Signs Of the Times

On Jan. 29 at St. Mary Cathedral in Austin, Tex., representatives of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and four Protestant denominations in the Reformed tradition signed an agreement that recognizes the validity of one another’s baptisms. • The New Jersey Death with Dignity Act, a b

“My strengths…are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.”

HHS is unwilling to accommodate for-profit corporations in the same way as religious institutions.

“The road will be long and difficult because of resistance, conflicts and tensions.”

The Rev. Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, a 65-year-old Catholic priest and human rights activist, and the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do of Vietnam have been nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. Father Ly has been a prominent human rights defender since the 1970s, campaigning for religious freedom,

Caritas Internationalis, the church’s global charitable agency, is launching an appeal to help communities in the Central African Republic that are still reeling from attacks on towns and communities by rebels. The rebel forces started to advance in northeastern C.A.R. in December 2012. A ceas

A Romanian appeals court ordered the demolition of a recently completed 18-story office building in Bucharest, built in defiance of various stop-work orders, because of the threat it would pose to its neighbor, the Cathedral of St. Joseph, in the event of an earthquake. • Msgr. Kevin Wallin, 61

“The people are dissatisfied with the Islamist regime,” one priest said.

For more than 20 years, efforts to pass a far-reaching immigration reform have fallen apart.

The measures were taken because of the past diocesan failures to protect children from abuse.