WASHINGTON (CNS) --- Charging that the debate leading up to the 2008 elections "is increasingly filled with attacks on private conduct and recriminations," a group of prominent lay Catholics called for a "spirit of civility" in all political discussions and said the church must be protected "from being stained by the appearance of partisan political involvement." Signers of the "Catholic Call to Observe Civility in Political Debate," released on Election Day 2007, include 11 former U.S. ambassadors, former chairmen of both the Democratic and Republican national committees, a retired undersecretary-general of the United Nations, past and current university presidents, business executives, attorneys and former officeholders. Thomas P. Melady, former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican and president emeritus of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., said at a Nov. 6 news conference in Washington that a conscious decision was made not to solicit signers from among current Catholic officeholders. "That might change," he said. "But it has to be a carefully thought-out thing."

Congress urged to consider global warming measures' impact on poor
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- The chairman of the U.S. bishops' international policy committee and other religious leaders said Oct. 31 that, as Congress begins to consider measures to address global warming, lawmakers must protect "those often missing from the debate --- the vulnerable and often voiceless people at home and around the world." Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., said, "We are convinced the real 'inconvenient truth' about climate change is that those who contribute least to the problem are likely to suffer the most." He made the comments during a teleconference with reporters. Other religious leaders who participated included the Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, and the Rev. Michael Livingston, president of the National Council of Churches. "For us, the moral measure of legislation is how it protects 'the least among us' ... in our nation and on the planet we share," Bishop Wenski said. On Nov. 1 a subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 4-3 to send a bill to cap greenhouse gas emissions to the full committee, which is chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. Boxer said she hopes the full committee will approve the bill by the end of the year.

Bishops to choose president, vice president from among 10 candidates
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- The U.S. bishops will elect their president, vice president, treasurer-elect and 10 committee chairmen and chairmen-elect at the November meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. The new president will succeed Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., who completes his three-year term at the end of the Nov. 12-15 meeting, when Cardinal Francis George of Chicago completes his term as vice president. The candidates for president are Cardinal George and Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia; Archbishops Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee and Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky.; and Bishops Gregory Aymond of Austin, Texas; Gerald Kicanas of Tucson; William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn.; Dennis Schnurr of Duluth, Minn.; Donald Trautman of Erie, Pa.; and Allen Vigneron of Oakland. After a president is chosen from among the 10 candidates, the remaining nine become the slate of candidates for vice president.

Bush to nominate Glendon as ambassador to Vatican
WASHINGTON (CNS) --- President George W. Bush will nominate Mary Ann Glendon, a U.S. law professor and president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, as the new U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. The White House made the announcement late Nov. 5. The nomination is official when Bush sends it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which will hold a hearing before sending the nomination to the full Senate for confirmation. Glendon, a Catholic, said she hoped that her "background in international legal studies, together with my familiarity with Catholic social thought, will aid me in continuing the fruitful dialogue that presently exists between the United States and the Holy See" on a variety of issues. Those issues include human rights, religious freedom, human trafficking, development and "the fight against hunger, disease and poverty," she said.

Participants: More knowledge of embryo's origin, development needed
VATICAN CITY (CNS) --- A better scientific understanding of the origin and development of the human embryo can help answer many of today's hot-button bioethical issues, said participants in a Vatican-sponsored project. Participants in the project, "Science, Technology and the Ontological Quest," were to hold an international conference in Rome Nov. 15-17. It was to bring together medical doctors, scientists, jurists, philosophers and theologians to discuss the genesis of human life. Open, honest and accurate study and debate can help contribute to "an authentic sense of mankind," said Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, which coordinates the project. The archbishop and others involved in the conference spoke Nov. 6 at a Vatican press conference. Titled "Ontogeny and Human Life," the conference will try to promote dialogue between experts and scholars from different schools of thought, and prompt them to work together "for the quest for truth," said Pietro Ramellini, professor at the Pontifical Regina Apostolorum Athenaeum.