October 24, 2012 Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — The push for gay marriage rights is being driven by politicians who are following their personal agendas rather than the actual demands or expectations of the gay community, said Bishop Kieran Conroy of Arundel and Brighton, England.  

October 24, 2012 Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — The leadership of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X has expelled British Bishop Richard Williamson from the society, saying he distanced himself from them and refused “to show due respect and obedience to his lawful superiors.”  

October 24, 2012 Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI surprised pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 24 by announcing he would create six new cardinals, including 63-year-old U.S. Archbishop James M. Harvey, prefect of the papal household, in late November.  

October 22, 2012 Catholic News Service ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Who could have predicted that a student from St. Mary’s Grade School in Little Falls would one day win a Nobel Prize? But that’s what Dr. Brian Kobilka accomplished.

October 24, 2012 Catholic News Service MIAMI — The Obama administration “has not shown any inclination to rescind” its requirement that most religious employers cover contraceptives for their workers, so “we need to get this mandate overturned” by the courts, said Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski.  

October 24, 2012 Catholic News Service DENVER – The Secular Franciscan Order urged U.S. business leaders and government officials, including the next U.S. president, to approach economic and political issues with the “foundational premise” that “all of creation, especially human life, has dignity and value.”  

October 22, 2012 Catholic News Service WASHINGTON – A new liturgical memorial — Oct. 22 — has been approved for Blessed John Paul II by the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.  

October 22, 2012 Catholic News Service LA CROSSE, Wis. — Since 1997, Eleanor St. John has lived for the day when one of her greatest heroes would be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church — Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.  

October 15, 2012 Catholic News Service WASHINGTON — When the U.S. Postal Service unveiled its new Christmas stamp Oct. 10 featuring an image of the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt, there was no uproar about religion in the public square, or in this case, rectangle.  

October 12, 2012 WASHINGTON — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued the following statement, October 12. Full text follows: