News Briefs

The cure of a French television repairman who completed a 1,000-mile hike after his paralyzed leg was inexplicably healed has become the 68th miracle to be recognized at Lourdes. • The U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine concluded on March 30 that a book published in 2007 by the theologian Elizabeth A. Johnson, C.S.J., “contains misrepresentations, ambiguities and errors.” Sister Johnson said the committee radically misinterprets her work. • Bishop-designate William J. Wright, 58, was named the new bishop of Maitland-Newcastle in Australia on April 4. He succeeds Bishop Michael J. Malone, 71, who requested early retirement after struggling with the sexual abuse scandal for “15 difficult years.” • Pope Benedict XVI has encouraged the so-called patriotic and underground Catholic churches in mainland China to be reconciled. But some argue, according to Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, that the “clandestine communities still have a reason to exist” as the only way to be faithful to the universal church. • The U.S. Army has started training chaplains regarding the repeal of the ban on openly gay service members, saying those who are unable to follow the forthcoming policy could seek a voluntary departure.