President Obama urged Democrats and Republicans to not question one another's motives and to make an effort to move beyond the cynicism and skepticism that has weighed down the politics of Washington, saying: "Civility is not a sign of weakness." In an appearance today at the National Prayer Breakfast, Mr. Obama conceded that policy differences would often separate the political parties. But he challenged lawmakers and religious leaders to step beyond their comfort zones and unify on at least some daily challenges, not only when a calamity like the Haiti earthquake strikes.

Franciscan Sr. Kathie Uhler has for months been working on a series of panel presentations to the United Nations that will show the damage exploitative mining has had on the indigenous populations of countries like Peru, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. As Uhler has learned in her research, inhabitants of an area are often unaware of mining-for gems, coal, or oil-that is taking place a short distance from their homes, perhaps on a mountaintop, until natural resources have already been polluted.

A year ago, President Obama thrilled many religious Americans and worried some secular supporters by announcing that he would not only keep the faith-based infrastructure President Bush had constructed across the government but would expand it, adding a marquee council of faith leaders to advise him.But as the council prepares to end its first term and issue its report, some faith leaders across the ideological spectrum -- including some Obama allies -- say the operation may be more about window dressing than results.

For more than 150 years, St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan has been a beacon in Greenwich Village, serving poets, writers, artists, winos, the poor and the working-class, and gay people...But today the hospital is struggling, and last week, in what could mean the death knell of the last Roman Catholic general hospital in New York City, a chain of hospitals proposed to take over St. Vincent's, shut down its inpatient beds and most of its emergency room services, and convert it into an outpatient center tied to hospitals uptown and on the East Side.

Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday blamed indifference as the fundamental cause of hundreds of millions of deaths in the world from lack of food, water and medicine. Benedict chose justice and injustice as the theme of his Lenten message released by the Vatican on Thursday in several languages. Lent, a period of reflection and penitence in the Roman Catholic church, begins this year on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17. Benedict said this Lenten season he wants people to reflect on what justice really means for human beings.

Health and medical malpractice insurance companies would lose an antitrust exemption they've enjoyed since 1945 under a bill introduced Wednesday by Rep. Betsy Markey. The bill is on a fast track and headed for a House vote next week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office said. Markey co-authored the bill with Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Va., arguing that removing the antitrust provision would increase competition and lower prices for consumers.

Peace activists are planning today to protest George W. Bush's visit here to speak and accept an award for his pro-life efforts at a Catholic summit. It is "outrageous that he's receiving a pro-life award," said Sharon Tipton, an organizer of the protest with a group called the Orange County Peace Coalition, which she described as an umbrella group for other local peace organizations.

The Obama administration and a Congress narrowly controlled by Democrats present both new challenges and new opportunities for Catholic pro-life advocates on Capitol Hill. Sr. Carol Keehan, president and CEO of Catholic Health Association and a Daughter of Charity, said in an interview that pro-life advocates have faced different strategic challenges and priorities in recent Republican and Democratic administrations.

Marie Violande Guerrier-Cavalier arrived in Florida from Haiti on Jan. 16, with little more than her feverish infant son, Marcley, his tiny legs in casts because of a birth defect. She left her husband and four other children behind, living in the yard outside their broken house. Because Marcley is a United States citizen, born here, his mother was allowed to evacuate with him after the earthquake, and can stay in the United States for six months.

Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist who was an early opponent of US involvement in Vietnam and whose books, such as "A People's History of the United States," inspired young and old to rethink the way textbooks present the American experience, died today in Santa Monica, Calif, where he was traveling. He was 87.