A critical factor will be the doctors' evaluation concerning the woman's mental state and whether or not she was "of sound mind."

Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, the chair of the committee, called for the development of "specific criteria" for troop withdrawal.

"We shall discover the meaning of Christmas in a quiet way and hope for the return of harmony and peace,” said Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore.

“I think he’s making a tragic and horrible mistake,” said David Robinson, head of Pax Christi USA.

The Senate bill "should not move forward in its current form," the heads of three committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said on Dec. 19.

"The U.S. is not becoming less Catholic because the Roman Catholic Church is becoming more Hispanic," said Allan Figueroa Deck, S.J., at a Fordham University forum on "Being Latino."