Catholic News Agency

ACI Prensa's latest initiative is the Catholic News Agency (CNA), aimed at serving the English-speaking Catholic audience. ACI Prensa (www.aciprensa.com) is currently the largest provider of Catholic news in Spanish and Portuguese.

San Antonio archbishop bans retreat center for ‘false teachings’ against Pope Francis
Mon, 18 Mar 2024 18:00:00 -0400

Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS, of San Antonio. / Credit: Veronicamarkland, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 18, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller has restricted a local priest and a ministry known as the Mission of Divine Mercy (MDM) for disobedience and for spreading “false teachings,” presented as prophecies, against Pope Francis.

The apostolate and priest who was sanctioned, meanwhile, are defying the archbishop’s disciplinary measures and have held at least one unsanctioned Mass.

Garcia-Siller’s disciplinary action follows MDM’s publication of several messages on its website in which the group claimed “God the Father” told one of its members that the pope is a “usurper” and an “enemy of the Church.”

In response, García-Siller said in a March 15 statement that the group’s “status as a Catholic apostolate of the Archdiocese of San Antonio has been suppressed and revoked by official decree.”

According to the archbishop’s statement, MDM’s founder, Father John Mary Foster, refused to remove the messages from the group’s website despite repeated admonitions, thus breaking his vow of obedience and necessitating that he be barred from publicly practicing his priestly faculties.

Despite the archbishop’s ban, a representative for MDM told CNA that the apostolate plans to continue operating and that Foster celebrated Mass on Sunday.

What did the ‘prophetic messages’ say?

Based in New Braunfels, a town in the Texas Hill Country, MDM has operated as an approved Catholic retreat house and ministry devoted to promoting prayer and contemplating God’s will since 2010. According to García-Siller, the ministry has enjoyed good relations with the archdiocese until now.

Then in February, MDM began posting a series of supposed “prophetic messages” conveyed by “God the Father” to a member of the ministry, identified as “Sister Amapola.”

MDM claimed in one of its website statements that God had a message for priests in which he said: “You have not only let the smoke of Satan infiltrate into My Sanctuary; but you have allowed a whole army of demons to take your places. And you have allowed the usurper to sit on the chair of My Peter — he who is carrying out the Great Treason that will leave My Church desolate.”

Several other similar messages were posted to the apostolate’s website claiming that the Church was filled with “demons” and “imposters.”

Foster endorsed the messages, saying in a video that the Church is facing an “extreme crisis,” which he said justifies his disobedience to the archbishop. He pointed to the controversial Vatican document Fiducia Supplicans, which approved blessings for same-sex couples, as an example of “confusion and harm” being sown by Francis.

“From this statement and others of a similar nature that we’ve received, the terrible conclusion seems clear: Bergoglio [Pope Francis] is exercising illegitimate authority and acting as the enemy of Christ and his Church,” Foster said. “Given this extreme crisis, we are obeying God in publishing these messages, even without our archbishop’s permission.”

Archbishop bans MDM

García-Siller issued three official decrees on March 15, barring MDM as an apostolate, removing Foster as the group’s leader, and barring Foster from exercising priestly faculties.

“Whereas the activities of the Reverend FOSTER and the Mission of Divine Mercy have led to confusion and division and have caused grave scandal to the faithful … I WITHDRAW my approval of the ‘Mission of Divine Mercy’ as a Catholic apostolate,” one decree reads.

In so doing, the archbishop restricted the Christian faithful from associating with MDM and ordered that the apostolate not “use the name Catholic or call themselves a Catholic association.”

The archbishop further prohibited Foster from publicly exercising his priestly ministry on MDM grounds and ordered him to enter a “time of spiritual retreat” for six months. The decree said that if Foster violated the prohibition, he could face a total ban on publicly exercising his priestly ministry in the archdiocese.

The archdiocese declined to comment further on the matter, directing CNA to the archbishop’s decrees and statement.

According to the decrees, Foster and MDM have 10 days to appeal the archbishop’s decision.

MDM continues to defy archbishop

Emily Jebbia, a representative for MDM, told CNA that despite the archbishop’s ban, Foster celebrated Mass at the New Braunfels retreat center on Sunday. According to Jebbia, the Mass was attended by about 450 people, which she said is more than double the amount at a normal Sunday service.

Jordan McMorrough, a representative for the archdiocese, confirmed with CNA that the Mass was in violation of the bishop’s decree.

Jebbia said that though MDM has yet to confer with canon lawyers since the archbishop’s decree, apostolate staff plan to continue their ministry.

Jebbia said that MDM has previously had a “cordial” relationship with García-Siller and that they take the archbishop’s statement seriously. Nevertheless, she said that “given that we think this is an unprecedented situation in the Church, we have to act in an unprecedented way in obedience to what we believe God has asked us to do.”

Asked if MDM hopes to reconcile with the archbishop, Jebbia said “yes,” but she qualified her response by saying: “We hope that the [arch]bishop will be open to what is happening here at the mission.”

Pope Francis accepts resignation of Dominican Republic auxiliary bishop
Mon, 18 Mar 2024 17:30:00 -0400

Pope Francis on March 18, 2024, accepted the resignation of Auxiliary Bishop Ramón Benito Ángeles Fernández of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. / Credit: Archdiocese of Santo Domingo

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 18, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of an auxiliary bishop of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Ramón Benito Ángeles Fernández, who turned 75 on March 17. In February the archdiocese denied that he was under investigation for the alleged abuse of a minor in 1994, as the Infovaticana website had reported.

“The Holy Father has accepted the resignation of the position of auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) presented by H.E. Ramón Benito Ángeles Fernández, titular bishop of Febiana,” the Vatican Press Office reported March 18 without giving further details about Pope Francis’ decision.

The pontiff accepted the prelate’s resignation just one day after his 75th birthday, the age at which bishops present their letter of resignation, after which the pope decides whether to accept it or not, in accordance with the provisions of Canon 401 of the Code of Canon Law.

The Archdiocese of Santo Domingo stated in a brief announcement on Facebook that “in the Code of Canon Law every bishop is asked to present his resignation from the office entrusted to him upon reaching 75 years of age.”

In an article published March 18, Infovaticana noted that the pope accepted the resignation “as was foreseeable,” having been “given only one day’s extension.”

In its Feb. 16 statement, the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo said: “We have no evidence about the alleged investigation, originally published by a digital media outlet in Spain, which does not belong to any ecclesial body.”

“We understand that the aforementioned publication seeks to damage the reputation of Bishop Benito Ángeles and our Church,” the archdiocese noted.

Consulted that same day by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, the apostolic nunciature in the Dominican Republic said that the current nuncio, Archbishop Piergiorgio Bertoldi, who has held the position since mid-2023, “does not have information” on the issue and that the inquiry should be directed to the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo, whose statement has been the only response to the Infovaticana claim.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Stephen Colbert co-narrates Pope Francis’ new audiobook memoir
Mon, 18 Mar 2024 17:00:00 -0400

Stephen Colbert and Pope Francis. / Credit: Montclair Film, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Vatican Media

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 18, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

The Catholic late-night talk show host and comedian Stephen Colbert is one of the narrators for the English audiobook version of Pope Francis’ upcoming autobiography, which comes out on Tuesday, March 19.

Francis’ book, titled “Life: My Story Through History,” documents the most significant moments of the pontiff’s life from his childhood until the present day. The publisher, HarperCollins, lists “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” host, along with Franciscan Father John Quigley, as the narrators for the English-language audiobook version of the autobiography.

The book discusses Francis’ upbringing, his time in the seminary, and his service as a priest, bishop, and ultimately pope. It does not shy away from the controversial elements of his papacy but rather addresses his detractors and defends his efforts to make the Church more pastoral.

Colbert, who has been outspoken about his Catholic faith throughout his career, has frequently expressed his affinity for Francis’ papacy, such as saying on his show in 2015 that he is “a total Francis fanboy.” When the pontiff visited the United States that year, Colbert dedicated a small portion of his show to discussing papal infallibility, the Second Vatican Council, and apostolic succession.

Despite his Catholic faith, Colbert has diverged from Church teaching on some issues, such as homosexuality and abortion.

Vatican authorizes opening of cause for canonization for 13-year-old Filipina girl
Mon, 18 Mar 2024 16:05:00 -0400

The Vatican on March 16, 2024, determined that nothing prevents the opening of the cause for canonization of Niña Ruiz-Abad, a 13-year-old girl who died in 1993 in the Philippines and whose grave has become a place of pilgrimage. / Credit: Diocese of Laoag/Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 18, 2024 / 16:05 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has determined that nothing prevents the opening of the cause for canonization of Niña Ruiz-Abad, a 13-year-old girl who died in 1993 in the Philippines and whose grave has become a place of pilgrimage.

On March 16, the Vatican news agency Fides reported that the Vatican has granted the “nihil obstat” (“nothing stands in the way”) for the cause of canonization to begin for Ruiz-Abad, who is now considered a “Servant of God,” the first step toward sainthood. If the Filipina girl is declared a saint, she will be one of the youngest in history.

The news was announced with a circular from the bishop of Laoag, Renato Mayugba, that was read in all the churches of the Ilocos Norte region, where Ruiz-Abad is originally from.

In July 2023, the bishops of the Philippines had already expressed their support for the opening of the cause, which will be formally opened on April 7, Divine Mercy Sunday, at St. William Cathedral in Laoag City, with the first session of the diocesan tribunal.

Who was Niña Ruiz-Abad?

Niña Ruiz-Abad was born Oct. 31, 1979, in Quezon City. Her parents were lawyers and her father died when she was only 3 years old.

Ruiz-Abad grew up in Quezon City on Luzon island along with her sister, Mary Anne. She attended school at the Child Study Center of the University of the Philippines and later at the Holy Angels Montessori School, both in Quezon City.

Her mother, a devotee of divine mercy, moved with her daughters to Sarrat, 300 miles to the north of Quezon City, in April 1988 to work at the Department of Justice.

Ruiz-Abad started high school at Mariano Marcos State University High School in nearby Laoag CIty. She had a strong devotion to the Eucharist and from a very young age, she distributed rosaries, Bibles, prayer books, and holy cards in her neighborhood and at school.

When Father Danny Pajarillaga met Ruiz-Abad in 1993, he immediately noticed her great love for the Eucharist and that she prayed a lot.

“She was a walking testimony of piety and religion. She was always dressed in white and with a rosary around her neck,” those who knew her recalled.

Ruiz-Abad was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy at the age of 10 and lived with the disease for three years with great faith and joy.

“Niña’s life was one of prayer, adoration, and an intimate relationship with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Virgin Mary,” Mayugba said.

On Aug. 16, 1993, she suffered cardiac arrest while she was at school and was immediately taken to the hospital, where she died. She was buried in a public cemetery in Sarrat and her grave is now a pilgrimage site.

“Today, children and young people are inspired by the life of Niña Ruiz-Abad to live a life rooted in prayer. Her story continues to reach the hearts of many people because it is an example of how with God obstacles can be overcome,” the Philippine Bishops’ Conference stated.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

U.S. bishops call for ‘focused effort of prayer’ ahead of Supreme Court abortion pill hearings
Mon, 18 Mar 2024 12:55:00 -0400

Katie Mahoney, Rev. Pat Mahoney, Peggy Nienaber of Faith and Liberty, and Mark Lee Dickson of Right to Life East Texas pray in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on April 21, 2023, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Mar 18, 2024 / 12:55 pm (CNA).

The U.S. bishops are calling for a nationwide prayer campaign ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s hearing next week that could affect the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone.

The court last year said it would review a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling decided in August 2023 that imposed restrictions on the abortion pill based on safety concerns. The Supreme Court’s ultimate decision could curtail the shipping of the drug through the mail.

The hearing is scheduled for March 26. In a letter this month, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) president Archbishop Timothy Broglio and USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities chairman Bishop Michael Burbidge said they were “inviting Catholics to join a focused effort of prayer” for “the end of abortion and the protection of women and preborn children” starting on March 25.

The bishops said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), through its allowance of mailed abortion pills, “has enabled a nationwide mail-order abortion industry and turned neighborhood pharmacies into chemical abortion providers.”

Those pills “are now the most common form of abortion in the United States,” the bishops pointed out.

The Supreme Court’s ultimate decision on the matter, the bishops noted, “has the potential to make a major impact in the widespread accessibility of chemical abortion.”

“While the Supreme Court case is not about ending chemical abortion, it can restore limitations that the FDA has overridden,” they wrote.

The prayer campaign — which will begin on the anniversary of St. John Paul II’s pro-life encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) — will invoke the intercession of St. Joseph under his title “Defender of Life.”

“We ask Catholics to offer this prayer daily, from March 25 through June, when a decision is expected,” the bishops wrote.

The FDA’s regulation of abortion pills was subject to a whipsaw series of court decisions last year. In 2022, several pro-life groups and individuals, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), sued the FDA arguing that the administration failed to use the proper channels and hurriedly approved the drug in 2000 without weighing its severe risks to women.

Texas judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a controversial ruling on April 7, 2023, that suspended the FDA’s approval of mifepristone on the grounds that the agency had “acquiesced on its legitimate safety concerns” and approved the drug “based on plainly unsound reasoning and studies that did not support its conclusions.”

The Biden administration immediately issued an emergency appeal to block the ruling, first to a three-judge panel in the 5th Circuit and then to the Supreme Court.

In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked Kacsmaryk’s ruling and returned the case to the 5th Circuit for full review, leading to the ruling in August, which will be the subject of the Supreme Court’s March hearing.

Norwegian bishop celebrates Nordic country’s first Catholic Bible
Mon, 18 Mar 2024 11:30:00 -0400

Bishop Erik Varden, OCSO, a Trappist monk and spiritual writer, has served as bishop of Trondheim in Norway since 2020. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Newsroom, Mar 18, 2024 / 11:30 am (CNA).

A Norwegian bishop and monk has hailed the publication of Norway’s first official Bible for Catholics as a breakthrough.

“The publication of a Bible presented and packaged as ‘The Catholic Canon’ by the Norwegian Bible Society is a major ecumenical event,” Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim told CNA in an email.

“It invites us afresh to engage with the entirety of Scripture, to read each book as part of a whole, attentive to the symphony of voices that join in proclaiming a single, undying and saving Word. It is my hope that many Catholics will discover the immense fascination of the scriptural text, learning to love and revere it, letting their lives be renewed by it.”

Varden, 49, is a Trappist monk and spiritual writer. He was consecrated bishop of Trondheim, in central Norway, in 2020.

Published March 15, this Norwegian edition is notable not only for its inclusivity toward the Scandinavian nation’s Catholic minority, Catholic editor Heidi Haugros Øyma told CNA. The project saw linguists and Scripture experts collaborating with poets and other literary authors, including Nobel laureate Jon Fosse.

The Bible is now available in both official written languages of the country, Bokmål and Nynorsk.

Pål Johannes Nes, co-founder of EWTN Norway, told CNA: “This is also a very important element in the re-evangelization of Norway toward 2030 through Mission 2030, which EWTN Norway together with the Diocese of Trondheim are working on.”

“It is also a great joy for me to be able to read the Bible to my children in Norwegian,” he added.

What makes this Norwegian Bible Catholic?

The distinction between Catholic and Protestant versions of the Bible in Norway hinges on the inclusion of several additional texts in the Catholic Old Testament. Specifically, the Catholic canon incorporates seven extra books: Tobit, Judith, the First and Second Books of Maccabees, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (also referred to as Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch.

Furthermore, it contains extended passages in the books of Esther and Daniel. These additional books and passages, known collectively as the Deuterocanonical books, are recognized and revered within the Catholic tradition but are not included in the Protestant version of the Old Testament.

Øyma, who was deeply involved in the project, told CNA: “The inclusion of the Deuterocanonical books represents a move toward a more inclusive, ecumenical approach to Scripture in Norway.”

“It is a way of saying that we belong here, we are a part of the cultural and Christian landscape.”

Do you know how to make ‘St. Joseph’s bread’? Here’s the recipe
Mon, 18 Mar 2024 11:00:00 -0400

St. Joseph’s altar at St. Mary’s Assumption Church in the Lower Garden District of New Orleans. / Credit: William A. Morgan/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 18, 2024 / 11:00 am (CNA).

In the book “Dining with the Saints” there is a special recipe for making delicious “St. Joseph’s Bread.” Below you can find the ingredients and how to make it, perhaps as a special treat for the saint’s feast day, March 19.

According to the National Catholic Register, the book “Dining with the Saints” features a variety of foods and drinks in honor of famous and not-so-known saints. In addition, there’s a wide variety of dishes according to the liturgical season.

The book was written by chef and EWTN host Father Leo Patalinghug and drinks expert Michael Foley. At the end of each recipe you can even find a box titled “Food for Thought” with messages about faith or advice from a saint.

The introduction explains that “Dining with the Saints” offers you the resources you need for a healthy and uplifting family meal, a memorable couples’ night-in, or a fun dinner.

In honor of St. Joseph, a prudent and just man, the book offers the following recipe for a sweet bread for four people:

St. Joseph’s Bread

Serves 4

Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk (110 degrees Fahrenheit)

2 packages active dry yeast

6 cups bread flour, divided

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

4 tablespoons melted butter, at room temperature

5 large eggs, divided

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon anise seeds

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Combine lukewarm milk and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir together and rest for 10 minutes until yeast blooms.

2. Add melted butter, sugar, and 1 cup of the flour and beat with the regular paddle attachment of the mixer for about 2 minutes.

3. Add 4 of the eggs, the anise seeds, and 1 more cup of flour and beat for 2 more minutes.

4. Switch out the regular paddle attachment on the mixer for the dough hook and add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough starts to tighten up. (Depending on the size of the eggs, you may not need all the flour.) Continue to knead the dough for about 3-4 minutes.

5. Transfer dough to a greased bowl, cover with a cloth towel, and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

6. Punch the dough and divide it into 3 equal pieces.

7. Roll each piece of dough into the shape of a thick noodle, about 1/2- to 1-inch thick and 20-22 inches long. Braid the dough together loosely and tuck the ends of the braids under the dough. Place the braided loaf on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

8. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

9. Combine the water and the remaining egg to make an egg wash, and use it to brush the loaf.

10. Generously sprinkle the top of the dough with sesame seeds.

11. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

12. Transfer dough to a wire rack and let it rest for 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving.

Enjoy!

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Vatican Observatory publishes new method to better understand the Big Bang theory
Mon, 18 Mar 2024 08:00:00 -0400

null / Credit: Vadim Sadovski/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 18, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Two priests and cosmologists from the Vatican Observatory have made further progress in developing a new mathematical method to understand the Big Bang theory, which describes the first moments of the universe.

In a 2022 article published in the prestigious journal Physical Review D, Fathers Gabriele Gionti, SJ, and Matteo Galaverni introduced the new and promising mathematical tool. They have recently published a new article in the European Physical Journal C, a publication that presents novel research results in theoretical physics and experimental physics.

“It really is fascinating to try to understand the physical laws in the early moments of the universe. The search for new physical laws and the effort to fully understand them is a process that fills our minds and hearts with great joy,” the priests said in a Vatican Observatory publication released March 14.

