On the heels of the U.S. bishops' recent declaration that abortion remains their top political priority, Pope Benedict XVI this morning issued a reminder that children already born, especially those who suffer from poverty, disease and war, must also have a place within the church's ambit of concern. While Benedict clearly affirmed the dignity of human life from the moment of conception, his remarks suggest a desire that the church's opposition to abortion not exclude other pressing social concerns. The pope spoke this morning to participants in a Nov. 13-15 conference organized by the Pontifical Council for Assistance to Health Care Workers, on the theme of "Pastoral Care of Sick Children." Benedict noted that every year, some four million newborn children die around the world at less than 26 days after birth, often due to poverty, poor health care systems, and armed conflict. He called that a matter of "urgent" concern.

A multi-faith coalition of more than 200 religious organizations is calling on President-elect Barack Obama to, as one of his first acts in office, sign an executive order banning torture. "This is an opportunity where one individual could with one stroke of the pen really change U.S. history," Linda Gustitus, president of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, told reporters in a conference call Nov. 12. She said an executive order by Obama "could turn the page on a very, very dark chapter and end U.S.-sponsored torture." Nearly 60 delegations of people in 27 states and the District of Columbia contacted about 70 district and state congressional offices in a "National Day of Witness" on torture. They asked members of Congress to support a statement declaring the use of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment against prisoners as "immoral, unwise, and un-American."

Before a huge crowd in San Diego last summer, Barack Obama vowed to make fixing illegal immigration a top priority as president, and Latinos nationwide responded with massive support for him on Election Day. Now, they are pressing him to keep his promise. From Cape Cod to California, activists on both sides of the volatile issue are girding for battle. Supporters of the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants - most of whom are Latino - want Obama to press for a path to legal residency for them. Opponents say reform is impossible at a time when unemployment is soaring, and instead want tougher border security and less immigration to preserve Americans' jobs. Many analysts are skeptical that Obama can navigate the political minefield of illegal immigration in his first year, while confronting the plunging economy and two wars. Still, groups on both sides are commissioning polls to gauge Americans' appetite for the immigration issue and assembling teams to file legislation for their cause next year.

Behind the grim statistics about the nation's rising jobless rate are men and women who need help, according to Catholic Church officials and economists at Catholic universities. One immediate response to the nation's high unemployment rate should be an extension of unemployment benefits, said Tom Shellabarger, domestic policy adviser for the U.S. bishops' Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development. He called it "unconscionable" that by the end of the year the unemployment benefits will run out for close to 2 million workers. According to the U.S. Labor Department statistics released Nov. 7, the jobless rate rose to 6.5 percent in October when employers fired 240,000 workers. That figure put the total number of unemployed Americans past 10.08 million, the highest level in 25 years. More than 22 percent of the nation's unemployed have been out of work for six months or longer -- something which also has not happened in 25 years.

Frustrated by the failure to overturn Roe v. Wade, a growing number of antiabortion pastors, conservative academics and activists are setting aside efforts to outlaw abortion and instead are focusing on building social programs and developing other assistance for pregnant women to reduce the number of abortions. Some of the activists are actually working with abortion rights advocates to push for legislation in Congress that would provide pregnant women with health care, child care and money for education -- services that could encourage them to continue their pregnancies. Although the activists insist that they are not retreating from their belief that abortion is immoral and should be outlawed, they argue that a more practical alternative is to try to reduce abortions through other means.

Reporting from Mexico City and San Salvador -- The murder 19 years ago of six Jesuit priests by a U.S.-trained army unit was the turning point in El Salvador's long civil war, an atrocity so grave that it helped force an end to the fighting. But the soldiers and officers convicted or implicated in the slayings are free under a controversial amnesty law that is receiving new attention thanks to election politics here and a potentially landmark court case in Spain. Human rights activists in the Americas and Europe said they hoped the Jesuit complaint could be used to fight impunity and bring justice to the victims' families by joining a procession of Spanish court cases that have forced Latin America to confront its violent past.

Americans painted a new picture of the "values voter" in the recent election. They rejected the "culture wars," with its narrow agendas and liberal-conservative divisiveness, in favor of politics that build bridges on a range of contentious issues. The readiness to work together is revealed in a national poll on voters' priorities and values taken on Nov. 5-7 in the immediate aftermath of the election. Nearly three-quarters of voters (and of religious voters) said people of faith should promote the common good, not protect their own views. Even groups most active in the religious right said a broader faith agenda would best reflect their values.

World leaders, senior diplomats and religious figures condemned extremism and terrorism Wednesday at a U.N. conference on interfaith dialogue that brought Israel and Arab countries together to promote tolerance. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, the event's chief sponsor, opened the meeting with a call for greater understanding in the Middle East, saying that religious and cultural differences in the region have "engendered intolerance, causing devastating wars and considerable bloodshed." "Terrorism and criminality are the enemies of every religion and every civilization," said Abdullah, in his first address before the U.N. General Assembly as Saudi Arabia's leader. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attended the speech, and President Bush will address the conference Thursday.

