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On the occasion of Pope Francis' visit to the US and Cuba, I wanted to re-post a Litany for Priests from EWTN's website dedicated to the Year of the Priest. Please pray for Pope Francis and all priests. They really need constant, ongoing prayer. Thanks so much. <3 THE LITANY FOR ALL PRIESTS Let us pray for the Holy Father, Fill him with your grace, Lord. Cardinals, Archbishops, and Bishops Give them your gifts, Lord. Diocesan priests, Never leave them, Lord. Priests in seminary work, Give them your wisdom, Lord. Priests in hospital work, Give them constancy, Lord. Priests who...

Published April 29, 2013 FoxNews.com WASHINGTON – SNIPPET: "On multiple occasions, first after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and again after 9/11, Congress mandated that immigration officials come up with a verifiable entry-exit system to track foreign visitors. To date, the Department of Homeland Security has failed, despite spending billions in tax dollars. The current system, known as USVISIT, does take fingerprints and photos of international visitors when they arrive at U.S. airports, but it has no similar biometric exit system. The goal is to match entry and exit records to determine which individuals comply with their visa and...

US-VISIT About to Be Another Obama Casualty March 2nd, 2012 - by Janice Kephart As the Obama administration continues to try to convince the American people they are securing the borders, their most recent budget request makes clear that “Amnesty by Any Means” remains the consistent mission. The latest installment is buried in the president’s homeland security budget, which includes provisions dotted throughout that, put together, would result in the dismantling of arguably the best border-related program that exists in federal government, US-VISIT, burying its capabilities in two of the most politicized of all government agencies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement...

Secure Communities strategy prioritizes immigration enforcement actions against convicted criminal aliens RICHMOND, Va.- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Secure Communities was activated as of last week in every county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This biometric information sharing strategy enables ICE to identify any alien booked into local law enforcement's custody for a crime. This capability is part of ICE's comprehensive strategy to improve and modernize the identification and removal of criminal aliens from the United States. Formerly, during the booking process, arrestees' fingerprints were checked for criminal history information only against the biometric database maintained by the...

US VISIT needs fixing — an opportunity for McCain. Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential hopeful, says he has learned his lesson on immigration. His vision of a “comprehensive reform” in which at least some illegal aliens would be rewarded with legal status must, he now knows, await major deposits in the credibility bank by a government Americans do not trust to enforce the law. He says it’s time to get serious, and that the way to do that is “Border Enforcement First.” Unfortunately, that’s not very serious. Long before September 11, 2001, the government well knew that smuggling across...

The fact that he is taking time during a limited visit to meet with them, she said, is a "very strong statement about how important Catholic education is." WASHINGTON (CNS) - When Pope Benedict XVI comes to Washington this spring, he will deliver a one-hour address on Catholic education April 17 to presidents of U.S. Catholic colleges and universities and Catholic school superintendents from every U.S. diocese and archdiocese. The gathering will take place on the campus of The Catholic University of America. This will not be the first time a pope has visited the university established in 1887 by...

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security officials believe it will take five to 10 years to develop the technology needed to implement the exit portion of a border security plan without major disruptions, according to congressional investigators. In a report released Thursday, the Government Accountability Office concluded that the entry portion of the Visitor and Immigration Status Indicator Technology program, known as US-VISIT, has been installed at most of the nation's land borders with minimal disruption. The entry portion of the program includes biometric features such as digital scans of fingerprints to identify foreign visitors to the U.S. Congress required the program...

North Korean leader takes new wife 2 hours, 53 minutes ago North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has taken a musician-turned-secretary as his new wife after his former spouse died of cancer two years ago. Kim Ok, 42, lived with the reclusive North Korean leader who turned 64 in February after serving as his private secretary, Seoul's Yonhap news agency said quoting an unnamed government source. "She is virtually North Korea's first lady," said the source who Yonhap called a Seoul government source privy to information on Kim Jong-Il's family Kim Ok, a piano major at Pyongyang University of Music and...

(AUSTRALIA'S) PRIME Minister John Howard has urged the United States to become more involved in international affairs, saying it is the only way to ensure world peace. Mr Howard made the plea to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during an official lunch at the State Department in Washington, a day after a private dinner with President George W. Bush. The prime minister has powered through a series of meetings with senior US officials, including Ms Rice, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman and the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke. Ms Rice opened the lunch...

  Modernizing America's Welcome Mat The Implementation of US-VISIT August 2005By Jessica M. VaughanUS-VISIT, the new biometrics-based border inspections program, has proven its value in enhancing U.S. security; so far enabling border and consular officials to intercept the entry of thousands of terrorists, criminals, and other ineligible foreign visitors. But the administration’s decision to exempt most Mexicans and Canadians from screening, despite well-documented problems in regulating the entry and exit of these visitors, along with foot-dragging in making use of the exit-recording capability, severely undermines the program and risks transforming this potentially critical national security tool into a high-tech...

