News/International

PHILADELPHIA - The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced the fate of six priests placed on administrative leave after the February 2011 Philadelphia grand jury report.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput decided on the cases after "a rigorous investigative process involving over 20 experts in child abuse," a statement from the archdiocese said July 6.

MOUNT DIWATA, Philippines - Daylien Elejorde suspects that mining for gold in the mountains of northern Mindanao is not going to result in a windfall of precious metal.

The small mine she operates with her husband keeps the family fed and a roof over their heads, but not much more. Yet, Elejorde faces losing even the little she has to foreign mining interests eyeing the land and the network of hundreds of hand-excavated tunnels she and her neighbors mine day in and day out.

JERUSALEM - The designation of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity as a UNESCO World Heritage site complicates relations between the three churches that oversee the holy site as well as relations between the Israeli and Palestinian communities, said a church official.

Archbishop Antonio Franco, papal nuncio to Israel and the Palestinian territories, said the Catholic Church believes the church which marks the site of Christ's birth is part of the church's "patrimony as holy places, not because they are on a UNESCO list."

VATICAN CITY - The discovery of a new sub-atomic particle -- the so-called Higgs boson -- may help scientists discover how the hidden structure of all matter in the universe works, a Vatican astronomer said.

"It indicates that reality is deeper and more rich and strange than our everyday life," U.S. Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno told Catholic News Service.

When people go about their everyday business working or relaxing, they don't think about the tiniest building blocks of physical matter, but "without these underlying little things, we wouldn't be here," he said.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed his trust in the Vatican's secretary of state and defended him against a barrage of "unjust criticism" in the Italian media.

In a letter addressed to "dear brother" Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, 77, the Pope expressed his "profound appreciation for your discreet presence and wise counsel, which I have found particularly helpful over recent months."

The Vatican has had to face a number of challenges recently, including leaks of confidential correspondence to the Pope and the Secretariat of State; the arrest of the Pope's personal assistant in connection to the leaks; and the ouster of the Vatican bank's president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, for neglecting his duties amid worsening management problems.

ARLINGTON, Va. - A Virginia woman who claims a priest sexually abused her while meeting with her to perform exorcisms has filed suit against the Arlington Diocese and the Virginia-based pro-life group he formerly headed for $5.3 million in damages.

The suit, filed June 19 in Arlington County Circuit Court on behalf of a woman identified only as Jane Doe, claims Father Thomas Euteneuer, former director of Human Life International, abused her between April 2008 and September 2010.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenya's Catholic bishops called upon the government to intensify its security efforts in the country's north after the July 1 attacks on two churches, including a Catholic cathedral, that left at least 17 people dead and more than 50 people injured.

The simultaneous attacks on Our Lady of Consolation Cathedral and the Protestant Africa Inland Church in the northern town of Garissa were the most recent in a series of incidents since Kenyan troops were sent into Somalia in October to crush al-Shabaab militants.

JERUSALEM - New text in an exhibit at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial offers a less-critical assessment of the actions of Pope Pius XII in dealing with the Nazi persecution of Jews during World War II.

While the new text still points to Pope Pius' prominent role in the church's negotiations with Nazi officials, it paints a more complex picture of the situation decades ago.

Still, the new text includes criticism of the Vatican for not opening its archives to allow historians to research the actions of the Holy See at the time, noting that until researchers have access to "all relevant" materials the topic will "remain open to further inquiry."

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI will present a papal document addressing the church's concerns in the Middle East, meet with representatives of local Christian and Muslim communities, and address political and cultural leaders on a three-day visit to Lebanon Sept. 14-16.

Pope Benedict's primary task on the trip will be to present a document, called an apostolic exhortation, based on the deliberations of a special synod of bishops held at the Vatican in 2009.

That two-week meeting, which was attended by 185 bishops, most of them from the 22 Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with the Holy See, focused on the precarious circumstances of 5.7 million Catholics in 16 Middle Eastern countries.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - UNESCO has placed sites in Bethlehem, West Bank — including the Church of the Nativity — on its list of World Heritage in Danger.

In a 13-6 vote with two abstentions, the World Heritage Committee added the sites to the danger list June 29 during a meeting in St. Petersburg.