WASHINGTON— The foreign assistance appropriations bill proposed by a House subcommittee “makes morally unacceptable, even deadly, cuts to poverty-focused humanitarian and development assistance,” said Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace, and Ken Hackett, President of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), in a letter to the House Appropriations Committee.

WASHINGTON—Currently 29,437 pilgrims from the United States are registered to attend World Youth Day (WYD), August 16-21, in Madrid. This is a record number for U.S. participation in a WYD outside of North America. These pilgrims will be joined by 64 U.S. bishops.

WASHINGTON—Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, died at Johns Hopkins Hospital July 27. He was 73. Staff at the nunciature, his residence in Washington, on July 22 asked for prayers of the Catholic community for him.

News of the July 27 death of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America, brings deep sadness for the church in the United States. As the personal representative of our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Sambi enjoyed the highest respect and deepest affection of the bishops of the United States and of our Catholic people.

WASHINGTON—In a July 26 letter to the U.S. House of Representatives, Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, California, and Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, New York, called on Congress to remember the human and moral dimensions of the ongoing budget and debt ceiling debate.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. bishops offered prayers and solidarity with the bishops of Scandinavia after the bombings at government building in Oslo and shootings at a nearby youth camp in Utoya.

WASHINGTON—Eight U.S. prelates have been chosen as English-language catechists by the Pontifical Council for Laity, the Vatican’s official organism that convenes World Youth Day (WYD). The group includes Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Seán O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, Archbishop Charles Chaput, newly appointed as archbishop of Philadelphia, as well as Bishops Samuel Aquila of Fargo, North Dakota, Edward Burns of Juneau, Alaska, William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, and Frank Caggiano, auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn. The group will be among 250 bishop-catechists from all over the world representing many different countries and languages.

WASHINGTON—Responding to a proposal from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) that private health plans be required to cover all FDA-approved contraceptives under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the U.S. bishops urged Congress to support the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (H.R. 1179).

WASHINGTON—Religious leaders, including representatives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), met with President Barack Obama July 20 to urge the President and congressional leaders to protect programs for hungry and poor people in decisions surrounding the deficit and debt.

WASHINGTON—Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, strongly opposed the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate coverage of surgical sterilization and all FDA-approved birth control in private health insurance plans nationwide.

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Justin Rigali, 76,  from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and named Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap, 66, to succeed him.

The pope also has accepted the resignation of Bishop J. Kevin Boland, 76, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia, and named Franciscan Father Gregory Hartmayer, O.F.M. Conv., 59, pastor of St. John Vianney Parish in Little Springs, Georgia, to succeed him.

WASHINGTON—The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will host its first-ever Vocation Fair at a World Youth Day (WYD) on Wednesday, August 17. The Vocations Fair will be held at St. Francis Borgia Parish (Parroquia San Francisco de Borja) located just across the street from the U.S. Embassy in Madrid. The fair is co-sponsored by the USCCB Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations (CCLV) and the Secretariat for Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth.

WASHINGTON— For the first time ever, individuals can make a virtual pilgrimage to World Youth Day (WYD) using a social media tool developed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Communications Department. USCCB has created a Facebook application and a website for non-Facebook users (http://www.virtualworldyouthday.org/ ) where individuals can create an avatar and use it to participate in the virtual pilgrimage. The application can be added to any Facebook fan page. A Google map provides visuals of where pilgrims are coming from throughout the world and another shows the pilgrims on a detailed map of Madrid.

WASHINGTON—When South Sudan marks its independence and becomes the world’s newest nation July 9, Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ, bishop emeritus of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, will be there to represent the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

WASHINGTON—Morally appropriate efforts must be made to reduce the nations’ deficit and debt but special care must be taken that the cuts don’t disproportionally affect the world’s poorest people, said Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace, and Ken Hackett, president of Catholic Relief Services, in a July 5 letter to the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs as it prepares to mark up the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012.

WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has named Bishop Alvaro Corrada del Rio, SJ of Tyler, Texas, as bishop of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Bishop Corrada, 69, succeeds Bishop Ulises Aurelio Casiano Vargas.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Subcommittee on the Church in Latin America approved funding for 86 projects, worth over $2.1 million in grants, to aid the pastoral work of the Church in 20 countries throughout the hemisphere. The decision was made during the subcommittee’s meeting June 13, in Seattle.

WASHINGTON— Bishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, the Chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, has denounced the passage of a civil unions bill in Rhode Island. The Rhode Island legislature enacted a statute this week creating a new legal status deemed to be parallel to marriage, thus allowing two persons of the same sex to obtain all of the rights of spouses by forming what the new law designates to be a civil union. In response, Bishop Cordileone reiterated that “marriage, the communion of husband and wife, is a unique reality that has no true parallel. The exclusive and permanent bond of a man and woman joined in marriage offers to the couple and to society a preeminent value that should not be eclipsed by governmental attempts to redesign fundamental realities by legal dictate.”