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The Southern Cross, Page 2 Pope accepts resignation of Anchorage Archbishop Hurley Washington (CNS) P ope John Paul II has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Francis T. Hurley of Anchorage, Alaska. The resignation means that Coadjutor Archbishop Roger L. Schweitz, appointed last March, automatically becomes archbishop of Anchorage. Archbishop Hurley, who turned 74 on January 12, has been a bishop in Alaska for nearly 30 years, first serving as bishop of Juneau from 1971 to 1976, when he was appointed archbishop of Anchorage.The changes were announced March 3 in Washington by Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, apostolic nuncio to the United States. Seal of confession comes into PLAY IN INQUIRY ON ALLEGED SPY Arlington, VA (CNS) E ven if accused spy Robert P. Hanssen con fessed his crimes to a Catholic priest, the priest is forbidden by church law to discuss the confes sion to anyone, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was reported in late February that FBI agents have been interviewing Catholic priests from St. John Parish in McLean to glean informa tion about their possible spiritual relationship with Hanssen. The accused spy, the FBI deduces, must have told someone about his alleged 15-year espi onage career, which included reportedly passing along thousands of classified federal documents to his KGB handlers. “Hanssen hasn’t expressed regret over his actions,” said one FBI source. “But we’re interested in finding out if maybe he dis cussed this stuff with a higher authority.” Abortion making inroads in Latin America, pro-life activists say Miami (CNS) F inanced in large part by groups in the United States, radical feminism is making inroads in Latin America, exporting an abortion mentality that runs counter to the indigenous culture’s traditional respect for life. That was the observation made by several pro-life activists from Latin America who took part in Human Life International’s regional conference February 24-25 in Miami. The panel discussion featured pro-life leaders from Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Spain. “Radical feminism has been exported to our country. It does not represent the voice of Mexican women,” said Osiris Reyes, a Mexican pro-life activist who re cently founded Mujeres por los Derechos Humanos (Women for Human Rights). Headline Hojpscotcih Diocesan leaders report on what HELPS, HINDERS WOMEN IN CHURCH Washington (CNS) W omen in diocesan leadership positions in the United States say their participation in church decision-making is sometimes hindered by sexist attitudes, church structures or the strident voices of women themselves, according to a new survey. The results were compiled by the Life Cycle Institute of The Catholic University of America in Washington from questionnaires sent to 378 women in 128 dio ceses who had been identified by their bishops as diocesan leaders. The aim of the survey, which was released February 27, was to “examine how wo men’s voices are heard in church decision-making,” said Archbishop John G. Vlazny of Portland, Oregon, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Women in Society and in the Church, in a letter sent to bishops with the survey results. Court refuses to hear case on GRADUATION SPEECH Washington (CNS) T he U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a California high school valedictorian who was prevented from giving his graduation speech three years ago when he would not tone down its religious references. Without comment, the court rejected the former student's argument that public school district officials had violated his rights when they did not allow him to give his prepared speech. The student, Chris Niemeyer, was co-vale- dictorian of the 1998 graduating class at Oroville High School in Oroville, California. His speech had numerous references to God and pleas to the audience to “pattern their lives after Jesus’ exam ple” and to realize that “God seeks a personal rela tionship” with each of them. Pope names Cardinal Kasper head of Christian unity council Vatican City (CNS) P ope John Paul II has named German Cardinal Walter Kasper, an internationally known the ologian and ecumenist, to be president of the Ponti fical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Cardi nal Kasper, who had been secretary of the council since 1999, celebrated his 68th birthday March 5. The German cardinal succeeds 76-year-old Austra lian Cardinal Edward I. Cassidy, who had been president of the council since 1989. The Vatican also announced that Sulpician Father Marc Ouellet, a Canadian professor at Rome’s Lateran University, had been named a bishop and secretary of the council. Thursday, March 8, 2001 Pope names Cleveland native as nuncio to Dominican Republic Vatican City (CNS) P ope John Paul II has named U.S. Monsignor Timothy P. Broglio, currently chief of staff to the Vatican secretary of state, to be an archbishop and papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic and apostolic delegate to Puerto Rico. The 49-year-old Cleveland native, along with several other new nuncios and bishops, will be ordained to the epis copacy by Pope John Paul March 19 in Saint Peter’s Basilica. During trip to Syria, pope expect ed TO VISIT MOSQUE Vatican City (CNS) I n a historic overture toward Muslims, Pope John Paul II is expected to enter a mosque during his visit to Syria in May, a Syrian bishop said. The pope plans to go inside the mosque of Ommayad in Damascus, where a shrine is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, according to Melkite Catholic Archbishop Isidore Battikha, the Syrian prelate in charge of organizing the papal visit. Vatican sour ces said in early March that definitive plans for the mosque visit had not yet been made. If the pope does make the visit, he would become the first modem pontiff to enter a Muslim place of worship. Dallas bishop visits Libya at invi tation OF CHURCH LEADER Dallas (CNS) B ishop Charles V. Grahmann of Dallas, who took a rare trip to Libya February 15-20, found himself humbled by the faith of Christians there and convinced of the need for more U.S.-Libyan dialogue. Bishop Grahmann, who also met with top Libyan officials during the trip, made the visit at the invitation of Bishop Giovanni Martinelli of Tripoli to learn more about the 50,000 scattered Christians in the mostly Muslim country. He told his staff about the trip at its annual Lenten retreat February 23, and said he was hosted by the World Islamic Call Society, a government humanitarian organization. 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