10:58 pm  |  MADRID, SPAIN, Feb 8, 2010 (CNA).- The president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela of Madrid, blessed the highest Catholic chapel in the world, located on the 33rd floor of Spain's new skyscraper, “Space Tower.”

The cardinal celebrated Mass in the chapel along with officials from the Villa Mir construction company and employees of the building.

The chapel was built upon the request of several workers in the skyscraper who gathered to pray the Rosary during its construction.

05:44 pm  |  NEW ORLEANS, LA., Feb 8, 2010 (CNA).- Following the Saints' Super Bowl victory on Sunday, Archbishop Phillip Hannan, the retired Archbishop of New Orleans, lauded the team's win and told CNA that “it was a tremendous effort.”

“Everybody involved, in a marvelous way supported each other,” said the archbishop on Monday,  adding that he was “tremendously grateful” the Saints “won the fight.”

Kent Bossier, the personal assistant and care taker of the 96-year-old prelate, told CNA that their lively Super Bowl experience began when they were flown to Miami from New Orleans on Saint's owner Tom Benson's private jet.

03:02 pm  |  ROME, ITALY, Feb 8, 2010 (CNA).- The celebrated philosopher and theologian Monsignor Michel Schooyans has published his thoughts on the contemporary misuse of the concept of "compassion." According to Msgr. Schooyans, the Vatican newspaper and the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, are complicit in promoting "pseudo-compassion."

Msgr. Schooyans, professor emeritus of theology and philosophy at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium and an expert in bioethics and demography, outlined the "bogus" employment of the concept of compassion in contemporary society by way of his recent work "The Pitfalls of Compassion." The essay features Msgr. Schooyans' analysis of certain acts that serve to undermine the real meaning of “compassion” and its practice.

In the paper, Msgr. Schooyans defined "compassion" as "a matter of understanding (the suffering person), 'sympathizing' with him, sharing in his distress and bearing it with him." He said that it "also suggests the notion of psychologically and emotionally sharing in suffering, especially suffering beyond medical or other control."

02:52 am  |  ANN ARBOR, MICH., Feb 8, 2010 (CNA).- The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist have made waves across the nation for their rapid growth and their devout orthodoxy. Now, they are once again in the national spotlight, being featured on the popular Oprah Winfrey Show.

“They phoned us and asked if they could do a program on us with Oprah. That's all we know!” Sister Joseph Andrew Bogdanowicz, OP, vocations director for the community, told CNA in an email.

The show featuring the sisters will air on Tuesday, February 9, 2010. The same day happens to be the congregation’s 13th anniversary. The coincidence is “amazing, as they did not know this when they chose the date -- but God did!” exclaimed the vocations director.