Rome, Italy
AP

Pope Francis told members of three religious orders Thursday that they must have “zero tolerance” for sexual abusers in their ranks and that they must report them to protect others.

Francis pleaded with them not to cover up the “reality” of clergy sexual abuse

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London, UK
Reuters

Around 25 million children around the world missed out on routine vaccinations that protect against life-threatening diseases last year, as the knock-on effects of the pandemic continue to disrupt health care globally. 

That is two million more children than in 2020, when COVID-19 caused

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Hong Kong
Reuters

A Catholic priest launched a three-day protest on Thursday in sweltering heat outside a Hong Kong maximum security prison, demanding the release of activists and democratic politicians held under a sweeping national security law.

Milan-born missionary Franco Mella, a longtime rights activist in the Chinese-ruled

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Geelong, Australia

More than one in four Australians are already likely to be experiencing some level of financial distress as cost-of-living increases and rising interest rates bite - but many are unaware of it, according to Christians Against Poverty.

Stuart Sampson, learning and development manager at CAP Australia,

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AP

The father of a deceased former choirboy filed a lawsuit against Cardinal George Pell and the Catholic Church in an Australian court on Thursday claiming the parent suffered psychological injury over an accusation that the once-senior Vatican official sexually abused the son.

Neither the father nor the

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Vatican City
RNS

Vatican astrophysicist Brother Guy Consolmagno released a statement on Thursday praising the crisp images of the cosmos delivered by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope as “food for the human spirit", while highlighting the rich history of Catholic scientists who have studied the stars.

“We’re really

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Port-au-Prince
Reuters

Haitian demonstrators on Thursday burned tyres and blocked streets of the capital to protest ongoing fuel shortages even as the country's main fuel terminal renewed deliveries that had been suspended due to an outbreak of gang violence. 

Rights activists say nearly 90 people have been

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Vnnytsia, Ukraine
Reuters

Russian missiles struck the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia far behind the frontlines on Thursday in an attack which Ukrainian officials called a war crime and said had killed at least 23 people, including three children. 

The strike, which Ukraine said had been carried

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Colombo, Sri Lanka/Singapore
Reuters

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa submitted a letter of resignation on Thursday, a spokesperson for the parliament speaker said, hours after fleeing to Singapore following mass protests over an economic meltdown.

The announcement triggered jubilation in the commercial capital Colombo where protesters massed

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Mumbai, India
Reuters

Half a world away from the political drama in London, many Indians are closely following the twists and turns of who replaces Boris Johnson as British prime minister, curious to see how two candidates with Indian ancestry fare.

Rishi Sunak, the bookmakers' favourite to prevail,

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Milan, Italy
Reuters

When farmer Rita Tolu saw "a big black wave storming across the horizon and taking over the fields" in April, she knew that little of her dried fodder and alfalfa crops would be left in the following days.

Leiria, Portugal
Reuters

Thousands of firefighters battled more than 20 blazes that raged on Wednesday across Portugal and western Spain, menacing villages and disrupting tourists' holidays amid a heat wave that pushed temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius in some parts of Europe.

In France, hundreds of firefighters,

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