News Briefs

Carl A. Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, called a federal appeals court’s March 11 ruling, which upheld the constitutionality of the phrase “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, a “breath of fresh air from a court system that has too often seemed to be almost allergic to public references to God.” • The Archdiocese of Chicago is seeking the canonization of the Rev. Augustine Tolton, the first U.S. priest of African descent. • Grand Sheik Mohammed Sayyid Tantawi, one of Sunni Islam’s leading clerics and a supporter of Catholic-Muslim dialogue, died of a heart attack March 10 at the age of 81. • In an address on March 12 to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi called upon the nations of the world to respect the right of all people to practice religion freely and urged world leaders to punish those who persecute religious minorities. • Cardinal Seán Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, insisted on March 14 that he would not resign after it was revealed that he failed to report allegations of child abuse by a priest to the police in 1975. • Rio de Janeiro’s statue of Christ with outstretched arms is undergoing a $4.35-million refurbishment to repair damage caused over the years by the elements.