Signs Of the Times

The bishops plan to focus on “correcting serious moral problems in the current law.”

“The truth about violations of international human rights and humanitarian law … must be publicly acknowledged,” the Sri Lankan bishop of Mannar told a special government commission.

Brazil’s bishops launched a campaign to aid victims of severe flooding that has left more than 500 people dead. 

Pope Benedict deplored recent attacks on Christians in Iraq, Egypt and Nigeria.

Christians in the Holy Land face “two extremisms,” said one observer: “the Muslim one.. and the Israeli right wing.”

The U.N. estimates that 810,000 people are still living in 1,150 camps in Haiti, just over half the peak of 1.5 million in July 2010.

“We commend to God those who have died,” said Archbishop Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S.C.C.B., “and we pray for the families who lost loved ones.”

Christians and other minority groups have been warned to be on their guard in the wake of the killing of the governor of Punjab Province.

A federal court has ruled that a cross on a San Diego hillside conveys a message of government endorsement of religion.

A wide array of Catholics played a major role in getting the new START agreement with Russia ratified.