Daily Links, July 3: Fortnight winds down, nuns park their ride, and a miraculous health care solution

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, which also marks the end of the bishops' Fortnight for Freedom campaign. Rallies are continuing around the country, including a big event at the Kansas statehouse [1]. Critics of the campaign, however, are still wondering if the whole thing was really necessary, or even appropriate [2]. 

The other big campaign that's been taking place is the Nuns on the Bus roadtrip to call attention to the needs of the poor and vulnerable, which wrapped up yesterday [3] in Washington, D.C. The nuns got plenty of press, including this recap of their trip [4] in The Atlantic. For a different view of religious life, take a look at this story about the life of a nun in India [5].

Pope Benedict XVI announced yesterday the appointment of German Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller to head the CDF [6], replacing the retiring Cardinal William Levada, but not everyone is happy with the pope's choice. The Vatican also announced the appointment of Msgr. Marc Jeffrey Monforton [7], a Michigan priest, to head the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio.

There's an argument in North Carolina [8] over a law that could limit the ability of death row inmates to challenge their sentences on the grounds of racial bias. Meanwhile in South Carolina, a woman received a sentence that included reading the Book of Job [9] and writing a report on it.

Finally, India may have found a solution to both our health care crisis and our shrinking Catholic population. The Vatican Insider reports on strange, unexplained healings [10] taking place through prayer. That's good news for the church, which has seen a 40 percent increase in Catholics in the last 35 years.