The observatory’s statement points out that Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which postulates that gravity is the curvature of space-time rather than a force as proposed by Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity, remains the best physical theory “for understanding the large-scale structure of the universe today.” However, there are still unresolved questions about the laws of physics during the first moments of the universe and about how gravity works on extremely small scales, which can be studied using quantum mechanics.

Currently, there are alternative or modified theories of gravity that suggest that gravity might behave differently than general relativity predicts, even with respect to the large-scale structure of the universe.

In their new article, “On the canonical equivalence between the Jordan and Einstein frames,” Gionti and Galaverni demonstrate how they can “map” the solution to a physical problem from an alternative theory of gravity to general relativity through a mathematical trick. This trick consists of analyzing the problem through two different mathematical frames, known as the “Jordan” and “Einstein” frames, which are different approaches to describing the geometry of space-time in general relativity, each with its own advantages and specific applications.

For Gionti and Galaverni, this work is “a way to contribute, together with the entire scientific community, to answering some fundamental questions: “Who are we? Where do we come from? What is our origin?”

“Furthermore, for a person of faith, it is a wonderful possibility to interpret one’s research as a discovery of new traces or signs of God’s beauty and elegance in the creation of the universe, despite our extremely limited knowledge!” the priest-scientists concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

‘Miracles’: Rhode Island Catholic school thrives after last-ditch purchase from diocese
Mon, 18 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0400

Chesterton students celebrate Mass in the school's new chapel. / Credit: Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Hope

CNA Staff, Mar 18, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A newly launched Catholic school in Rhode Island is on a fast track to growth after what its leader described as a series of “miracles” that led to its acquisition of a disused Catholic property.

Dioceses across the U.S. regularly announce the sale of old parish properties that are no longer actively in use. The Diocese of Fall River in Massachusetts, for instance, is moving to sell a disused “seasonal church” in Dennis Port — the Our Lady of the Annunciation Chapel — so that the town can raze it to make way for a public park.

The Diocese of Springfield, also in Massachusetts, is likewise seeking buyers for several properties in its territory. Several years ago the diocese sold a shuttered Catholic high school that was then converted into apartments.

‘God and Our Lady are at the helm’

In Warwick, Rhode Island, meanwhile, the newly launched Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Hope recently acquired the property of St. Francis School and Church from the Diocese of Providence in what the school’s head described as several miraculous occurrences that played out in rapid succession.

Michael Casey, the president and executive director of the institution, said the school — part of the Minneapolis-based Chesterton Schools Network — was first launched in early 2022 with the goal of opening for students at the start of the 2023 school year.

Casey said the school’s leaders chose Warwick for its central location in the state.

“We first went to the diocese to look for properties we could rent, and every property was either in terrible shape or was not for rent by the local pastor,” Casey said.

The school’s board of directors discovered the St. Francis property and sought to obtain it, but it was not for sale or lease at the time. The school settled instead on a 3,000-square-foot property, which Casey said was “tight.”

“As we tried to make this rental our temporary home, I felt it was too small and kept waiting for a shot at St. Francis,” Casey said, admitting that “every day, I drove by St. Francis Church and School, waiting for the for-sale sign to go up.”

After writing one last-ditch letter to the diocese, Casey learned that the property had just come up for sale and that closing bids on the parcel were in a matter of days. After a flurry of walkthroughs, consultations with a lawyer and real estate agent, a last-minute benefactor’s letter of collateral, and an extension from the realtor — all while the school community was praying a novena — they delivered the proposal “with two hours to spare.”

“I aged about 10 years from Tuesday night to the following Monday morning,” Casey admitted.

The school’s bid was ultimately accepted.

“There are so many miracles that happened in those three days and over the three months while the decision was made,” Casey said, “but we became owners of three acres with a church that seats 400 people, a school that can accommodate 160 students and a rectory [at which] we are housing our teachers.”

“It has been a crazy ride, but we believe God and Our Lady are at the helm,” Casey said.

Volunteers help install a sign at Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Hope. Credit: Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Hope
Volunteers help install a sign at Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Hope. Credit: Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Hope

Following the school’s acquisition of the property, volunteers and engineers both pitched in to help prepare it for opening. Workers “did quite a bit in a short time to get the buildings to code to move in,” Casey said. “We spent about $55,000 to open it and during the first year we needed about $20,000 in repairs that showed up as we started using the property again.”

He admitted that those investments were financially “draining” but that the school is engaging in fundraising as it grows into a four-year institution, after which “the financials look pretty good.” The school currently hosts about 20 students; the St. Francis property can accommodate a total of 160.

Casey said the school is well supported as it launches. Benefactors “are starting to get behind the mission and vision to help the school get to the next level,” he said, while volunteers “have been incredible, sharing their gifts in areas such as painting, construction, and much sweat equity.”

Students in the classroom at Chesterton Academy. Credit: COLE DeSANTIS/Rhode Island Catholic
Students in the classroom at Chesterton Academy. Credit: COLE DeSANTIS/Rhode Island Catholic

Casey said the experience with the school shows that lay Catholics looking to help the Church need to “step up and help instead of hoping someone else does it.”

“Catholic laypeople must become part of the solution for the Church’s future,” he said. “We need to support our diocese and priests.” The diocese, Casey added, has been “so supportive” of the school, with a different priest visiting the school “every day” to celebrate its daily Mass.

“Priests visit us from all over Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts, and the students have an opportunity to see how each priest has a different journey in faith,” he said. “They sometimes share lunch with the students. Priests or deacons help us every month for our First Friday Holy Hours. Both bishops and a few monsignors have celebrated Mass with us.”

Casey said the school aspires to “bring spiritual life back to the Warwick and greater Rhode Island community and help families committed to raising their children to be the next generation of saints.”

“Many Chesterton schools do not start this way with buying at the start,” he said, “but we believe with Our Lady of Hope guiding us, that we will be able to fill the school and help bring more souls to Christ.”

Pope Francis: God’s glory does not correspond to human success
Sun, 17 Mar 2024 09:07:00 -0400

Pope Francis waves to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square during his Sunday Angelus on March 17, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Mar 17, 2024 / 09:07 am (CNA).

Pope Francis said Sunday that God’s glory and our true happiness are not found in success, fame, or popularity but in loving and forgiving others.

In his Angelus address on March 17, the pope asked: How it is possible that God’s glory is manifest in the humiliation of the cross?

“One would think it happened in the Resurrection, not on the cross, which is a defeat, a failure,” he said. “Instead, today, talking about his passion, Jesus says: ‘The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified’ (Jn 12:23). What does he mean?”

The pope explained that “for God, glory is to love to the point of giving one’s life.”

“Glorification, for him, means giving himself, making himself accessible, offering his love,” he said.

“And this reached its culmination on the cross, where Jesus outspread God’s love to the maximum, fully revealing the face of mercy, giving us life and forgiving his executioners.”

Pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’ Sunday Angelus on March 17, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
Pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’ Sunday Angelus on March 17, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis underlined that giving and forgiveness “are very different criteria to what we see around us, and also within us, when we think of glory.”

Yet while worldly glory fades, this Christian way of life brings lasting happiness, he explained.

“And so, we can ask ourselves: What is the glory I desire for myself, for my life, that I dream of for my future?” Francis asked.

“That of impressing others with my prowess, my abilities, or the things I possess? Or the path of giving and forgiveness, that of the crucified Jesus, the way of those who never tire of loving, confident that this bears witness to God in the world and makes the beauty of life shine? What glory do I want for myself?”

“Indeed, let us remember that when we give and forgive, God’s glory shines in us,” Pope Francis said.

Pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’ Sunday Angelus on March 17, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
Pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’ Sunday Angelus on March 17, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

After praying the Angelus prayer in Latin from the window of the Apostolic Palace with the crowd gathered below in St. Peter’s Square, the pope asked people to pray for war-torn populations in Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, and Syria.

Pope Francis expressed his relief at the release of some of the religious brothers kidnapped three weeks ago in Haiti as he made an appeal for the “beloved country tried by so much violence.”

Four of the six religious from the Brothers of the Sacred Heart Institute who were kidnapped in Port-au-Prince on Feb. 23 have been freed, along with a teacher. The pope called for the release of the two remaining kidnapped religious and all other people who have suffered at the hands of kidnappers in Haiti.

The pope called on all political leaders and social actors in Haiti to “abandon all special interests and to engage in a spirit of solidarity in the pursuit of the common good” while supporting “a peaceful transition to a country … that is equipped with solid institutions capable of restoring order and tranquility among its citizens.”

Before waving goodbye to the crowd, the pope gave a shoutout to the athletes who ran in the Rome marathon on Sunday morning, especially the volunteers and runners from the Vatican’s own sports club, Athletica Vaticana.

‘The religion of the Incarnation’: Catholic artists reflect on the necessity of beauty
Sun, 17 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0400

Martin Earle, a sacred artist who specializes in works for churches and the liturgy, told CNA that one should not mistake an artistic revival for a simple re-creation of the past. / Credit: Courtesy of Martin Earle

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 17, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City is easily the most recognizable church in the world. Visitors to the basilica are often left staring up in awe, taking in the grandeur and beauty of the world’s largest church.

Likewise with Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel paintings, Johann Christian Bach’s “Requiem Mass,” and even Jean-Francois Millet’s “Angelus” — some more of the world’s most influential and beloved works of art created throughout the millennia.

What do all of these great works of art have in common? They were created by Catholics.

For millennia, Catholic artists have drawn millions to God through the power of truth, goodness, and beauty. But today, the Church is no longer widely known for producing beautiful art. What happened?

Daniel Mitsui, a contemporary Catholic artist based in Hobart, Indiana, who creates art in the medieval style, told CNA that Catholic art today suffers from the wounds of a double-edged sword: rejection of tradition and complacency.

Daniel Mitsui, a contemporary Catholic artist who creates art in the medieval style, works on a drawing. Credit: Courtesy of Daniel Mitsui
Daniel Mitsui, a contemporary Catholic artist who creates art in the medieval style, works on a drawing. Credit: Courtesy of Daniel Mitsui

“I believe that Catholic religious artists have two tasks,” he said. “First, they should be faithful to tradition, attempting to hand down in their turn the things that have been remembered since the time of the New Testament and that are reflected also in the sacred liturgy and the writings of the Church Fathers. And second, they should make their work as beautiful as possible, because they are attempting to depict things the way that God sees them.”

“The experience of beauty,” he said, “is like a dim memory of life in paradise, an experience that no fallen human artist will be able to recreate. But we should strive to do the best we can!”

Mary Undoer of Knots by Daniel Mitsui. Credit: Courtesy of Daniel Mitsui
Mary Undoer of Knots by Daniel Mitsui. Credit: Courtesy of Daniel Mitsui

The ‘religion of the Incarnation’

Despite the artistic lack in recent decades, there appears now to be a growing resurgence in the Catholic artistic world.

Gwyneth Thompson Briggs is one of the most prolific artists creating in the traditional Catholic style. A New England-based artist, Briggs told CNA that she has seen “stirrings of a restoration in the art world” and a “growing desire for a return to the grand tradition of sacred art.”

Catholic artist Gwyneth Thompson Briggs works in her studio in the former St. Francis de Sales School in St. Louis. Credit: Photo by Max Bouvatte Photography, courtesy of Gwyneth Thompson Briggs
Catholic artist Gwyneth Thompson Briggs works in her studio in the former St. Francis de Sales School in St. Louis. Credit: Photo by Max Bouvatte Photography, courtesy of Gwyneth Thompson Briggs

She started a website called the Catholic Artists Directory, which features many of the artists leading the Church’s artistic revival. This revival, Thompson believes, is vitally important.

“It is the enemy who wishes to make the world ugly, and he has had a lot of help in that direction these last 200 years. Our task is to make the world more beautiful,” she explained, adding that because “Christianity is the religion of the Incarnation,” Christian art “should be incarnational too.”

Rebuilding the Church

The Catholic artistic revival is not just limited to painting. Emerging from a relatively dark age of Catholic art, there are now many talented Catholic artists working in the mediums of painting, sculpting, music, architecture, and more.

Indeed, a large percentage of the Catholic churches built in the last two decades have been constructed in traditional styles in which beauty and form are emphasized.

St. Mary’s Catholic Center in College Station, Texas, is just one example of a beautiful Catholic church built in the last decade.

Serving a vibrant student community at Texas A&M University, St. Mary’s long struggled to fit the multitudes of students coming to Mass in its old church building. Finally, St. Mary’s decided it was time to build a new church.

Mass of Consecration in St. Mary’s Catholic Center in College Station, Texas. Credit: Courtesy of St. Mary’s Catholic Center
Mass of Consecration in St. Mary’s Catholic Center in College Station, Texas. Credit: Courtesy of St. Mary’s Catholic Center

Father Will Straten, St. Mary’s pastor, told CNA that when they were considering the new church, they wanted something “that did not look like other buildings” that “students could identify as a church.”

“We wanted the building to be a beacon, to be a light that guided students to God,” he said.

The church was designed by a team of faithful Catholics from Studio io and completed in 2023. Anna Olinger, a student at A&M and an intern at St. Mary’s, told CNA that the new church has already had a big impact on students, Catholic and non-Catholic alike.

A baptism during the Rite of Christian Initiation at St. Mary’s Catholic Center in College Station, Texas. Credit: Courtesy of St. Mary’s Catholic Center
A baptism during the Rite of Christian Initiation at St. Mary’s Catholic Center in College Station, Texas. Credit: Courtesy of St. Mary’s Catholic Center

“The new church has been such a blessing because it has allowed students to enter into the liturgy and prayer in a way that uses all of our senses,” she explained. “From his birth, cross, and resurrection to his eternal reign, the church makes heaven seem a little closer. The church better helps students understand salvation history and the plan that God has for their personal salvation.”

“Art and architecture have been important tools of evangelization for centuries, and that is still true with the younger generation,” she said.

‘Surprised by the Gospel’

Martin Earle, a U.K.-based sacred artist who specializes in works for churches and the liturgy, told CNA that one should not mistake an artistic revival for a simple re-creation of the past.

According to Earle, the job of a Catholic artist today is to get “under the skin” of the old masterpieces of the faith and instead of copying them, “create new works that manifest a living tradition.”

Altar frontal for St. John the Forerunner Church in Austin, Texas, by Martin Earle. Credit: Courtesy of Martin Earle
Altar frontal for St. John the Forerunner Church in Austin, Texas, by Martin Earle. Credit: Courtesy of Martin Earle

“We artists have a role to play in preaching the Gospel to each generation: to present it in all its freshness, beauty, and liveliness in a language that is attractive to our peers. This can only happen if we firstly allow ourselves to be surprised by the Gospel. Then we need to find the tools to communicate our wonder,” he explained.

Yet, according to Mitsui, if any Catholic artistic revival is to occur, ordinary, lay faithful will need to play a crucial part in it. Without Catholics supporting artists and fostering an environment where new art can be made, nothing will change.

The 3m crucifix for St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Aberdeen, Texas, painted by Martin Earle and Jim Blackstone. Credit: Courtesy of Martin Earle
The 3m crucifix for St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Aberdeen, Texas, painted by Martin Earle and Jim Blackstone. Credit: Courtesy of Martin Earle

“We live in a time when it is easy to obtain reproductions of many historic masterpieces. Maybe collecting those and only those seems satisfactory and less risky than supporting any living artist. But if everyone does that, the next great religious artist will never get a chance to exist, because he or she had to get a job in advertising or something like that,” he explained.

Only with the help of the faithful, Mitsui said, can Catholic artists help the Church reach a new age of beauty and wonder in art.

What St. Patrick can still teach the world
Sun, 17 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400

Detail of stained glass depicting St. Patrick, in Our Lady, Star of the Sea, Goleen, County Cork. / Credit: Andreas F. Borchert via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

National Catholic Register, Mar 17, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Although March 17 is still known to the world as St. Patrick’s Day, the celebrations tend to focus more on beer and leprechauns than on the saint himself. That’s a shame because there’s a lot to celebrate about the legendary St. Patrick.

Born in Britain in the latter years of the fourth century and torn from his home in a slave raid as a young man, Patrick went on to be one of the greatest missionaries the Catholic Church has ever known.

St. Patrick and Ireland — for many people, it’s impossible to think of one without the other. His name is, and will always be, associated with the conversion of a nation. In the illustrious history of evangelization, few saints could make similar claims.

There are many reasons to admire Patrick: He was an orator of Ciceronian proportion, he was gifted with the ability to teach common people uncommonly difficult concepts, his physical stamina was legendary, his perseverance unwavering, and his personal sanctity was evident to all except those who blindly refused to see it.

Yet, there was one man who wasn’t all that impressed with Patrick, and that was Patrick himself.

In reading his own writing, one quality perhaps rises above the rest: humility. Two of his written works survive from antiquity: “Confession” and “Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus.” Both provide a glimpse of the Apostle of Ireland in his own words.

The humility of St. Patrick is evident in his writings. For instance, he begins his “Confession”: “I, Patrick, a sinner, a most simple countryman, the least of all the faithful and most contemptible to many.”

To hear Patrick tell it, he was slow-witted, sinful, and unlikeable. However, an objective analysis illustrates he was actually brilliant, holy, and loved throughout the nation. Patrick loved the Irish people and the Irish loved Patrick. They also loved God.

In “The Building of Christendom,” Catholic historian Dr. Warren Carroll writes: “The Irish proved, remarkably, almost uniquely receptive to Christianity. Their conversion … was unusually rapid, unusually thorough, and above all peaceful. … The native priesthood, the druids, feared and opposed Christianity but seem to have been almost helpless in the face of its rapid and steady advance.”

Carroll, who is well known for his historical observation that “one man can make a difference,” could certainly point to St. Patrick to defend his claim. Indeed, with the efforts of Patrick, the Emerald Isle experienced a springtime of Christianity. Patrick’s humility, coupled with his trust in God’s love, proved a powerful combination for evangelization.

In his latter years, Patrick could look back with wonder and joy at how eager the Irish were to embrace Christianity. He writes: “So, how is it that in Ireland, where they never had any knowledge of God but, always, until now, cherished idols and unclean things, they are lately become a people of the Lord, and are called children of God.”

Only by God’s grace, for sure. Yet at least part of the reason for their conversion lies in Patrick’s faith, courage, and humility.

Though he lived more than 15 centuries ago, Patrick still has a lesson to teach our world today.

We have gone mad in an effort to glorify ourselves. We tend to be slow to recognize or thank others, but we are lightning fast in pointing out our own achievements and demanding recognition. In our narcissistic world of selfies, our focus often fails to reach beyond arm’s length. There is a name for all this, of course: pride.

Happily, there are ways to overcome this vice, and one of those is to consider the humility of St. Patrick. After all he had accomplished, after all he had endured, Patrick sensed that others might conclude that he was the hero. But he admonished them, assuring them that anything worthwhile that he achieved was “the gift of God.”

God wants us to be successful in our vocation and every effort that expresses his will. But in the end, we must have the humility to see that each and every one of our successes is the gift of God. We can honor St. Patrick by first recognizing that fact.

This article was originally published by the National Catholic Register, a partner of CNA, on March 17, 2017, and has been adapted for CNA.

Harrison Butker addresses family life, gun violence, Taylor Swift, and more in far-reaching interview
Sat, 16 Mar 2024 09:21:00 -0400

Harrison Butker on the sideline of the AFC Championship in Baltimore on January 28, 2024. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Mar 16, 2024 / 09:21 am (CNA).

Super Bowl-winning kicker Harrison Butker shared a simple — but countercultural — message when he delivered a graduation speech at his alma mater, Georgia Tech, last year.

“Get married and start a family,” the Kansas City Chiefs NFL star told the new graduates.

Outspoken about his Catholic faith for several years, Butker garnered headlines during the 2023 Super Bowl when fans noticed he was wearing a scapular — a brown woolen sacramental from the Carmelite tradition, worn around the neck as a sign of consecration to Mary.

In addition to Butker’s devotion to the Traditional Latin Mass, the 28-year-old father of two frequently promotes his pro-life convictions as well as the importance of marriage and family life, frequently emphasizing the importance of prioritizing his vocation as a husband and father.

In an interview Friday with Mark Irons on “EWTN News in Depth,” Butker said he wants to encourage men, especially fathers, to “be courageous, to not be afraid to be the leader.”

“It’s something that we struggle with, I think, a lot of times to go outside of our comfort zone and to say, ‘You know what? God has called me to be a leader, and to lead by example. I’m going to lead my household and I’m going to lead outside the world when I’m evangelizing.’ So that’s something that I’m very passionate about,” Butker told “EWTN News in Depth.”

“I think Our Lord needs to be king. He needs to be front and center. And as Catholics, we have to be unapologetically proud of our faith and of Jesus Christ.”

Addressing several topics in the interview, Butker spoke out against the violence that erupted last month at the Feb. 14 parade in Kansas City celebrating the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory. A dispute between revelers escalated into a shooting that claimed the life of Lisa López-Galván, a local radio DJ, mother of two, and a parishioner at Sacred Heart-Guadalupe Parish in Kansas City.

Butker said he later learned that López-Galván was wearing a football jersey with Butker’s number when she was shot. He said he subsequently gifted López-Galván’s family one of his own jerseys, and she was buried in it.

Butker said although he didn’t know López-Galván, he said he hopes that “she appreciated the fact that I was a Catholic, that I was outspoken for my faith.”

“To be able to receive that encouragement, that love, even though I never met her, I heard that from her family, how much she was encouraged by me and loved all my work. That’s just very encouraging for me to continue on the path that I’m on and to be never unwavering in my beliefs,” Butker said.

Expressing deep sorrow over the violence, Butker said the shooting incident demonstrated the need for strong father figures to set positive examples.

“I think we need strong fathers in the home. I think we need men that are leading, that are setting good examples, that are teaching the young men in our society that violence is not the way to handle our disputes,” he said.

Butker was asked about another recent news item, also from February, whereby Catholics expressed outrage over a controversial and irreverent funeral service for a well-known transgender advocate that was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan — who oversaw a Mass of reparation at the cathedral after the funeral — later said that the cathedral “had absolutely no idea about this” and that the archdiocese does not “do FBI checks on people who want to be buried.”

Butker said he sent Dolan a letter encouraging him to take a “strong stance” against the irreverent actions that took place during the funeral.

“We need men that are leading saying, ‘This is not right. This is wrong. As Catholics, we will not accept this.’ We need to take a hard stance. I think sometimes we value what the world says about us instead of what Jesus Christ says about us,” Butker said.

Addressing the ongoing and soon-to-be culminating Eucharistic Revival taking place in the United States, Butker said he personally was encouraged in his belief in the Eucharist when, while in the process of returning to the faith, he attended a Catholic conference and got the opportunity to spend time in Eucharistic adoration with thousands of other people.

Butker said the truth about the Eucharist “can’t be promoted enough.”

“I think a lot of Catholics who prioritize adoration and time with Our Lord in daily Mass and daily Communion and confession … I think they see this big growth in their spiritual life, because they are allowing themselves to fully immerse themselves in the Church and her sacraments.”

“I’m very excited for the Eucharistic Congress,” he added, referring to the upcoming national event set for July 17-21.

Asked about Taylor Swift — the ubiquitous pop star currently dating teammate Travis Kelce — Butker described her as “so humble and so gracious” when he met her for the first time at a New Year’s Eve party.

“I was a little nervous to meet Taylor Swift. I mean, it’s Taylor Swift, so maybe I’m a ‘Swifty’ if I was nervous to meet her, but it was a great experience, and I can’t say enough great things about her,” he said. “And I hope [she and Kelce] get married and start a family.”

German bishops to Church in Africa: Initiate canonization of German martyrs
Sat, 16 Mar 2024 09:00:00 -0400

German martyrs who gave their lives in the service of the Gospel in Africa. Clockwise from top left to bottom right: Bishop Cassian (Franz Anton) Spiess, Father Karl Maria Weber, Brother Bernhard Ignatius Sarnes, Bishop Adolph Schmitt, Sister Magdala (Christa Elisabeth) Lewandowski, and Brother Heinz vom Kreuz (Heinz) Eberlein / Credit: ACI Africa/Martyrology of the German Bishops’ Conference

ACI Africa, Mar 16, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

A representative of the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference has challenged Church leaders in Africa to initiate canonization processes for the German martyrs who were violently killed in various African countries.

ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, asked Father Helmut Moll, who has compiled biographies of more than 30 German martyrs who were reportedly victims of violence in Africa, what was being done to ensure their cause for canonization is opened.

“Your local Churches should ensure that these German martyrs are raised to the honor of the altars,” Moll replied, referring to the local ordinaries of the episcopal and metropolitan sees, as well as national bishops’ conferences, where the reported martyrdoms occurred.

As a starting point, he said, there is a need to translate the biographies of the Germans, who paid the ultimate price for evangelization in Africa, into African languages.

“Please translate the biographies of the African martyrs into your national language!” Moll urged during a March 7 interview, days after sharing the list of German martyrs killed in Africa. He said that currently these biographies “are being translated into Arabic, but there are difficulties with printing.”

Moll, a historian with prior experience serving in the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as well as the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints, started compiling biographies of the German evangelists at the request of the Catholic bishops in Germany.

The November 1994 apostolic letter of Pope John Paul II on the preparation for the Jubilee of the Year 2000, Tertio Millennio Adveniente, reportedly inspired the compilation of these biographies.

In the apostolic letter, Pope John Paul II said: “At the end of the second millennium, the Church has once again become the Church of martyrs. In our century, martyrs have returned, often unknown, akin to ‘unknown soldiers’ of the great cause of God.”

The German martyrs in Africa whose profiles have been documented include Father Franz Jäger, a member of the Oblates who was killed in 1905 in South West Africa during the Herero Uprising. South West Africa was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990 and became the present-day Namibia.

Others include three Dominican missionaries who lost their lives in Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) in 1977: Sisters Magdala (Christa Elisabeth) Lewandowski from Kiel, Epiphany (Berta) Schneider from Munich, and Ceslaus (Anna) Stiegler from the Upper Palatinate.

Other German-born evangelists who lost their lives were Benedictine missionaries, St. Benedictus Missionary Sisters of St. Ottilien who were killed in Tanzania, as well as a Sacred Heart Missionary priest and two Little Brothers of Charles de Foucauld, killed in Congo.

Moll told ACI Africa that he had contacted various religious and missionary orders who passed along the information about their members who were killed in Africa.

The German priest expressed optimism that German evangelists killed throughout Africa will revitalize the Church in Germany, noting that having paid the ultimate price, they “show the missionary zeal that is so important for our country today.”

Meanwhile, Moll, who has vast expertise in martyrology, has encouraged Christians in various African countries who are experiencing persecution because of their faith to embrace martyrdom with humility.

“Learn from these biographies,” he said of his list of the German martyrs who died for their faith far from their home country. “Accept the martyrdom of your members and raise them high as an example.”

Moll went on to challenge the Church in Africa to work toward ensuring that the sacrifice of those who give their lives for the sake of their faith is not forgotten.

“The bishops’ conferences in Africa are called upon to compile their own martyrologies so that missionaries and Indigenous people may become better known throughout the Catholic world,” Moll said.

This article was originally published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted for CNA.

Head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church talks war, the pope, and same-sex blessings 
Sat, 16 Mar 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Sviatoslav Shevchuk is major archbishop of Kyiv–Galicia and primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN News Nightly

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 16, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

In an exclusive interview with EWTN News, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, spoke of the continued need for humanitarian aid in his country and discussed Pope Francis’ peace efforts and the recent controversy over same-sex blessings.

The Ukrainian patriarch was in the U.S. for a week of meetings with public officials and Church leaders to foster renewed support for Ukraine. He spoke with EWTN at the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family in Washington, D.C.

Shevchuk emphasized his gratitude to the American people for their support but voiced concern that the U.S. could be tiring of helping Ukraine. He pleaded: “Please don’t give up Ukraine.”

War in Ukraine

Though conveying a “message of gratitude” to the American people, Shevchuk voiced his worry that ordinary Ukrainian people are being forgotten as prolonged political debate over support for Ukraine has delayed action.

As the Ukraine-Russia war hits its two-year mark, there are currently 14.6 million Ukrainians in urgent humanitarian need, according to Shevchuk.

“We cannot say, okay, I’ll eat on the next week,” he said, adding that the Ukrainian Catholic Church “is a main actor in this humanitarian action of assistance to the Ukrainian people, and I can testify that aid cannot be delayed.”

Instead of thinking of the war in political terms, Shevchuk urged the American people to think of Ukraine in terms of its “simple, suffering people.”

“Each day, probably 200 Ukrainians are killed and any delay of the capability to receive the help to protect those people is paid with their blood.”

Reflecting on his personal experience of the war, Shevchuk said that though “nobody is safe in Ukraine,” intelligence reports have indicated that he is one of Russia’s top 10 targets for elimination.

“So, it is dangerous. But that is the mission of each bishop in that time to journey with his own flock,” he said. “From the very beginning, I completely entrusted myself, my life, into God’s hand. Lord, let your will be done. If you want me alive, it means that I have to serve your people. I am still alive, which means that I have a mission.”

“Jesus Christ today is crucified in the crucified body of Ukraine. And we venerate him in the wounds of the simple people,” he said.

Pope Francis

Shevchuk said there is a great desire among the people of Ukraine for Pope Francis to visit the country and that they “are praying” for him to come soon.

Despite this, Shevchuk admitted that the Vatican’s neutrality in the wake of the war “was not very well received in Ukraine in the beginning, because how can somebody be neutral when there is an aggressor who is killing us constantly each day?”

He mentioned Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 2023 visit to the Vatican, saying that because of the president’s belief that his country “doesn’t need a mediator but allies,” it was “not an easy moment in the relationships between the official Kiev and the Vatican.”

Yet, Shevchuk praised the pope for using his neutrality to help gather humanitarian aid and to work toward peace between Russia and Ukraine. He said that when speaking to Ukrainians about the Vatican’s decision to remain neutral he makes the distinction between diplomatic and moral neutrality.

“The Holy Father is not neutral in the moral level. He is with us and he confirmed that many times,” he said.

“This neutrality was given as an instrument of searching to alleviate the suffering of the people, and probably in the future some sort of channels of communication for a possible peace agreement,” he added. “So, in a certain sense, we do have a good ally.”

Same-sex blessings

Shevchuk said the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has no plans to implement or further discuss the Vatican document Fiducia Supplicans, which allows “nonliturgical blessings” for homosexual couples.

The Ukrainian Church was the first Eastern church under Rome to declare that the document would not be implemented in its jurisdiction.

Shortly after the document’s release, Shevchuk issued a statement in which he said that because the document “does not address questions of Catholic faith or morality, does not refer to any prescriptions of the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches, and does not mention Eastern Christians,” it “applies exclusively to the Latin Church and has no legal force for the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.”

“Each Vatican document has a special process of reception in our Church,” Shevchuk explained to EWTN.

“We have our own way to be open to everybody but also how to deliver church blessings,” he said. “In our tradition, we never can distinguish liturgical and nonliturgical blessings.”

“When I grew up, always the sacred space was not limited with the church building,” he went on. “We were taught that Christians are supposed to bring that liturgy of light outside of the church. So, for us, it is very difficult to distinguish nonliturgical blessings.”

He noted that if approached by someone asking for a blessing, he would give it without asking if the person was in a state of sin or if he had been to confession.

“Of course, if somebody will approach me and ask for the blessing, I’ll give the blessing,” he said. “It’s not a moment to inquire in his personal condition as a Christian. But to distinguish so sharply between liturgical and nonliturgical blessing, for us, it’s quite difficult.”

How Irish Catholic slaves brought the faith to the Caribbean
Sat, 16 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0400

On the island of Montserrat, St. Patrick’s week is a kind of homecoming for the Montserratian diaspora. Visitors get a shamrock stamped in their passports, and many Irish Americans take advantage of the inexpensive airfares to spend the March holiday in the Caribbean. / Credit: The Montserrat Tourism Division

National Catholic Register, Mar 16, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

When St. Patrick arrived in Ireland in the fifth century, he came first as a slave. He later returned as a missionary to plant the seeds of the Catholic faith. In a similar fashion, when the first Irish came to the island of Montserrat, they were slaves who planted the Catholic faith in this “Emerald Isle of the Caribbean.”

Much like Ireland, Montserrat is a lush, green, and mountainous island, where St. Patrick is venerated and shamrock symbols can be found everywhere as a sign of the Montserratians’ blended Irish heritage and ancestry. The British Caribbean territory is the one place in the world where St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated as a public holiday for an entire week, not just on March 17.

“The island is filled with Irish names. Everybody has an Irish name: Sweeney, Alan, Fergus, Osborne; and the names of places on the island are all Irish: Cork Hill, Kinsale, Fogerty Hill,” Carol Osborne, a Catholic resident of Montserrat, told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, illustrating the impact of the Irish who first colonized the island after its founding in 1632.

Osborne explained that Montserrat’s St. Patrick’s week is a kind of homecoming for the Montserratian diaspora. Visitors get a shamrock stamped in their passports, and many Irish Americans take advantage of the inexpensive airfares to spend the March holiday in the Caribbean.

Last year marked the return of the St. Patrick’s Festival after being closed since 2020 due to the pandemic. Visitors come from all over the world and many Montserratians return home for 10 days of celebrations, culture, and traditional foods.

“It really is a happy week,” Osborne said. Although the African cultural heritage is mostly at the forefront throughout the year, when St. Patrick’s week comes, “everybody is Irish in Montserrat.”

The British Caribbean territory is the one place in the world where St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated as a public holiday for an entire week, not just on March 17. Credit: The Montserrat Tourism Division
The British Caribbean territory is the one place in the world where St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated as a public holiday for an entire week, not just on March 17. Credit: The Montserrat Tourism Division

African and Irish Catholic ancestry

Montserrat’s island culture largely derives from its African and Irish Catholic ancestors, who were both in bondage and eventually intermarried — a number of Montserratians have dark skin, blue eyes, and red highlights in their hair.

Osborne explained that Montserrat’s traditional masquerade dances are a cross between Irish step dance and African dance. The island boasts a traditional dish known as “goat water,” which Osborne likened to a traditional Irish stew but fused with African flavor. Irish influence can even be seen in the island’s unique folk music, as exemplified by Montserrat’s Emerald Community Singers.

The St. Patrick’s week of festivities honors both the heritage of the island’s Irish-Catholic descendants and their enslaved African ancestors, who attempted their own failed rebellion on March 17, 1768, against those Irish who had, over the course of a century, moved from bonded laborers into the planter class.

Irish Catholic origins

Since the early 17th century, the history of Ireland and the Caribbean islands has been entwined. The English rulers of Ireland, particularly under the dictatorship of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, forced indeterminate thousands of Irish Catholic men, women, and children to be sold into bonded slavery in the Caribbean. As involuntary “indentured servants,” their bodies could be lawfully bought, sold, used, and abused by their plantation masters for a set period of “servitude,” which could also be indefinitely extended. Many of them were brought to Montserrat.

African slaves transported to British Caribbean holdings later in the 17th century would experience even worse brutality at the hands of their masters, as perpetual or chattel slaves, until slavery was finally abolished throughout the British Empire in 1834.

While these Irish brought the Catholic faith to Montserrat, which at one point was dominated by Irish inhabitants more than the other British Caribbean islands, fewer than 12% of Montserratians identify themselves as Catholic — a consequence of the legal discrimination that the Church endured until the first half of the 19th century, which prevented them from sending priests to the island and building churches. Most of the islanders are Christian, but the two largest denominations are the Anglican and Pentecostal churches.

James Doan, a humanities professor at Nova Southeastern University in Florida, highlighted the challenges in a research paper for the International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures, stating: “Priests said Mass in secret, some being smuggled from nearby St. Kitts (60 miles away) disguised as sugar-cane workers.” Only in 1826, Doan pointed out, did a Catholic priest receive funds and permission from the authorities to build a church for his flock.

St. Patrick's Day extends to an entire week on the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean where Irish culture and ancestry goes back generations. Credit: The Montserrat Tourism Division
St. Patrick's Day extends to an entire week on the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean where Irish culture and ancestry goes back generations. Credit: The Montserrat Tourism Division

A hardy faith

Still, the Catholic faith has hardy roots in Montserrat. It has weathered and rebuilt after severe natural disasters, such as the devastation of Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and the 1997 eruptions of the island’s volcano, which destroyed the previous capital city of Plymouth and rendered the island’s southern area uninhabitable. Approximately two-thirds of the island’s pre-disaster population emigrated, but a third remained to rebuild their future in the preserved north.

“Contrary to what some people thought, it actually strengthened their faith. They were very thankful that God protected their island,” Father George Agger, who was pastor on Montserrat from 2006 to 2015, told the Register. Despite the devastation, most people were successfully evacuated, and only 19 lives were lost.

The people of Montserrat have a “very strong faith” that treasures the blessings that they have, explained Agger, of the Divine Word Missionaries. Agger recounted that when he would visit the sick and dying on Montserrat and ask them how they were doing, they would say, “Thank God for life!”

Osborne pointed out that the Church established one of Montserrat’s first schools, St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic School, more than 140 years ago and rebuilt it after the Soufrière Hills volcano destroyed it. The island’s three Catholic churches were all named for saints the Montserratians identify with: St. Patrick (the slave who brought Christianity to his former captors); St. Martin de Porres (who also has mixed African-European ancestry); and Our Lady of Montserrat (who is known in Spain as the “Black Madonna,” due to the color of the statue). Only St. Patrick’s and St. Martin de Porres have been rebuilt in new locations, but Osborne said that a Florida family donated a beautiful statue of St. Patrick to Montserrat’s Catholic community.

Lasting Irish connection

Since the 1970s, Montserrat’s Catholic community has been served by Irish priests from the Divine Word Missionaries.

Agger said the first Irish priest to arrive in Montserrat from his order was Father Larry Finnegan, a local hero highly regarded for his self-sacrifice during the volcanic crisis.

“He stayed with people, he could have had nice accommodations, but he lived with the people in the evacuation centers … with 80 different people sharing two toilets, one shower and the same food,” Agger said. Finnegan, who died in 2015, also worked hard to make sure that St. Augustine’s school was rebuilt and reopened quickly for the school children. “He was my best friend, and it was great to work where he had worked.”

The Anglican community of Kinsale, Ireland, also fundraised to help rebuild St. Patrick Church in a new location, after their pastor learned from Agger that it had been destroyed in Kinsale, Montserrat, by the volcano. They sent a beautiful processional cross made of stainless steel that incorporated a sail, symbolizing the journey of St. Patrick overseas, and a new Book of the Gospels.

What connects the Irish and the Montserratians is the figure of St. Patrick that looms large in their identities. Religious leaders give the annual sermon that opens the St. Patrick’s week festivities.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, on March 17, 2016, and was updated March 14, 2024.

Satisfying the ‘hungry heart’: an interview with Bishop Barron 
Sat, 16 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0400

In addition to the spiritual maladies of the times, Bishop Robert Barron says he also sees opportunities for both evangelization and renewal in the Church. / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN News in Depth

CNA Newsroom, Mar 16, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, provided both diagnoses of and prescriptions for the most pervasive spiritual maladies of our times in an interview with EWTN News Rome correspondent Colm Flynn.

One of the most popular bishops in the United States and founder of the Word on Fire evangelization ministry, Barron told Flynn the spiritual crisis of our age is stoked by “the immanentism, the materialism, the secularism that has taken hold of much of our culture.”

“Nothing in this world can satisfy the hungry heart. You can deceive yourself for a while,” he explained. “But the heart knows otherwise and will rebel against that sort of immanentism.”

Barron told Flynn he also sees hopeful signs and opportunities for the Church.

He has observed that even “some of the most popular podcasts in the world” that were secularized 10 years ago are now using “spiritual language.”

“I’m aware of that, kind of in the zeitgeist, there’s this moment of new spiritual interest,” he said. “Let’s take advantage of it … the Church should move into that space to say boldly, but lovingly, we have the answers. You’ve now experienced the hunger. We got the bread of life, that will satisfy you.”

Barron said that within the Church itself, another hopeful sign is the renewed focus on the Eucharist, which in the United States will culminate this year in the National Eucharistic Congress that will take place July 17–21 in Indianapolis.

Asked what he hopes will be the fruit of the country’s Eucharistic Revival, the bishop answered: “A keener sense of the importance of Jesus Christ … so that I hope it awakens people’s faith.”

Christendom College women’s basketball wins national title
Fri, 15 Mar 2024 17:45:00 -0400

The Christendom College Women's Basketball team wins the 2024 USCAA DII National Championship. / Credit: Paul Aguilar

CNA Staff, Mar 15, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

The Christendom College women’s basketball team has made school history — bringing home the school’s first national title in women’s basketball. Christendom defeated Johnson & Wales Charlotte 76-65 in the USCAA DII National Championship in Petersburg, Virginia, on March 13.

Christendom College is a Catholic liberal arts college founded in 1977 in Front Royal, Virginia.

According to the college’s press release, the team was ranked No. 7 going into the tournament and had major upsets against the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 seeds.

After earning their first trip to the USCAA National Championship Tournament last season, the team had even higher expectations for themselves this season. They went 23-5 during the regular season, which was also a school record.

Mary Pennefather, a freshman, and Catherine Thomas, a junior, led the USCAA in points per game with 24.6 and 27.3 points per game respectively, and total points scored, with 566 and 601.

Christendom beat No. 2 Penn State Beaver and No. 3 Central Maine in the quarterfinals and semifinals — landing them their spot at the championship game against the No. 1 seed. Roughly 100 Christendom students made the trip to support and cheer their team to victory.

The championship game was hard fought with Christendom losing the lead several times but pushing each time to gain it back, the release said. The women came out of the game strong in the second half and extended their lead to 56-40 to close the third quarter. With less than three minutes left in the game, they had gained a lead of 72-49. Johnson & Wales gave a strong last effort during those final minutes, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Crusaders.

Thomas was named tournament MVP for her outstanding performance over the course of four games, including setting tournament records in single-game points scored and three-pointers made in the quarterfinals. Pennefather, Regina Bonvissuto, and Miranda Keller were all named to the All-Tournament team as well.

Photos of the win can be found on the college’s web site.

Virginia diocese offers to assist with burial of unborn baby found in pond
Fri, 15 Mar 2024 17:05:00 -0400

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CNA Staff, Mar 15, 2024 / 17:05 pm (CNA).

Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, this week announced that his diocese is willing to help with the burial of the body of an unborn baby discovered in a local pond.

Police in Leesburg, Virginia, announced this week the “discovery of a deceased late-term fetus in a pond” about 20 miles outside of Washington, D.C.

“The investigation is being treated with the utmost seriousness and sensitivity,” the police said, with Leesburg Police Chief Thea Pirnat calling the discovery “a deeply tragic situation.”

In a statement on the Diocese of Arlington’s website, Burbidge said it was “with great sorrow that I learned today of the unsettling discovery of the body of an unborn baby described by police as a ‘late-term fetus,’ found in a pond in Leesburg.”

“The Diocese of Arlington has made it known that we are willing to assist with the proper burial and committal of the remains,” Burbidge said.

The bishop “urge[d] the faithful of the diocese and all people of goodwill to join me in prayer for the child’s mother and for anyone involved in this incident.”

Burbidge said the Diocese of Arlington “encourages all women who find themselves in unexpected or difficult pregnancies to seek assistance” through Catholic Charities or the Gabriel Project, a pregnancy support group.

The Leesburg police department did not immediately respond to a query on Friday regarding the status of the investigation.

Burbidge, who was installed as the bishop of Arlington in 2016, is also the chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

This story was updated on Friday, March 15, at 6:30 p.m. to clarify that the Diocese of Arlington has offered to assist in the burial of the infant's body.

Hong Kong’s draconian National Security Law won’t affect seal of confession, diocese says
Fri, 15 Mar 2024 16:30:00 -0400

Catholic pilgrims from Hong Kong came to see the pope at the welcome ceremony in Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Sept. 2, 2023. / Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Mar 15, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Hong Kong on Friday issued a statement that the seal of confession would not be violated under the new National Security Law, legislation that grants greater latitude to prosecute crimes of treason and foreign political interference.

“With regard to the legislation of Article 23 on safeguarding national security, the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong recognizes that as a citizen, it has obligation to national security,” the March 15 statement said.

In the brief statement, released on Friday, the Diocese of Hong Kong stated that the legislation will not alter the confidential nature of confession (the sacrament of reconciliation) of the Church. According to diocesan figures, the Catholic population of Hong Kong — a city of 7.5 million — is 392,000.

The new 212-page homegrown National Security Law, also known as Article 23 of the Basic Law — the constitutional document guaranteeing Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy under Chinese rule — is the latest attempt to curtail civil liberty and crack down on crimes against national security, including treason, espionage, external interference, and disclosure of state secrets.

The draft bill in the Special Administrative Region comes after Beijing imposed a sweeping National Security Law in June 2020, granting the government maximum latitude to interpret threats to national security and the unchecked authority to crack down on any form of perceived political dissidence and public protest.

Clergy could face 14 years in prison

The proposed legislation, unveiled on March 8, comes after a four-week-long consultation period, culminating in a 220-page summary report. The new legislation carries up to life imprisonment for treason, while failure to disclose treason committed by others carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. It includes a provision to protect attorneys from being charged with treason but does now allow clergy the same protection.

Hong Kong’s Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok told journalists last week that it would be “very difficult to create exceptions” for people like clergy and social workers.

U.S. weighs in

U.S. lawmakers have expressed fears that the new law would further erode fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong and be used to bring it further under the orbit of Beijing.

“With Article 23 legislation, the Hong Kong government explicitly seeks to bring local laws in line with the PRC’s expansive concept of national security. This aligns with General Secretary Xi Jinping’s political agenda as codified in the 1025 PRC National Security Law,” a March 14 letter sent by the Congressional-Executive Committee on China to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated.

“The Hong Kong government already routinely uses the pretext of ‘national security’ to gut the free press and quash any semblance of political opposition,” the statement continued.

An attempt was first made to push through Article 23 in 2003 — following the handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to Chinese rule in 1997— was shelved following popular backlash when more than 500,000 people took to the streets to protest.

Peru’s Congress approves legislation protecting pregnant women and their babies
Fri, 15 Mar 2024 16:00:00 -0400

The Congress of the Republic of Perú in the nation’s capital of Lima. / Credit: Cris Bouroncle/AFP via Getty Images

Lima Newsroom, Mar 15, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

The Peruvian Congress passed by a wide margin a bill that establishes the obligation of the state to guarantee “the protection of the pregnancy, the pregnant mother, the unborn child, and their family environment.”

The measure, sponsored by Congresswoman Rosangela Barbarán of the Fuerza Popular (Popular Force) party, was approved on March 13 by a vote of 87-18, with seven abstentions, and has been sent to the country’s president, Dina Boluarte.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, the director of the Latin American Office of the Population Research Institute, Carlos Polo, said the legislation represents “true progress in the agenda for respecting the life of the conceived child.”

Polo added that on March 25, the Day of the Unborn Child in Peru, a significant celebration will be held to commemorate the achievement that “Congress established by law that the state protects both lives.”

Article 2 of the legislation stipulates that both the state and society, especially health care professionals, are obliged to provide special protection during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. This protection extends across the board to all entities, both public and private.

One of the most relevant provisions of this law is the recognition of the right of babies to be born “in a healthy, decent, and safe environment.” In addition, the right of the father is also recognized in everything that benefits these important phases of the gestational process.

In practical terms, Polo pointed out, the new law promotes public policies that guarantee comprehensive health coverage for the mother and the unborn child, including prenatal check-ups, maternal nutrition, preparation for childbirth, prenatal stimulation, childbirth and postpartum care, postnatal rest, early stimulation, prevention and early diagnosis, early care and rehabilitation, family counseling and therapy, as well as health education and support for entrepreneurial families.

Polo added that, based on this law, no entity will be able to “use the penal code as an excuse to say that in Peru there is the right to ‘therapeutic abortion’ and that it’s legal.”

“Nor will they be able to continue citing the disastrous ruling of the Inter-American Court in the case of Artavia Murillo v. Costa Rica, which says that the life and health of the mother is more important than the life of the conceived child,” Polo explained.

Peru’s penal code states that abortion “is not punishable” when “it is the only means to save the life of the pregnant woman or to avoid serious and permanent harm to her health.” However, since early August last year, there have been cases of abortions performed on sexually abused minors justified as “therapeutic” abortion.

For Giuliana Caccia, director of the Origen Association, it is clear that the “majority of Peruvians want children to be born healthy and we want to work to make that happen.”

“For us, the solution to poverty or poor health is not to kill children but working to make progress so that the conditions improve for the most vulnerable,” Caccia posted on X.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Francis names U.S. police professional, Colombian bishop to minor protection commission
Fri, 15 Mar 2024 15:25:00 -0400

A Colombian psychologist bishop and a retired colonel from the Illinois State Police are the new secretaries of the Pontifical Commission for the Guardianship of Minors. / Credit: Holy See Press Office

CNA Staff, Mar 15, 2024 / 15:25 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis on Friday appointed an American former law enforcement professional as adjunct secretary to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and a Colombian bishop as secretary of the independent body tasked since 2014 with advising the pope on how the Church can best protect minors and vulnerable adults.

The Vatican announced March 15 that Teresa Morris Kettelkamp, a Chicago native and Illinois law enforcement professional, was named as the commission’s adjunct secretary. Auxiliary Bishop Luis Manuel Alí Herrera of Bogotá, Colombia, was named secretary of the commission, replacing Father Andrew Small, who had served as temporary secretary since 2021. Both appointees were already members of the currently 19-member commission.

The commission, established by Pope Francis in March 2014, is headed by Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, who turns 80 in June. O’Malley has defended the commission’s effectiveness, saying last March that “the protection of children and vulnerable persons remains at the heart of the Church’s mission.”

Kettelkamp formerly was appointed to lead the United States bishops’ Office for Child and Youth Protection in 2005, serving in that role until 2011. She was first appointed a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in 2018. She had previously worked on the drafting of the Guidelines for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults with the commission.

A former colonel with the Illinois State Police (ISP), Kettelkamp retired after 29 years of service, during which time she headed the ISP’s crime labs and crime scene services. She also, according to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors website, headed the ISP’s Division of Internal Investigation, which was responsible for the investigation of allegations of misconduct within the ISP as well as in the agencies, boards, and commissions under the executive branch of the Illinois state government.

Alí Herrera, who is also a psychologist, was born in Barranquilla, Colombia, on May 2, 1967, and was ordained a priest in 1992. After graduating with a degree in theology from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana of Bogotá in 2003, he obtained a degree in psychology from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome (2007). He is a senior associate of the Colegio Colombiano de Psicólogos (Colombian School of Psychologists), Vatican News reported.

Pope Francis appointed him as a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in 2014 and appointed him an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Bogotá the following year.

The work and operations of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has garnered scrutiny in recent years, in part because of questions Small, the commission’s former temporary secretary, has faced since May 2023 about his management of funds at the Pontifical Mission Societies U.S.A. In addition, a prominent founding member of the commission, Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, resigned his post roughly a year ago, citing “issues that need to be urgently addressed” related to a perceived lack of “responsibility, compliance, accountability, and transparency.”

Riley Gaines, other female athletes, sue NCAA for allowing transgender competitors
Fri, 15 Mar 2024 14:45:00 -0400

Former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines is sworn in during a House Oversight Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services hearing on Capitol Hill on Dec. 5, 2023, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Mar 15, 2024 / 14:45 pm (CNA).

Riley Gaines and more than a dozen other female athletes filed a lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) on Thursday alleging that allowing men to compete in women’s competitions denies women protections promised under Title IX.

In a post on X, Gaines, a former swimmer with the University of Kentucky, announced the suit.

“It’s official. I’m suing the NCAA along with 15 other collegiate athletes who have lost out on titles, records, and roster spots to men posing as women. The NCAA continues to explicitly violate the federal civil rights law of Title IX. About time someone did something about it,” Gaines posted.

The athletes’ lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, alleges that “harm” is done to women due to “NCAA’s radical departure from Title IX’s original meaning.” This harm included “subjecting women to a loss of their constitutional right to bodily privacy.”

“Title IX was enacted by Congress to increase women’s opportunities; therefore, no policy which authorizes males to take the place of women on women’s college sports teams or in women’s college sports locker rooms is permissible under Title IX,” the complaint read.

Through the lawsuit, the athletes hope “to secure for future generations of women the promise of Title IX.”

The lawsuit comes in the wake of a controversy where Gaines made headlines for speaking out after being forced to compete against Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete. Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win a women’s national championship.

“The secret of Thomas’ meteoric ascendance and dominance in NCAA women’s swimming was retained male advantage,” the complaint read.

The plaintiffs, 16 female athletes, accused the NCAA in the lawsuit of imposing a “radical anti-woman agenda” on college sports, defining women “as a testosterone level,” and “permitting men to compete on women’s teams.”

Georgia Tech University, the University of Georgia, and the University of North Georgia were also named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The athletes also accused the NCAA of “destroying female safe spaces in women’s lockers by authorizing naked men possessing full male genitalia to disrobe in front of non-consenting college women and creating situations in which unwilling female college athletes unwittingly or reluctantly expose their naked or partially clad bodies to males, subjecting women to a loss of their constitutional right to bodily privacy.”

The lawsuit further alleges that the NCAA “has aligned with the most radical elements of the so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda” on college campuses in order to increase its “campus approval ratings” and ultimately further what the lawsuit calls “the NCAA’s relentless drive to monetize collegiate sport, and diverting attention from the financial exploitation of college athletes.”

The athletes alleged that this happens “all at the expense of female student-athletes.”

A milestone for unity: First Norwegian Catholic Bible edition launched
Fri, 15 Mar 2024 14:00:00 -0400

The new Norwegian translation of the Bible, published March 15, 2024. / Credit: Norwegian Bible Society

CNA Newsroom, Mar 15, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

For the first time in Norway’s history, the Norwegian Bible Society has announced the publication of a Catholic edition of the Bible, marking a significant milestone for the country’s Catholic community.

Published today, March 15, this edition is distinguished not only by its inclusivity; the project saw linguists and Scripture experts collaborating with poets and other literary authors, including Nobel laureate Jon Fosse.

The Catholic editor Heidi Haugros Øyma, deeply involved in the project, told CNA in a written interview: “The inclusion of the Deuterocanonical books represents a move toward a more inclusive, ecumenical approach to Scripture in Norway.”

The new publication corrects a long-standing omission influenced by historical pressures, presenting a genuinely ecumenical Bible that reflects the entire Christian canon.

Many in the Catholic community are overjoyed.

Pål Johannes Nes, co-founder of EWTN Norway, told CNA: “For the first time, we can now have a Catholic canon in our own language. This is a major and significant event. This is also a very important element in the re-evangelization of Norway toward 2030 through Mission 2030, which EWTN Norway together with the Diocese of Trondheim are working on.”

“It is also a great joy for me to be able to read the Bible to my children in Norwegian,” he added.

United mission across denominational divides

The project also stands out for its effort to embrace Norway’s linguistic diversity, offering translations in both of the country’s official written languages, Bokmål and Nynorsk. This initiative ensures wider accessibility and acknowledges Norway’s rich linguistic heritage.

“The fact is that the Norwegian Bible Society has sponsored a lot of editions of the Bible for the use of the Catholic Church... but not in Norway,” Øyma noted, highlighting the ecumenical spirit that guided this historic collaboration. The collaboration between the Catholic Diocese of Oslo and the Bible Society paved the way for this publication, emphasizing a united Christian mission over denominational divides.

Reflecting on the significance of this edition, Øyma shared: “The most important thing has been to witness the growing awareness in the Norwegian Bible Society that a Catholic edition of the Bible ought to be a self-evident thing.” This sentiment underscores the project’s role in fostering a more inclusive understanding of Christian Scripture across denominational lines.

The edition’s launch on March 15 is anticipated to enhance the spiritual life of Norwegian Catholics and serve as a cultural landmark, showcasing the contributions of Norwegian authors to the richness of biblical literature.

“It is a way of saying that we belong here, we are a part of the cultural and Christian landscape,” Øyma added, underscoring the broader significance of this publication within Norway’s religious and cultural context.

Expressing linguistic inclusivity, ecumenical collaboration, and cultural enrichment, the new Catholic Bible edition promises to be a source of pride and a beacon of unity for Norway’s Christian community, inviting deeper engagement with holy Scripture.

French bishops condemn Macron’s assisted suicide bill
Fri, 15 Mar 2024 13:30:00 -0400

French President Emmanuel Macron during a meeting with Governor of Spain at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on March 21, 2022. / Credit: Victor Velter|Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 15, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

Several French Catholic bishops this week roundly condemned a recently announced proposal by the country’s government to legalize the practice of assisted suicide.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced last week that the French Parliament in May would examine a proposal to legalize “aid-in-dying” throughout the country. Macron in an interview with the Catholic newspaper La Croix described the measure as “a law of fraternity” that “reconciles the autonomy of the individual and the solidarity of the nation.”

The law “opens the possibility of asking for help in dying under certain strict conditions,” the president said.

Reims Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort condemned the president’s proposal in an interview with La Croix.

“Calling a text that opens the door to both assisted suicide and euthanasia a ‘law of fraternity’ is a deception,” the archbishop told La Croix. “Such a law, whatever one may desire, will shift our entire health care system toward death as a solution.”

Tours Archbishop Vincent Jordy likewise criticized Macron’s description of the proposed law, arguing that fraternity “means taking care of others, it means supporting them until the end, especially when they are weak and fragile.”

The bishop told the Catholic weekly Famille Chrétienne that “despite the use of terminology which avoids the terms euthanasia and assisted suicide,” the proposal risks bringing about those practices.

In a statement posted to X, meanwhile, Lille Archbishop Laurent Le Boulc’h warned that assisted suicide could hasten the death of individuals who see themselves as burdens upon others.

“Does it not risk further increasing the depressed character of our society in loss of hope?” he wrote. “Does it not risk weakening so many people who see themselves as a weight that has become unbearable for those around them?”

Macron in describing the proposal said that individuals seeking assisted suicide “will have to be capable of full discernment” before being permitted to undergo it.

Patients “with psychiatric diseases or neurodegenerative diseases that alter discernment, such as Alzheimer’s,” will not be offered help in killing themselves, he said.

The president urged those who disagree over the proposal to nevertheless “have a debate at the right level.”

“The nature of the subject is intimidating enough for respect to set in, even between people who are in deep disagreement,” he argued.

Pornhub disables website in Texas rather than comply with state’s age verification law
Fri, 15 Mar 2024 11:25:00 -0400

Pornhub website logo. / Credit: Kate Krav-Rude/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 15, 2024 / 11:25 am (CNA).

Pornhub, one of the largest pornography websites in the world, has ceased offering its website in Texas rather than comply with the state’s recently implemented age verification law.

State Attorney General Ken Paxton said on X on Thursday that Pornhub “has now disabled its website in Texas.”

The porn website pulled the service after a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last week that declared Texas’ pornography site age verification law, passed in 2023, could stand.

Texas visitors to Pornhub’s website on Thursday were greeted with a message stating that the state was “requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website.”

“Not only does this impinge on the rights of adults to access protected speech, it fails strict scrutiny by employing the least effective and yet also most restrictive means of accomplishing Texas’ stated purpose of allegedly protecting minors,” the website claims.

Alex Kekesi, vice president of brand and community at Pornhub’s parent company Aylo, told media on Thursday that the age verification rule is “ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous.”

“Not only will it not actually protect children, it will inevitably reduce content creators’ ability to post and distribute legal adult content and directly impact their ability to share the artistic messages they want to convey with it,” Kekesi said.

Paxton, meanwhile, argued on X that pornography sites such as Pornhub “are on the run because Texas has a law that aims to prevent them from showing harmful, obscene material to children.”

“We recently secured a major victory against Pornhub and other sites that sought to block this law from taking effect,” Paxton said. “In Texas, companies cannot get away with showing porn to children. If they don’t want to comply, good riddance.”

Pornhub has faced increasing scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers in recent years. The European Union in December announced that Pornhub must comply with major age verification and safety laws passed in 2022 by the governing body.

Age verification laws that passed bipartisan legislatures and were signed by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike, meanwhile, have lately led Pornhub to cease offering its videos in Mississippi, Utah, Virginia, and multiple other states.

Pope Francis, meanwhile, in 2022 called pornography “a permanent attack on the dignity of men and women” and “a threat to public health.”

Pope Francis: Indigenous ‘ancestral wisdom’ a vital tool in fight against climate change
Fri, 15 Mar 2024 10:20:00 -0400

Pope Francis meets with participants of the conference “Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge and the Sciences,” sponsored by the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, held at the Vatican from March 14–15, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Mar 15, 2024 / 10:20 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Thursday reflected on the importance of holding up Indigenous voices and incorporating “ancestral wisdom” as part of broader efforts to mitigate the effects of anthropogenic climate change.

“Open dialogue between Indigenous knowledge and the sciences, between communities of ancestral wisdom and those of the sciences, can help to confront in a new, more integral and more effective way such crucial issues as water, climate change, hunger, and biodiversity,” the pope observed at the Vatican on Thursday. ‘“These issues, as we know very well, are all interconnected.”

The remarks were addressed to participants of the conference “Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge and the Sciences,” sponsored by the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, held at the Vatican from March 14–15.

This event brings together a plurality of voices from the pontifical academies, Indigenous groups, academics, and international organizations in order to evaluate how traditional Indigenous teachings and methodologies can be harmonized with conventional science to inform global policy on climate change, biodiversity loss, food security, and health.

According to the United Nations, Indigenous people are defined as those who “inhabited a country or a geographical region at the time when people of different cultures or ethnic origins arrived” and retain distinct “social, cultural, economic, and political characteristics” from their native societies.

Pope Francis meets with participants of the conference “Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge and the Sciences,” sponsored by the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, held at the Vatican from March 14–15, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis meets with participants of the conference “Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge and the Sciences,” sponsored by the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, held at the Vatican from March 14–15, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

“The Church is with you, an ally of the Indigenous peoples and their wisdom, and an ally of science in striving to make our world one of ever greater fraternity and social friendship,” the pope said on Thursday.

In the address, Francis pointed to a 2021 study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that examined both Indigenous food systems and the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge as a core component of the United Nations’ 2024–2033 “International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (IDSSD).”

The pope cited these as two concrete examples of how Indigenous representation has been developed on the international stage.

The pope stressed the importance of protecting Indigenous “cultures, traditions, spiritualities, and languages” as they form part of the “fabric of humanity,” and their loss would “represent an impoverishment of knowledge, identity, and memory for all of us.”

“For this reason,” the pope continued, “projects of scientific research, and accordingly investments, ought to be directed decisively to the promotion of human fraternity, justice, and peace, so that resources can be coordinated and allocated to respond to the urgent challenges facing the earth, our common home, and the family of peoples.”

The themes of ecological protection and human fraternity have been featured prominently in Francis’ pontificate.

In his seminal 2015 encyclical on climate Laudato Si’, Pope Francis emphasized the urgency of incorporating Indigenous voices in the broader discussion on climate change mitigation, noting those individuals “are not merely one minority among others, but should be the principal dialogue partners, especially when large projects affecting their land are proposed.”

According to the United Nations Development Program, the global Indigenous population sits at 370 million people — or 5% of the worldwide population — and is among the most vulnerable groups to the effects of anthropogenic climate change and its associated risks such as desertification, food scarcity, biodiversity loss, and forced migration.

Word on Fire to launch master’s program in evangelization with St. Thomas-Houston
Fri, 15 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0400

Bishop Robert Barron, founder of Word on Fire, which announced on March 13, 2024, that its institute will partner with the University of St. Thomas, Houston, to launch a master’s program in evangelization and culture this summer. / Credit: Word on Fire

CNA Staff, Mar 15, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Word on Fire and the University of St. Thomas, Houston, announced on Wednesday that they are launching a master’s program in evangelization and culture this summer.

Set to begin in June, the program will be an “accredited and academically rigorous” master of arts degree in evangelization and culture, said Matthew Petrusek, senior director of the Word on Fire Institute.

Founded by Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, Word on Fire is a nonprofit global media apostolate founded to evangelize and educate with an emphasis on contemporary media.

The master’s program is a natural outgrowth of the Word on Fire Institute, which offers live seminars, courses, and opportunities to interact with professors and fellows to its almost 24,000 members, Petrusek said.

“It’s rooted in the same inspiration we have to provide the Church with the best formed evangelists that we can possibly provide,” he told CNA. “And so now we’re doing so in a way that includes a professional degree.”

Petrusek said the institute has “long wanted to provide” members with “a means to get properly and fully and comprehensively formed in the Word on Fire Institute ethos in a way that’s accredited.”

“But up until this point, we didn’t have an outlet for those who really wanted to take it to the next level and to receive a degree,” he said. “And so, thanks be to God, that’s what we’re able to do now in partnership with the University of St. Thomas, with our M.A. program.”

Word on Fire Institute has been in conversation with University of St. Thomas, Houston, for more than two years in building out the program, Petrusek said, noting that the university “has long been doing very good work in providing an authentically Catholic, faithfully Catholic education.”

“We were really excited to have the opportunity to work with them, to build on the strengths that they already have, and to work on our own strengths,” he said. “So the partnership was a natural one, and we look forward to building it as we move into the future.”

The courses, offered live online, will include the Theology of Bishop Robert Barron, Biblical Studies for Evangelists, and Christology for Evangelists as well as a course on the Evangelical Legacy of Vatican II and practical evangelization, among others.

The master’s program includes an optional intensive summer program in person at St. Thomas.

The program will also offer courses such as Evangelization and Anthropology, Art and Architecture for Evangelists, and Dante for Evangelists.

“We’re seeking to [evangelize] in a way that’s highly culturally competent,” Petrusek explained.

Petrusek said that one pillar of Word on Fire that’s “especially important” for this initiative is “looking for the ‘seeds of the word’ in the culture.”

“Now, this is something that goes back to the very beginning of the Church,” he said. “It’s speaking in ways that are intelligible to people wherever they are, across the different dimensions of the culture.”

“The culture,” he noted, is an “umbrella term” that includes entertainment, politics, art, architecture, literature, and technology.

“We want our students to be able to speak to individuals in all those different niches of contemporary culture,” he said but noted that Word on Fire is not looking to “accommodate secular culture.”

“We’re looking at points of contact where we can get a foothold in, to have conversations, and ultimately, to open the door to possible conversions to the relationship with Christ and his Church,” he explained.

Word on Fire Institute hopes to not only form “culturally competent” students but also students who have “thick skin.”

Petrusek said that over the past 40 to 50 years, the Church “in many degrees, has grown timid, especially in the West.”

“And so we’re seeking to overcome that timidity and to go out into the different facets of the culture, recognizing that it’s not going to be easy — it’s sometimes going to be hostile,” he said. “It will very commonly be indifferent and skeptical, and that’s fine. Those aren’t going to be barriers for us to move into those spaces.”

This evangelization is also “high-spirited,” Petrusek explained.

“Moving out into the culture, as [you’re] truly manifesting joy, which does not mean always having a goofy smile on your face,” he said. “It means knowing who you are and what you’re for, being grounded in Christ.”

The program costs $600 per credit hour and is taught live online.

The faculty will include faithful scholars and leaders in Catholic thought, including Word on Fire Institute professors.

Barron is closely involved in the program and may teach, Petrusek noted.

“To what degree he’ll be teaching is something that we’re still working on long-term,” he said, adding: “But he will certainly be a part of it.”

Word on Fire has had “tremendous interest already” after Wednesday’s launch, Petrusek said.

“There’s been a great response,” he said, but noted that a small class size is important for the program.

“We are committed to keeping our classes at a level where conversation is not only possible but encouraged,” he said.

“Another thing that’s a highlight of our program, that we’re very proud of, is we don’t do canned content,” Petrusek continued. “So no recorded lectures and no sort of asynchronous passive content. It’s really incarnational to the extent that that’s possible online.”

Controversial Sister Lucía Caram and Religión Digital team meet with Pope Francis
Thu, 14 Mar 2024 18:00:00 -0400

Dominican Sister Lucía Caram on the television program “Cuentos Chinos” (“Tall Tales”) in Spain. / Credit: Mediaset

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 14, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

Yesterday Pope Francis received the controversial nun Sister Lucía Caram and team members of the Spanish-language news portal Religión Digital, which regularly publishes content contrary to Catholic doctrine.

The pope’s March 13 audience with Caram and the Religión Digital journalists went unmentioned in the Vatican Press Office’s daily news brief.

In an article, Religión Digital, now in its 25th year, stated that the Holy Father met with its members for half an hour and reportedly encouraged the team: “Do not lose hope. Continue fighting for this living Church and making it known.”

The article noted that the pontiff met with the visitors in “the back room of the Paul VI Hall, (la auletta),” which is “the same office where he received [Volodymyr] Zelensky, [Nicolás] Maduro, and Raúl Castro,” presidents of Ukraine, Venezuela, and Cuba, respectively.

Participating in the audience with the pope were Caram, a Dominican nun; the director of Religión Digital, former priest José Manuel Vidal; journalists José Lorenzo and Jesús Bastante; and Father Ángel García Rodríguez, president of the nongovernmental organization Messengers of Peace.

Topics such as “the Church in Spain, future challenges, his health, extreme critics, the question of seminaries, future trips, and the validation of Vatican II” were discussed.

“Vatican II was a midfield goal for the Church, which has done us a lot of good, and which was necessary, although not everything has yet been put into effect,” the pope reportedly commented.

According to Religión Digital, the group gave Pope Francis on the 11th anniversary of his pontificate “a special gift: the tens of thousands of messages of support received in the RDconelPapa campaign [‘Religión Digital [Is] with the Pope’] that came from all corners of the world,” for which the Holy Father expressed his great appreciation.

Caram commented on Facebook that “we saw a serene pope, he looked very well. We were able to talk, listen, and share. I gave him a gift that moved him: a case with the book of the Gospels and psalms that a soldier had on him when he died on the front” in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Who is Sister Lucia Caram?

Caram, 57, is a Dominican nun from Argentina who lives in Spain. She is known for various controversial positions, such as her support for Catalonia’s independence from Spain.

In 2023 she spoke out in favor of homosexual couples being able to “marry in the Church.”

In 2017, in an interview with porn actor Nacho Vidal, the nun criticized that “for a long time the Church has dedicated itself to stoning those who weren’t living according to the norm.”

In 2014, she told La Opinión de Málaga online news that “those who freely make the decision [to abort] have to be the people [involved]. The Church cannot meddle in there. Not even God, who made us free for a reason.”

In 2013, interviewed by the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, the nun defended the use of contraceptive methods and claimed that “hell does not exist.”

It should be noted that an audience with the pope is not a papal endorsement by association with the person or persons visiting him or their views and that the Vatican Press Office does not confirm or deny statements allegedly made by the pope in such private audiences or nonpublic interviews.

What is Religión Digital?

Religión Digital is a website that regularly publishes content contrary to the doctrine of the Catholic Church. One of its most controversial articles, written by the Jesuit priest Juan Masiá, denied the virginity of Mary. On the same portal, on another occasion Masiá defended euthanasia.

Caram has also been a contributor to the portal.

In 2016, the well-known Spanish priest and demonology expert Father José Antonio Fortea told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that Religión Digital was “a website that continually promoted all authors who attacked dogma and the ecclesiastical hierarchy.”

Fortea questioned that some Catholics finance Religión Digital and warned that the portal is a “source of waters poisoned by heterodoxy.”

After Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation from the pontificate in February 2013, a month before the election of Pope Francis, Religión Digital published on its front page: “The problem is not the pope... the problem is the papacy.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Francis: Study groups to examine 10 Synod on Synodality themes through June 2025
Thu, 14 Mar 2024 17:40:00 -0400

Cardinal Mario Grech and Pope Francis at the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 28, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Mar 14, 2024 / 17:40 pm (CNA).

Church experts will meet in study groups to examine the question of women deacons and other key topics through June 2025 — well beyond the Oct. 27 conclusion of the final assembly of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis revealed in a new letter to the synod’s general secretary released Thursday.

Writing to Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the General Secretariat of the Synod, the pope noted that the 42-page Synthesis Report produced after the first session of the synod assembly held last October “enumerates many important theological issues,” which “by their very nature, require in-depth study.”

Because it won’t be possible to complete this study before the start of the next synod assembly on Oct. 2, the pope explained, “I am arranging for them to be assigned to specific study groups, so that they may be properly examined.”

In his letter Pope Francis listed 10 themes he wants the study groups to examine. They are:

1. Some aspects of the relationship between the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Latin Church.

2. Listening to the cry of the poor.

3. The mission in the digital environment.

4. The revision of the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis in a missionary synodal perspective.

5. Some theological and canonical matters regarding specific ministerial forms.

6. The revision, in a synodal missionary perspective, of the documents touching on the relationship between bishops, consecrated life, and ecclesial associations.

7. Some aspects of the person and ministry of the bishop (criteria for selecting candidates to episcopacy, judicial function of the bishops, nature and course of ad limina apostolorum visits) from a missionary synodal perspective.

8. The role of papal representatives in a missionary synodal perspective.

9. Theological criteria and synodal methodologies for shared discernment of controversial doctrinal, pastoral, and ethical issues.

10. The reception of the fruits of the ecumenical journey in ecclesial practices.

These selected themes were among a more extensive list of topics deemed “matters of great relevance” that came up during the synod’s first session in October 2023 that required consideration “at the level of the whole Church and in collaboration with the dicasteries of the Roman Curia,” according to the Dec. 12, 2023, document from the synod’s general secretariat titled “Towards October 2024.”

Observing that these issues require extensive review, Pope Francis noted that there is inadequate time to fully address them ahead of the synod in October. Therefore, he said, “the study groups will offer an initial account of their activity on the occasion of the second session and, if possible, will conclude their mandate by the month of June 2025.”

The pope said “it is the task of the General Secretariat of the Synod, by joint agreement with the competent dicasteries of the Roman Curia, to constitute these groups, calling pastors and experts from all continents to take part in them, and taking into consideration not only existing studies but also the most relevant current experiences in the people of God gathered in the local Churches.”

“It is important that the aforementioned study groups work according to an authentically synodal method, of which I ask you to be the guarantor,” the pope continued in his letter to Grech.

At a press briefing at the Vatican on Thursday, officials of the Secretariat of the Synod discussed the pope’s letter as well as two new documents the secretariat released in conjunction with the letter.

The first document, titled “Five Perspectives for Theological Exploration in View of the Second Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops,” reflects on the guiding theme of the synod: “How to Be a Synodal Church on Mission?”

It highlights that the next session will serve to deepen “the dynamic connection between the participation of all and the authority of some, in the horizon of communion and mission … in its theological meaning, in the practical ways of setting it in motion, and in the reality of canonical structures.”

The document also outlined the intermediary steps that are to be taken in the upcoming months in preparation for the synod, noting that this process will be built upon a “new consultation process,” articulating this will unfold on three distinct levels: the local Church, the groupings of Churches (i.e. national, regional, continental), and on the universal level.

The second document is titled “Study Groups on Questions Arising in the First Session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to Deepen in Collaboration with the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia.”

It is the second document that specifies that theme No. 5 — regarding matters related to ministerial forms — “is the context in which the question on the possible access of women to the diaconate can be appropriately posed.”

The study group formed to examine this question will be under the direction of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the document notes. This group “is entrusted with the task of continuing “theological and pastoral research on the access of women to the diaconate, taking advantage of the results of the commissions specially established by the Holy Father.”

The group’s work “will also aim to respond to the desire expressed by the Synodal Assembly for ‘a greater recognition and appreciation of the contribution of women and a growth in the pastoral responsibilities entrusted to them in all areas of the life and mission of the Church.”

Kamala Harris becomes first vice president to visit abortion clinic
Thu, 14 Mar 2024 17:20:00 -0400

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during her visit to a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Paul, Minnesota, on March 14, 2024. / Credit: STEPHEN MATUREN/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 14, 2024 / 17:20 pm (CNA).

Kamala Harris became the first sitting vice president to visit an abortion clinic when she toured a Planned Parenthood facility in Minneapolis on Thursday.

While at the clinic Harris met with the staff and toured the facility. After touring the clinic Harris took questions from reporters. She praised abortion providers and lashed out at lawmakers advancing pro-life legislation.

