People

Reports this week that the late Pope John Paul II may be on the verge of sainthood after a second miracle was credited to his intercession aren't a huge surprise: When he died eight years ago, crowds were already clamoring for his canonization, and Pope Benedict XVI quickly waived the usual five-year waiting period to get the process rolling.

A Philadelphia judge dismissed three of eight murder charges Tuesday in the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortionist accused of killing babies said to be born alive at his clinic.

Part educational, part fundraiser and part interactive, the experience allows students to show solidarity with the nearly 43 million displaced persons worldwide. 

Sr. M. Patrice Kerin, a Franciscan sister in Sylvania, Ohio, who served as general superior and established the health care system Franciscan Services Corporation, died April 7 after a brief illness. She was 86.

Kerin was a good debater and listener, someone who helped people discover solutions instead of giving orders herself, friends said. She exhibited Franciscan values and Irish hospitality, they said.

"She had just a wonderful way of giving you the reverence that you were the only person that was important to her at that time," Franciscan Sr. Rachel Nijakowski said.