Signs Of the Times

South Korean priests asked Cardinal Cheong Jin-suk of Seoul to resign after he publically disagreed with a statement from his fellow bishops.

Leaders of the Coptic Catholic Church in Egypt said a deadly attack against Christian worshipers was an act of political destabilization and a sign of the increasingly radical “Islamization” of the country.

A Canadian official has fired back at the country’s bishops after they criticized his recently introduced bill against human smuggling.

Rome must acknowledge the “depth of anger and hurt” provoked by the apostolic visitation of American nuns, a Vatican official said.

The Pax Christi International Peace Award for 2010 was given on Dec. 8 to Louis Sako,the Chaldean archbishop of Kirkuk, Iraq.

The Vatican said the recent election of new church leaders by government-controlled Catholic groups in China have “unilaterally damaged” hopes of improved relations.

The Senate’s inability to overcome a threatened filibuster Dec. 18 scuttled passage of the DREAM Act.

In response to the “unimaginable” scandal of clerical sex abuse against minors, the church must do everything possible to rectify the injustices suffered by victims of sex abuse.

Infringements on the freedom of religion threaten peace worldwide as well as stifle authentic human development, the pope said.