News

More Than 60 Dead in Sudan BombingsMore than 60 people, most of them women and children, died in a series of bombing raids carried out by the Sudanese military on towns and schools in southern Sudan, a missionary news agency reported. The situation is becoming more serious day by day, Bishop Cesare

Bishops Join Death Penalty Moratorium Appeal to ClintonThe president of the U.S. bishops’ conference and the chairman of its Domestic Policy Committee are among 40 prominent Americans who have asked President Clinton to declare a moratorium on federal executions. The first execution since 1963

McCarrick to WashingtonArchbishop Theodore E. McCarrick of Newark, N.J., was appointed archbishop of Washington to succeed Cardinal James A. Hickey. McCarrick is known as an excellent fund-raiser and spokesman for the bishops on domestic and international justice and peace issues. He is fluent in Sp

Historian Says Pius XII Should Be Portrayed in Shades Of Gray’An accurate portrayal of Pope Pius XII in World War II should be done in shades of gray, said Gerald P. Fogarty, S.J. The pope was shaped by his training and experience as a diplomat, and what he said or did not say during the war m

Pope Says Politicians Must Conform Civil Laws to God’s LawPope John Paul II said political leaders must conform civil laws and policies to God’s objective moral law and to principles of solidarity and justice. An estimated 15,000 public officials from 92 countries attended the Jubilee fo

Scholars Say Vatican’s Published Material on Holocaust InadequateAfter a yearlong study, a commission of three Catholic and three Jewish scholars said that published Vatican material on World War II leaves unanswered many important questions about Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust. In a report m

Laity May Fill Communion Cups; Indult ProposedClearing up some of the confusion surrounding the revised General Instruction of the Roman Missal, the U.S. bishops have received a Vatican ruling permitting extraordinary eucharistic ministers to pour consecrated wine into chalices for Communion. The bi

Bush Opposes Abortion, Supports Death Penalty Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush reiterated his opposition to abortion and support for school choice but disagreed with Catholic stands on the death penalty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in a wide-ranging interview with Catholic

Charities Denied Injunction in Contraceptives CaseA Sacramento Superior Court judge has denied a motion by Catholic Charities of Sacramento for a preliminary injunction to block a state law that includes most religious institutions in a requirement that employers pay for contraceptives in prescripti

Bishops Dismayed Over RU-486 Decision But Resolve to FightBishops and other Catholic leaders responded to the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the use of the RU-486 abortion pill with dismay, bewilderment and a firm resolve to continue the fight against abortion in all forms. Cardina