World News

OSV News photo/Benny Manser, Catholic Relief Services

Lent’s CRS Rice Bowl collection seen as more critical than ever after USAID cuts

Catholic Relief Services is surviving, yet the deep slashes to USAID funding have now made their annual Rice Bowl collection more essential than ever.

• Unity, dialogue, respect: On first trip, pope highlights paths to peace

  

  By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
  Published December 3, 2025

  Visiting two countries over six days on his first foreign papal trip, Pope Leo XIV preached unity, dialogue and respect for differences as the only paths to peace.

• Pope gives Catholics in Turkey Advent ‘resolutions’ to build bridges

  

  By CINDY WOODEN, Catholic News Service
  Published November 30, 2025

  With their different rites, cultures, languages and races, Catholics find a unity around the altar that “is a gift from God. As such, it is strong and invincible, because it is the work of his grace,” Pope Leo XIV said in a Mass in Instanbul, part of his first international trip.

• CNEWA director: Sense of relief as hostages freed, ceasefire holds—but peace vulnerable

  

  By PAULINA GUZIK, OSV News
  Published October 15, 2025

  Scenes of joy, relief and tearful welcomes flooded media across the world Oct. 13 as the remaining Israeli hostages were freed from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip as part of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement. The regional director for CNEWA-Pontifical Mission’s Jerusalem office speaks of the region’s vulnerable peace.