News Briefs

If King Juan Carlos of Spain signs a new law easing abortion restrictions, as he is constitutionally required to do, the general secretary of the Spanish bishops’ conference said on Feb. 25 that no action would be taken against him. • Mass media attacks on religion must be opposed, considering “the dangerous effect” they have on social cohesion and interreligious peace, said a statement released on March 2 after the annual meeting of officials from the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. • A great champion of the Catholic laity and the first woman to hold a position of authority at the Vatican, Rosemary Goldie, died Feb. 27 in New South Wales, Australia. She was 94. • On Feb. 21 the Rev. Evaristo Sada, secretary general of the Congregation of the Legion of Christ, apologized to anyone whom the order’s founder, Marcial Maciel (1920-2008), “harmed with the immoral acts of his private life.” • Organizers of the Atheist Bus Campaign in New Zealand are considering legal action after their ads—“There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”—were rejected by the national bus company. • In an open letter to President Obama and the Japanese government on Feb. 26, bishops from Hiroshima and Nagasaki called on world leaders to work toward the total abolition of nuclear weapons.