VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Corruption, ethnic tensions, indifference and injustice must be tackled to bring lasting peace to Sudan, Pope Benedict XVI told the country's bishops. "Treaties and other agreements, indispensable building blocks in the peace process, will only bear fruit if they are inspired and accompanied by the exercise of mature and morally upright leadership," the pope said.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As the head of the Catholic Health Association called on House members to quickly pass the Senate-approved health care reform bill and make changes later, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reiterated its long-held position that the Senate language on abortion is unacceptable. A House vote on the health reform legislation was expected by March 20, with Senate and House action to follow on a separate bill containing a set of "fixes" proposed by President Barack Obama.

DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) -- Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, chairman of the Irish bishops' conference, insisted he will not resign after it was revealed that he failed to report allegations of child abuse by a priest to the police in 1975. Speaking with reporters March 14, Cardinal Brady said it was not his responsibility at the time to report the allegations involving Norbertine Father Brendan Smyth to the police. "Even today the appropriate person to do that is the designated person (within his order). I was not that person," he said.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Just over a week before tens of thousands of people were expected in Washington for a rally in support of immigration reform, President Barack Obama told grass-roots and faith leaders that he remains firmly committed to passing legislation this year. For their part, participants in the meeting with Obama urged Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to release before the March 21 rally their plans for a comprehensive immigration bill -- an outline of which the senators brought to their own meeting with the president the same afternoon. Bishop John C.

CHICAGO (CNS) -- Father Augustine Tolton was the first U.S. priest of African descent and may one day be a saint from the Archdiocese of Chicago. The archdiocese is introducing the priest's cause for canonization, according to an announcement by Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George. "It is appropriate that, during this Year for Priests, we recall our forebears who were holy men in the presbyterate" of the archdiocese, the cardinal told the Catholic New World, Chicago archdiocesan newspaper.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Offering both philosophical and tangible recommendations for the Obama administration, the President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships marked its first year with a detailed report that highlights the complexities of trying to enable religious and community groups to provide government-funded programs. As council member Anthony Picarello, general counsel of the U.S.

LIMA, Peru (CNS) -- While news reports highlighted the looting and violence that followed Chile's massive earthquake, they overlooked the solidarity among ordinary people struggling to rebuild their homes and lives, church workers said. For two days after the magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck Chile's central coast Feb. 27, people were seen breaking into supermarkets and hauling away not just food and necessities but goods such as televisions and washing machines.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A greater presence of women in decision-making roles in the church might have helped remove the "veil of masculine secrecy" that covered priestly sex abuse cases, a front-page commentary in the Vatican newspaper said. The article said that despite calls by popes and others for welcoming women into equal, though diverse, roles in the church, women have generally been kept out of positions of responsibility. As a result, the church has failed to take advantage of the many talents and contributions that could have been provided by women, it said.

DENVER (CNS) -- The decision to refuse re-enrollment at a Boulder Catholic school to two children of lesbian parents was the only outcome that was fair to the children, their teachers, school parents and "the authentic faith of the church," said Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput. "Our schools are meant to be 'partners in faith' with parents," the archbishop said in a column published in the March 10 issue of the Denver Catholic Register, the archdiocesan newspaper.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Vatican officials are concerned that the church's longstanding insistence on confidentiality in its treatment of priestly sexual abuse cases is being misinterpreted as a ban on reporting serious accusations to civil authorities. As past episodes and accusations of abuse have come to light recently in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, media attention has focused in part on what kind of guidance or instructions local bishops received from the Vatican on how to handle such cases.