Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns, known as the “cardinal of the people” and one of the most active voices against Brazil’s military dictatorship, died in São Paulo on Dec. 14. • Pope Francis celebrated his 80th birthday on Dec. 17 by having breakfast with eight homeless people from different countries at Santa Marta, the Vatican guesthouse where he lives. • Britain’s fertility regulator approved controversial techniques on Dec. 15 allowing doctors to create babies using DNA from three people—what it called a “historic” decision to help prevent a small number of children from inheriting potentially fatal diseases from their mothers. • Germany’s churches denounced their country’s growing arms sales to the Gulf states on Dec. 12—arms exports had risen 96 percent in 2015—and demanded tighter export controls on weapons manufacturers. • Egypt’s Coptic community held a funeral service on Dec. 12 for 25 Christians killed in a bombing the previous day at a church next to the main cathedral in Cairo—one of the deadliest attacks in recent memory on the country’s religious minority.

This article appears in January 2 2017.