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Cardinal William H. Keeler is asking Gov.-elect Martin J. O’Malley to provide budgetary support for programs benefiting nonpublic schools and women in crisis pregnancies. In a Dec. 12 letter, Cardinal Keeler urged the new governor to increase funding for a program providing nonreligious textbooks and technology for students in nonpublic schools. The allocation for the textbook/technology program dipped to $3 million two years ago, but was increased to $4 million by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. last year. Cardinal Keeler requested that Gov.-elect O’Malley restore funding to $6 million, the amount approved for the program when it was launched by Gov. Parris N. Glendening.

VILLANOVA, Pa. (CNS) — More than four out of five U.S. dioceses have experienced embezzlement or other misuse of parish funds within the past five years, but only two-fifths have formal written fraud policies, two Villanova University researchers said. Villanova business school professors Robert West and Charles Zech reported that according to a national survey of chief diocesan financial officers 21 percent said the diocese “seldom or never” audits parish finances and only 3 percent said such audits are conducted every year.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican’s 2006 Christmas tree did not turn out to be the tallest ever, but its Nativity scene is definitely the most populated. In addition to Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus and the three kings, the creche in St. Peter’s Square also features peasants, a flutist, a bagpipe player and a shepherd named “Titaoca.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens, spiritual leader of the Orthodox church of Greece, will visit Pope Benedict XVI Dec. 13-16, the Vatican announced.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Here are some terms commonly associated with Islam: