Cardinal Daniel DiNardo is metropolitan archbishop of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Contact through Jo Ann Zuniga.

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is the scientific office of the Roman Catholic Church and is located at the Vatican. It has multiple goals, including promoting the progress of the mathematical, physical and natural sciences and the study of related epistemological questions and issues. Members include scientists, clergy and laypersons. Werner Arber is president.

Pope Benedict has said the Harry Potter books “erode Christianity in the soul” of young people according to a July 15, 2005, Manchester Evening News article.

A scholarly treatment of the debate can be found in the book The Ethics of Embryo Adoption and the Catholic Tradition: Moral Arguments, Economic Reality and Social Analysis, co-edited by Sarah-Vaughan Brakman and Darlene Fozard Weaver.

And a Dec. 31, 2008, Catholic News Service feature looks at one committed Catholic couple who would like to adopt frozen embryos and were perplexed by the Vatican instruction.

Read the text of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation announcement.

NBC News posted a timeline of the pope’s life on Feb. 11, 2013.

On Feb. 11, 2013, Time magazine provided reactions from German leaders to the news about their native son.