News/International

{mosimage}VATICAN CITY - As children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus, Christians must learn how to listen to what God is saying to them today in the Scriptures, said Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec.

The cardinal, recording secretary of the Oct. 5-26 world Synod of Bishops on “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church,” outlined the main themes for the synod’s debate during an Oct. 6 speech in Latin.

{mosimage}VATICAN CITY - At the beginning of the world Synod of Bishops on the Bible, Pope Benedict XVI explained why he thinks such meetings are important.

He did it in typical Benedict style — reviewing a bit of church history and explaining the roots of the Greek word "synodos" to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square.

{mosimage}WASHINGTON - To those entrusted with husbanding the financial portfolios of Catholic foundations and institutions, the Sept. 29 rejection by the U.S. House of a $700-billion package to shore up the nation’s financial systems posed new concerns about the economy and those charged with overseeing it.

“The government is saying, ‘Trust us,’ ” said Frank Rauscher, the senior principal at Aquinas Associates in Dallas, but “there’s no fundamental basis as to why anybody should.”

{mosimage}JERUSALEM - The Vatican invitation to participate in the upcoming world Synod of Bishops on the Bible is a “signal of hope,” said Israeli Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen, who will lead a one-day discussion on the Jewish interpretation of the Scriptures.

Cohen, co-chairman of the Israeli-Vatican dialogue commission and chief rabbi of Haifa, is the first non-Christian ever invited to address the world Synod of Bishops. He will speak the second day of the Oct. 5-26 synod at the Vatican.

{mosimage}OTTAWA - Cardinal Francis George had never studied French before attending Saint Paul University as an Oblate scholastic 40 years ago, but he found the language necessary “if you wanted to eat,” he joked at a banquet Sept. 19 at the bilingual university.

{mosimage}LOURDES, France - Being Pope is not a one-dimensional job, a fact that was clearly evident during Pope Benedict XVI’s four-day visit to France.

Arriving in Paris Sept. 12, the Pope first engaged in an important political encounter that attempted to build on the new openness shown the church by President Nicolas Sarkozy.

{mosimage}LONDON - The Vatican has authorized "severe cautionary and disciplinary measures" against a priest who served as spiritual director to the visionaries in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has written to Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno, whose diocese covers Medjugorje, to inform him that they are investigating the case of Franciscan Father Tomislav Vlasic.

{mosimage}WASHINGTON - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, selected by John McCain Aug. 28 as his vice-presidential running mate, won the praise of Catholic leaders earlier this year for embracing the arrival of her fifth child, born with Down syndrome in April.

The Republican governor, who says she was baptized Catholic but has always attended nondenominational Christian churches, knew from early testing that her son Trig “would face special challenges,” according to a family statement, but she and her husband Todd felt “privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives.”

{mosimage}NEW DELHI - Catholic education institutions across India were to close Aug. 29 to protest the continuing violence against Christians that has left at least 10 people dead in India’s eastern Orissa state.

The church also will observe Sept. 7 as a day of prayer and fasting for Christians in Orissa, said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India at a press conference in New Delhi Aug. 26. The Asian church news agency UCA News reported on the press conference.

{mosimage}WASHINGTON - Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, announced Aug. 23 as Barack Obama's choice as his running mate for the White House, puts on the Democratic ticket a Catholic who supports legal abortion but on other issues has been an ally for the church 's public policy interests.

Biden, 65, has come in for his share of conflicts with some in the church over his legislative support for keeping abortion legal. The National Right to Life Committee gives him a rating of 0 for his positions on select issues, including federal abortion funding and stem cell research as well as some relating to lobbying by groups like the National Right to Life Committee.