Read the latest news from regional and global sources, presenting different voices and perspectives.

At the Vatican, experts challenge the rules of global debt and finance
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Some of the most provocative recent proposals challenging global inequality and international debt are not the work of Ivy League economics departments or Silicon Valley think tanks. They’re coming from inside the Vatican. “I...

Resetting development finance
At the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development this week in Seville, delegates are calling for urgent action to fix a system that has stopped working. Prior to the third such gathering a decade ago, in Ethiopia, we had...

Artificial Intelligence challenges ‘tranquility of order’, says Pope
Humanity is at a crossroads and facing the immense potential generated by the digital revolution driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI), according to a message from Pope Leo XIV. In a letter sent to experts on the pontiff’s behalf by the Vatican...
Vatican-backed report seeks financial reform to avert decades of lost development
By Libby George LONDON(Reuters) -A commission launched by the late Pope Francis has outlined financial reforms it says could help to avert decades of lost development in poor countries that face onerous repayments as global public debts reach...

Experts call for increased climate finance to power locally led adaptation initiatives
Dr Éliane Ubalijoro, CEO of CIFOR-ICRAF. Photo by CIFOR-ICRAF Despite its minimal contribution to global emissions, Africa faces some of the most severe consequences of climate change. They include rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, intense...

Commentary: Vatican defends science from politics, ideology and misinformation
Around the world, we are “witnessing an alarming rise in attempts to discredit, politicize or suppress scientific knowledge,” the Vatican says in a new Pontifical Academy of Sciences document defending the freedom of science. “These developments...

Latin Mass debate grows after apparent leak of Vatican liturgy report
ROME (AP) — The debate in the Catholic Church over the celebration of the old Latin Mass is heating up just as Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate is getting under way, with the apparent leak of Vatican documents that undermine the stated reason of his...

Vengeful ‘Popess’ framed me in Vatican fraud trial, says cardinal
A senior Catholic cardinal convicted of embezzlement by the Vatican for his role in a disastrous London property investment has claimed a woman with a grudge may have tried to frame him. Cardinal Angelo Becciu claims he could have been illegally...

Davenport vicar general Fr. Thomas Hennen appointed bishop of Baker, Ore.
WASHINGTON (OSV News) -- Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Bishop Liam S. Cary, who has headed the Diocese of Baker, Oregon, since 2012, and named as his successor Father Thomas Hennen, current vicar general of the Diocese of Davenport,...

Emine Erdoğan meets Pope Leo XIV on Gaza, climate, family in Vatican
First lady Emine Erdoğan met with Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican on Wednesday, July 2, where the two leaders held a wide-ranging discussion on global humanitarian concerns, interfaith cooperation and the importance of...

Vatican publishes the note ‘Jubilee 2025: remission of the ecological debt’
(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 06.27.2025).- The thematic note ‘Jubilee 2025: remission of the ecological debt’, signed by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, was published on Tuesday 23 June and can be downloaded in 5 languages....

Cardinals from Global South deliver urgent climate appeal at Vatican
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Warning of “irreversible impacts” if the world stays on its current course, three influential cardinals from the Global South presented a document at the Vatican on Tuesday (July 1) calling for bold international action on...

Business Leaders Called To Align Tech Decisions With Corporate Values
Signs point to an emerging, if informal, social contact on AI deployment.AFP via Getty Images With the rapid rollout of AI, corporate leaders are increasingly being called to consider the proper alignment between technology strategies and...

Vatican Museums unveils restored Raphael Rooms after a decade of meticulous restoration
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican Museums on Thursday unveiled the last and most important of the restored Raphael Rooms, the spectacularly frescoed reception rooms of the Apostolic Palace that in some ways rival the Sistine Chapel as the peak of...

Facing 153 sexual abuse cases, the Fresno Diocese seeks bankruptcy. Critics call it delay tactic
Bogged down by 153 claims of clergy sex abuse, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno announced Tuesday it voluntarily filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The financial reorganization process comes more than a year after the diocese declared...

Raphael’s experiments with innovative painting technique revealed by Vatican Museums restoration
Restoration work on the Hall of Constantine at the Vatican has revealed an innovative mural painting technique that the Renaissance artist Raphael experimented with. The hall, part of the Raphael Rooms at the Apostolic Palace, was reopened last...

Vatican unveils last restored Raphael Room after 10-year cleaning that yielded new discoveries
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican Museums on Thursday unveiled the last and most important of the restored Raphael Rooms, the spectacularly frescoed reception rooms of the Apostolic Palace that in some ways rival the Sistine Chapel as the peak of high...

Vatican: Bank in the Green, But Finances Remain in the Red
According to the annual report published on June 11, 2025, by the Holy See's official website, Vatican News, the IOR recorded solid financial results for 2024, confirming a positive trajectory after years of reforms. The institute thus generated a...

Vatican unveils last of restored Raphael Rooms after 10-year cleaning that yielded new...
Vatican Museums officials recounted the discoveries on Thursday in inaugurating the hall, known as the Room of Constantine, after the last scaffolding came down. The reception room, which was painted by Raphael and his students starting in the...

Japan, Vatican to Strengthen Cooperation
Newsfrom Japan Politics Jul 1, 2025 18:05 (JST) Tokyo, July 1 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin have affirmed their commitment to strengthening relations between the two countries...