News Briefs

In a statement released on Aug. 11, Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, the head of the Philippine bishops’ conference, said helping the poor and getting rid of political dynasties should be the focus of discussion as the nation prepares for elections in May. • Five years after the murder of Bishop Luigi Padovese, Pope Francis named Paolo Bizzeti, S.J., an Italian, on Aug. 14 to succeed the bishop as apostolic vicar of Anatolia, Turkey. • Requests for copies of Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical and high demand for tickets to see him at the United Nations indicate that enthusiasm for the pope’s U.S. visit is running high, said Archbishop Bernardito Auza, head of the Holy See’s permanent observer mission at the United Nations, on Aug. 12. • In an effort deplored by Catholic advocates for migrants, the Obama administration on Aug. 6 asked a federal judge to set aside her orders for the release of families being held in immigration detention centers. • Paulino Lukudu Loro, F.S.C.J., archbishop of Juba, South Sudan, joining other church leaders on Aug. 8 in a peace initiative to end nearly two years of civil strife, said, “War has made people indifferent to human life; people are dying and nobody cares.”