News/International

WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. - The Dalai Lama was named March 29 as the winner of the 2012 Templeton Prize.

A statement from the John Templeton Foundation, which selects the winner, said his “long-standing engagement with multiple dimensions of science and with people far beyond his own religious traditions has made him an incomparable global voice for universal ethics.”

The prize, which includes an award of about $1.7 million — the monetary award must always be larger than those offered in the Nobel Prizes — will be presented to the Dalai Lama in London May 14.

VATICAN CITY - Rebels fighting to establish a separate state in northern Mali destroyed a Caritas office and a local church in Gao, one of the cities they captured in late March and early April, according to Caritas Internationalis.

"Caritas staff fled Gao on Saturday. We learned from our guard today that the center and the church compound have been destroyed," the priest who directs Caritas Gao told the organization's Vatican-based central office April 2.

"We have received calls from the small Catholic community left in Gao. They are now in hiding, fearing for their lives," said the priest, identified only as Father Jean-Jacques. He said there are about 200 Catholics living in Gao, a city with a population of more than 85,000 people. The vast majority are Muslims.

MANCHESTER, England - A Catholic nurse in central England has won a battle over her right to conscientiously object to involvement in abortions.

The nurse, who asked not to be named because of fear of reprisal from her hospital employer, convinced National Health Service managers that her right to conscientious objection was protected by law.

Without anyone going to court, the managers dropped their threat to dismiss the nurse because of her refusal to work in an abortion clinic attached to the hospital in the British Midlands, she told Catholic News Service April 2.

MEXICO CITY - The Mexican Senate narrowly approved a constitutional provision providing "freedom of religion," days after Pope Benedict XVI completed a visit to the country marked by an outpouring of enthusiasm and affection.

The Senate approved changes to Article 24 of the Mexican Constitution March 29, guaranteeing freedom of religion and making it possible to lift restrictions on religious groups to hold services outside of authorized churches without first seeking government permission. Earlier in the day, the Senate approved changes to Article 40 of the constitution by including the word "secular" as one of the descriptions of the Mexican state.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI has donated $100,000 to help the people of Syria.

The Pontifical Council Cor Unum, the Vatican's charity promotion and coordinating office, announced March 31 that the Pope made the donation to fund "the charitable work of the local church in Syria supporting the population" that has been hit by the ongoing violence in the country.

The council's secretary, Msgr. Giampietro Dal Toso, was to personally deliver the aid March 31 and meet with Melkite Patriarch Gregoire III Laham of Damascus, Syria, as well as other local church leaders.

HAVANA - Preparing to leave Cuba at the end of a three-day pastoral visit, Pope Benedict XVI made his first reference to the U.S. embargo of the island and the embargo's impact on the country's poor.

All Cubans need to work together to build a renewed and reconciled society, but progress is difficult given a "lack of material resources, a situation which is worsened when restrictive economic measures, imposed from outside the country, unfairly burden its people," the Pope said March 28 during his official farewell ceremony. He did not mention the United States by name.

HAVANA - Pope Benedict XVI met former Cuban President Fidel Castro in the apostolic nunciature in Havana March 28 and answered the ailing former leader's questions, the Vatican spokesman said.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said he was watching the two men through a window, and afterward he spoke with the Pope about the conversation, which seemed very animated.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vietnamese government revoked the visas of representatives of the Rome Diocese, including Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, postponing the delegation's plans for a visit to the communist country.

The delegation had planned to visit Vietnam March 23-April 9 to hear the testimonies of people who knew the late Cardinal Francois Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, whose cause for sainthood was launched by the Diocese of Rome in 2010.

Passionist Father Ciro Benedettini, vice director of the Vatican press office, told Catholic News Service March 28 that the Vatican was not directly involved with the planned trip.

HAVANA - Pope Benedict XVI spent more than 40 minutes meeting privately with Cuban President Raul Castro and asked the Cuban leader for further freedoms for the Catholic Church in Cuba and attention to certain "humanitarian" situations.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, told reporters late March 27 that while he could not give the press details about the humanitarian cases raised during the meeting, the Pope did give Castro specific names of people in detention or suffering for other reasons the government was in a position to help alleviate.

WASHINGTON - Just in time for Mother's Day, U.S. Catholics parishes will be able to celebrate the new Rite for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb.

The Vatican has given its approval to publication in English and Spanish of the new rite, which was approved by the U.S. bishops in November 2008, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced March 26.

The blessing will be printed in both languages in a combined booklet.