“How dare these elected leaders believe they are in a better position to tell women what they need, to tell women what is in their best interest,” Harris said.

“In this environment, these attacks against an individual’s right to make decisions about their own body are outrageous and, in many instances, just plain old immoral.”

The vice president, who is the first woman to hold the office, made the stop while on her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour in which she has been touting the Biden administration’s pro-abortion agenda ahead of the 2024 election.

On the tour, Harris has decried state and national pro-life laws, calling them a “full-on attack” on women’s rights, and advocated for a national law enshrining Roe v. Wade.

Bishop Michael Burbidge, head of the Diocese of Arlington and chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, responded to the visit by denouncing Harris’ decision to promote abortion.

“I am distressed to learn that the vice president is visiting an abortion clinic when there are so many agencies and organizations who are at the service of life that she could visit,” Burbidge told CNA. “She could learn about all they do to welcome every child, and how they support and accompany the mothers and fathers, especially those in need.”

Minnesota passed a new law last year that repealed several pro-life protections and allows abortion up until birth. According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, Minnesota is also one of 17 states that uses state tax dollars to fund almost half of its abortions.

Cathy Blaeser, co-executive director of Minnesota Concerned Citizens for Life, bashed Harris for using Minnesota to make a political point in favor of abortion.

“The Biden administration looks at Minnesota as an abortion haven, and they think that’s what we want. But that is not what Minnesotans want, and together we’ll work to restore commonsense protections for women and babies,” Blaeser told CNA.

“Minnesota is an outlier after enacting an abortion-up-to-birth law and abolishing a program that supported pregnant women. That’s why Vice President Harris came here. But unlimited abortion harms women and children. Most Minnesotans don’t want what Harris, Biden, and DFL lawmakers are selling,” she said in a separate statement obtained by CNA.

Brian Gibson, CEO of the Minnesota-based Pro-Life Action Ministries, was among a group of prayerful protestors outside the abortion clinic during Harris’ visit. He told CNA that the Planned Parenthood Harris visited is the main abortion clinic in the state at which most of the abortions are committed. Harris’ visit, he said, signals that the Biden administration is “all in for abortion.”

Pro-life advocates hold signs up outside the Planned Parenthood clinic where VP Kamala Harris visited. Credit: Brian Gibson of Pro-Life Action Ministries
Pro-life advocates hold signs up outside the Planned Parenthood clinic where VP Kamala Harris visited. Credit: Brian Gibson of Pro-Life Action Ministries

“They’re making it their hallmark issue,” he said, adding that “they want to normalize abortion as if it’s like having a tooth pulled.”

Though he condemns the Biden administration’s abortion politics, Gibson said he prays for their conversion and hopes they “come to know Christ.”

Pope Francis takes on critics in forthcoming memoir, says he won’t be resigning
Thu, 14 Mar 2024 16:30:00 -0400

Pope Francis greets pilgrims at his general audience on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Newsroom, Mar 14, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has no plans to resign from office — though he says some in the Church wish he would.

The pontiff addresses the topic in “Life: My Story Through History,” his forthcoming autobiography. Excerpts from the book, which explores in detail the most significant moments of the 87-year-old’s life up until the present day, were published March 14 by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

In the book, Pope Francis says that despite the criticism and medical issues he has faced during his 11-year pontificate, he considers the Petrine ministry to be “for life” and sees no conditions for resignation, barring serious physical impairment.

“Over the years, perhaps some people have hoped that sooner or later, perhaps after hospitalization, I would make an announcement like this, but there is no such risk: Thanks to the Lord, I enjoy good health, and God willing, there are many projects still to realize.”

The pope says that some are already focusing on who might succeed him, which he says was “only human,” but he also warns that this kind of speculation can be motivated by personal gain or “for profit in the newspapers.”

Addressing criticism leveled against him during his more than 10 years as pontiff, the Argentinian pope acknowledges that he was hurt by those who claim that he is “destroying the papacy.” But he says that he would have to go to the psychologist once a week if he paid attention to all of the criticism, which he suggests is motivated by opposition to his desire to make the Church more pastoral and less monarchical.

The pope also writes that it has “pained” him to see Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned in 2013 and lived in the Vatican as pope emeritus before passing away on Dec. 31, 2022, used against him for “ideological and political purposes” by “unscrupulous people who, not having accepted his resignation, have thought of their own gain and their own little garden to cultivate, underestimating the dramatic possibility of a fracture within the Church.”

In the new book, Pope Francis also defends arguably the most divisive move of his papacy: the Vatican’s recent controversial approval of blessings for same-sex couples. The pope said that the promulgation of Fiducia Supplicans confirms that “God loves everyone, especially sinners,” and that if some decide not to implement the guidance, as many bishops and some entire episcopal conferences have, “it does not mean that this is the antechamber of a schism, because the doctrine of the Church is not called into question.”

While the pope says that marriage between people of the same sex is not a possibility, he reiterates his approval of civil unions, stating that “it is right that these people who live the gift of love can have legal coverage like everyone else.”

Twists, turns, and a ‘small crush’

The forthcoming autobiography reveals many details of the pope’s family history, upbringing, and ordained ministry — including several twists and turns and “near misses” along the way.

For instance, the pope shares how his paternal grandparents and father were almost aboard an Italian ship that sank in 1927 en route to Argentina, resulting in the death of 300 emigrants. But the Bergoglio family didn’t have enough money to buy tickets and were providentially spared from the doomed voyage.

Pope Francis also recounts how as a seminarian he developed a “small crush” on a young woman he met at his uncle’s wedding, whom he was “dazzled by.”

“For a week I always had the image of her in my mind and it was difficult for me to pray! Then luckily [thoughts of her] passed, and I dedicated body and soul to my vocation.”

Another near redirection occurred after World War II when the young Jesuit asked to go to Japan as a missionary. But his request was denied due to health concerns.

“If they had sent me to that mission land, my life would have taken a different path; and maybe someone in the Vatican would have been better off now,” the pope quips, referring to his detractors in the Curia.

Francis also recounts some of the highlights of his ordained ministry, such as the 2013 conclave that elected him pope, but also the more difficult stretches, such as his experience during the Argentinian dictatorship of 1976–1983 and his “exile” into rural Argentina by his Jesuit superiors.

“It was a period of purification,” the pope says of his years in Cordoba in the 1990s, which came about after mistakes he committed “due to my authoritarian attitude.”

“I was very closed in on myself, a little depressed.”

Important formative figures also factor into Pope Francis’ autobiography, including his paternal grandparents, Giovanni and Rosa, but also his boss while a student in a laboratory: a woman named Esther whom the pope describes as “a true communist.”

Abortion, surrogacy, and defacing art

In “Life: My Story Through History,” Pope Francis also states his views on some of the most pressing issues facing the Church and society.

He reiterates his description of abortion as “a criminal act” akin to hiring “hitmen.”

“No more abortions, please! It is essential to always defend and promote conscientious objection.”

The pope also condemns surrogacy as “inhuman,” as it “threatens the dignity of men and women, with children treated as commodities.”

On the topic of the protection of creation, Pope Francis writes that “time is running out” to save the planet but urges activists to not resort to violence or “defacing works of art” in their efforts to push for change.

The pope also emphasizes the need for the Church to follow Christ’s example of going to people on the margins in its care for same-sex-attracted and trans-identifying people, “who are often marginalized within the Church.”

“Make them feel at home, especially those who have received baptism and are to all intents and purposes part of the people of God.”

Pope Francis co-wrote “Life: My Story Through History” with Fabio Marchese Ragona, a Vatican journalist and personal friend. The highly anticipated autobiography, which is being published in the United States and Europe by HarperCollins, is expected to be released in full on March 19.

Wisconsin Supreme Court says Catholic charity group cannot claim religious tax exemption
Thu, 14 Mar 2024 16:00:00 -0400

View of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin located inside the Wisconsin State Capitol building in Madison. / Credit: EQRoy/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 14, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a major Catholic charity group’s activities were not “primarily” religious under state law, stripping the group of a key tax break and ordering it to pay into the state unemployment system.

Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) last year argued that the state had improperly removed its designation as a religious organization.

The charity filed a lawsuit after the state said it did not qualify to be considered as an organization “operated primarily for religious purposes.” That order prevented the charity from using a Church-run unemployment system and forced it to contribute money to the state-run unemployment system instead.

In its divided 4-3 ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin agreed with the state, upholding a lower court ruling and ordering that Catholic Charities Bureau and its subgroups “offer services that would be the same regardless of the motivation of the provider,” which the court called “a strong indication” that the group does not “operate primarily for religious purposes.”

A religious motivation on its own, the court said, “is not enough to receive the exemption” from the state unemployment tax.

“An objective examination of the actual activities of CCB and the sub-entities reveals that their activities are secular in nature,” the court argued.

In a dissent to the ruling, court Justice Rebecca Grassl Bradley said the majority had rewritten state law “to deprive Catholic Charities of the tax exemption.”

Claiming that the court was “impermissibly entangling the government in church doctrine,” Bradley wrote that the justices’ interpretation of the state law “renders the statute in violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution as well as the Wisconsin Constitution.”

“Because it is undisputed that the only reason Catholic Charities are operated is religious … the majority need not decide whose purposes are relevant,” Bradley wrote.

“The answer should be obvious from the statutory text,” she wrote. “The purposes of the entity that operates the nonprofit are the relevant purposes under the statute.”

Becket — a religious-liberty-focused law firm that had represented the Catholic group in its appeal — said on Thursday that Catholic Charities Bureau “plans to appeal [the] decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Numerous religious groups filed amicus briefs in support of the Catholic charity’s appeal, including the Sikh Coalition and International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and the Catholic Conferences of Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota.

In their filing, the Sikh and Krishna groups noted that the U.S. Supreme Court “has repeatedly recognized the dangers inherent in courts scrutinizing the nature, validity, or centrality of particular religious practices or beliefs.”

“For that reason, courts have consistently declined to question whether a particular belief or practice is central to a particular religion,” the groups said.

Catholic Charities Bureau, meanwhile, argued in its filing that the Catholic Church “holds that charity is as integral to its nature as liturgical worship and spreading the faith.”

The Church “practices charity as a fundamentally religious activity in which it both encounters Christ in those served and bears witness to the Gospel to the world,” they wrote.

“For these reasons — not simply as a humanitarian act or means to proselytize or impose the faith on others — the Church instructs bishops to perform charitable works through Catholic Charities or similar charitable organizations under their guidance.”

Wisconsin law allows religious organizations to opt out of the state’s unemployment system if they can provide comparable services through a private, nonstate system.

The rule applies to “an organization operated primarily for religious purposes and operated, supervised, controlled, or principally supported by a church or convention or association of churches” or “by a duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed minister of a church in the exercise of his or her ministry or by a member of a religious order in the exercise of duties required by such order,” according to state law.

Founded by the Catholic Diocese of Superior in 1917, Catholic Charities Bureau continues to be operated by the diocese, providing services to the poor, disabled, and elderly.

Paulist Fathers to end ministry at UC Berkeley after 117 years
Thu, 14 Mar 2024 15:25:00 -0400

Students at the University of California, Berkeley, with the Campanile tower in the background. / Credit: cdrin/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 14, 2024 / 15:25 pm (CNA).

After serving at the elite California public university since 1907, the Paulist Fathers announced Wednesday that they will leave the University of California, Berkeley, citing “the changing landscape of the Catholic Church in the United States and the shifting demographics of our own members.”

In a press release, the congregation of missionary priests said they had decided after a “comprehensive discernment process” to return Newman Hall-Holy Spirit Parish, which serves the university’s campus, to the care of the Diocese of Oakland at the end of the academic year.

They also announced several other staffing changes related to the Paulists’ operations in the U.S., including the closing of several nationwide ministries.

“The Paulist Fathers remain committed to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with missionary zeal, especially with people beyond the Church walls and with Catholics who feel apart from the Church,” said Father René Constanza, Paulist Fathers president.

“Rooted in hopefulness, we trust that the Holy Spirit is actively breathing life into all things.”

The Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle, today known as the Paulist Fathers, was founded in the 1850s as a congregation dedicated to evangelization in America. The new priestly congregation engaged in parish missions across the country and shared the Gospel with non-Catholics through lectures.

The Paulists have said in recent months that they are in the process of discerning which ministries they can continue to support in light of a continually shrinking and aging population of priests.

An undated message on the Paulists’ website states that the current trajectory of priestly numbers in their congregation is “not sustainable.” Just 50 Paulist priests are in active ministry today, the letter says, down from 98 in 2004. Of those 50 priests, almost two-thirds are in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. By 2034, the current trajectory suggests there will be only 31 active Paulists.

The congregation’s March 13 statement announced that similar to UC Berkeley, the Paulist presence at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, will conclude “in the coming months.”

In addition, three distinct ministries of the Paulists — Paulist Evangelization Ministries; Landings International, a reconciliation ministry with Catholics returning to the Church after a time away; and the Paulist Office for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations — “will cease operations as distinct apostolic endeavors of the Paulist Fathers” at the end of this year.

“These three ministries began as a response to the signs of the times in 1970s and 1980s with the establishment of national offices that served the Church well for decades,” Constanza said.

“We underscore that these three key parts of our mission will continue, and many of the particular programs and offerings created by these national offices will remain available through other means.”

Three of the Paulists’ main media ministries — Paulist Press, Paulist Productions, and Busted Halo — will continue, the congregation said.

The Paulists also announced that three communities served by the society — Immaculate Conception Church in Knoxville, Tennessee; Old St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco; and the Paulist Center in Boston — will transition from being staffed by two full-time, active Paulist priests to being served by one full-time priest, assisted by local Paulists in senior ministry.

The Paulist Fathers’ founder, Father Isaac Hecker, took a step toward sainthood late last year when the U.S. bishops voted to advance his cause. Hecker’s cause for canonization had been formally opened in 2008.

Priest sues Indiana diocese after ‘no evidence’ found in sex abuse investigation
Thu, 14 Mar 2024 12:45:00 -0400

null / Credit: Ulf Wittrock/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 14, 2024 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

A priest in Indiana is suing his diocese for fraud and defamation after he was suspended over what the clergyman claims were false allegations of sexually abusing a minor.

Father James DeOreo in a filing at Boone County Circuit Court earlier this month alleged that the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana, along with its vicar general, Father Theodore Dudzinski, committed both defamation and fraud, respectively, against DeOreo in a yearslong conflict over accusations against the priest.

The filing alleges that in January 2021, a parishioner alleged that DeOreo “abused the [parishioner] by encouraging him to fast and engage in other spiritual and ascetic practices,” which eventually led the individual to “suffer an eating disorder.”

A subsequent investigation found that “no abuse had occurred.” The diocese, however, “agreed to pay for the Complainer’s psychotherapy” in order to help him cope with his eating disorder.

DeOreo in the filing claims that Dudzinski “[sat] in on [the parishioner’s] therapy sessions” for several months throughout 2021, and that in several cases the vicar general allegedly told both the individual and his therapist that the diocese would reopen the investigation against DeOreo if accusations “of a sexual nature” were leveled against him.

The parishioner subsequently “made false allegations that DeOreo had abused him,” the filing says. The parishioner had claimed the abuse consisted of “verbal communication and innuendo,” including an “off-color” joke the priest reportedly told, as well as an instance where DeOreo allegedly claimed to have felt “tempted” around the accuser. The priest denied both situations ever occurred.

The diocese undertook a new investigation, DeOreo said, but none of its investigators “found the new allegations to be credible,” and they found “no evidence to substantiate the allegations.”

The priest claimed Dudzinski moved to “hide, obfuscate, or destroy the findings” of the diocese’s investigation. DeOreo was subsequently restricted from public ministry and ultimately suspended in March 2022 following further complaints from his accuser’s family.

The diocese days later published a public statement revealing the existence of “allegations of inappropriate conduct with a minor” originally made by the parishioner.

The diocese did not follow proper Church protocol in its handling of the controversy, DeOreo’s filing claims. The diocese further falsely suggested that “substantial evidence pointed toward DeOreo’s misconduct, guilt, and/or culpability,” which the priest called an “untruth.”

DeOreo is seeking $10 million from the diocese for the loss of his “previously impeccable reputation as a priest.” He is further seeking unspecified damages against Dudzinski.

Diocesan spokeswoman Gabby Hlavek on Thursday declined to comment on the proceedings.

“The diocese cannot discuss pending litigation; instead, we ask that you please join us in prayer for all those that are affected,” she told CNA.

Dudzinski’s office did not respond to a query on the filing.

DeOreo was ordained in 2018. In 2022 he sued the man who originally made the allegations against him. That case was ultimately dismissed this month with the priest and the accuser settling out of court.

Diocese of Buffalo announces sale of headquarters to pay sex abuse victims
Thu, 14 Mar 2024 11:15:00 -0400

Built in 1930, the Courier-Express Building is home to the Catholic Center of Buffalo. / Credit: Warren LeMay|Flickr|CC BY-SA 2.0

CNA Staff, Mar 14, 2024 / 11:15 am (CNA).

The Diocese of Buffalo in New York has announced the sale of its headquarters in downtown Buffalo nearly four years after it declared bankruptcy amid hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits filed against it.

The diocese announced in Western New York Catholic this week that “​​the Catholic Center, the diocesan central office building since 1986, has been listed for sale” for $9.8 million.

In 2020, the diocese formally filed for Chapter 11 reorganization under the U.S. bankruptcy code. At the time the diocese said it was acting to provide the most compensation for victims of clergy sex abuse while continuing the day-to-day work of its Catholic mission.

Diocesan officials announced in October of last year that the diocese would be putting forth $100 million to settle the numerous abuse claims lodged against it.

Some of those funds would come from the sale of the Buffalo headquarters as well as the former Christ the King Seminary campus in East Aurora about 20 miles outside of the city.

The diocese said it purchased its headquarters building in 1985; before that, it had been home to the local Courier-Express, which had gone out of business in 1982.

The building was constructed in 1930 in the then-popular art deco style, the diocese said.

“Following the purchase in 1985, renovations began to house all diocesan offices serving the faithful of the eight counties of Western New York in one location,” the announcement said. Staff from 20 departments as well as staff from the nearby chancery moved into the new location about a year later; the building was dedicated in September 1986.

The sale “includes the 95,000-square-foot building,” an additional two-story building, and “an adjacent garage structure,” along with three parking lots.

An official with the Buffalo Diocese told CNA on Thursday morning that the diocese staff remain in the building for the time being.

Blinken, Putin congratulate Pope Francis on 11th anniversary of election
Thu, 14 Mar 2024 09:20:00 -0400

Pope Francis presides greets pilgrims at a penitential service at St. Pius V Parish in Rome on March 8, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Mar 14, 2024 / 09:20 am (CNA).

The international community on Wednesday sent congratulatory messages to Pope Francis to mark the 11th anniversary of his election to the pontificate, praising him for his leadership and peace initiatives over his nearly-dozen years at the Vatican.

“Today, I join millions of Americans in congratulating the Holy Father on this anniversary as he continues his work of leading the Catholic Church and inspiring people around the globe to seek peace, charity, and compassion,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote in a March 13 statement.

Blinken in his statement noted that the U.S. and the Vatican are “united by common values such as respect for human rights, including freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression.”

“We continue to work together to address the challenges of climate change, human trafficking, food security, and the humanitarian effects of conflicts in the Middle East, Ukraine, and elsewhere,” Blinken concluded.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also congratulated Francis on his anniversary in an official correspondence on Wednesday, remarking that the pope is a “a true and honest defender of peace and one of the few leaders with an honest strategic vision of world problems.”

The Russian Embassy to the Holy See also wrote a congratulatory message on X, calling the pope “a true and sincere advocate of humanism, peace and traditional values,” and “one of the few political leaders with a truly strategic viewpoint on world problems.”

Other world leaders such as Tsai Ing-wen, the president of the Republic of China, expressed “profound respect” for the pope’s leadership over the last 11 years, lauding him for having “promot[ed] peace and goodwill, particularly in Ukraine and Palestine.”

Ilham Aliyev, the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan, likewise reflected on the pope’s anniversary, noting his country’s “genuine dialogue and mutual understanding” with the Holy See, which has contributed “to preserving universal values and fostering solidarity among representatives of various religions and cultures.”

Pope Francis — born Jorge Mario Bergoglio — was elected as the 265th successor to St. Peter on March 13, 2013, following the historic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. He previously served as the archbishop of Buenos Aires in his native Argentina.

Francis, the first Jesuit pope and the first from the Americas, has centered his pontificate on the care of migrants, environmental protection, and building a Church that reaches out to the poor and the peripheries.

Christians in Gaza face ‘worst period’ since start of war, report says
Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0400

Celebration of Mass at Holy Family Parish in Gaza. / Credit: ACN & Holy Family Parish

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 14, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has released a report highlighting that the Christian community in Gaza “is going through the worst period” since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023.

According to the report released on March 8, Gaza is facing difficult times, with shelling, disrupted communications, and food shortages. Sister Nabila Saleh, a religious of the Holy Rosary Congregation, described the situation as distressing but is grateful for God’s grace even in adversity.

“The little we have is because of God’s grace. The people outside suffer even more than we do, because they don’t have that consolation at this time,” she said.

Holy Family Parish in the neighborhood of Al Zeyton, in the north of the Gaza Strip, is one of the places affected by the intense clashes and bombardments. The church is currently sheltering 128 families — a total of 512 Christians, both Catholics and Orthodox — including 120 children under the age of 18, among them 60 with disabilities, and 84 elderly people.

An ACN project partner operating in the area, whose name cannot be disclosed for security reasons, reported that “the intensity of military operations increases” every time a truce is mentioned and that food shortages are at a critical point.

“Food is simply in short supply and it is difficult to find where to buy it. The Christian community takes every possible opportunity to secure some clean water and food,” the project partner said.

The food supply is limited to two meals a week and one loaf of bread every other day per person, provided by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem with the help of organizations such as ACN. However, the community must often share small portions with one another to survive.

Access to clean water is a challenge, and many people have lost weight due to food shortages. Health problems are severe, with sick children and elderly people needing urgent medical attention, which is difficult to obtain in the midst of conflict.

“People walk for long hours to get a small box of food, which in the end is not even enough for three people. Because of this forced diet, sharing is becoming part of daily life and a new Christian identity,” the project partner told ACN.

The health situation is also alarming. Children are suffering from an outbreak of a virus that causes nausea and diarrhea, while several elderly people are facing serious illnesses that require hospitalization.

Despite the difficulties, faith remains a powerful force for the community. Religious and psychological support activities are held, including daily Masses, catechesis, and meetings for healing trauma through prayer.

Priests and religious sisters, such as Sister Nabila, play a crucial role in caring for the community, despite being exhausted. Sister Nabila emphasized that, despite everything, the faith of the community is strengthened.

“They are all exhausted; no one can really experience what they are living. But with God’s grace, our children are now even closer to their faith than ever. It’s a very special Easter; we are closer than ever to the crucified Savior,” she declared.

Although communication with the community is difficult, her constant request is simple: “Pray for us, pray for the whole population to end this war.”

This article was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Mexico’s presidential candidates sign Catholic Church’s ‘Commitment to Peace’ initiative
Wed, 13 Mar 2024 16:30:00 -0400

Mexican presidential candidates Jorge Álvarez Máynez, Xóchitl Gálvez, and Claudia Sheinbaum each signed the "National Commitment to Peace." / Credit: Society of Jesus

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 13, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

The three candidates running for president of Mexico met in the country’s capital March 11 to sign the National Commitment to Peace, an initiative proposed by the Catholic Church to address growing violence in the nation.

This initiative is a result of the National Dialogue for Peace, which took place in September 2023, organized by the Mexican Bishops’ Conference, the Society of Jesus, and the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious of Mexico.

Signing the commitment were Jorge Álvarez Máynez of the Citizen Movement party; Xóchitl Gálvez of the opposition National Action Party (PAN) and a candidate of the electoral coalition Broad Front for Mexico; and Claudia Sheinbaum, a member of the ruling Morena party (founded by current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador) who heads the electoral coalition Together We Make History.

The signing took place in the context of the upcoming June 2 elections in which Mexicans will elect the next president and new federal representatives and senators, as well as the governors of nine states, state legislators, and presidents of municipalities.

According to the National Electoral Institute, this election is “the largest that Mexico has ever had.”

Proposals of the National Commitment to Peace

The National Commitment to Peace consists of seven key actions aimed at improving security and strengthening the nation: the social fabric, security, justice, prisons, adolescents, governance, and human rights.

Among the proposed measures is the development of “care policies” aimed at “building and strengthening the social fabric” as well as the strengthening of local law enforcement in order to allow “the gradual withdrawal of the military from public security functions.”

The document also advocates for the renewal of the justice system so that there is “the ability to conduct investigations and the autonomy to resolve cases.” It also calls for making “thorough reform of the prison system” a priority.

Regarding the prevention of problems related to adolescence, such as “addiction, organized crime, and illicit economies,” the Catholic Church proposes a strategy with an assigned budget to strengthen young people’s “security and well-being.”

The document also seeks to promote “democratic governance that protects local governments” from the influence of “crime-based economies,” and emphasis is placed on addressing the country’s human rights crisis, prioritizing the search for “disappeared” persons, eliminating violence against women, and protecting migrants and the autonomy of Indigenous peoples.

What did the candidates say?

Jorge Álvarez

The candidate presented the five points that make up his National Pacification Plan with which he seeks to significantly reduce the levels of violence in Mexico if elected president.

With regard to the fight against drug trafficking, Álvarez proposed “ending the prohibition” of drugs.

The presidential hopeful stated that the money coming from the regulation of the drug market could be used to finance social spending: “One of the sources of income must be the regulation of the drug market. The fact that it’s a black market does not contribute anything to the state’s ability to combat it.”

Xochitl Gálvez

The representative of the coalition formed by the National Action Party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, and the Democratic Revolutionary Party highlighted several key points during the signing of the commitment. First of all, she emphasized the need to improve working conditions.

Gálvez also spoke out in favor of “consolidating a system of civic justice, using technology and intelligence.” She also advocated “for a great national agreement and building a solid social fabric.”

The candidate also highlighted the need to renew the Mexican prison system “in such a way that prisons are true centers of social rehabilitation and not schools for criminals.”

Claudia Sheinbaum

The Morena party candidate rejected the claim that “fear, helplessness, distrust, and uncertainty prevail.”

Contrary to what the document indicates, Sheinbaum denied there has been an increase in common crime.

The candidate signed the commitment “with the understanding that there is a joint vision of building peace”; however, she indicated that “there are various statements and proposals with which I do not agree.”

Current situation in Mexico

Since Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office as president on Dec. 1, 2018, there have been 181,344 homicides recorded, according to the report “MX: La Guerra en Números” (“Mexico: The War in Numbers”), prepared by the T-Research MX agency.

Of the 50 most violent cities in the world in 2023, 16 were in Mexico, according to the list compiled by the Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice. At the top of the list was Colima, the capital of Colima state on Mexico’s Pacific coast.

Based on documents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the 2022 report “Mexico: Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Organizations” by the U.S. Congressional Research Service identifies nine “main” cartels operating in Mexico: Tijuana/Arellano Félix, Sinaloa, Juárez/Carrillo Fuentes, Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas and the Noreste Cartel, Beltrán Leyva, La Familia Michoacana, Los Rojos, and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

However, the report acknowledges, crime gangs in Mexico are more fragmented and more competitive than they were 10 to 20 years ago. Some of the smaller gangs “exert major influence for a few years and then disappear.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Cuban priest: ‘Communism won’t survive’ and ‘the Church will remain’
Wed, 13 Mar 2024 16:00:00 -0400

Father Alberto Reyes has emerged as a critical voice against the extreme poverty and repressive actions of Cuba's police state, having himself experienced both and seen them in the lives of his fellow Cubans. / Credit: Rachel Diez/EWTN Noticias

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 13, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

In an interview with EWTN Noticias, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Cuban priest Alberto Reyes spoke about his apostolic ministry in Camagüey province, located in the central area of the island, and about how his defense of religious freedom on the island has earned him friends and enemies alike.

Reyes did not hesitate to say that in Cuba “communism will not survive” and “the Church will remain.”

The Cuban priest works in Esmeralda, a small town “that was once flourishing,” according to EWTN Noticias correspondent Rachel Diez. Today, the daily life of the people is the same as that of many others in Cuba, one of “sadness, migration, and deprivation,” he commented.

Since his ordination, Reyes has always been involved with the peripheries of society, in areas that have been very poor, but with a community of faithful always willing to serve just as they are in Esmeralda.

The diocesan priest has been a critical voice against the extreme poverty and the repressive actions of the police state, since he himself has experienced both and has seen them in the lives of fellow Cubans.

Reyes shared that although he grew up in an environment close to the Church, he never thought about consecrating his life to Jesus. “There are people who say that I’m very brave, but that’s not true,” he said.

“I think I’ve learned to flee forward [instead of running away from a problem to face it head on]. I have learned not to be taken captive by fear,” he added, noting that he has seen for himself the extreme poverty that exists in Cuba. “In Maisí [Guantánamo province] I saw children sleeping in cardboard boxes, something I had never seen before.”

The priest explained that he felt the need to let the outside world know about the suffering of the Cuban people in order to contrast that terrible reality with what the state propaganda apparatus presents to the world.

“This is a Cuba that’s going hungry and that’s a reality: People are hungry. That Cuban paradise of television and international propaganda doesn’t exist. What hurts me most about this Cuba is the hopelessness. People feel like they can’t do anything; they’re afraid,” Reyes said.

This fear, the priest continued, is understood because every time Cubans have expressed their disagreement with the communist regime, they have been silenced “with beatings and jail.” He recalled the spontaneous street protests of July 11, 2021, and said that they were a sign that the people “don’t want this system.”

That day thousands of Cubans took to the streets to call for freedom and better living conditions. The mass protests were violently repressed by the regime of President Miguel Díaz-Canel and to this day hundreds of the protesters are still in prison.

As the priest sees it, in 1959 the country supported the so-called Cuban revolution because “they were deceived” by Fidel Castro, who promised to restore the democracy that the dictatorship of President Fulgencio Batista had suppressed. “We were deceived and a [new] dictatorship was established, which is a prison that continues to this day,” he added.

“Let us be a free and prosperous people, because there is no right to keep this people in the misery that they are in,” Reyes said.

Several religious in Cuba have dared to denounce the abuses of the regime. Personally, Reyes has been the subject of “acts of repudiation,” the regime’s term for orchestrated acts of harassment against critics of the government who are singled out as enemies of the people.

“There have been many threats, sometimes worse and sometimes less. I feel like I’m doing what I have to do,” he said and condemned the violence and persecution to which dissidents are subjected in the country.

Finally, despite the obstacles and the complicated situation that Cuba is experiencing, the priest said that to achieve true change in the country, it is necessary to have “a people that accepts God and embarks on paths of prosperity and peace.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Survey: Slight decrease in gay marriage support, uptick in religious freedom support in U.S.
Wed, 13 Mar 2024 15:30:00 -0400

null / Credit: Daniel Jedzura/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 13, 2024 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

A survey of more than 22,000 Americans found that support for homosexual marriage declined slightly and support for businesses who refuse to violate their religious beliefs went up in 2023 when compared with 2022.

The American Values Atlas survey, which is produced by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), is released annually. The report details trends on these topics from 2014 until the most recent 2023 survey.

Homosexual marriage support declines

The survey found that 67% of Americans supported homosexual marriage in 2023, which is a two-point decrease from the 69% that recorded their support in 2022. This is the first time the annual survey found a downtick in support since 2015.

Support for homosexual marriage also declined among self-identified Catholic respondents, but a majority still supported it. The decline was significantly larger among Hispanic Catholics, who dropped from 75% support to 68% support, than white Catholics, who dropped from 75% support to 73% support.

The groups least likely to support homosexual marriage were Mormons, Hispanic Protestants, white evangelical Protestants, Muslims, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. These were the only groups in which fewer than half of the respondents supported homosexual marriage.

Young people are more likely to support homosexual marriage than the average American, but support from youth has been declining since 2018. The survey found that 71% of people between the ages of 18 and 29 support homosexual marriage — a significant eight-point decline from the 79% of young people who said the same in 2018.

The majority of Americans in nearly every state still support homosexual marriage, with the exceptions being Arkansas, where only 49% support it, and Mississippi, where exactly 50% support it.

Support for religious freedom is rising

Most Americans — 60% — still opposed a small business owner’s right to refuse service to homosexuals when it would violate his or her religious beliefs. But this is a five-point decline from 2022 when 65% said the same.

This decline puts the public closer to 2015 numbers, when 59% of Americans opposed these rights.

Young people are more likely to oppose these religious rights, with 64% of respondents aged 18–29 in opposition. However, this is six points lower than the 70% of young people who were in opposition to these rights in 2022.

The report also found that 76% of Americans support nondiscrimination laws for homosexual and transgender people, but this too is four points lower than the 80% who said the same in 2022.

For Americans aged 18–29, support for nondiscrimination protections peaked in 2020 with 83% in support but fell significantly in 2023 to 75% in support.

Partisan differences

The survey showed vast differences on these topics between the two major political parties. The chief executive officer of PRRI, Melissa Deckman, attributed these shifts to partisan division.

“Our survey shows that support for LGBTQ rights has dipped slightly from 2022 to 2023, although the vast majority of Americans continue to endorse anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ Americans and the rights of same-sex couples to marry,” Deckman said in a statement.

“The growing partisan divide on these issues show the effect of the continuous use of LGBTQ identity and LGBTQ rights as a wedge issue in our nation’s culture wars.”

About 82% of Democrats in the survey said they supported homosexual marriage, compared with 47% of Republicans.

The distinction was also present in opposition to a business owner’s religious freedom — 82% for Democrats and 32% for Republicans — and support for homosexual and transgender nondiscrimination protections — 89% for Democrats and 59% for Republicans.

Vatican seeks to break new ground in Confucian and Christian dialogue
Wed, 13 Mar 2024 15:00:00 -0400

Confucius statue in Nanjing Confucius Temple, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, China. / Credit: aphotostory/Shutterstock

Rome Newsroom, Mar 13, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

The Vatican sponsored a dialogue in Taiwan this week as the Catholic Church prepares to release official guidelines for engagement with Confucianism, one of the most influential religious philosophies in the history of China.

Father Paulin Kubuya, the undersecretary for the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, traveled to New Taipei City for the meeting at Fu Jen Catholic University. He told CNA in an interview on March 12 upon his return to Rome that the guidelines could help Catholics in East Asia to navigate living out the faith amid their cultural traditions.

Father Paulin Kubuya in the offices of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA
Father Paulin Kubuya in the offices of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

Kubuya is from the Democratic Republic of Congo and is fluent in Chinese after serving as a Xaverian missionary in Taiwan. During his time as a missionary, he saw how converts to Catholicism wrestled with what to do with the traditions and rituals that they grew up with, such as veneration of one’s ancestors.

“Confucianism, until the 19th century, provided Chinese, Korean, Japanese [societies] with guidelines on how to conduct themselves,” the priest explained, adding that “The Analects of Confucius” still informs basic formation and education in Taiwan.

“For Asian Christians … this dialogue, these guidelines will be helpful, because it will enable them to dialogue with themselves,” he said.

The Vatican is drafting the guidelines with the goal of providing a valuable resource for individuals, organizations, and communities both within and beyond the Catholic Church that seek to engage in dialogue with followers of Confucianism, according to the dicastery.

The workshop in Taiwan was the fruit of more than two years of preparation. The Vatican’s interreligious dialogue office invited experts in Confucianism from around the world to share their insights in a series of online meetings leading up to the in-person meeting in Taiwan.

More work and study are required, according to Kubuya, who expects the guidelines to be finalized and published sometime next year.

“Hopefully by engaging Confucianism in a dialogue … a Christian coming from Asia and who is coming from that background, he will know the position of the Church, he will know how he can put together his cultural tradition and the faith that he has received and live in peace with it,” Kubuya said.

The Vatican’s current dialogue with Confucianism builds upon the work of pioneering Catholic missionaries in Asia in centuries past, like Venerable Matteo Ricci, the 17th-century Jesuit known for introducing Christianity to China’s imperial Ming Dynasty.

Ricci saw in Confucianism “a high culture” and engaged with the literati in the heart of the Imperial City of Beijing.

Later missionaries in China took issue with Confucian practices, particularly in what they saw as ancestor worship, giving rise to the Chinese Rites Controversy, explained Kubuya, who is the author of the book “Meaning and Controversy Within Chinese Ancestor Religion.”

The Vatican intervened in the matter on numerous occasions in the 17th and 18th centuries with Clement XI and Benedict XIV both banning Chinese rites. Two centuries later, Pius XII issued a decree in 1939 allowing Chinese Catholics to observe ancestral rites.

“In Taiwan, the Catholic community is tiny. It’s a minority community, but I always say that they are few, but very ripe because they are well determined and their Christian identity is very strong,” Kubuya said.

African priests witnessing to the Gospel in Asia

As a Xaverian missionary priest, Kubuya is aware that he is part of the continuation of the Church’s missionary legacy in Asia.

The Xaverian order was founded by St. Guido Maria Conforti, a 19th-century Italian missionary who was inspired to carry on the missionary work of St. Francis Xavier, the 16th-Jesuit missionary in Asia who died before realizing his dream of evangelizing China.

Kubuya recalls that he was one of 12 Congolese priests serving as missionaries in Taiwan before he was called upon to serve in the Roman Curia.

Father Paulin Kubuya in the offices of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA
Father Paulin Kubuya in the offices of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. Credit: Courtney Mares/CNA

In Taiwan, “the idea that many Buddhists, Taoists, Confucians have is they think that Christian priests, missionaries are all foreigners, meaning Westerners, Americans, or Europeans, so by seeing us from Africa, they started understanding that actually the Church is very complex, is rich, and does not exclude. This was my experience,” he said.

“I think that our presence [in Asia] displays the catholicity of the Church, that the Church will work beyond colors, beyond languages,” he said. “That the Catholic Church is universal because we are coming from everywhere.”

Vatican’s ongoing dialogue with Taoism

The dialogue on Confucianism in New Taipei City, titled “Christians Fostering Dialogue with Confucians: Guidelines and Prospects,” was one of two workshops in Asia sponsored by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue this week.

