23 February to 1 March 1987

Durban – The Catholic Church will continue caring for South Africa’s oppressed but will not ignore other groups, said the new president of the Southern African Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Wilfred Napier of Kokstad. He states that due to his status as a so-called coloured person he is able to sympathise with both the white and the black communities in South Africa, and that the Church must continue to be involved in the social life of its entire people.

Kalapana, Hawaii – Star of the SeaChurch in Kalapana stands like an act of faith atop a slope of an active volcano, with barely a kilometre separating it from a river of lava since the volcano erupted in November. Masses continue to be held in the church which went through the same predicament merely ten years prior. Although the lava destroyed 28 houses in its path, it stopped at the place it has currently stalled just before Christmas, states parish priest Fr. Lawrence Burns.

25 February to 3 March 1991

Vatican City – in a comment made during a sermon on Ash Wednesday, Pope John Paul has encouraged acts of personal penitence during Lent, but has advised people to keep them secret. “Lent should be a time of ‘one-to-one’ dialogue between the individual and God, and acts of penitence can be an important part of the process,” he said, citing the Sermon on the Mount when Christ said acts of charity should remain secret. He also stated that he thought it to be unfortunate that penitential acts have fallen out of favour in modern times.