Signs Of the Times

What should disqualify someone from being a saint?That might seem a funny question. How about sin? But over the course of the last month, people in California and elsewhere have been asking it a lot. In January, Pope Francis announced that in September he will canonize Junípero Serra, the 18th-cent

In a letter on Feb. 19 to state legislators, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco wrote that he respects the legislators’ right “to employ or not employ whomever you wish to advance your mission” and expects the same courtesy after several had urged him to remove sexual

The leader of the Catholic Church in Libya called for dialogue and understanding in his violence-torn country on Feb. 16, even as prayers and calls for action followed the horror of the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians. The men, who had come to Libya from Egypt in search of work, had been kidnapped

On Feb. 12, 2005, two hired gunmen killed Sister Dorothy Stang, 73, in a remote Brazilian settlement just off the Trans-Amazonian Highway. As a tireless advocate for the poor and landless in Brazil for more than three decades, the Ohio-born nun came into conflict with ruthless landowners. Three

The establishment of two new congregations—the first for Laity-Family Life, the second for Charity-Justice-Peace, which includes a new office for ecology—were among the proposals for reform of the Roman Curia that were presented to the College of Cardinals on Feb. 12 at the opening sessi

Video of Pope Francis visiting with Latin American immigrants at a settlement camp near Rome on Feb. 8 became a global Internet phenomenon.• Congress should urge Israel to halt confiscation of Palestinian lands, a move that may “renew hope for a just resolution to the conflict,” Bis

Despite small numbers, Catholicism retains a special place in urban Thai society.

Maria Rodriguez is not a religious sister, but she lives and works like one. The 23-year-old San Diego native teaches third grade students in a Chicago Catholic school and lives in a house with other new schoolteachers.Rodriguez and her housemates exchange ideas about their educational ministry, pra

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said he would seek assurances from religious congregations operating in his diocese that they are rigidly following child protection guidelines after a fresh round of audits raised serious concerns. In a statement on Feb. 10, Archbishop Martin said it was “