Memorial programs were held across India on July 5 to mark the fifth anniversary of the death of Jesuit Father Stan Swamy, the 84-year-old tribal rights activist who died in custody at a Mumbai hospital in 2021 while awaiting trial on terrorism charges. Memorials in Ranchi and Mumbai Archbishop Vincent Aind of Ranchi led supporters…

Pope Leo XIV still has a Peruvian credit card, wakes in the middle of the night and checks soccer results, follows the Chicago White Sox, and uses a cellphone. He is also, according to Brian Burch, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, a pope keenly aware of his role as pastor of the universal…

Maronite patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, who met with Pope Leo XIV last week, said the pope’s visit to Lebanon last December, held under the motto “Blessed are the peacemakers,” marked the beginning of a new phase of dialogue for peace. Rai expressed hope that the ongoing negotiations between Lebanon and Israel would lead to a…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said unidentified Lebanese Christian villages asked Israel to annex them. “Christian villages in Lebanon, some of them have actually asked to be annexed to Israel, because we protect them against the Hezbollah, Hezbollah fanatics who want to kill them, and we do the same things with Christians everywhere,” Netanyahu said…