News Briefs

On May 10 Pope Benedict XVI formalized the status of the 12th-century German mystic St. Hildegard of Bingen, “inscribing her in the catalog of saints.” • On May 9 Pat Gaffney, general secretary of Pax Christi, appealed to South Korea’s President Lee Myung-Bak to stop the destruction of Jeju Island, which is to be paved over for use as a naval base. • Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona signed legislation on May 4 that prohibits the use of tax dollars to contract with organizations that offer abortion as part of their services. • On May 7 in Michigan, a group of Catholic members of Legatus filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block a controversial Health and Human Services requirement that new insurance plans include contraceptive care. • Caribbean bishops on April 27 urged Suriname officials to uphold human rights laws after an amnesty was offered to people convicted in the massacre in 1982 of 15 people who had opposed Suriname’s military government. • On May 4 Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia reinstated three priests who had been suspended because of allegations of past misconduct or child sexual abuse and declared five others “unsuitable for ministry.”