PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- Sister Silvi Elie hasn't eaten all day, and the tiredness shows on her face as she pleads with a Brazilian nongovernmental organization for some tents for the homeless families who have camped out on the patio of her convent, the House of Maria Auxiliatrix. Tents are in short supply in the Haitian capital these days, and she has to argue forcefully. Her persistence finally pays off, and she fills her pickup with two loads of tents. "I'm going to hide them until dark, otherwise people will swarm all over us to get them.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI recently urged the world's priests to make better use of new media, but in his own backyard the digital revolution is still seen as a mixed blessing. The Vatican Web site remains largely a repository of printed texts, displayed on pages designed to look like parchment. And despite more than a decade of discussion about making the site interactive, www.vatican.va continues to provide information in one direction only: from them to you.

OTTAWA (CNS) -- Members of the Canadian bishops' justice and peace commission have called for prayers for victims of human trafficking, noting that they expect it to be a problem at the Feb. 12-28 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. A pastoral letter issued Jan.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The positive views expressed by some Catholics and pro-life advocates following the election of Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate led many to believe that Brown is a Catholic who takes a 100 percent pro-life stand. Neither is the case. Brown and his family attend New England Chapel in Franklin, Mass., part of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, which has roots in the Protestant Reformation.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The major Catholic aid agencies in Haiti continued to step up their assistance to the devastated country, feeding tens of thousands of people as the rebuilding effort begins. Caritas Haiti and the U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services were delivering nearly 100 tons of food to Port-au-Prince during the week of Jan. 25 to feed at least 50,000 people in one of the city's biggest camps, Petionville Club, Caritas Internationalis said in a statement Jan. 28.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The nun who is overseeing the Vatican-mandated apostolic visitation of U.S. communities of women religious has expressed "sadness and disappointment" over congregations that have resisted completing the questionnaire that is part of the process. The apostolic visitation was initiated by Cardinal Franc Rode, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Announced Jan.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Three leading U.S. bishops called on members of Congress Jan. 26 to "set aside partisan divisions and special-interest pressures" to achieve genuine health reform. "The health care debate, with all its political and ideological conflict, seems to have lost its central moral focus and policy priority, which is to ensure that affordable, quality, life-giving care is available to all," said a letter signed by Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston and Bishops William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., and John C. Wester of Salt Lake City.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Pope Benedict XVI prayed that honoring the memory of the 6 million Jews who died in the Nazi death camps would lead everyone to greater respect for each human being. "Deeply moved, we remember the innumerable victims of the blind racial and religious hatred, who suffered deportation, prison and death in those repugnant and inhuman places," he said Jan. 27 at the end of his weekly general audience.

NEW YORK (CNS) -- An ad scheduled to air on CBS during the network's broadcast of the Feb. 7 Super Bowl has generated criticism from groups such as the National Organization for Women because of its pro-life message. The 30-second spot will feature recent University of Florida graduate Tim Tebow, the Gators' star quarterback who graduated in December. The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner led his team to victory in the Sugar Bowl Jan. 1.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Droves of pro-life youths from across the country lined up outside the Verizon Center to get inside the annual Youth Rally and Mass for Life sponsored by the Archdiocese of Washington Jan. 22, forming a crowd of 17,400 people. This year the event at the Washington sports arena was more in demand than ever -- about 10,000 tickets to the event were snapped up in just 45 minutes when they were made available through online ticketing in mid-November, said Christa Lopiccolo, executive director of the archdiocesan Department of Life Issues.