"My strengths...are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.”

The Rev. Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, a 65-year-old Catholic priest and human rights activist, and the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do of Vietnam have been nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. Father Ly has been a prominent human rights defender since the 1970s, campaigning for religious freedom,

A Romanian appeals court ordered the demolition of a recently completed 18-story office building in Bucharest, built in defiance of various stop-work orders, because of the threat it would pose to its neighbor, the Cathedral of St. Joseph, in the event of an earthquake. • Msgr. Kevin Wallin, 61

The measures were taken because of the past diocesan failures to protect children from abuse.

"The people are dissatisfied with the Islamist regime," one priest said.

The U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development has endorsed a national campaign to end the practice of sentencing people under the age of 18 to life in prison without possibility of parole. “While there is no question that violent and dangerous youth need to be con