NEWS

VIENNA - A new UN AIDS study has lent credibility to faith leaders who have long argued that behavioural change was a key to combating the spread of the illness, says a Catholic expert on the disease.

"Within the United Nations, there is more and more attention to focusing on abstinence and the reduction of the number of sexual partners as well as the strategy of promoting condoms," U.S. Msgr. Robert Vitillo, special adviser to Caritas Internationalis on HIV and AIDS, told Catholic News Service. "This is a validation of what we've done."

TORONTO - Making the long form of the 2011 census voluntary has got Catholic schools, social service agencies and Toronto archdiocesan administrators worried.

Religious affiliation, language spoken at home, immigration status, marital status and a great deal more is recorded on the long form of the Statistics Canada census, which in the past was sent out to 20 per cent of the population and had to be filled out or the recipient was penalized. Religious affiliation is one of a few categories recorded only every other census, once every 10 years.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has revised its procedures for handling priestly sex abuse cases, streamlining disciplinary measures, extending the statute of limitations and defining child pornography as an act of sexual abuse of a minor.

Vatican officials said the changes allow the Church to deal with such abuse more rapidly and effectively, often through dismissal of the offending cleric from the priesthood.

TORONTO - For nearly 30 years, Romeo Meleca has shared Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross each time he has made his yearly 240-km trek to the Holy Cross of Teopoli in Gravenhurst, Ont.

“I’m always thinking, when I have pain, I think of God, (of) Jesus dying, nailed on the cross. I want to do more and more for Him,” Meleca said, sporting his trademark red banner, a pilgrimage shirt and hat. During the walk, he also carries a wooden cross adorned with a red banner.

OTTAWA - History has yet to determine the legacy Cardinal Marc Ouellet has left Quebec, say those who know him.

But his longtime friends reveal a much different picture than the mainstream media’s depiction of a man ambitious for the papacy, a hardliner out of touch with Quebec and a harsh “ayatollah” who will be remembered for opposing abortion.

From its origins in the basement of a church in Springhill, N.S., to receiving the top rating among Canadian international aid organizations from MoneySense financial magazine, Catholic charity Chalice has come a long way in sharing Christ with those in need.

The Charity 100, a study released online through MoneySense in June, was designed to provide Canadians with an accurate picture of the top 100 charities in the country. Grouping organizations by category, such as health services, hospital foundations or environment, the study ranked each charity under a variety of criteria.

TORONTO - The new Roman Missal is coming to an iPhone near you.

The new iPhone application is called the “The New Mass: The New Translation” and was released on July 7. The application allows cellphone users who have an iPhone or iPod device to download the missal for 99-cents and then read it on their screen.

TORONTO - The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace has formally apologized to Campaign Life Coalition for "inaccurate" statements in a memo that called the pro-life lobby part of "the far right fringe element of North American society," linked Campaign Life with violent activists and accused it of misrepresenting facts and distorting reality to serve their ends.

Development and Peace formally retracted the statements in the memo and apologized in a June 30 letter to Campaign Life national president Jim Hughes.

HAVANA  - Following a July 7 meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro, Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino of Havana said the release of 52 political prisoners is under way and will continue over the next four months.

An announcement on the cardinal's web site said the process leading to the release began with a May 19 meeting with Castro by Ortega and Archbishop Dionisio Garcia Ibanez, president of the Cuban bishops' conference.

Spanish diplomatic sources July 8 said Spain's foreign minister has agreed to take in the 52 prisoners set for release.

Of the 74 people named to the Order of Canada on Canada Day, only one of them has spent a lifetime explaining to the world how to be human.

Sr. Simone Roach was named to Canada's highest honour for contributions to nursing, particularly her role in helping to write the first code of ethics for nursing in Canada. But that's just one small outgrowth from decades of scholarly dedication to the subject of caring.