Fifty years after a Catholic lay group protested for the rights of Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles, the people who participated then reflect today on how far the Church still needs to go in pastoral outreach to the poor and disadvantaged.

The agreement signed on January 13 by the political leaders of South Sudan could bolster the chances of a papal visit to that conflict-ridden country.

The Catholic Church in the Central African Republic are calling upon all political leaders to work toward more open democracy and government.

The ruling comes in a case filed by Dr. Roger Kligler, a retired physician from Cape Cod who has advanced prostate cancer, and Dr. Alan Steinbach, who treats terminally ill patients.

The bishops said they welcomed the minister's willingness to revise and enrich the content of the program, on the condition that "this will not be done to the detriment of the notions of religious culture."

Our prayers are with our country, all the members of the U.S. Senate and the president as this trial begins.