The insert urged readers to press Senate leaders to support efforts to “incorporate long-standing policies against abortion funding and in favor of conscience rights” in health reform legislation.

The U.S. bishops' office is working behind the scenes to improve the health care bills to put them in line with their vision of health care.

Catholic leaders say a proposal requiring Baltimore pregnancy centers to post a disclaimer telling clients they do not provide abortion services is harassment.

“The most tragic thing I have seen is the miles-long wall that separates Jerusalem from Bethlehem, said Cardinal John P. Foley. "It is humiliating and distressing.”

In a lecture Bishop Donald W. Trautman of Erie, Pa., sharply criticized what he called the “slavishly literal” translation into English of the new Roman Missal.

Archbishop Burke, 61, will help shape the episcopate not only in the United States but also around the world.