News Briefs

More than two dozen undocumented students at Catholic colleges sent a letter on Feb. 5 to 79 members of Congress who graduated from Catholic schools, urging them not to cut off funding for the president’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. • Church leaders criticized the arrests of Christians who had gathered on Feb. 5 at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi to protest police inaction on recent attacks and desecrations at five Delhi churches. • House Speaker John Boehner, Republican of Ohio, announced on Feb. 5 that Pope Francis will address a joint meeting of Congress on Sept. 24, making him the “first leader of the Holy See” to do so. • Two bishops have joined some Philippine lawmakers in demanding the resignation of President Benigno Aquino III, after 44 troops were killed in a botched operation against Muslim rebels on Jan. 25. • There is nothing more scandalous than a nation made up of Christians engaged in conflict, Pope Francis said on Feb. 4, discussing the worsening conflict in Ukraine. • Meeting on Jan. 27 in Lebanon, Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs called for an end to financing terrorists and suggested that borders be closed when necessary to prevent the movement of terrorists.