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They may not be ready to accept GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's invitation to stand with him "shoulder to shoulder," but conservatives gave him a reception that at times rose to rousing at their biggest annual gathering on Friday.

This week, a Vatican-backed symposium in Rome tackled the painful subject of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Some victims' advocates decried the meeting as "cheap window dressing." But others say it may signal the the Vatican is moving toward reformers and away from deniers of the abuse.

As the death toll mounts in Syria, the U.S. and its partners are seeking new diplomatic initiatives to persuade Syrian President Bashar Assad to silence his army's guns and give up power. Turkey's foreign minister says it's crucial for the world to send a signal to Syrians that they are not alone.

President Obama announced a change of course Friday regarding religious institutions and birth control coverage. The administration, which seemed caught off guard by the strong opposition to its original policy, hopes to regain Catholic allies and maintain support from the women who put Obama in the White House.

The process by which the Justice Department will decide whether a terrorism case goes to a regular federal court or to a military commission has been something of a mystery. The big difference is how it will be done: The people making those decisions won't just be lawyers; intelligence agents and spies will be there, too. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports.

Lin-sanity grips basketball! Gripes and second-guesses grip Pats fans! And what do we owe great four-legged athletes when they go past their prime? Host Scott Simon talks with NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman about the sports of the week.

Joseph Smith Jr. has been chosen to oversee the multibillion-dollar national mortgage settlement announced earlier this week. Smith is described as a man who understands the plight of the homeowner without forgetting what makes a successful banking industry work.

President Obama is scheduled Monday to release his proposed federal budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. House Republican leaders are likely to release their version in the coming days. Neither is likely to pass. Not that it matters — the spending level for the year was set in last summer's bill that settled the debt ceiling crisis.

This past week, the White House changed its requirements that faith-based employers include contraceptives in their health insurance plans, after Republicans and some Democrats opposed the policy on religious grounds. Host Rachel Martin talks with NPR's Mara Liasson and Barbara Bradley Hagerty.

Taking the primaries handily, Henrique Capriles said it was time to end Chávez's socialist experiment. Capriles says he admires Brazil's "modern left" economic model.