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LAHORE, Pakistan – Posters pasted on billboards and trees by the country’s main Muslim political alliance blare the “Quran-prescribed” punishments of 100 lashes or death by stoning for women who have sex outside of marriage. As a new bill liberalizing strict women’s laws makes its way through Parliament, hard-line groups have been fighting to keep a status quo they claim has divine sanction. The same day the new bill went before the National Assembly Feb. 13, the first national Catholic women’s organization was launched in Lahore, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency.

SAN DIEGO – Migrant camps have existed in the Carmel Valley area of north San Diego County longer than most of the area’s housing, certainly longer than the million-dollar homes that now carpet the valley east of Del Mar. Home to the men and women who work in the vegetable and flower fields, the makeshift camps are out of sight and, typically, out of mind for the majority of residents in the area. But some residents, worrying about the potential for crime, are wary of having the camps so close to their homes.

The St. Agnes Foundation will honor Albert “Skip” and Margie Counselman by presenting them with the Caritas Award at the annual spring gala, March 24 at M&T Bank Stadium. The award is given each year to a couple who demonstrate an ongoing commitment to St. Agnes Healthcare and the Baltimore community.

VATICAN CITY – Although the Global Positioning System has made meridians obsolete in mapmaking, a group of geographers used the GPS to mark the exact spot where the old prime meridian of Italy passed through the Vatican. Standing at the end of a technologically guaranteed straight line of flower pots, the geographers and Vatican officials dedicated a plaque marking the spot in the Vatican Gardens Feb. 23.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI will canonize a Brazilian Franciscan during his May trip to Brazil and will declare four other new saints in June. During a prayer service in the Apostolic Palace Feb. 23, the pope set May 11 as the date for the canonization of Blessed Antonio Galvao, an 18th-century Franciscan and founder of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Conception of Divine Providence.

OXFORD, England – Pope Benedict XVI expressed support for an archbishop who resigned because of links to communist-era secret police. “I would like, above all, to offer words of encouragement, inviting you to stride forward with confidence and peace in your heart,” Pope Benedict said in a letter to former Warsaw Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus. “I express the wish that Your Excellency renew your activity in Christ’s service in every way possible, so your immense and deep knowledge will bear fruit, as well as your priestly devotion for the good of the beloved church in Poland.”

NAIROBI, Kenya – Three FBI representatives are expected to testify in early March at an inquest into the death of Mill Hill Father John Kaiser, a U.S. missionary who died in Kenya in August 2000. Mbuthi Gathenji, a lawyer representing the Catholic Church and Father Kaiser’s family, said Feb. 21 that the officials were expected to begin their testimony early March 5. He named the three as Tom Neer, a specialist in behavioral analysis; Dr. Vincent Di Maio, a forensics specialist; and Bill Corbett, who has worked in counterterrorism.

For months, school children, fellow parents, school and parish staff and parishioners of St. Joseph, Fullerton, have been diligently rooting for the Pirozzi family, specifically Xavia Pirozzi, a St. Joseph fifth grader who received a heart transplant Jan. 6. Through fundraisers, personal assistance, and an online hospital “care page,” love, encouragement, and support have poured in from concerned individuals. The St. Joseph community has pooled together their resources to help the family face their share of the medical costs – $600,000.