VATICAN CITY — Religious sisters and consecrated women are a formidable presence inside Vatican City State and the Roman Curia, with recent years seeing their number and prominence rise. The increasing presence of women in the Vatican has been well documented. According to the Vatican, the percentage of women grew from 19.2% to 23.4% during…

More than 10,000 Austrian university students have signed a petition demanding that the Austrian National Union of Students (ÖH, by its German acronym) abolish its so-called “Repro Fund,” a program that uses mandatory student fees to finance abortions. The petition, organized by ProLife Europe in partnership with CitizenGo, was formally submitted on March 11 to…

BRUSSELS — European governments are increasingly restricting minors’ access to social media, a shift that could force platforms such as TikTok and Snapchat to change features designed to keep users online for longer. Poland has become the latest European country to signal tighter restrictions on youth access to social media, with officials proposing measures that…

LAHORE, Pakistan — Catholic bishops in Pakistan on March 10 condemned the “suspicious death” of a young Christian farmworker in northern Punjab and called for a transparent investigation into what the victim’s family says was a murder disguised as suicide. In a joint statement, the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference (PCBC) and the National Commission for…

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday remembered Father Pierre El Raii, a Maronite priest who died after being wounded in an Israeli bombing in southern Lebanon, and described him as “a true shepherd” who remained with his people despite the war. El Raii was killed on March 9 while going to the aid…

Southern Lebanon’s Christian communities rejected Israeli evacuation orders, saying they fear permanent displacement amid hostilities, according to a Beirut migrant shelter leader. “We know for a fact that many of the Christians, in particular the poorest and some of the older Christians, made the decision to not leave southern Lebanon,” Jesuit Father Daniel Corrou told…

The Spanish Bishops’ Conference (CEE, by its Spanish acronym) have stated that “abortion can never constitute a right, since there is no right to eliminate a human life,” in response to the governmentʼs attempts to include it in the Spanish constitution. ”In anticipation of the Day for Life to be held March 25, the feast…