Since the time of Pope John Paul II’s election in October 1978, the number of the world’s Catholics has increased more than 40 percent, from 757 million to 1.06 billion at the end of 2001, the last year for which official church statistics have been published, according to an article by John Thavis in a special Catholic News Service package of articles for the Pope’s 25th anniversary. He said that the Catholic population increased by 150 percent in Africa, 80 percent in Asia but only 5 percent in Europe, 4 percentage points higher than the general U.S. population growth.

"General support for a federal marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution" was expressed by the USCCB Administrative Committee. "Marriage exists so that the spouses might grow in mutual love and, by the generosity of their love, bring children into the world and serve life fully," said the committee. "At a time when family life is under significant stress," it said, "the principled defense of marriage is an urgent necessity." The committee said: "Our defense of marriage must focus primarily on the importance of marriage, not on homosexuality or other matters. The church’s teaching about the dignity of homosexual persons is clear." But, said the committee, "what are called ‘homosexual unions,’ because they do not express full human complementarity and because they are inherently nonprocreative, cannot be given the status of marriage."

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican’s secretary of state, sees no impediments for the Holy See to become a full member of the United Nations. The Holy See is already a permanent observer of the United Nations but does not have voting power. The Vatican has diplomatic relations with 174 nations and in carrying out its "diplomatic" activity, its representatives pursue two objectives: safeguarding and promoting the legitimate good of the Church, and service to all peoples, regardless of their religious faith. The issue of peace is the Holy See’s primary agenda. "Because of its universal nature, it follows with concern all the critical situations in the world. And . . . because of its humanitarian nature, it insists that all proper measures be taken in favor of civil populations."

World Youth Days have promoted conversions and vocations and triggered high-tech initiative in the new evangelization. A particular case in point is a Web page, www.korazym.org, directed by Serena Sartini and built by a core group of 5 youths that attended the Toronto World Youth Day. Their site has become a point of reference for the next World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany in August 2005. They are a group of youth, united by Franciscan spirituality, and their desire is to inform young people about the life of the Pope, World Youth Day and to offer a forum for discussion. The group takes its name from the Hebrew name of the Mount of the Beatitudes in the Holy Land, spelling Korazym with a "y" for "youth", instead of an "i". This is their gesture which seeks to open the heart to all young people. Their objective is to be a press instrument which offers a source of true information and a Christian view of the world.