News Briefs

After nearly 27 years on the job, Greg Erlandson stepped down as publisher at Our Sunday Visitor Inc., on Jan. 31. • The Fiat 500L that Pope Francis used to tour Philadelphia was auctioned off for $82,000 at a black-tie event kicking off the Philadelphia Auto Show on Jan. 29 with proceeds going to assist local Catholic charities, especially special education programs. • ”All of us who have any power, whether it is ecclesiastical, religious, economic or political power,” Pope Francis said at his chapel Mass on Jan. 29, have a risk of becoming corrupt “because the devil makes us feel certain ‘I can do it myself.’” • The Chicago-based Thomas More Society, a nonprofit public interest law firm known for supporting pro-life causes, will defend the Center for Medical Progress in a federal racketeering lawsuit filed on Jan. 14 by Planned Parenthood. • The Rev. Patrick Behm of Le Mars, Iowa, became a surprise Internet sensation after he celebrated Mass on a snow altar on Jan. 23, after he and scores of others returning home from the March for Life were snowbound on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.