MANILA, Philippines – Church leaders condemned bomb explosions that killed at least 20 people and injured about 100 others inside a Catholic church in the southern Philippines Jan. 27. They called the attack a "heinous and evil" act of terrorism.

MANILA, Philippines – The new president-elect of Philippine bishops' conference is an archbishop from the troubled southern region currently dealing with Islamic insurgeny.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Catholic bishops appealed for a "return to normalcy and peace ... as soon as possible," as violence continues in the southern part of the country.

COTABATO, Philippines – Cardinal Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato has condemned "in the strongest terms possible" the reported desecration of a Catholic chapel by terrorist gunmen in the southern Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines – Martyrdom is "not a remote possibility" for Catholics in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao where a priest and several church staff members were abducted by gunmen last month, a Jesuit priest said.

MANILA, Philippines – The Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines called for an end to martial law in Mindanao, saying that it is "not the proper response to terrorist attacks in just one city on a vast island."

MANILA, Philippines – Catholic bishops in the southern Philippines supported the declaration of martial law in Mindanao following an attempt by a band of gunmen claiming to be Islamic militants to seize a city in the region.

MANILA, Philippines - A Philippine cardinal has pooled a team of peace advocates to help push legislation that would see the creation of an autonomous region in the Muslim-majority section of Mindanao Island.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As thousands of Philippine families remained in shelters, Catholic Relief Services and Caritas Philippines prepared to speed household supplies and water to eastern sections of Mindanao affected by powerful Typhoon Bopha.