While economic indicators continue to tumble, the number of people turning to parish food pantries continues to climb. In many cases, pantries are struggling to meet the increased demand. Across the country it's the same story. At People of Progress, a food bank and emergency assistance charity in Redding, Calif., executive director Melinda Brown said that she's seeing "more and more new people, and a lot of working people, which is new." The working people are getting food from the charity to make their paychecks stretch to the end of the month, she said. "We're seeing people who have never asked for help before." A new report from the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that in 2007 13 million households experienced "food insecurity," meaning their access to adequate food was limited by a lack of money and other resources. That was 11.1 percent of all U.S. households.

For a problem that is not exclusively financial, there needs to be a solution that is not exclusively financial, a Vatican representative is recalling. Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said this on Vatican Radio when he discussed the ongoing worldwide economic crisis. "The crisis that the world is currently living is not just financial, and therefore the solution cannot be purely financial," he said. Instead, the economic crisis "verifies what the Church's social doctrine has said for a long time: When an economic-financial system goes into crisis, it is never due to economic of financial motives, but because in its origin, there has been a wound in the global moral system." In this sense, the prelate indicated that at the origin, there is a "crisis of trust."

At a time of economic crisis, the U.S. Catholic bishops issued a statement Nov. 11 reminding people that "we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers. We are all in this together." The brief statement issued by Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, the bishops' president, noted that "hard times can isolate us or they can bring us together." It was drafted during the annual fall meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore and approved by the body of bishops in a voice vote Nov. 11 as a statement from Cardinal George on their behalf. But the church will continue to "reach out to those in need, stand with those who are hurt, and work for policies that bring greater compassion, accountability and justice to economic life," the statement said.

At a time of economic crisis, the U.S. Catholic bishops issued a statement Nov. 11 reminding people that "we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers. We are all in this together." The brief statement issued by Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, the bishops' president, noted that "hard times can isolate us or they can bring us together." It was drafted during the annual fall meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore and approved by the body of bishops in a voice vote Nov. 11 as a statement from Cardinal George on their behalf. But the church will continue to "reach out to those in need, stand with those who are hurt, and work for policies that bring greater compassion, accountability and justice to economic life," the statement said.

U.S. Roman Catholic bishops, meeting a week after the election, are re-examining how they explain church teaching after President-elect Obama, who supports abortion rights, won a majority of Catholic votes. During the campaign, many bishops had spoken out on abortion more forcefully than they had in 2004, telling Catholic politicians and voters that abortion should be the most important consideration in setting policy and deciding which candidate to back. Yet, according to exit polls, 54 percent of Catholics chose Obama, who is Protestant, and Vice President-elect Biden, who is Catholic. Biden also thinks abortion should be legal.

A coalition of more than 200 religious groups urged U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday to sign an order, once he takes office, banning torture by any federal government entity. "This is an opportunity where one official could ... with one stroke of a pen, really change history here," said Linda Gustitus, president of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. The group, which has been pressing the issue since 2006, also wants the U.S. Congress to establish a special committee to investigate the use of what the Bush administration has called "enhanced interrogation techniques" used on terrorism suspects detained after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Because poor children often have little exposure to books or literacy- rich environments - because their parents might have had little education themselves - many are already far below grade level when they arrive at school and are unlikely to ever catch up. "You have to begin no later than age 3," said Claity Massey, director of Buffalo's King Center Charter School. "Early intervention is basically essential. Otherwise they come to school not ready." The stakes are high. Children who know the alphabet entering kindergarten are three times more likely to read by the end of first grade than youngsters who don't know their ABCs, said Betty Evans, Buffalo's director of early childhood education. And children who can't read by the end of first grade, she said, have just a one-in-eight chance of ever working at grade level.

The nation's jobless ranks zoomed past 10 million last month, the most in a quarter-century, as piles of pink slips shut factory gates and office doors to 240,000 more Americans with the holidays nearing. Politicians and economists agreed on a painful bottom line: It's only going to get worse. The unemployment rate soared to a 14-year high of 6.5 percent, the government said Friday, up from 6.1 percent just a month earlier. And there was more grim news from U.S. automakers: Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., American giants struggling to survive, each reported big losses and figured to be announcing even more job cuts before long. Regulators, meanwhile, shut down Houston-based Franklin Bank and Security Pacific Bank in Los Angeles on Friday, bringing the number of failures of federally insured banks this year to 19.

Three years after hurricane Katrina, a New Orleans neighborhood devastated by the disaster has had an improbable homecoming. "It makes me feel so good to be back in my own home," says Gloria Mae Guy, a resident of the Lower Ninth Ward whose house of 28 years was washed away by a levee breach. "My home is where all my memories are, and I thank God for helping these folks who have helped me come back to where I belong." For months after the floodwaters swept through, demolishing or rendering uninhabitable the Lower Ninth's homes, it wasn't clear that anyone belonged here. Politicians and planners urged the city to relocate residents to higher ground. Authorities kept homeowners out. But an unlikely collection of volunteers, including actor Brad Pitt, architects, builders, nonprofit groups, and residents, began a recovery effort that could serve as an example for other areas of the Gulf Coast still struggling with rebuilding, they say.

