Breaking Christian News on The Gospel Herald

Cardinal Walter Kasper, the head of the Catholic Church’s ecumenical affairs office, retired from his post Thursday, making way for his successor, Bishop Kurt Koch.

International Christian NGO World Vision believes the recently concluded summit of the Group of Eight countries will be rightly hailed for the launch of the Canadian-led Muskoka Initiative, but tainted by low promises and expectations.

A total of 2.4 million people in China have had to evacuate their homes as a result of severe flooding that spread across 10 provinces and regions in the south and along the eastern coast.

While people in at least 55 countries worldwide will be honoring their fathers Sunday, human rights and relief groups will be highlighting the plight of refugees in observance of World Refugee Day.

A confederation of Catholic relief, development and social service groups says the Sahel region of West Africa is heading for a humanitarian tragedy unless the international community responds to the mounting food crisis.

A global network of churches and related aid organizations is calling on the provisional Kyrgyz government to guarantee the safe transportation of life-saving assistance and access for aid workers to avert a humanitarian crisis in southern Kyrgyzstan, where the flaring of conflict has displaced an estimated 300,000 people from their homes.

Pope Benedict XVI reiterated Sunday his call for an “urgent and concerted” international effort to resolve the ongoing tensions in the Middle East before the conflicts there lead to greater bloodshed.

Severe floods triggered by torrential rains have killed 24 people and affected over 524,000 in the south, west and central parts of Sri Lanka, the island nation’s government reported Friday.

Thousands of Christians marched through the streets of Hamdaniyah in northern Iraq on Monday to protest against Sunday’s bomb attack that killed one and injured around 100.

Post-quake efforts in China are shifting from rescue and relief to reconstruction and resettlement as the death toll from the April 14 temblor leveled out this past week at more than 2,200.

Relief groups distributing aid to survivors of last week’s massive quake in China’s Yushu County are braving the below-freezing temperatures and working to overcome a number of obstacles to alleviate the suffering of thousands.

Tens of thousands of Christians in China’s Sichuan province prayed and offered donations Sunday for those affected by Wednesday’s 7.1-magnitude earthquake in northwest China that killed more than 1,700 people.

The death toll from Wednesday’s 7.1-magnitude earthquake in western China shot up to more than 1,144 late Friday after being reported as 791 just ten hours earlier, according to the government’s official press agency.

Christian organizations are accessing the situation in China’s Qinghai province after a series of strong quakes – the largest of which was magnitude 6.9 – left more than 600 dead and 9,000 hurt in the mountainous Tibetan area of western China.

A series of strong earthquakes struck a mountainous area in western China on Wednesday, killing at least 400 people and injuring more than 10,000.

Millions of mourners in the predominantly Catholic nation of Poland packed into churches Sunday to pray for victims of Saturday’s high-profile plane crash, which took the lives of Poland President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others.

Sudanese across Africa's largest country filed into polling stations Sunday to cast their votes for Sudan’s first competitive elections in nearly a quarter century.

The government of China revealed Friday its intention to tighten supervision on the financial management of the country's 130,000 religious institutions in response to "prevailing malpractice."

The U.S. Department of State said Friday that is “increasingly concerned” about the ongoing persecution of religious minority communities in Iran.

The head of the worldwide Anglican Communion expressed his "deep" concern over the declining number of believers in the Middle East as he marked the start a four-day visit to the region.

A gunman opened fire on two Christian university students in Iraq Tuesday, killing one and wounding the other.

Millions of Christians worldwide ushered in the 40-day season of Lent by imposing the sign of the cross on their foreheads with ash on Wednesday.

Brain surgery patients who have had tumors removed from the back part of their brain were more likely demonstrate greater spirituality after the operation than those who had tumors removed from the frontal area of their brain, according to researchers behind a new study.

A ten-member team of Baptist church members from the United States was arrested in Haiti Saturday after trying to take dozens of children out of the quake-devastated country and into the Dominican Republic.

Christian churches and communities across the nation will celebrate their unity this week with prayer meetings, services, and worship events.