RNS starts off the week with a story on Pope Benedict XVI‘s new influence on the U.S. hierarchy and what kinds of changes we can expect. Rocco Palmo writes: Benedict has inherited the papacy’s absolute authority to select suitable leaders for the world’s 2,700 dioceses, 197 of which are in the United States. His first major American test is appointing a new archbishop of San Francisco to succeed Archbishop William J. Levada, chosen by Benedict to head the Vatican’s doctrine office. Levada will play a similar “kingmaker” role in the naming of new bishops.
Jason Kane reports on a meeting of religious leaders from around the world taking place Sept. 11-13 at the Washington National Cathedral. Those attending the “Consultation of Religious Leaders on Global Poverty” will discuss the church’s role in ending severe global poverty and commit to reducing it by half by 2015. Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, South Africa, said, “We have the resources; all we are lacking is political will. It’s important for the (political) leadership to know where the religious leadership stands on this and also for us to use our moral authority to try and influence change in the right directions.”
We are also offering a series of vignettes illustrating how faith communities have begun the slow and arduous process of cleaning up after Hurricane Katrina: In Baton Rouge, La., Jewish groups came together to rescue Torah scrolls from flood-damaged synagogues. In Bayou La Batre, Ala., the floodwaters moved a statue of St. Peter-the patron saint of fishermen-halfway down a church but left it intact. And from Portland, Ore., one pastor sent a rented Suburban to personally rescue stranded families and resettle them in Oregon.
