Cardinal's plan for unity
CHILE'S NEW cardinal has proposed a new way to reconcile the people of his country.
Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz of Santiago said that the only way to reunite the country, which was so deeply divided about the case of former dictator Augusto Pinochet, was for the conclusions of the current investigation to be final and accepted by all parties.
The cardinal said: "The only way to bring Chileans together is the way of truth, justice, forgiveness, repentance and clemency."
US considers stem cell research
THE UNITED STATES Government will make a decision by the summer on whether to fund stem-cell research using aborted human embryos.
Tommy Thompson, the Government's Health and Human Services Secretary, told the Senate that the decision would await the findings of an independent review. The review is attempting to ascertain whether a federal law which prohibits federal funding of the creation of embryonic children for research, means that research which used cells obtained from human embryos which had been specifically produced and killed is illegal.
Mr Thompson suggested that the law might compel the use of adult stem cells for cloning research, which is what pro-life groups would like to see happen.
Girl shot at Catholic school
A GIRL HAS been shot in a Catholic high-school in the United States.
Kimberley Marchese, a 14year-old girl of Bishop Neumann High School in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, was shot by another girl in the eighth grade when a bullet aimed at the floor richochetted into her shoulder. Early reports suggest the heroic action of a 14-year-old boy helped calm the situation and avert further harm being caused.
Fr Andrew Kurovsky, a former principal, who visited the injured girl said: "She's doing very well. It was a surface wound, but she's obviously scared to death."