News Briefs

Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone of Charleston, S.C., asked for prayers on Oct. 6 for the families of those killed or left homeless by what officials called a 1,000-year storm which deluged the state. • Church leaders in Lahore, Pakistan, on Oct. 10 demonstrated for the withdrawal of legislation that denies voting rights to women, religious minorities and workers in local elections. • The Mexican bishops’ conference and the Vatican confirmed on Oct. 6 that Pope Francis will visit Mexico in 2016, marking his first trip to a heavily Catholic country still struggling with crime and corruption. • In an Oct. 7 statement Rwanda’s National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide criticized a French court’s dismissal of genocide charges against Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a Catholic priest who fled to France after the 1994 mass killing of Rwanda’s Tutsis. • Congo’s Catholic bishops criticized on Sept. 25 the failure of Western governments to stop the abuse of Africa’s natural resources and urged church groups to follow the pope’s call to mobilize for justice. • Trinity Health, a Michigan-based Catholic health care system, will seek dismissal of an A.C.L.U. lawsuit that contends the network violates federal law by denying the full range of emergency care, including pregnancy termination when necessary.