News Briefs

Pope Francis is increasingly turning his attention to the stars of Silicon Valley, meeting Apple’s C.E.O., Tim Cook, for a 15-minute conversation on Jan. 22 just days after shaking hands with Eric Schmidt from Google. • Israel’s appropriation of 380 acres of Palestinian agricultural land in the Jordan Valley was described as another setback for a two-state solution by Raffoul Rofa, a lawyer for a Catholic legal aid group. • Ruling on Jan. 14 that a Catholic hospital in California could not be forced to conduct a tubal ligation, Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith said, “Religious-based hospitals have an enshrined place in American history…and the religious beliefs reflected in their operation are not to be interfered with by courts.” • Pope Francis advanced the sainthood causes of 10 men and women, including Argentina’s “gaucho priest,” Blessed José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero, on Jan. 21. • The 51st International Eucharistic Congress kicked off in Cebu, the Philippines, on Jan. 24 with Pope Francis’ representative, Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon, Myanmar, declaring that “the Eucharist calls for...a third world war against poverty.”