News Briefs

A parish twinning-style relationship between St. Lawrence Parish in Tampa, Fla., and a small Catholic community in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province has resulted in official permission for the construction of the first new Catholic church to be erected in Cuba in nearly six decades. • In a lecture on Nov. 6 in Manchester, England, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, Nigeria, said his government could defeat Boko Haram Islamist militants if it could muster the same political will it found to fight Ebola. • Pope Francis said on Nov. 5 that the church’s marriage annulment process should be shorter, less burdensome and perhaps even free of charge. • Gerard W. Hughes, a British Jesuit writer on spirituality who entered the Society of Jesus in 1942 and believed that God “really is in all peoples and in all things, a loving and compassionate presence,” passed away on Nov. 4. • The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled on Nov. 6 to uphold the rights of states to decide that marriage may be restricted only to heterosexual couples after four other federal courts had said such bans were unconstitutional. • The Vatican announced on Nov. 8 that U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, 66, formerly prefect of the Apostolic Signature, will now serve as cardinal patron of the Knights and Dames of Malta.