MANAGUA, Nicaragua (CNS) -- Archbishop Leopoldo Brenes Solorzano of Managua criticized the decision by the Millennium Challenge Corp. to suspend a U.S. aid program over concerns about the results of nationwide municipal elections.Archbishop Brenes, president of the Nicaraguan bishops' conference, warned that suspending the poverty reduction program would affect the poorest people of the nation."It's pathetic (the suspension of the program), because we are a poor country, and we always need every bit of this aid," he said after a Nov.

UNITED NATIONS (CNS) -- A U.S. nun who was murdered in 2005 while she worked to defend the rights of poor farmers in the Brazilian Amazon region has been named a recipient of a prestigious U.N. human rights prize.Sister Dorothy Stang, who was a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, is one of seven recipients of the U.N. Prize in the Field of Human Rights, awarded by the General Assembly every five years.The others are slain Pakistani leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto; Louise Arbour, former U.N. high commissioner for human rights; Ramsey Clark, former U.S.

STOCKTON, Calif. (CNS) -- A Modesto pastor urged his parishioners to receive the sacrament of penance if they voted for President-elect Barack Obama, who supports legalized abortion, but Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton said the sacrament was not obligatory for Catholics who supported Obama."Requiring all Catholics who voted for a candidate with a pro-abortion record to go to confession is not in accord with the moral guidelines set out in 'Faithful Citizenship,'" said the bishop, referring to the U.S.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Iraqi parliament's approval of a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal represents "a step forward," but the country still faces deep divisions and serious risks, an Iraqi archbishop said."Iraq is still profoundly divided within itself," Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk told the Rome-based agency AsiaNews Nov. 28."One cannot speak of national unity, and even the government recognizes this.

GENEVA (CNS) -- The atrocities unfolding in Congo call for immediate condemnation and the protection of human rights, said a Vatican official.Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva, said, "The international community cannot stand by idle and needs to speak out clearly" and act swiftly to counter the "grave infringements of human rights" in Congo.The archbishop spoke Nov.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A leading Vatican diplomat warned that the current financial crisis could become a catastrophe unless solutions are found that respect ethics and involve all levels of society."It is necessary to recover some basic aspects of finances, such as the primacy of labor over capital, of human relationships over purely financial transactions, and of ethics over the sole criterion of efficiency," Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican's apostolic nuncio to the United Nations, told Vatican Radio Nov.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican plans to issue a new document on bioethics that addresses human cloning, stem-cell research and other issues, informed sources said.The Vatican instruction, prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was scheduled to be published Dec. 12, the sources said. A Vatican press conference is planned for its release.The document was designed to examine ethical issues in biological research and health care that have emerged in recent years. When members of the doctrinal congregation met in a plenary session last January, U.S. Cardinal William J.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Christians of Iraq were shocked when Muslims started trying to drive the Christians of Mosul out of their homes in early October, an Iraqi bishop told Vatican Radio after meeting Pope Benedict XVI.Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad met the pope Nov. 26 at the end of the pope's weekly general audience.The pope told the bishop, "Iraq is in our hearts.

SEATTLE (CNS) -- The Catholic bishops of Washington state have asked Gov. Christine Gregoire to commute the death sentence for Darold Stenson and give him life imprisonment without parole.In 1993 Stenson, now 55, was found guilty of aggravated murder in the shooting deaths of his wife and a business partner. His execution by lethal injection was scheduled for Dec. 3."As we continue to pray for those that have suffered due to Mr.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Peace in the Middle East and religious freedom for all the region's inhabitants will not be achieved without respect for other religions and self-determination for the nations involved, Pope Benedict XVI said.Meeting the Lebanon-based Armenian Catholicos Aram of Cilicia Nov.