Scottish Catholic Observer

Vatican talks with a controversial Catholic splinter group are nearing an end without any accord on reintegrating the ultra-traditionalists, including a bishop whose denial of the Holocaust has embarrassed Pope Benedict XVI.

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE71K55Y20110221

Debris from the 6.3 New Zealand earthquake includes the spire of Christchurch Anglican Cathedral (above). The death toll began at 65 and is rising. The 150-year-old Blessed Sacrament Catholic Cathedral (see below before damage) on Barbadoes Street half collapsed, with cracks in the rest of the structure.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2011/0222/New-Zealand-earthquake-Authorities-scramble-after-temblor-leaves-at-least-65-dead

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/02/22/New-Zealand-quake-kills-at-least-65/UPI-17721298353549/

Hopes are Mounting for Meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch

http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=40449

Bernard Nathanson, abortionist who became pro-life activist and produced The Silent Scream film, dead at 84

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=9344

Three reasons for a Catholic role in Egypt

http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=25131

Conditions in Zimbabwe are not conducive to holding an election in 2011, the Catholic bishops of Southern Africa said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/africa/article928927.ece/Zim-elections-would-be-dangerously-premature–Bishops

A village in Bangladesh was burned down and dozens of indigenous people have been injured and driven from Ragipara in the mountain district of Rangamati, according to sources at the Catholic Diocese of Chittagong.

http://www.energypublisher.com/article.asp?id=48906

Archbishop Peter Smith on status of marriage, civil partnerships in Church

http://www.catholicchurch.org.uk/Catholic-Church/Media-Centre/press_releases/Press-Releases-2011/The-Status-of-Marriage-and-the-proposal-to-allow-civil-partnerships-in-religious-premises

And finally: Letter in the Scotsman

So, if anti-Catholicism is ‘deep, wide and vicious’ we need firstly to define it specifically, and isolate it. If the Crown Office publishes statistics on crimes motivated by sectarianism, they will only be helpful if they are presented in context.

http://news.scotsman.com/letters/Letter-Discrimination-is-not-a.6722091.jp

—Cross Wires is the Scottish Catholic Observer newspaper’s blog