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…

A growing number of Catholic bishops are instructing the faithful to avoid illicit sacraments celebrated by the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) after the traditionalist group’s bishops incurred the penalty of excommunication last week. The Vatican declared July 2 that six prelates involved in the SSPX’s unauthorized July 1 episcopal consecrations incurred automatic excommunication….