NEW YORK (CNS) — Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan challenged Massgoers to hold onto hope and to pray for the safety and well-being of two Orthodox archbishops kidnapped in Syria in late April while carrying out a humanitarian mission. “Our prayers are singularly fervent this spring morning as I invite all of us to unite in supplication,” Cardinal Dolan said during Mass May 2 in St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo and Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan Gregorios Yohanna of Aleppo. Both prelates were kidnapped April 22 in northern Syria while on a humanitarian mission to secure the release of two priests — an Armenian Catholic and a Greek Orthodox — kidnapped in February.

OXFORD, England (CNS) — Heads of Catholic bishops’ conferences in France and Spain warned that the promotion of same-sex marriage could threaten social peace.

“These long months of debate on the bill to allow marriage for persons of the same sex have highlighted predictable divisions,” said Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois of Paris.

LIMA, Peru (CNS) — In his first weeks as head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has echoed many of the concerns that he and fellow prelates raised in a conference of Latin American bishops six years ago. Evangelization, ministry to the poor and disenfranchised, the seduction of the global marketplace, cultural changes and the environment were among the issues addressed at the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean in Aparecida, Brazil, in 2007

MANCHESTER, England (CNS) — Twenty-one Catholic members of Parliament have written to Pope Francis to ask him to relax the rule on priestly celibacy for Latin-rite priests.
The members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords said in a March 25 letter to the pope that the rule should be changed to allow married men to be ordained priests where pastoral needs required it.

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Catholic leaders worldwide expressed words of hope and joy in calling upon Catholics to come together as one body behind the papacy of Pope Francis.
International political leaders also offered words of congratulations and pledged to work with the new pontiff on common goals and concerns in a complex world.

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) — Kenya’s bishops called on citizens to remain calm and peaceful as government officials continued counting votes from the country’s March 4 elections.
Technical problems since polls closed slowed the tally, forcing the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to count ballots by hand. Under Kenya’s new constitution, the commission has one week to report results.

The U.S. bishops’ Catholic Relief Services is supporting Caritas Japan’s efforts in the tsunami- ravaged area. Greg Auberry, CRS Asia regional director, said the nature of the response is somewhat different than in other areas because Japan is a developed country.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) — Zanzibar’s bishop said priests and other clergy in his diocese are terrified after a priest was murdered outside his parish church in what is seen by many as a terrorist attack.
“We are very afraid,” Bishop Augustine Shao said, noting that clergy “were warned of attacks” before and after the Feb. 17 murder of 56-year-old Father Evaristus Mushi.

DUBLIN (CNS) — The body that represents Ireland’s religious congregations has said that the issue of the Magdalen laundries must not be “presented as a matter only for religious.”

A report released Feb. 5 found “significant” state involvement in the religious-run institutions where young women, many placed by the state, worked in laundries without pay. Many former residents reported feeling stigmatized as a result of spending time in the institutions.

The Conference of Religious of Ireland welcomed the publication of the report, expressing the hope that it can “lead to reconciliation and healing for all involved in this very complex matter.”

OXFORD, England (CNS) — Mali’s Catholic bishops praised efforts by their acting head of state to hold the country together and backed his appeal for a “general mobilization” against Islamist insurgents.

“The situation we are living through is very grave and has reached tragic proportions in recent days,” the bishops’ conference said in a Jan. 24 letter to President Dioncounda Traore.