Nation/World

The 2017 St. Francis de Sales Award, the highest honor given by CPA, was presented to Matt Schiller, advertising and business manager at Catholic New York, from the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada.

Jorge Quiroga, former president of Bolivia, stated the election of President Nicolas Maduro’s friends as a ‘constituent assembly’ “will install a Soviet state in Venezuela, liquidate democracy, end the Congress, cancel elections and turn Venezuela into a sort of Caribbean ‘North Korea.”

Bishops state the need for a federal health care system that has full Hyde protection as well as to improve real access for immigrants in the health care policy.

With Pope Francis’ visitation to South Sudan on hold, which was meant to be next on the list for his travel to red-flag the disastrous effects facing millions of South Sundanese people, how does this tragedy get on the world’s radar now?

Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, homilist at the opening Mass of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Fortnight for Freedom an annual observance highlighting the importance of religious liberty, cited the suffering of Christians and other religious minorities for religious freedom in 25 countries around the world today.

The chairmen of four U.S. Catholic bishops’ committees urged senators to live up to their “grave obligation” to make sure their health care reform bill respected life, provided access to adequate health care “for all” and was “truly affordable” with the unveiling of the Senate bill three weeks ago.

The eighth annual global rosary relay June 23 involves 125 shrines in 63 countries throughout the world and an expectation that 10 million people will be saying the rosary in support of priestly vocations and the sanctification of priests.

The 2017 Catholic Press Association’s Bishop John England Award for publishers was given to Thomas C. Fox, former publisher of National Catholic Reporter who had been on that beat for more than 30 years.