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VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI said people’s lives will be judged not on the basis of abstract ideals but on the concrete acts of charity. In a Feb. 10 talk to Italian volunteer groups that provide medical assistance and blood donation programs, the pope said the organizations were helping to spread the “Gospel of God’s love for all people.” Citing the Gospel of St. Matthew, he recalled that when Christ spoke of the last judgment he said people would be asked whether they fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger and opened their hearts to the needy.

WASHINGTON – In January, as many of the world’s political movers and shakers met in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum, thousands of would-be societal movers and shakers met in Nairobi, Kenya, for the seventh World Social Forum.

WASHINGTON – Congress should heed the warnings of a recent report on global warming, with priority given to how climate change will affect the poor, the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Policy urged. In a Feb. 7 letter to congressional leaders, Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., said the recently released report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has clearly and compellingly outlined the case for urgent action to address the potential consequences of climate change.

At a time when Catholics nationwide seem to be returning to their Democratic roots, Catholic voters in Maryland are increasingly casting their ballots for Republican candidates. According to CNN exit polls, Maryland Catholics solidly favored the Republican candidates for governor and U.S. senator in November’s election.

With a consistent congregation of more than 100 each week, a two-month pilot program offering a weekly Spanish Mass at St. Michael the Archangel, Overlea has become a permanent fixture on the parish’s schedule.

WASHINGTON – A Filipina forced into the sex trade and raped hours after her arrival in the Northern Mariana Islands appealed to U.S. senators to change immigration and labor laws in the commonwealth. “I know there are other women out in the (Mariana Islands) community like me,” Kayleen Entena said in her Feb. 8 testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; its jurisdiction covers U.S. territorial islands and other insular areas.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI congratulated the finance ministers of Italy, Great Britain, Canada and Russia for their efforts to promote the development of vaccines to reduce child mortality in poor countries.