News Briefs

The television news analyst Thomas D. Williams, L.C., was removed from public ministry on May 15 by the Legionaries of Christ after admitting he had a relationship with a woman “a number of years ago” and fathered her child. • Members of the Shalom community came to the Vatican on May 16 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their founding and the final approval of their statutes by the Vatican. • On May 14 the former British prime minister, Tony Blair, said the world would be heading for “tragedy and disaster”without faith. • Sued by the Vatican after an ad campaign that used a photograph doctored to show Pope Benedict XVI kissing a Muslim leader, the Italian fashion house Benetton reached an out-of-court settlement on May 15 that requires it to make an unspecified donation to a Catholic charity. • The world’s oldest Catholic bishop, Bishop Antoine Nguyen Van Thien of Vietnam, died on May 13 in France two months after his 106th birthday. • Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior of the Society of St. Pius X, acknowledged on May 11 that there might be a split in the breakaway society if it decides to reconcile with the Vatican.