Potential economic gains are no reason for California voters to approve a ballot measure that would legalize limited amounts of marijuana for recreational use, said Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland.

Pope Benedict has chosen “new evangelization” as the theme for the next world Synod of Bishops in 2012.

Catholics from around the world are invited to join in on the celebration of French daily Mass from St. Joseph’s Oratory thanks to two daily broadcasts on Salt + Light Television and daily uploads at seletlumieretv.org/messe.

Two Syrian Catholic bishops living in Lebanon told the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East that the blossoming number of Catholic-Muslim dialogue projects has not and may never lead to real understanding.

A fixed calendar of annual pilgrimages for bishops from around the world should be set to ensure that the Holy Land is constantly filled with pilgrims, Armenian Archbishop Emmanuel Dabbaghian of Baghdad proposed.

Canadian Catholics have raised more than $3 million to help flood victims in Pakistan through the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.

Poland’s Catholic bishops have warned government leaders and legislators not to back a law allowing in vitro fertilization, adding that the practice resembled Nazi-era eugenics.

The Diocese of Rome formally opened the sainthood process for Vietnamese Cardinal Francois Nguyen Van Thuan, who spent 13 years in prison in communist Vietnam — nine of them in solitary confinement.

The number of refugees is growing and resettlement space is shrinking, highlighting a need for international solutions, a Vatican official said.

All Catholics are called to spread the good news of salvation and support the Church’s missionary mandate, Pope Benedict said on World Mission Sunday.