NEWS

VATICAN CITY - Executing someone guilty of a crime "is not the way to restore justice and reconcile society," the Vatican spokesman said after Saddam Hussein was hanged Dec. 30.

OTTAWA - The president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has written Prime Minister Stephen Harper, raising a number of concerns in the wake of a failed motion to restore the traditional definition of marriage.

ROME - Unless the Catholic Church can show the world concrete models of male-female co-operation in positions of responsibility and decision-making, the church will continue to struggle against charges that it is chauvinistic, said Mary Ann Glendon.

TORONTO - Muslim cleric and scholar Shabir Ally's message to high school students with questions about terrorism is that theology matters.

Ally took about 200 high school students from across the Greater Toronto Area through a quick tour of the history of Muslim thought about war and peace. The students were at the University of St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, for the annual Brebeuf Social Justice Symposium on Dec. 15. Students from half a dozen Catholic schools converged downtown to question a variety of speakers gathered to address the topic  "When faith meets terror."

TORONTO - Instead of reflecting on the tradition of a Hindu marriage ceremony, Grade 11 World Religion students at Bishop Allen Academy in Toronto reflect on the question: "Why do I have to take this course?"

TORONTO - The man who is about to become one of the most powerful churchmen in Canada has no interest in the trappings of power.

Archbishop Thomas Collins has been a success as a seminary professor and rector, as a bishop in northern Alberta and as a metropolitan archbishop in Edmonton. Church insiders are not surprised Collins was appointed to lead Toronto, Canada's largest and richest Catholic diocese by Pope Benedict XVI on Dec. 16.

TORONTO - With the appointment of a replacement, began last week to say his goodbyes to the flock he has led as archbishop for 16 years.

The cardinal said his last noon Mass at St. Michael's Cathedral as archbishop of Toronto Dec. 17, using the occasion to thank all those who had worked with him and for him. And on Dec. 19, he presided over a Christmas thanksgiving Mass with staff at the Catholic Pastoral Centre.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican could approve the new English translation of the main Mass prayers as early as mid-2007 if the work of its advisory committee proceeds as planned, the committee said.

BEIJING, China - She sat at the hospital bed, her baby face brightening as visitors came to hold her hand, tell her stories and shower her with gifts of s'mores, pizza and, most of all, roses.

BEIJING, China - They came clutching their shopping bags, curious newcomers who pushed and shoved their way to get a closer view. As regular worshippers celebrated in silence, the visitors chatted and filed in and out of the overflowing cathedral throughout the service.