DUBLIN (CNS) — The primate of All Ireland has said he will not resign despite criticism of his role in a 1975 canonical inquiry into a pedophile priest, Norbertine Father Brendan Smyth.
In a statement issued in Armagh, Northern Ireland, May 2, Cardinal Sean Brady defended his involvement in the inquiry and accused the BBC documentary “The World: The Shame of the Catholic Church” of making a number of claims that overstated and misrepresented his role.
He also highlighted that no state or church guidelines existed in the 1970s in the Irish Republic to assist those responding to an allegation of abuse against a minor.

BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau (CNS) — The Catholic bishops of Guinea-Bissau repudiated the military coup of the West African nation and called for the respect of democratic rule and for prayer to resolve the conflict peacefully.
In a statement released April 17, five days after military commanders seized power from interim President Raimundo Pereira and former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Jr., the bishops said, “We are facing a very serious national problem of yet unpredictable consequences.”
They also acknowledged long-standing “explicit signs of uneasiness” that resurfaced during the first round of the presidential election in March and said they must be addressed.

LAGOS, Nigeria (CNS) — A Nigerian archbishop credited security forces for preventing a catastrophe at a Christian church on Easter when a suicide bomber was turned away and ended up detonating a car bomb on a busy street in the northern city of Kaduna.
Archbishop Mathew Ndagoso of Kaduna said that while the blast claimed dozens of lives, the death toll would have been much higher had the bomber been able to enter the grounds of the Evangelical Church of West Africa, where Easter services were being held.
Authorities said many of the 39 people who died were motorcycle taxi operators. More than 30 people were injured, police said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI called for continued efforts to rid the world of land mines so that people could be free to walk the earth without fear of injury or death.
“I encourage all those who are working to free humanity from these terrible and insidious devices,” the pope said, as he expressed his closeness to all victims and their families.

HAVANA (CNS) — A few hours before they planned to attend an outdoor Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI, members of a Catholic dissident group were reportedly arrested by Cuban police.
Alejandrina Garcia de la Rivas and Laura Maria Labrada Pollan, members of the Ladies in White — “Damas de Blanco” — were arrested before 6 a.m. March 28, said Blanca Reyes, a member of the organization who now lives Madrid, Spain.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI called on young people to not pursue power, money and prestige, but to find true joy in Christ and live a life of generous service to others. In his message for World Youth Day 2012, he told the world’s young Catholics to start making the world a better, more just and humane place right now, even while they continue to pursue their studies, talents and interests.

CNS photo/Max Rossi, Reuters
OXFORD, England (CNS) — A church-backed report has documented rising anti-Christian prejudice in Europe, despite calls for fairer legislation and measures to curb discrimination.

“Studies suggest 85 percent of hate crimes in Europe are directed against Christians — it is high time for the public debate to respond to this reality,” said Gudrun Kugler, director of the Vienna-based Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians.

JERUSALEM (CNS) — Christians in Syria live in fear of a repeat of persecution like was seen in Iraq, said officials of the Pontifical Mission for Palestine. “The same pattern like in Iraq is re-emerging, as Islamic militants are now kidnapping and killing Christians in Syria,” said Issam Bishara, vice president of the Pontifical Mission and regional director for Lebanon and Syria.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A Vatican diplomat attended an international summit seeking an end to Syria’s yearlong civil war.
Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald, apostolic nuncio to Egypt and the Holy See’s delegate to the Arab League, was an observer at the so-called Friends of Syria meeting Feb. 24 in Tunis, Tunisia, said the Vatican’s top spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Leaders and members of the Catholic Church do not have the authority to determine its teaching and structure but are called to ensure its fidelity to Jesus and to the faith passed on by the apostles, Pope Benedict XVI told the 22 new cardinals he created.
“The church is not self-regulating, she does not determine her own structure, but receives it from the word of God, to which she listens in faith as she seeks to understand it and to live it,” the pope said in a homily Feb. 19 during a Mass concelebrated with the new cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica.