The XII World Day of the Sick will be held February 11, 2004 in Lourdes, France. This sanctuary was chosen because 2004 is the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.In his Message for the World Day of the Sick, Pope John Paul II stated "The miracle of the Immaculate Conception reminds believers of a fundamental truth: it is possible to achieve salvation only by meekly sharing in the project of the Father, who wanted to redeem the world through the death and resurrection of His only begotten Son. Through baptism the believer is placed in this salvific plan and is freed from original sin."

Pope John Paul II never said "It is as it was" after watching Mel Gibson’s film on the passion of Jesus, said the pope’s longtime personal secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz.

"The Holy Father told no one his opinion of this film." The film, "The Passion of the Christ," is Gibson’s interpretation of the last 12 hours of Christ’s life and is set for release in the United States February 25. The alleged papal quote has appeared in hundreds of newspapers around the world as an unequivocal endorsement of Gibson’s controversial film. The film drew widespread attention even before it was finished, particularly because of concerns over how it would portray the Jews and its potential for promoting anti-Semitism. "It is the Holy Father’s custom not to express public judgments on artistic works, judgments which are always open to diverse evaluations of an aesthetic nature."

The Woman’s Right to Know Act garnered headlines January 13 when the Minnesota Department of Health modified information about the act on its web site concerning a possible link between breast cancer and abortion. What didn’t make headlines was the fact that the web site contains a large collection of information and resources available to women facing crisis pregnancies.

The Woman’s Right to Know link can be accessed from the Health Department’s web site (www.health.state.mn.us). The department developed the WRTK link in response too the act, which was passed during the 2003 state legislative session. The act requires that women receive certain information at least 24 hours prior to having an abortion. The WRTK link contains four areas of information: text of the act itself; questions/answers about the act; a directory of services available for pregnancy, childbirth and while a child is dependent; information on fetal development, abortion and alternatives. The third and fourth areas constitute "a wonderful statewide directory which provides scores of resources for women seeking alternatives to abortion and other assistance," said Christopher Leifeld, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the social policy voice of the state’s bishops.