, lay down the weapons of hatred

Feb 5, 2023

By Courtney Mares

Pope Francis urged Christians in the war-torn South Sudan to make a decisive contribution to changing history by refusing to... Read more

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby; Pope Francis; and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, Iain Greenshields, lead a prayer service for Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian christians in Juba, Sudan.

Pope Francis at ecumenical prayer service in Sudan: Those who choose Christ choose peace

Feb 4, 2023

By Tyler Arnold

About 50,000 people attended the ecumenical prayer service. Read more

Pope Francis meets a boy living in an IDP camp during a gathering in Juba, South Sudan, on Feb. 4, 2023.

Pope Francis meets 2,500 refugees in South Sudan

Feb 4, 2023

By Hannah Brockhaus

South Sudan has the largest refugee crisis in Africa. Read more

Pope Francis interacted with an energetic crowd of 65,000 young adults and catechists at Martyrs' Stadium in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Feb. 2, 2023.

Priest, 5 students arrested for chants against president after Pope Francis event in DRC

Feb 4, 2023

By Hannah Brockhaus

The students and Father Guy Julien Muluku were detained nearly 34 hours before being released shortly before 10 p.m. on... Read more

Pope Francis met with bishops, priests, and religious in St. Theresa Cathedral in Juba, South Sudan, on Feb. 4, 2023.

Pope Francis holds moment of silence for slain priests and religious in South Sudan

Feb 4, 2023

By Hannah Brockhaus

Pope Francis met with bishops, priests, and religious on the second day of his historic visit to South Sudan. Read more

Latest news

Pope Francis waves while traveling by boat in Venice, Italy, for a meeting with young people at the Basilica della Madonna della Salute on April 28, 2024. Earlier in the day he met with inmates at a women's prison.

Pope Francis arrives in Venice, meets with women inmates and artists

Members of the Provincial Episcopal Assembly of Bukavu (ASSEPB).

Democratic Republic of Congo bishops: Amid growth of Church ‘the Congolese state is dead’

Prayer house at San Simeone, Italy, September 2012.

Catholic movement in Italy dedicated to people ‘far from the Church’

Father Leo Riley, age 68, continued to serve as a priest for years after a 2020 sexual abuse lawsuit was filed against him and the Diocese of Venice in Florida.

Florida priest continued in active ministry for three years after sex abuse lawsuit filed

Pope Francis meets Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her 6-year-old daughter on Jan. 10, 2023.

Pope Francis to attend G7 summit to speak on artificial intelligence

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died at the age of 24 in 1925, is beloved by many Catholic young people today for his enthusiastic witness to holiness that reaches “to the heights.”

Pier Giorgio Frassati could be canonized during 2025 Jubilee, cardinal says

Gia Chacón (right), founder of March for the Martyrs, said the plight of the tens of thousands of Christian Armenians pushed out of their homes in the disputed Artsakh or Nagorno-Karabakh region hash been "completely overlooked by the mainstream media.”

March for the Martyrs raises awareness of persecuted Armenian Christians and more

The members of the general board of directors of the Regnum Christi Federation, before its first general convention from April 29 to May 4, 2024, in Rome.

Regnum Christi: ‘It would have been easy to run and hide,’ but the Church is ‘purifiying’ us

Facade of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia.

Analysis: Jesuit sex abuse scandal in Bolivia could be used politically to repress Church

A view of the modern area of the Catholic cemetery located on the southern hillside of Mount Zion in April 2024. In the background are the buildings of the Arabic neighborhood of Abu Tor.

Franciscans file petition to stop cable cars from passing over Holy Land Catholic cemetery

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St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort
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