News Briefs

Haiti’s Catholic bishops urged a negotiated solution to the country’s political crisis as President Michel Martelly’s term ended on Feb. 7 and elections to find a successor were indefinitely delayed. • Applicants have until May 14 to vie for a $22,000 prize in a pontifical contest for young artists whose work promotes “Christian humanism.” • The Rev. Patrick Daly, general secretary of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conference of the European Community, said on Feb. 4 that the European Parliament’s decision to classify religious cleansing by ISIS as genocide represented progress in efforts to stop the persecution of Christians and other minorities in Syria and Iraq. • Pope Francis on Feb. 6 greeted members of “Padre Pio” Prayer Groups in Rome to venerate the relics of the saint, which had been moved to St. Peter’s Basilica for the Jubilee Year of Mercy. • Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky signed new legislation into law on Feb. 2 that clarified procedures related to face-to-face, informed consent before abortions in his state. • A Catholic bioethics institute on Feb. 1 accused the British government of encouraging the creation of genetically modified babies after scientists were given permission to alter the DNA of embryos in experimentation.