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• BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) -- Pope Francis will arrive this weekend in the land where Christianity was born -- and where Christians are disappearing.
• This ancient community has dwindled to around 2 percent of the region's population as economic hardship, violence and the bitter realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have sent Christians searching for better opportunities overseas.
• The Christian exodus, underway for decades, has reached critical levels in recent years. Emigration is a central concern to local Vatican officials, who are trying to stave off the flight with offers of jobs, housing and scholarships.
• "I am sad to think that maybe the time will come in which Christianity will disappear from this land," said the Rev. Juan Solana, a Vatican envoy who oversees the Notre Dame center, a Jerusalem hotel for pilgrims that employs 150 locals, mostly Christians.
• Solana said he employs Christians to encourage them "to stay here, to love this land, to be aware of their particular vocation to be the witnesses of Christianity in this land."
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• PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Same-sex couples clamored for marriage licenses after a Pennsylvania judge's ruling allowed them to join the rest of the Northeast in legalizing their relationships, with Philadelphia offices staying open late to handle a rush of applications.
• Couples must wait three days after their application to get married unless a sympathetic judge grants a waiver. Between now and then, Republican Gov. Tom Corbett could appeal and effectively put the ruling on hold, though he didn't immediately indicate whether he would.
• Joe Parisi, 30, and Steven Seminelli, 28, live in Philadelphia and were among the first to get a license Tuesday.
• "Yeah, we were texting each other from work and just said, all right, we've got to jet out of work and get down here as soon as we can," Parisi said. "We didn't want to take the chance of having this be challenged and missing out on our opportunity."

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