Signs Of the Times

Pope Francis is the fourth most powerful person in the world, according to Forbes, which ranks him immediately after the presidents of Russia, the United States and China. • Commissioned by the Irish Association of Catholic Priests, a critical review of the Irish government’s investi

The University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education on Oct. 5 launched a bus tour called Fighting for Our Children’s Future, a cross-country effort to raise awareness of the impact of primary school education and the unique contribution of Catholic schools. • Responding t

Human Rights Watch flatly denounced the drone campaign in Yemen.

“This growth is a blessing, but also it comes with a lot of challenges,” says Gustavo Valdez.

The Vatican reaffirmed teaching barring such persons from Communion without an annulment.

According to a study released on Oct. 22 by the University of California’s Berkeley Labor Center and the University of Illinois, more than half the nation’s fast food workers rely on public aid because their wages are not sufficient to support them. Fifty-two percent of families of fast

Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, came to Des Moines, Iowa, to receive the World Food Prize on Oct. 16. The cardinal urged groups on both sides of the divide on bio-engineered and genetically modified food to engage in conversation and dialog

Caroleen Hensgen, S.S.N.D., the first woman appointed superintendent of schools for a U.S. diocese, died on Oct. 15 in Chatawa, Miss., at the age of 98.• On World Food Day, Oct. 16, Pope Francis denounced widespread hunger due to wasted food as a symptom of a “throwaway culture” and

Perhaps the fastest growing “religious” demographic among Hispanics is the unaffiliated.