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In the last few issues, the Register has brought you important news stories that you won’t see anywhere but here.

• U.S. Rep. Chris Smith’s efforts to restore the Mexico City Policy banning foreign aid going to abortion.

• The Church’s divergence with Obama over health-care plans.

• The fight among assisted suicide groups over when to kill — and how pro-lifers are countering them.

• Catholic online social networking options.

• The research from secular experts that supports Pope Benedict XVI’s approach to the AIDS crisis in Africa.

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Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne attends a German Synodal Way assembly on March 9, 2023.

Four German Bishops Resist Push to Install Permanent ‘Synodal Council’

Given the Vatican’s repeated interventions against the German process, the bishops said they would instead look to the Synod of Bishops in Rome. Meanwhile, on Monday, German diocesan bishops approved the statutes for a synodal committee; and there are reports that the synodal committee will meet again in June.

Palestinian Christians celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church in Gaza City on March 31, amid the ongoing battles Israel and the Hamas militant group.

People Explain ‘Why I Go to Mass’

‘Why go to Mass on Sundays? It is not enough to answer that it is a precept of the Church. … We Christians need to participate in Sunday Mass because only with the grace of Jesus, with his living presence in us and among us, can we put into practice his commandment, and thus be his credible witnesses.’ —Pope Francis