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CHICAGO (AP) -- His task was to solve a cruel mystery decades after a serial killer's death....
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- At least 12 people were injured in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province after an earthquake jolted the country just before midnight Friday, officials said on Saturday....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In June, during one of the best stretches of his presidency, Barack Obama strode through a West Wing hallway exclaiming, "Offense! Stay on offense!"...
BEIRUT (AP) -- The Islamic State group has released a new message purportedly from its reclusive leader, claiming his self-styled "caliphate" is doing "well" despite an unprecedented alliance against it....
BEIRUT (AP) -- The assassination of a top Syrian rebel commander who led one of the most powerful groups battling President Bashar Assad's forces has dealt a significant setback to the opposition that could reshuffle the lineup of key players on the ground ahead of the planned peace talks in Geneva next month....
 WASHINGTON- The United States has a moral obligation to protect unaccompanied children and families from persecution in Central America, said Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, October 21. Bishop Seitz is an advisor to the USCCB Committee on Migration and a member of the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC).The humanitarian outflow, driven by organized crime in the northern triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, continues, with nearly 40,000 unaccompanied children and an equal number of mothers with children having arrived in the United States in Fiscal Year 2015."If we do not respond justly and humanely to this challenge in our own backyard, then we will relinquish our moral leadership and moral influence globally," Bishop Seitz said.Bishop Seitz pointed to the human consequences of U.S. policies which are designed to deter migration from the region, i...
 WASHINGTON- The United States has a moral obligation to protect unaccompanied children and families from persecution in Central America, said Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, October 21. Bishop Seitz is an advisor to the USCCB Committee on Migration and a member of the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC).
The humanitarian outflow, driven by organized crime in the northern triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, continues, with nearly 40,000 unaccompanied children and an equal number of mothers with children having arrived in the United States in Fiscal Year 2015.
"If we do not respond justly and humanely to this challenge in our own backyard, then we will relinquish our moral leadership and moral influence globally," Bishop Seitz said.
Bishop Seitz pointed to the human consequences of U.S. policies which are designed to deter migration from the region, including U.S. support for Mexican interdiction efforts which are intercepting children and families in Mexico and sending them back to danger, in violation of international law.
Bishop Seitz recommended an end to these interdictions and the introduction of a regional system which would screen children and families for asylum in Mexico and other parts of the region. He also called for Congress to approve and increase a $1 billion aid package proposed by the Administration.
"If we export enforcement," Bishop Seitz said, "we also must export protection."
Bishop Seitz recalled the words of Pope Francis before Congress in September, when he invoked the golden rule in guiding our nation's actions toward those seeking safety in our land.
Quoting the Holy Father, Bishop Seitz repeated to the committee, "'The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us.'"
"Mr. Chairman, I pray that time, and history, will conclude that we honored this rule in meeting this humanitarian challenge," Bishop Seitz concluded.
Bishop Seitz' testimony can be found at http://www.usccb.org//about/migration-policy/congressional-testimony/upload/seitz-ongoing-migration.pdf
Keywords: Bishop Mark J. Seitz, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Congress, Senate, Committee on Migration, migration, unaccompanied children, violence, Pope Francis
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(Vatican Radio) Following two days of ceremonies at the Vatican the Pope was back in St Peter’s Square on Saturday for the Angelus.On this St Stephen’s Day, Pope Francis recalled this Saint, the first martyr of the Church and remembered all those who suffer persecution in the name of the faith, calling them “our martyrs of today.”Listen to Lydia O'Kane's report The Holy Father noted that Stephen is a faithful witness, because he does as Jesus does. He knows how to love, to give, but especially to forgive.Forgiveness, the Pope explained, “leads to "results" and is not just "a good deed": "Among those for which Stephen begged forgiveness, said Pope Francis, was St Paul. The Pope continued, “we can say that Paul was born by God's grace and Stephen’s forgiveness"."We too, he went on to say, are born from God's forgiveness. Not only in baptism, but every time we are forgiven our heart is r...
(Vatican Radio) Following two days of ceremonies at the Vatican the Pope was back in St Peter’s Square on Saturday for the Angelus.
On this St Stephen’s Day, Pope Francis recalled this Saint, the first martyr of the Church and remembered all those who suffer persecution in the name of the faith, calling them “our martyrs of today.”
Listen to Lydia O'Kane's report
The Holy Father noted that Stephen is a faithful witness, because he does as Jesus does. He knows how to love, to give, but especially to forgive.
Forgiveness, the Pope explained, “leads to "results" and is not just "a good deed": "Among those for which Stephen begged forgiveness, said Pope Francis, was St Paul. The Pope continued, “we can say that Paul was born by God's grace and Stephen’s forgiveness".
"We too, he went on to say, are born from God's forgiveness. Not only in baptism, but every time we are forgiven our heart is reborn, it is regenerated. The Holy Father also stressed that, we must never tire of asking God's forgiveness, because only when we are forgiven can we learn to forgive. "
But, the Pope underlined, that "to forgive, is always very difficult." Every day, he said, we have the opportunity to train ourselves to forgive, to live this elevated gesture that brings man closer to God. As our Heavenly Father, we too become merciful, through forgiveness we overcome evil with good, we transform hate into love and so we make the world cleaner ".
After the recitation of the Marian prayer, Pope Francis expressed his thanks for the many Christmas greetings he received "from Rome and elsewhere."
NEW YORK (AP) -- Mass shootings and attacks weighed heavily on the minds of Americans in 2015, according to a new poll that found most believe this year was worse for the world than last year....
ISTANBUL (AP) -- Tens of thousands of civilians in southeast Turkey have been caught in the middle as government forces and Kurdish militants battle it out in urban areas - violence that has shattered hopes of reviving peace talks....
BEIRUT (AP) -- Militant groups in Syria on Saturday mourned the death of a powerful rebel commander killed the previous day in an airstrike near Damascus - a high-profile assassination that may shift the balance of power in rebel-held suburbs of Damascus....
