President Barack Obama called Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan on Feb. 23 to congratulate the Milwaukee archbishop on his appointment as head of the New York Archdiocese. Pope Benedict named Dolan as successor to Cardinal Edward Egan on Feb. 23. • With parliamentary elections scheduled for April 22,

Lawmakers have provided increased funding for basic necessities, including food and health care.

Church workers in Pakistan are concerned over the government’s decision to allow militants to enforce Islamic law in the pro-Taliban controlled North-West Frontier province. The government, in an attempt to bring about peace and order, agreed on Feb. 16 to allow Taliban leaders to enforce Shar

Hard work, solidarity and other ethical values must be part of the world’s response to the global economic crisis, said Pope Benedict XVI and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The pope and prime minister met Feb. 19 at the Vatican, and their 35-minute conversation focused on the economic cr

The Vatican has labeled “blasphemous” a satire of Christianity on an Israeli television network that included joking suggestions that Mary was impregnated by a school friend at the age of 15 and that Jesus died at a young age because he was fat. A Vatican statement on Feb. 20 said the pr

Bishop Erwin Krautler of Xingu, Brazil, remembers the first time he received a death threat. “It was the exact day I completed 25 years as a bishop,” he recalled. Later that year, a local paper even announced the day his assassination would be expected. Bishop Krautler says there are sev