The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You

VATICAN CITY (CNS): Pope Benedict XVI deplored the killing of eight Christians in Pakistan by a Muslim mob and urged the minority Christian community not to be deterred by the attack.

WASHINGTON (CNS): Orders of women religious in the United States will be asked to complete a comprehensive questionnaire that looks at six areas of religious life in preparation for a series of apostolic visits set to begin in January.

VATICAN CITY (CNS): Vatican concerns about how some recent decisions of the United States Episcopal Church will impact the search for full Anglican-Roman Catholic unity are echoed in a reflection by Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, the head of the Anglican Communion.

VATICAN CITY (CNS): Even though the Catholic faith is not included in the project, the Moscow-based Catholic archbishop hailed the Russian Government's plan to reintroduce religious education in public schools.

KINSHASA, Congo (Zenit.org): The archbishop of Kinshasa and the secretary-general of the World Council of Churches are reiterating a call to end the cycle of violence that has resulted in thousands of rape victims in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

VATICAN CITY (CNS): Especially at a time of financial crisis, when life-giving initiatives are hurting for money, it appears strange for a government to expand public funding for abortion, the head of the Pontifical Academy for Life said.

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS): Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad, Iraq, had just finished celebrating Mass at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church and was talking to parishioners in the courtyard.

WARSAW, Poland (CNS): The secretary-general of the Russian bishops' conference said the Catholic Church's working conditions in Russia had improved, and he was hopeful that would lead to the development of higher-level diplomatic relations.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the first manned mission to land on the moon, Vatican Radio published a collection of Pope Paul VI's talks about the mission. CINDY WOODEN reports for Catholic News Service in Rome.