Large numbers of Catholics and religiously unaffiliated voters heavily contributed to President-elect Barack Obama's huge margin of victory over Republican Sen. John McCain, according to an analysis of exit poll surveys by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. "Obama had a greater appeal for religious people," said John Green, a senior fellow at Pew. "I don't think we would have seen that support had Hillary [Rodham Clinton] been nominated." Catholics voted for Mr. Obama over Mr. McCain by a nine-point margin (54 percent versus 45 percent), a turnaround from 2004 when Catholics supported President Bush over Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, by a five-point margin (52 percent to 47 percent).

President-elect Obama's advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials, a plan that would make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but could require creation of a controversial new system of justice. During his campaign, Obama described Guantanamo as a "sad chapter in American history" and has said generally that the U.S. legal system is equipped to handle the detainees. But he has offered few details on what he planned to do once the facility is closed. Under plans being put together in Obama's camp, some detainees would be released and many others would be prosecuted in U.S. criminal courts.

Pope Benedict XVI condemned the systematic atrocities, killings and violence targeting innocent people in Congo and called for all sides to work for peace. Recent waves of "destruction, pillaging and violence of every kind have forced (an) additional tens of thousands of people to abandon what little they had in order to survive," and more than 1.5 million people are now refugees, the pope said. Pope Benedict said "bloody armed clashes and systematic atrocities have caused and continue to cause numerous victims among innocent civilians" in the North Kivu region of Congo. He appealed to all sides to "work together to restore peace in that land (that has been) martyred for too long."

Iraq's Executive Council ratified on Saturday a much-debated bill that gives Iraqi religious minorities fewer guaranteed seats on provincial councils than the United Nations mission in Iraq had recommended. The Executive Council - President Jalal Talabani and the two vice presidents - agreed with Parliament that religious minorities, which include three-quarters of a million Christians, should be guaranteed just 6 of the 440 seats on the provincial councils, half what the United Nations had proposed. An election for the councils is scheduled to be held next year. Some Christian leaders are threatening a boycott because they say the number of guaranteed seats will leave them underrepresented. Besides Christians, the country's religious minorities include Yazidis, Sabeans and Shabaks.

Much was made in 2004 of the so-called "God gap" between Republicans and Democrats, becoming part of the conventional wisdom explaining President Bush's victory over Senator John F. Kerry. As a result, the Democratic Party, including Senator Barack Obama, focused heavily on outreach to religious voters, including white evangelicals who voted overwhelmingly for President Bush, and talked more openly than ever before about faith. So did all the God-talk pay off? The verdict appears to be mixed, but Mr. Obama does appear to have scored some significant victories, especially among Roman Catholics, according to nationwide surveys of voters leaving the polls on Tuesday and telephone interviews of some people who had voted early.

An ideologically diverse group of Christian leaders came together this past week to support a new ad campaign calling for policies that will reduce abortions. The Christian radio ad campaign began airing in 10 swing states on Wednesday and will run until Election Day on Nov. 4. The states the ad is airing in are Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Missouri. "We must move beyond the spiritually damaging culture war era," said the Rev. Rich Cizik, the National Association of Evangelicals' vice president for governmental affairs, in support of the ad campaign. "Deeply felt moral issues must no longer be leveraged for partisan gain. Let's all join together to be part of a positive strategy to reduce abortions in America that puts problem-solving above political posturing," he said. Christian leaders supporting the ad are calling for Democrat and Republican politicians to find common ground solutions to reduce the number of abortions in America by tackling the root causes of abortion, including preventing unintended pregnancies and poverty.

Two months ago, a Vatican official branded the U.S. Democrats the "party of death" because of its pro-choice stand on abortion. His words failed to sway millions of Catholics who cast their vote for Barack Obama. Now, the Vatican will have to deal with the first pro-choice U.S. administration since that of former President Bill Clinton, with which it had very scratchy relations. "Most Catholics ignored the bishops who told them not to vote for a pro-choice candidate," Rev. Tom Reese, senior fellow at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center, wrote in the Washington Post's 'On Faith' blog. Hours after the election of Obama, who has long been a member of a black Christian church, the Vatican said it was hoping God would "enlighten him and help him in his great responsibility."

Over the last few weeks, more than 60 Catholic bishops, articulating their traditional views in ever stronger language, have urged voters to make abortion their top priority in an election dominated by the nation's economic turmoil. But the urgency of the bishops reflects an increasing concern about a new argument posed by some antiabortion intellectuals and organizations: that the legislative battle to outlaw abortion is hopeless and that antiabortion groups would be better off devoting themselves to preventing unwanted pregnancies and persuading pregnant women to carry their fetuses to term rather than trying to change the laws of the land. The discussion is taking place within evangelical Protestantism, as well as among Roman Catholics, but it is more visible in the Catholic Church because of the high profile of Catholic bishops.