ROME (CNS) -- The Democratic Party in the United States "risks transforming itself definitively into a 'party of death,'" said U.S. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, prefect of the Vatican's highest court.An interview with the former archbishop of St. Louis was published in the Sept. 27 edition of Avvenire, a daily Catholic newspaper sponsored by the Italian bishops' conference.The newspaper asked the archbishop, the new head of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature, for his reaction to reports that his Vatican job was designed to get him away from St.

NEW YORK (CNS) -- A day before the U.N. General Assembly met Sept. 25 on the progress of the Millennium Development Goals, a group of interfaith leaders gathered to encourage one another in efforts to engage their own members in working toward achieving the U.N. goals, especially ending world hunger.The Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, convened a meeting of nearly 80 religious leaders and directors of religious relief and development in U.S.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Across the country -- in group discussions, adult education programs, diocesan conferences, DVD presentations and Sunday Mass homilies -- U.S. Catholics are taking a close look at the bishops' 2007 document intended to help Catholic voters form their consciences on a variety of issues.Even though there is a push to review the document, "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship : A Call to Political Responsibility," during the election season, many Catholics do not plan to put it aside after Nov.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- You'd think Bono, the lead singer of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band U2 and a social activist on the side, could open just about any door he wanted.Not quite. Bono has his own lobbyist.

LONDON (CNS) -- A group of major world powers is failing to bring peace to the Holy Land, said a report by aid agencies and human rights groups.The Sept.

LONDON (CNS) -- Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, England, has come under fire for his homily during a pilgrimage to the Marian sanctuaries in Lourdes, France.Archbishop Williams, leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, said in a homily during a Sept. 24 international Mass at Lourdes that when Mary appeared to St.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The legacy of President George W. Bush will be framed primarily by one event: the ongoing war in Iraq.At five and a half years and running, the Iraq War—portrayed by Bush as a vital front in what he has characterized as the war on terror—has left Americans divided and much of the world community looking beyond the United States for diplomatic leadership.The war stands out for being the first whereby the U.S.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Father Patrick Desbois said he will never forget one of the first interviews he had with an elderly man who saw Nazi soldiers murder Jews in Ukraine.While German music played through a gramophone, the man was forced to dig a huge hole for his fellow villagers' grave, Father Desbois said during a presentation at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Sept. 22.Another witness told the French priest she saw Nazi soldiers bury her village's Jews alive.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The current financial crisis pummeling the United States and beyond is a sign that the so-called "new economy" and its risky investments have failed, the Vatican newspaper said.The booming growth of financial markets did not correspond to real growth or concrete development for society because it created an artificially robust gross national product, said a Sept.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The combined hurricanes and tropical storms that have devastated U.S. communities and Caribbean nations in the past few months has exceeded the damage Hurricane Katrina inflicted on New Orleans in 2005, but donations for relief efforts this time are drastically less."I believe a combination of the recent economic crisis and the media attention, or lack there of, have presented challenges to us," said Patricia Hvidston, senior director of development for Catholic Charities USA, based in Alexandria, Va.