News Briefs

The mining industry, especially in the world’s poorest countries, must make a “radical change” to respect the rights of local communities and protect the environment, Pope Francis said on July 17. • Bishops across Mexico expressed incredulity after the escape of the drug kingpin Joaquín Guzmán, known as El Chapo, on July 11—many charging the escape demonstrated the complicity of public officials with drug cartels and the depth of corruption in the country. • As West Africa’s Ebola crisis subsides, the Vatican’s nuncio to the United Nations, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, called on world leaders on July 10 to make “action-oriented commitments” toward “getting to zero and staying at zero” on future Ebola outbreaks. • On July 12, Tony Boutros, a Melkite priest—taken with his Muslim driver—became the eighth cleric abducted in recent weeks as violence worsens in Syria and Iraq. • An outpouring of sympathy and prayer washed over Tennessee after two shooting incidents on July 16 that left five Marines and the shooter dead. • A U.S. court of appeals found on July 14 that the Little Sisters of the Poor and other religious entities are not substantially burdened by procedures established by the federal government that allow them to escape a requirement to provide contraceptive coverage in health insurance.