A Canadian friend recently alerted me to an international petition being organized by Avaaz.org, a “community of global citizens who take action on the major issues facing the world today.” (According to the organization’s polyglots, “‘avaaz’...means ‘voice’ or ‘song’ in...Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, Nepalese, Dari, Turkish, and Bosnian.”) The petition asks “global citizens” around the world...Read More

WASHINGTON – Pope Benedict XVI’s new encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate” (“Charity in Truth”), breaks new ground on such topics as microfinancing, intellectual property rights, globalization and the concept of putting one’s wealth at the service of the poor, according to Catholic scholars and church leaders.Read More

WASHINGTON – There will always be solid differences of belief over whether abortion should be legal, but that doesn’t mean common ground isn’t possible on how to reduce abortion, President Barack Obama told a round table of religion reporters July 2.Read More

Erickson Retirement Communities, the Baltimore-based senior housing developer that operates Charlestown and Oak Crest Village, donated $1.2 million to nonprofit organizations across the country last year.Read More

A funeral Mass will be offered March 5 for Monsignor James J. Cronin, a beloved pastor whose Irish wit and concern for his parishioners made him immensely popular.Read More

ROME – Closing the year of St. Paul, Pope Benedict XVI announced that tests done on the presumed tomb of the Apostle revealed the presence of bone fragments from a human who lived between the first and second century.Read More

WASHINGTON – Meeting in executive session in San Antonio, the U.S. bishops expressed “appreciation and support” for Bishop John M. D’Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., especially for “his pastoral concern” for the University of Notre Dame.Read More

HAVANA – Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, said he hoped his six-day visit had helped give “new impetus to relations between the church and the government of Cuba.”Read More