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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Welcoming in the new year at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI said a world suffering from wars and terrorism can find peace only through respect for human dignity and human rights. The pope celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica Jan. 1, which the church marks as World Peace Day, and quoted from his peace day message that was sent to governments around the globe. The theme of the message this year was “The Human Person, the Heart of Peace.” In order for peace agreements to last, the pope said, they must be based on respect for the dignity of the human being created by God. This dignity is the foundation of peace and cannot be viewed as something subject to popular opinion or negotiations between parties, he said.

Vatican says execution not way to justice

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Executing someone guilty of a crime “is not the way to restore justice and reconcile society,” the Vatican spokesman said after Saddam Hussein was hanged Dec. 30. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi said, “A capital execution is always tragic news, a motive for sadness, even when it involves a person found guilty of serious crimes.” In a formal statement issued shortly after Saddam’s death was announced, Father Lombardi said, “The position of the Catholic Church against the death penalty has been reaffirmed many times.” The death penalty not only will not restore justice in Iraq, but also can “increase the spirit of vengeance and sow new violence,” he said.

Baltimore Catholic schools to receive $3.5 million

A Baltimore-based Jewish foundation is pledging $3.5 million to Catholic schools in Baltimore in an effort to boost enrollment and attract even more financial support for urban-based Catholic education. In a Dec. 14 event at the Catholic Center in Baltimore, Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore and Donn Weinberg of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation announced that the foundation would donate $500,000 in 2006 and $1 million for the next three years to benefit at-risk students in kindergarten to 12th grade at one of 17 Catholic elementary/middle schools and three high schools.

British cardinal denounces secularization

LONDON (CNS) — A British cardinal said Great Britain is being reduced to a “profoundly needy land” by attempts to purge religion from public life. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of Westminster, president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said secularization has led to the collapse of shared moral values and has created a sense of despair.

Vatican official repeats calls not to execute Hussein

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Repeating a remark he often has made since former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured in 2003, Cardinal Renato Martino expressed hope that the deposed dictator would not be executed. “There is no doubt” that Saddam was a ruthless dictator responsible for hundreds of deaths, said Cardinal Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. “But one does not compensate for one crime with another crime,” the cardinal told Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper Dec. 28. Iraq’s high court Dec. 26 denied Saddam’s appeal of his November conviction for killing 148 people in northern Iraq in 1982.

Welcoming Christ in the Migrant

WASHINGTON (CNS) — “Welcoming Christ in the Migrant” is the theme of the U.S. Catholic Church’s National Migration Week Jan. 7-13. “I invite you to welcome Christ in the migrant through prayer, education and parish outreach,” said Bishop Gerald R. Barnes of San Bernardino, Calif., chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Migration. He said Jesus’ biblical admonition that what one does to a stranger is done to him “is particularly timely” in the current immigration debate.

Jesuit priest among Newsweek’s people to watch

NEW YORK (CNS) — Newsweek magazine has named Jesuit Father John P. Foley, president of the national Cristo Rey Network of Catholic high schools, among “the people to watch in the year ahead.” Two other religious figures — Episcopal Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Muslim professor Ingrid Mattson — also made the magazine’s gallery of 20 figures to keep an eye on in 2007 in various fields, from politics to sports, religion to entertainment, and education to business.

President Gerald R. Ford brought healing

br />WASHINGTON (CNS) — In his brief, unelected tenure in the nation’s highest office, President Gerald R. Ford restored integrity and character to the White House and brought a measure of healing to a country badly wounded and divided by the Watergate scandal. Ford, who had a bout with pneumonia last January and two heart treatments in August, died Dec. 26 at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 93.

Former actor takes on new role as volunteer

As an actor, Seamus Dockery played roles in television, film and on stage, including a bit part in “The Exorcist” and in AARP commercials. Before retiring, Mr. Dockery prepared students to appear on stage when he was an acting and directing professor at Loyola College in Maryland, Baltimore. A new role he recently assumed isn’t in front of the camera or under hot stage lights, but behind the scenes as a volunteer mentor at Christopher Place Employment Academy, Baltimore. The academy has a residential component which supports addiction recovery and helps formerly homeless men become productive members of the community.

Bookstore owners earn spiritual currency

Dolores Orlando of Towson recently walked into the Catholic Corner Bookstore determined to find specific Christmas cards and a statue of St. Joseph, and looked relieved when she spotted the establishment’s owner, Joan Linz. “Joan, I really need your help,” said Ms. Orlando, an Immaculate Conception, Towson, parishioner. The bookshop keeper, a parishioner of St. Ursula in Parkville, assured her longtime customer a shipment of Christmas cards would be arriving later that evening and helped her select a St. Joseph statue for a friend. This is the kind of help on which 50-year-old Ms. Linz thrives, and it is part of her store’s mission to provide fellow Catholics with the tools to become closer to God.

Christmas still brings joy

JERUSALEM (CNS) — Once again Christmas in the Holy Land is faced with “circumstances of death and frustration,” but the holiday still brings joy and announces salvation to all, said Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem in his traditional Christmas message. Though the West Bank city of Bethlehem should be a city of peace it is a place of “conflict and death,” Patriarch Sabbah said. Peace could be reached if those responsible were “sincerely determined,” he said.

2007 promises a world of busyness for Pope