VATICAN CITY – The Vatican turned down a laicization request from a Paraguayan bishop who wants to run for president and suspended the bishop from exercising his priestly ministry. Bishop Fernando Lugo Mendez of San Pedro, Paraguay, 57, had announced Dec. 25 that he would ask the Vatican to return him to the status of...Read More

“Bishops Address Public Policy” (CR, Jan 25) is among a number of articles that distort the real issues. These articles tout “earned legalization,” the “death” of illegal aliens attempting to enter our country and sending the wrong signal to the international community. These one-sided articles distorted the total picture of illegal aliens. It failed to...Read More

TORONTO – The second person ever to serve as poet laureate for Toronto is also the first Catholic priest to hold the title. It’s an opportune pulpit for Father Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, 57, a priest-poet-philosopher who is now spreading ideas about how individuals, government officials and even business leaders can make cities and communities...Read More

Single people who plan to marry in the Catholic church are required to attend a marriage preparation program in some form, whether participating in an organized program through a parish or in another arrangement that their priest deems appropriate to cover “the five Cs” of marriage preparation: community, conflict resolution, commitment, children and church.Read More