More Latin American countries legalizing abortion
Christian Science Monitor
Despite repeated public protests from Church leaders and pro-life advocates, more countries are legalizing abortion and relaxing laws on issues such as same-sex marriage. Mexico City is expected to legalize abortion for any reason on Tuesday, and a similar bill has been introduced in the national government. The move is seen as a decline in the influence of the Church in the world’s second-largest Catholic country.

Baffled by Cardinal Egan
New York Times (registration site)
In the dusk of his half-century-long career, New York Cardinal Edward Egan has shuttered half-empty churches, faced down disgruntled parishioners and retired an unsightly $20 million deficit, all in the name of putting the Archdiocese of New York on sturdy fiscal legs.  At 75, the cardinal has submitted his resignation to the Vatican in accordance with Church law.

No more menstrual cycle, but is that a good thing?
San Jose Mercury News
For many women, a birth-control pill that eliminates monthly menstruation might seem a welcome milestone. But many view their periods as fundamental symbols of fertility and health, researchers have found. Rather than loathing their periods, women evidently carry on complex love-hate relationships with them. The Church stands against the premarital sex and, subsequently, the use of contraception and, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, it is an offense against the Sixth Commandment, “You shall not commit adultery” (No. 2331-2400).