TORONTO - A U.S. security official said Wednesday it will use wireless technology at five border posts with Canada and Mexico to track foreigners driving in and out of the United States. Bob Mocny of the Department of Homeland Security said wireless chips for vehicles would become mandatory at designated border crossings in Canada and Mexico as of Aug. 4. Border authorities will provide a chip that drivers will put on the dashboard of vehicles. Antennas have been installed at the border crossings at Thousand Islands Bridge in Alexandria Bay, N.Y., and Blaine, Wash. crossings for the Pacific Highway and...

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Fewer than 3 percent of foreigners legally entering the United States by land are checked against watch lists of terror suspects, a report from the homeland security inspector general says. The report comes on the eve of President Bush's summit with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, raising concerns about the national security risks posed by porous U.S. borders. The Department of Homeland Security began last year to implement its US-VISIT program at land ports of entry. The program biometrically verifies the identity of foreign visitors by taking inkless fingerprints and enables visitors' names to be checked...

A recent vote in Congress endorsing standardized, electronically readable driver's licenses has raised fears about whether the proposal would usher in what amounts to a national ID card. In a vote that largely divided along party lines, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a Republican-backed measure that would compel states to design their driver's licenses by 2008 to comply with federal antiterrorist standards. Federal employees would reject licenses or identity cards that don't comply, which could curb Americans' access to everything from airplanes to national parks and some courthouses. The congressional maneuvering takes place as governments are growing more interested...

US-VISIT is a top priority for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security because it enhances security for our citizens and visitors while facilitating legitimate travel and trade across our borders. US-VISIT helps to secure our borders, facilitate the entry and exit process, and enhance the integrity of our immigration system while respecting the privacy of our visitors. US-VISIT is part of a continuum of security measures that begins overseas and continues through a visitor’s arrival in and departure from the United States. It incorporates eligibility determinations made by both the Departments of Homeland Security and State. In those cases where...

could be worth as much as $10 billion. The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday it has picked Accenture as the prime contractor for US-Visit, an IT-based system that will control entry of foreigners into the country. The five-year contract, which could be lengthened to 10 years, could be worth up to $10 billion. Some people questioned whether the U.S. government would award Accenture the contract because it's incorporated in Hamilton, Bermuda. But only a handful of employees are situated there; 25,000 of Accenture's 90,000 workers are based in the United States. Accenture, with operations in 48 countries, says it...

NEW YORK TIMES, June 2, 2004 Accenture Is Awarded U.S. Contract for Borders By ERIC LICHTBLAU and JOHN MARKOFF WASHINGTON, June 1 - The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday named Accenture as the prime contractor for a multibillion-dollar project aimed at creating a "virtual border" around the country to head off would-be terrorists entering the United States. Asa Hutchinson, the under secretary in charge of border security, said the project, called U.S.-Visit was "a significant milestone in the history of the department" and in the bolstering of border security since the Sept. 11 attacks. "I really don't think you...

US president George W. Bush’s appointment book for the remainder of April reflects a Middle East without Iraq. Two days after seeing Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in Crawford on Monday, April 12, he meets Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon in Washington and Abdullah King of Jordan on Friday, April 21. No Iraqi leader joins the procession of Middle East visitors because no suitable prime minister for the new federal republic of Iraq is so far visible. Although Bush would have preferred to devote the week to the crisis besetting Iraq, he cannot cancel visits that were scheduled before the April...

<p>April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Travelers from western European nations and Japan will be added in September to the list of foreign visitors fingerprinted and photographed upon arrival in the U.S., the State Department said.</p> <p>The extension is designed to address security concerns stemming from a U.S. agreement last month to delay for two years a new passport requirement for visitors from 27 countries, mostly in Europe, who are allowed to enter the U.S. without visas, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON — Some American allies are expressing anger at the uneven treatment that their citizens are getting when they visit the United States, while Europeans from nations with longer, but now more strained ties to America get no additional scrutiny at the border.</p>

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - President Bush on Saturday backed off a plan to require frequent Mexico-U.S. travelers to be fingerprinted and photographed before crossing the border, a reversal welcomed by Mexican President Vicente Fox. "We welcome the news that was confirmed today with regard to visitors to the U.S. from Mexico," Fox said at a news conference with Bush at the American president's ranch. "They will not have to be photographed or fingerprinted." Fox alluded to another agreement to speed migration - a deal to issue special visas through the North American Free Trade Agreement to allow professionals to move...