Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino of Caracas told Venezuelan television on Feb. 20 that the church is willing to help establish peace, but reminded the government of its duty to rein in armed groups that are violently disrupting peaceful demonstrations. • Noting the proposed death penalty for the 20-

Security and police forces seemed to melt away from the embattled Independence Square in Kiev and throughout the city, as it awoke on Feb. 21, the day after opposition and government forces signed an agreement that effectively ended turmoil in Kiev’s streets. In a rapid and remarkable series o

Rose Pacatte, of the Daughters of St. Paul, will receive the Daniel J. Kane Religious Communications Award, given by the Institute for Pastoral Initiatives at the University of Dayton, on March 6. • A World Health Organization declaration that India was “polio-free” on Feb. 11 was c

The Vatican’s representative at the United Nations told a congressional panel on Feb. 11 that “flagrant and widespread persecution of Christians rages in the Middle East even as we meet.” Archbishop Francis A. Chullikatt has witnessed the violence firsthand. Before taking his post

A bishop in northwestern Kenya said people are so hungry they are eating wild fruit, roots of trees and dog meat. “Food must reach here soonest to save the people from death,” said Bishop Dominic Kimengich of Lodwar, where most residents are animal farmers and ethnic Turkana. The area ha

As some African nations continue or contemplate a legislative clampdown on gay and lesbian people, The Southern Cross, South Africa’s Catholic weekly, urged Catholic Church leaders to do more to confront societal homophobia and laws that it might inspire. In an unsigned editorial published on