News Briefs

On Oct. 30 Miami’s Archbishop John C. Favalora barred the Legionaries of Christ from exercising any ministry in the archdiocese • Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit descended 1,200 feet into the salt of the earth to bless a newly made statue and shrine to St. Barbara, the patroness of miners, at the site of Michigan’s lone rock-salt mine. • Representative Patrick Kennedy, Democrat of Rhode Island, has accepted an invitation from Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence to engage in a discussion about the issue of health care reform. • A new Vatican exhibit marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit who spent 28 years in missionary work in China, opened Oct. 30. • Welcoming Iran’s new ambassador to the Vatican on Oct. 29, Pope Benedict XVI praised the “deep religious sensibility” of the Iranian people and called on Iran to strengthen guarantees of religious freedom for the country’s tiny and ancient Catholic community. • Authorities were awaiting results of an autopsy on Nov. 3 to determine the exact cause of death of Marguerite Bartz of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, who was found dead in her Navajo, N.M., convent two days earlier.