Archbishop Mario Zenari, Apostolic Nuncio in Syria, has said he hopes that moves to unify the opposition to president Bashar al-Assad will lead to a political resolution of the conflict. The US bishops have approved their first new document on preaching in 30 years at their plenary assembly in Baltimore (PDF of full text). Almost 100 faculty members at the University of San Diego have supported a symbolic no confidence vote against the university's president after she rescinded a fellowship invitation to British theologian Tina Beattie. Edward Peters responds to George Weigel's suggestion that the American Catholic Church should "pre-emptively withdraw from the civil marriage business". Robert Royal urges the American bishops to "forget about being nice". Fr Ed Tomlinson answers the top five criticisms of personal ordinariates for groups of former Anglicans. And those considering crossing the Tiber should take special care as the famous river has burst its banks. Follow me on Twitter @lukecoppen for updates throughout the day.