Francesco Zanardi arrived at the Vatican on Oct. 10 after walking almost 350 miles to deliver a letter to Pope Benedict XVI asking him to meet Italian victims of clerical abuse.

The statement does include a new introduction warning that the document “has at times been misused to present an incomplete or distorted view of the demands of faith in politics.”

Eighteen Catholic colleges asked the Obama administration to broaden the religious exemption offered within new guidelines on women’s health.

France’s Catholic bishops have urged citizens to accept the fact that their country is no longer culturally homogeneous.

Commenting on elections planned for Nov. 28, the Coptic bishop of Luxor said that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood were among the most organized political groups.

Archbishop José H. Gómez applauded the recent government announcement that prosecutorial discretion would be exercised on “low-priority” deportation cases.