Security has been tightened around churches and Christian towns in Iraq following a series of attacks in recent weeks that have targeted Christians, according to The Washington Post. • Church officials in Zimbabwe said that the church there “is well-positioned to reach people and bring them into the process” of drafting the new constitution. As part of a power-sharing agreement, Zimbabwe is to draft a constitution that will go before voters for approval in 2010. • Catholic bishops in western Mexico called for three days of prayer for the end to a wave of revenge-driven, drug-cartel violence that has engulfed the State of Michoacan. • Eddie Panlilio (right), a Catholic priest who serves as governor of the Philippine province of Pampanga, has written the bishop requesting a dispensation from his priestly responsibilities so that he may run for president in 2010.