VATICAN CITY – The foundation upon which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is based will remain fragile if its ethical and divine origins are ignored, Pope Benedict XVI said during a Vatican commemoration of the document’s 60th anniversary.Read More

PHOENIX – Nearly two years after parishes in the Phoenix Diocese were asked to restore the order of the sacraments of initiation and begin confirming third-graders before they receive the Eucharist, students, families and parish leaders are still adjusting. Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said the restored order “has gone remarkably well,” thanks to everyone...Read More

George Weigel writes (CR, Nov. 20) about “The Two Americas.” He, of course, is talking about the two major political parties which campaigned on the issues that he refers to and the supporters of each party. Most Catholics, and millions of others, are concerned about the issues Mr. Weigel raises, but with others as well....Read More

Bishop W. Francis Malooly, western vicar, presented James Upchurch with the Bishop Frank Murphy Peace and Justice Award during the annual social ministry convocation March 3 at The Seton Keough High School, Baltimore.Read More

VATICAN CITY – The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow, died Dec. 5 at his home outside the Russian capital. He was 79.Read More

ROME – Pope Benedict XVI visited a Rome juvenile detention center and told young people that true happiness involves discipline as well as freedom. The pope celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Casal del Marmo Prison for Minors March 18, then met with the 49 young detainees in a gym. Greeting them individually, he...Read More

To make a long story short: a priest of 11 years, I returned to my native Archdiocese of New York in 1976 with a doctorate in moral theology, all the while expecting I would be assigned to the faculty of our Archdiocesan Seminary of St. Joseph, Dunwoodie, in Yonkers. Such was not to be.Read More

SAN FRANCISCO – “It is a mistake to judge Islam on the basis of terrorists, just as it is (unfair) to judge Christianity from the Crusades,” an Islamic scholar told a San Francisco audience. Mona Siddiqui, founder and director of the Center for the Study of Islam at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, made...Read More