On Feb. 22 Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India announced the release of Alexis Prem Kumar, S.J., in a comment on his Twitter feed. The Indian Jesuit had been seized in June 2014 in western Afghanistan after a visit to a Jesuit-supported school for the children of returning refugees he supervised a
In a letter on Feb. 19 to state legislators, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco wrote that he respects the legislators’ right “to employ or not employ whomever you wish to advance your mission” and expects the same courtesy after several had urged him to remove sexual
On Feb. 12, 2005, two hired gunmen killed Sister Dorothy Stang, 73, in a remote Brazilian settlement just off the Trans-Amazonian Highway. As a tireless advocate for the poor and landless in Brazil for more than three decades, the Ohio-born nun came into conflict with ruthless landowners. Three
Video of Pope Francis visiting with Latin American immigrants at a settlement camp near Rome on Feb. 8 became a global Internet phenomenon.• Congress should urge Israel to halt confiscation of Palestinian lands, a move that may “renew hope for a just resolution to the conflict,” Bis
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said he would seek assurances from religious congregations operating in his diocese that they are rigidly following child protection guidelines after a fresh round of audits raised serious concerns. In a statement on Feb. 10, Archbishop Martin said it was “