NEWS

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A team of researchers has been studying the skeletal remains of martyrs kept in reliquaries at a Louisville Catholic church, and so far the results seem to confirm information about the two saints passed down over the centuries.

Since 1902, the bones of two martyrs -- St. Magnus, a Roman centurion, and St. Bonosa, a young Roman virgin -- have flanked the altar at St. Martin of Tours Church. There the pair, who are believed to have been martyred in the third or fourth century in Rome, have attracted the curious and the faithful alike.

PHILADELPHIA - With the same expression of serenity that he had shown for 13 weeks, Msgr. William J. Lynn listened to the criminal jury foreman speak the verdict of guilty on one charge of endangering the welfare of a child June 22 in a Philadelphia courtroom.

Msgr. Lynn becomes the first high-ranking Catholic clergyman in the United States to be convicted of a crime associated with the handling of priests accused of child sexual abuse, though he himself faced no charge of abuse.

According to guidelines mentioned by Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, Msgr. Lynn faces a sentence of six months to seven years for his conviction.

TORONTO - More low-income people are using parts of the health care system that are under the most stress, including the emergency departments and mental health services, a recent study from Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital has found.

“Mental health is very common in our society and we have very little outpatient care and very little community care relative to what’s actually needed for the population,” said Dr. Rick Glazier, one of the lead authors of the study. 

VATICAN CITY - The establishment of a new post of senior communications adviser is a step in the right direction to help the Vatican deal with the challenges of a sound-bite culture, said the American journalist appointed to the job.

Greg Burke, 52, was named to the newly created position in the Vatican's Secretariat of State and will start in July. The announcement was made on Vatican Radio June 24.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court, in a mixed opinion with several dissents, affirmed the section of an Arizona immigration law that requires state law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of detainees who they suspect are in the country illegally.

But the court threw out other parts of the law, called S.B. 1070, as an infringement on the powers of the federal government.

The decision in Arizona v. United States was announced June 25, but the court delayed its rulings on four lawsuits related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act until June 28, the final day of its 2011-12 court term.

CAIRO - Christians expressed caution about the election of Islamist Mohammed Morsi as Egypt's new president, saying they hope he will follow through on his pledge "to be a president for all Egyptians."

"We have to accept Morsi and now we will see what he will do," said Michel Agram, 45-year-old worshipper at the Melkite Catholic Church in Cairo's Heliopolis district June 24.

"Not all Egypt wants Morsi. You can see that from the results," Agram said of the narrow 882,000-vote margin of victory over Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under ousted President Hosni Mubarak. "I would hope he (Morsi) knows this and will act accordingly."

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI asked some of his closest advisers for guidance on how to restore trust and confidence in the Catholic church's leadership amid a scandal over leaks of confidential Vatican papers.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the Pope called two extraordinary meetings June 23 to "deepen his reflections" over the leaks and its consequences.

Paolo Gabriele, the Pope's personal butler, was arrested May 23 after confidential letters and documents addressed to the Pope and others within the Vatican administration were allegedly found in his Vatican apartment. Many of the documents were published in Italian media over the past several months and in a recently released best-selling book by an Italian journalist.

PHILADELPHIA - The jury reached a partial verdict June 22 in the clergy sex abuse trial.

Msgr. William Lynn, former archdiocesan secretary for clergy, was found guilty on one count of child endangerment and acquitted on two other charges, including conspiracy.

The jury was deadlocked on charges against Father James J. Brennan, charged with attempted rape and child endangerment for alleged abuse of a 14-year-old boy in 1996.

INDIANAPOLIS - Noting that the church in Philadelphia is "now my family, an intimate part of my life" a year after being appointed to lead the church there, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said that the clergy sexual abuse scandal "has caused terrible suffering for victims, demoralized many of our clergy, crippled the witness of the church and humiliated the whole Catholic community" in that region.

He made this assessment June 20, hours after a Philadelphia jury told Judge Teresa Sarmina that they could not agree on four of five charges in a clergy sexual abuse trial. Judge Sarmina instructed the jury, which has been in deliberations for 12 days, to continue to seek a verdict in the case against Father James J. Brennan and Msgr. William Lynn.

Sisters, brothers and religious priests across Canada are praying for the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, but they’re not talking about the organization that represents about 80 per cent of U.S. nuns.

“The LCWR has asked us not to comment at this point,” said Canadian Religious Conference spokesperson Louise Stafford. A number of religious communities across Canada contacted by The Catholic Register  also either declined comment or did not return calls.