News Briefs.

Presents news briefs concerning the Catholic Church. The Vatican said it would not close its embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, in the event of a war. Catholic religious orders in Iraq have also pledged to remain in Baghdad. Several Cuban bishops said the Brigittine Sisters and President Fidel Castro went around them by getting permission from the Vatican to open a new convent before requesting it from Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino of Havana. The bishops said that Castro used the ceremony, widely publicized by state television and the government-controlled press, to show that he has good relations with the Vatican and international church leaders, while his problems are limited to malcontents in the Cuban hierarchy.