1. Pope to address EU leaders at Vatican ahead of summit.
By Associated Press, March 3, 2017, 6:21 AM
The pope will meet with European Union leaders a day before a special summit marking the 60th anniversary of the bloc’s founding treaty.
The Vatican announced on Friday announced that the audience will be held March 24, the eve of the summit marking the anniversary of the EU founding Treaty of Rome. The evening meeting is expected to be public.
2. Cardinal offers his support for immigrants: Wuerl also urges caution against “false hope” from sanctuary churches.
By Julie Zauzmer, The Washington Post, March 3, 2017, Pg. B1
Cardinal Donald Wuerl, leader of the Washington Archdiocese’s 620,000 Catholics, said Thursday that the church’s values compel it to oppose the deportation of people already living in the United States.
But Wuerl expressed caution about the idea of churches acting as sanctuaries for those seeking to avoid deportation, as some congregations across the country have offered.
“When we use the word sanctuary, we have to be very careful that we’re not holding out false hope. We wouldn’t want to say, ‘Stay here, we’ll protect you,’ ” he said, explaining that he’s not sure churches can legally guarantee protection to people who might move into a church building, or that federal agents would necessarily respect the boundaries of a church as a place that they cannot enter. “With separation of church and state, the church really does not have the right to say, ‘You come in this building and the law doesn’t apply to you.’ But we do want to say we’ll be a voice for you.”
Wuerl made the comments in a meeting with editors at The Washington Post, where he discussed many issues of interest to the Archdiocese of Washington, which covers the District and much of Maryland and is one of the nation’s most prominent Catholic dioceses.
3. Pence, not Trump, to give Notre Dame commencement address.
By Tom Davies, Associated Press, March 2, 2017, 4:25 PM
Vice President Mike Pence will deliver the commencement address this spring at the University of Notre Dame, the school announced Thursday, an honor customarily reserved for newly elected U.S. presidents.
…
Pence said in a statement that it’s “extraordinarily humbling” to be able to return home to Indiana for the Notre Dame ceremony, during which he will be awarded an honorary degree.
Jenkins said in a statement the school was proud to have the former Indiana governor represent the new administration.
Presidents and vice presidents typically deliver commencement addresses each spring. The White House has yet to announce any commencements for Trump.
The country’s best-known Roman Catholic university faced withering criticism from dozens of bishops and anti-abortion groups over its decision to have President Barack Obama, an abortion rights supporter, speak at the 2009 commencement just months after he took office.
Pence will be the first vice president to give the Notre Dame commencement address, while six presidents dating back to Dwight Eisenhower have done so. Besides Obama, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush have done so during their first year in office, according to the university.
