Migrants represent a particularly vulnerable group in the age of globalization, Archbishop Diarmuid martin, the Vaticn’s permanent observer to the U.N. commission on Human Rights, told a commission session in Geneva, Switzerland, in March. speaking on racism, he called it "paradoxical" that migrants and their families today are "explosed to racial intolerance, even in situations in which it is recognized that they bring an irreplaceable contribution to the economic progress of the countries to which they ahve moved," He said that "a blobalized community must develope a positive image of mmigration. Attempts to utilize anxieties and alarm in the face of migrants as a calculatted tool for short-term political advancement should not be accepted," he said...

... "Racist tendencies have so often in history returned to raise their ugly heads," Archbishop martin told the Geneva U.N. commission session. Racism, he said, is among "those forms of hatred that can be called ancient and modern," and "each generation must say its no to racism and construct its yes" to truth, justice, freedom and love. Unless racism is addressed at its roots, "its consequences dramatically eat away at the fabric of human cooperation," Martin told the commission.

Pope John Paul II’s pontificate has become the sixth longest in the history of the church, including that of St. Peter. John Paul II is the 264th Roman Pontiff. He was elected on October 16, 1978 and his pontificate officially began on October 22. As of March 29, 2002, he has reigned one day longer than Pope Pius VII (23 years, 5 months and 6 days, according to the Vatican yearbook. Only five Popes, including St. peter, have reigned longer thatn the Holy Father. In ascending order, they are: Adrian I; Pius VI; Leo XIII; Pius IX; and St. Peter.

A work meeting took place in the Vatican on April 23 and 24 with participants including the cardinals of the United States of America and the prefects of the Congregations for Clergy, Cardinal Dario CastrillonHoyos, for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and for Bishops, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. The purpose of this meeting: an examination of the problems that have arisen in the Church in the United States following the scandals connected with pedophilia, and an indication of guidelines aimed at restoring security and serenity to families and confidence to the clergy and the faithful.

The U.S. Bishops' Committee on Home Missions is awarding $10.5 million in grants this year, more than double the $4.5 million granted four years ago. More than 100 dioceses, religious orders and organ-izations are the recipients of the grants. About 85 of the 194 dioceses - plus Eastern-rite dioceses - do not have the monetary means to provide basic pastoral ministry without assistance from the grants, which are made possible by the annual Catholic Home Missions Appeal. The new grants will be distributed July 1. About 37 percent of the grants go to Hispanic ministries of various sorts. About 15 percent go to Eastern-rite churches, while 6 percent each are awarded to African-American and American Indian ministries, and another 4 percent to Asian initiatives.