News Briefs

Commenting on the deaths of 13 young mothers at government-run sterilization camps in India’s central Chhattisgarh State on Nov. 12, Archbishop Prakash Mallavarapu said the guilty should be punished, but “the systemic faults behind this tragedy must be exposed and corrected.” • Drawing on the teachings of Pope Francis, the theme of the 2015 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering on Feb. 7 to 10 in Washington, D.C., will be “To Go Forth: Encountering Christ in the Heart of the World.” • Work is set to begin on Nov. 17 for the addition of three showers, commissioned by Pope Francis, for use by homeless people in an existing lavatory block for tourists in the area under St. Peter’s colonnades. • Catholic and Muslim leaders and scholars, concluding a forum at the Vatican on Nov. 13, urged dialogue to promote greater respect and understanding and condemned all acts of violence committed in the name of religion. • Archbishop Santiago Garcia Aracil of Mérida-Badajoz, Spain, has rejected as “libelous” claims in a letter from 50 unnamed clergy to the papal nuncio, accusing him of living an “excessive, ostentatious, scandalous and undesirable” lifestyle.