Signs Of the Times

Pope Benedict XVI’s Twitter account, @Pontifex, attracted more than a million-and-a-half followers by the end of Dec. 12, its first day active. • Justice Magazine (www.justicemagazine.org), which covers national and international issues relating to the Catholic Church’s social teach

European media are reporting that Russia and the United States are preparing a joint ultimatum to President Bashar al-Assad through the special envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League, Lakhdar Brahimi, to encourage Assad to leave power “with dignity.” Washington and Moscow report

Christians renewed an appeal to the Sri Lankan government to defend religious freedom after the nation’s minority Christian community was shocked by an attack on a Protestant church. The attack occurred on Dec. 9, in Weeraketiya, an area in the southern province of Sri Lanka. A crowd of about

The preacher of the papal household offered a look at how to interpret Vatican II.

Thaddeus Ma Daqin allegedly violated the rules for episcopal ordinations.

Little Olivia Engel was one of the victims of the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14. Msgr. Robert Weiss, pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Newtown, said the 6-year-old was to have been an angel in the church’s live Nativity pageant that night.Af

In a metropolitan area rocked by crime, Catholics are being challenged to respond.

A new survey finds that 7 in 10 Catholics agree that the new Mass translation “is a good thing.”

Representatives of faith-based development networks participating in a U.N. climate change conference in Doha, the capital of Qatar, urged governments to put aside national interests and protect the common good and especially people around the world who are most vulnerable to climate change. Emilie

The destruction from Typhoon Bopha in portions of Mindanao, in the southern Philippines, is worse than feared as rescue workers continued to discover bodies under knee-deep mud, said a Catholic Relief Services official who coordinates the agency’s storm response in early December. “It lo