The Coptic Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary sits in a tiled courtyard a few miles outside Cairo, on the left bank of the Nile as the river bends south toward Upper Egypt.

Church historian captures subtleties of complex Catholic times “History of the Catholic Church: From the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium” by James Hitchcock. Reviewed by Brian Welter.

Many rural villages in Shaanxi do not have a Catholic parish, and some with churches struggle with sparse attendance. But the village of Fufengxian, near the town of Baoji, has a population that is more than 80 percent baptized Catholics.

An unlikely chain of events made him not only a national celebrity but a stand-in for every priest who has ever ministered to the faithful in an emergency.

Churches and other Christian properties around Egypt had already been looted, so when Catholics in Berba were tipped off that their southern village could be next, they acted fast.

It was lunchtime at Cairo’s Italian Hospital, and some of the nuns who reside there were watching state television’s latest announcements on Egypt’s “war on terror,” the expression used by the country’s military and its supporters to describe the nationwide crackdown on Islamists.

Cardinal Bechara Rai, Maronite patriarch, visited a predominantly Muslim city hit by explosions and called on political leaders to come up with a plan to save Lebanon.

The Malaysian government has won the right to continue its appeal against a court ruling that allowed non-Muslims — including a Malay-language Catholic newspaper — to use the word Allah.

Jesus told his disciples that the entrance to heaven is like a “narrow gate,” not because God has made salvation so difficult, but because people find it difficult to recognize their sinfulness and accept God’s mercy, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis called again for an end to the fighting in Syria, denouncing the “multiplication of massacres and atrocious acts,” including the suspected chemical weapons attack that left hundreds dead.