A second event on dialogue with Taoism is taking place in Hong Kong March 11–13, organized by the Vatican dicastery and titled “Cultivating a Harmonious Society through Interreligious Dialogue.”

Taoism is different from Confucianism in that it involves the worship of deities. The Vatican’s Taoism colloquium in Hong Kong focused on the themes of “Christian and Taoist Scriptural Foundations for Cultivating a Harmonious Society,” “Cultivating Harmony Through Worship and Liturgy,” “Tao/the Way and De/Virtue in Dialogue and Practice,” “Holiness in Taoism and Christianity,” and “Transmitting Religious Beliefs and Values in a Globalized World.”

Cardinal Stephen Chow, the bishop of Hong Kong, told Vatican News that he hopes the recognition of a shared spirit of service between Christianity and Taoism will help “the value and meaning of religion [to be] better appreciated in China.”

“The vision of the Taoist religion is to foster a movement of the world toward peace and unity, where humanity and the Way — we would say the ‘Logos’ — are connected,” the Jesuit cardinal said.

Christianity and Taoism “share the values of mercy, simplicity, and not striving for worldly achievements,” Chow said.

Attack on Coptic monastery in South Africa takes lives of three monks
Wed, 13 Mar 2024 14:30:00 -0400

The Coptic Orthodox Church said Pope Tawadros II is aware of the attack that happened March 12, 2024, in the Coptic monastery of St. Mark and St. Bishop Samuel the Confessor in South Africa. / Credit: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Mar 13, 2024 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

The Coptic Orthodox Church announced that three monks were attacked and murdered Tuesday in the Coptic monastery of St. Mark and St. Bishop Samuel the Confessor in Cullinan, South Africa, 18 miles east of the country’s capital, Pretoria.

In an official statement, the church said the attack resulted in the martyrdom of Father Takla El-Samouili, the diocesan vicar; Father Youstos Ava-Markos; and Father Mina Ava-Markosthree.

According to Reuters, all three victims were found with stab wounds while a fourth who survived alleged that he was hit by an iron rod before fleeing and hiding, said South African police spokesperson Col. Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi.

The BBC reported that an Egyptian member of the church has been arrested as a possible suspect.

Pope Tawadros II, according to the church’s statement, is following the details of the incident closely, waiting to know its causes.

DOJ signals that U.S. prisons must adopt transgender policies for prisoners
Wed, 13 Mar 2024 14:00:00 -0400

null / Credit: Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 13, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) this week signaled that prisons throughout the United States must provide prisoners with transgender-related medical care, including “hormone therapy” and other gender-related requests.

The department said in a press release on Tuesday that the Utah Department of Corrections (UDOC) had “violated the Americans with Disabilities Act” when it “failed to provide” a male prisoner with access to “hormone therapy.”

The prisoner in question had claimed to identify as a woman and had “repeatedly requested” access to female hormones as well as special accommodations such as “female clothing” and the modification of “pat search policies.” The individual’s gender dysphoria “worsened during [his] incarceration” at UDOC, the DOJ said.

The department in its finding ordered UDOC to “adopt, revise, and implement relevant policies, practices, and procedures” in order to bring its practices in line with the DOJ’s preferences, including “providing health care services for gender dysphoria consistent with UDOC’s treatment of other medical conditions.”

The DOJ indicated in its announcement that its findings apply to all U.S. prisons.

Prison facilities, the press release said, “violate the Eighth Amendment when they categorically refuse to provide medically necessary gender-affirming care to incarcerated individuals with gender dysphoria.”

Catholic leaders increasingly critical of gender ideology

Leaders in the Catholic Church have in recent years become increasingly critical of transgenderism and gender ideology. Those beliefs hold that men and women must be treated as the opposite sex if they simply “identify” as such.

Pope Francis last year called gender ideology “one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations” because it “blurs differences and the value of men and women” and “[makes] the world the same, all dull, all alike.”

The Holy Father earlier this month reiterated his criticism of transgenderism, calling gender ideology “the ugliest danger.”

The ideology “makes everything the same,” Francis said, with the pope adding: “Erasing differences is erasing humanity.”

The U.S. bishops last year voted to move forward with a significant revision to their document offering guidance to Catholic health care institutions on the issue of transgender surgeries and hormone treatments.

The bishops’ Committee on Doctrine at that time began the process of updating a portion of its Ethical and Religious Directives in order to emphasize that transgender surgeries and procedures are incompatible with the Church’s teaching on sex and the dignity of the human person.

In a joint letter to Catholics last year, meanwhile, two California bishops acknowledged that the “influence of gender ideology” has “become pervasive in contemporary society” and urged Catholics to respond to the zeitgeist with both “truth and charity.”

Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley composed a similar letter earlier in the year, while the Diocese of Cleveland said in a guidance document in August that Catholic institutions there must respond to those suffering from gender dysphoria by offering “a loving environment” while also “upholding the truth of God’s created reality.”

House passes bill to ban or force sale of TikTok
Wed, 13 Mar 2024 13:30:00 -0400

null / Credit: Solen Feyissa|Wikimedia|CC BY-SA 2.0

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 13, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

The House has passed a bill that could ban the massively popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from being used in the U.S.

Titled the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” the measure passed in an overwhelming bipartisan 352-65 vote. Though the bill does not ban TikTok outright, it prohibits “distributing, maintaining, or providing internet hosting services” to any app controlled by an entity determined to be a foreign adversary.

If made law, the bill will force TikTok’s Chinese owner to either sell the platform or face a U.S. ban. This means that if the company is sold to an American owner, it would be allowed to continue to operate in the U.S. However, if TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, retains ownership of TikTok, U.S. users will not be allowed to use the app.

House members supporting the bill voiced their concerns that TikTok poses a threat to national security and could also be acting as a propaganda outlet for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Some opponents of the bill, meanwhile, voiced concerns that the bill could curb First Amendment rights. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, called the TikTok ban a “Trojan horse,” saying it gives the government too much power to determine which platforms Americans can access.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, told CNA that he believes “Catholics should resolutely stand against TikTok, not simply to protect Catholics, but to safeguard the well-being of everyone else as well.”

“Congress needs to ban TikTok,” he said. “It is not only a pernicious, predatory force that exploits young people, especially girls, it is inextricably tied to the Chinese Communist Party. As such, its content is predictably manipulative and seductive.”

The bill will now move to the Senate for consideration, where some senators have previously expressed concerns with TikTok. In a January Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, accused the CCP of targeting American children to promote harmful content through TikTok.

“If you look at what is on TikTok in China, you are promoting to kids science and math videos and educational videos and you limit the amount of time kids can be on TikTok. In the United States, you are promoting to kids self-harm videos and anti-Israel propaganda. Why is there such a dramatic difference?” Cruz said.

President Joe Biden has signaled he would sign the bill into law if passed by both the House and Senate, according to reporting by Politico.

Pope Francis: Virtue enables us to have ‘a tendency towards the right choice’
Wed, 13 Mar 2024 13:00:00 -0400

Pope Francis addresses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on March 13, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Mar 13, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis on Wednesday opened a new chapter in his ongoing catechetical series on vices and virtues, shifting his reflection to the origins and nature of virtue itself and underscoring its value for human formation.

“Virtue is a ‘habitus’ of freedom. If we are free in every act, and every time we are required to choose between good and evil, virtue is what enables us to have a tendency towards the right choice,” the pope observed in his weekly general audience held in St. Peter’s Square.

The pope did not read Wednesday’s address, instead relying on an aide to deliver the remarks on his behalf. The Holy Father has been assisted in his public remarks since late February when the Vatican announced he was suffering from “mild flu” symptoms.

Pope Francis greets pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on March 13, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis greets pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on March 13, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

Building upon the notion of virtue as an integral, and innate, characteristic that enables humans to differentiate between good and evil, the pope noted that “it is not an improvised or somewhat random good that falls from heaven sporadically” but “a goodness that stems from a slow maturation of the person, to the point of becoming an inner characteristic.”

The Holy Father pointed to the saints, arguing that they should not be thought of as “the exceptions of humanity” or “a sort of restricted circle of champions who live beyond the limits of our species” but as “those who become themselves fully, who fulfill the vocation proper to every man or woman.”

“Therefore,” the pope continued, “the exercise of the virtues is the fruit of long germination, requiring effort and even suffering.”

The Holy Father also stressed the importance of developing virtuous actions and attitudes against the backdrop of what he characterized as “these dramatic times of ours in which we often have to come to terms with the worst of humanity.”

Pope Francis greets children gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on March 13, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis greets children gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on March 13, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

“In a distorted world, we must remember the form in which we were shaped, the image of God that is forever imprinted upon us,” Francis continued.

“What a happy world it would be if justice, respect, mutual benevolence, broadmindedness, and hope were the shared normality and not instead a rare anomaly,” the pope observed.

Yet it is precisely because “the human heart can indulge evil passions,” which in turn “can pay heed to harmful temptations disguised in persuasive garb,” that the pope reminded the faithful that the human being is “not a free territory for the conquest of pleasures, emotions, instincts, passions.”

Emphasizing again that “the human being is made for goodness,” the pope underscored that cultivating virtue, the “mirror image” of vice, is built upon “open-mindedness” and the “wisdom that can learn from mistakes,” a gift that comes from the Holy Spirit.

Pope Francis greets pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on March 13, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis greets pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on March 13, 2024. Credit: Vatican Media

“The Holy Spirit acts in us who have been baptized, working in our soul to lead it to a virtuous life,” the pope said. “How many Christians have reached holiness through tears, finding they could not overcome some of their weaknesses!”

“But they experienced that God completed that work of good that for them was only a sketch. Grace always precedes our moral commitment.”

Analysis: The ever-changing College of Cardinals
Wed, 13 Mar 2024 12:30:00 -0400

The College of Cardinals celebrates Mass on March 12, 2013, before entering the Sistine Chapel for the papal conclave. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno/CNA

Vatican City, Mar 13, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

The most recent change in the College of Cardinals took place on Feb. 24, when Cardinal José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán turned 80 and was thus removed from the ranks of cardinal-electors. A few weeks earlier, on Feb. 12, Cardinal Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno also turned 80 and, therefore, is no longer eligible to cast a vote in a conclave.

There are currently 129 cardinals who could vote in a conclave, nine more than the maximum of 120 set by Paul VI and confirmed by all of his successors since.

During the 11 years of his pontificate, Pope Francis has convened nine consistories to create new cardinals. In the process, he has created 142 cardinals, including 113 electors and 29 non-electors, from 70 nations. Of these nations, 22 had never had a cardinal before.

This level of activity stands in contrast with St. John Paul II, who convened nine consistories during a 27-year-long pontificate, as well as Pope Benedict XVI, who convened five in eight years. Nonetheless, the record for new red hats belongs to John Paul II, who created 231 new cardinals during his pontificate.

Were a conclave to begin today, there would be 94 cardinal-electors created by Pope Francis, 27 created by Benedict XVI, and eight made by John Paul II. To elect the pope, a block of 86 votes would be needed (two-thirds of the assembly), and the cardinals created by Pope Francis are more than two-thirds.

What the College of Cardinals will look like at the end of 2024

However, by the end of 2024, 10 more cardinals will lose the right to vote in the conclave. Therefore, if Pope Francis were not to convene a new consistory by the end of the year, the number would return below the maximum of 120 cardinal-electors.

Among the 10 cardinals who will turn 80 in the next few months, there is Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, considered influential but who has long wanted to leave public office, having asked the pope to also be dispensed from participating in the Synod on Synodality. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for Bishops, will also turn 80.

For the other four cardinals who will turn 80 over the next 10 months, the pope must find a successor for their respective roles, as they are all still in active service. These are the archbishop of Boston and president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley (June 29); the major penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza (Sept. 15); the archbishop of Caracas, Venezuela, Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo (Oct. 10); and the archbishop of Bombay, India, Cardinal Oswald Gracias (Dec. 24).

O’Malley and Gracias are also members of the Council of Cardinals established by the pope for the reform and government of the Roman Curia.

Cardinal Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, apostolic vicar of Vientiane, Laos, will also turn 80 in 2024, as will Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, archbishop emeritus of Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania; Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, archbishop emeritus of Bordeaux, France; and Cardinal John Njue, archbishop emeritus of Nairobi, Kenya.

In light of the above, by the end of 2024, the cardinal-electors created by Pope Francis will number 91, while those made by previous popes will have been drastically reduced. In fact, by that time at a future conclave, there will only be 22 cardinals created by Benedict XVI and six by John Paul II.

A Francis-like conclave?

These numbers suggest that the election of a successor to Pope Francis could very quickly be oriented toward a papal profile similar to that of Pope Francis. In reality, however, the outcome of the conclave could be very different.

For the most part, popes have convened consistories to discuss and consult the cardinals on major issues for the life of the Church.

During his pontificate, however, Pope Francis has only convened a consistory three times to discuss issues at hand. This first occurred in 2014, when another consistory accompanied the consistory for the creation of new cardinals to discuss family issues, with a report by Cardinal Walter Kasper.

In 2015, the reform of the Curia was discussed with various reports and in 2022, the pope asked the cardinals to take into account the reform of the Curia he had just established with the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium.

The last consistory’s discussion structure also differed from the usual pattern. The cardinals were gathered in small linguistic groups; not all of them could speak before the assembly and several left written documents on what their speech would have been without presenting it before the other members of the College of Cardinals. While presented as an effort to make the discussion more efficient, this structure took away traditionally important moments of interaction and mutual understanding.

These are not just minor details. The discussions that take place during consistories allow the cardinals to get to know each other and the personalities involved to define themselves more precisely.

For example, the papal candidacy of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla emerged from some of these discussions, along with the fact that Paul VI had called upon him to preach the spiritual exercises of Lent at the Curia in 1976. Although Wojtyla was an authoritative and well-known figure, it would not have been easy to obtain the support of his fellow cardinals if he had not had the opportunity to make himself known in these circumstances.

The next conclave, therefore, will get underway with somewhat of a handicap inasmuch as the cardinals will not know each other as well. This could be a boon, on the one hand, to the formation of pressure groups that could steer the conclave in one direction or another. But, on the other hand, it will also likely make the outcome more unpredictable. For this reason, although Pope Francis has created more than two-thirds of the cardinal-electors, it is by no means a sure thing that the pope who is chosen in a future conclave will have the same profile as Pope Francis.

A reform of conclave rules in the offing?

As things stand, the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, promulgated by John Paul II in 1996, will regulate the conclave. That constitution provided, among other things, that starting from the 34th ballot (or from the 35th, if the vote was also taken on the opening day of the conclave), an absolute majority is enough to elect a pope.

That provision was modified by Benedict XVI in 2007 with the motu proprio De Aliquibus Mutationibus in Normis de Electione Romani Pontificis. The new rule provides that at the 34th or 35th ballot, in the event of a “deadlock,” a runoff will be held between the two cardinals with the most votes, who, however, will not be able to participate in the ballot. However, the election will take place only if one of the two receives two-thirds of the votes, as expected in all other ballots.

These rules aim to obtain a broad consensus on the elected pope, who can thus count on the support of the entire College of Cardinals.

For some time now, there has been talk of a project by Pope Francis to reform the rules of the conclave. Among the reforms that could be under discussion: the lowering of the quorum for the election of the pope starting from the 15th ballot; the exclusion of cardinals over 80 from the general congregations, i.e. the pre-conclave meetings, in which both voting and nonvoting cardinals participate; and a new structuring of the general congregations themselves, on the model of the last consistory — that is, with the division of the cardinals into working groups and reports entrusted to a moderator.

However, no study for changing the rules of the conclave has been officially announced. Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, who has become the pope’s trusted canon lawyer in recent years, is said to have proposed some draft reforms, but there is no confirmation of this either.

It remains to be seen, therefore, if these rumors about a reform of the conclave’s rules are the result of honest discussions or simply agitation and speculation in the face of the well-known unpredictability of Pope Francis.

PHOTOS: A timeline of Pope Francis’ 11 years as pope
Wed, 13 Mar 2024 12:00:00 -0400

Pope Francis at the general audience in St. Peter's Square, Oct. 5, 2016. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

CNA Staff, Mar 13, 2024 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

March 13 marks the anniversary of the election of Pope Francis as the 265th successor of St. Peter. Here is a timeline of key events during his papacy:

2013

March 13 — About two weeks after Pope Benedict XVI steps down from the papacy, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is elected pope. He takes the papal name Francis in honor of St. Francis of Assisi and proclaims from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica: “Let us begin this journey, the bishop and people, this journey of the Church of Rome, which presides in charity over all the Churches, a journey of brotherhood in love, of mutual trust. Let us always pray for one another.”

March 14 — The day after he begins his pontificate, Pope Francis returns to his hotel to personally pay his hotel bill and collect his luggage.

July 8 — Pope Francis visits Italy’s island of Lampedusa and meets with a group of 50 migrants, most of whom are young men from Somalia and Eritrea. The island, which is about 200 miles off the coast of Tunisia, is a common entry point for migrants who flee parts of Africa and the Middle East to enter Europe. This is the pope’s first pastoral visit outside of Rome and sets the stage for making reaching out to the peripheries a significant focus.

Pope Francis gives the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square on Oct. 2, 2013.  Elise Harris/CNA.
Pope Francis gives the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square on Oct. 2, 2013. Elise Harris/CNA.

July 23-28 — Pope Francis visits Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to participate in World Youth Day 2013. More than 3 million people from around the world attend the event.

July 29 — On the return flight from Brazil, Pope Francis gives his first papal news conference and sparks controversy by saying “if a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge?” The phrase is prompted by a reporter asking the pope a question about priests who have homosexual attraction.

Nov. 24 — Pope Francis publishes his first apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). The document illustrates the pope’s vision for how to approach evangelization in the modern world.

2014

Feb. 22 — Pope Francis holds his first papal consistory to appoint 19 new cardinals, including ones from countries in the developing world that have never previously been represented in the College of Cardinals, such as Haiti.

March 22 — Pope Francis creates the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The commission works to protect the dignity of minors and vulnerable adults, such as the victims of sexual abuse.

Pope Francis greets pilgrims during his general audience on Nov. 29, 2014. Bohumil Petrik/CNA.
Pope Francis greets pilgrims during his general audience on Nov. 29, 2014. Bohumil Petrik/CNA.

Oct. 5 — The Synod on the Family begins. The bishops discuss a variety of concerns, including single-parent homes, cohabitation, homosexual adoption of children, and interreligious marriages.

Dec. 6 — After facing some pushback for his efforts to reform the Roman Curia, Pope Francis discusses his opinion in an interview with La Nacion, an Argentine news outlet: “Resistance is now evident. And that is a good sign for me, getting the resistance out into the open, no stealthy mumbling when there is disagreement. It’s healthy to get things out into the open, it’s very healthy.”

2015

Jan. 18 — To conclude a trip to Asia, Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Manila, Philippines. Approximately 6 million to 7 million people attend the record-setting Mass, despite heavy rain.

March 23 — Pope Francis visits Naples, Italy, to show the Church’s commitment to helping the fight against corruption and organized crime in the city.

May 24 — To emphasize the Church’s mission to combat global warming and care for the environment, Pope Francis publishes the encyclical Laudato Si’, which urges people to take care of the environment and encourages political action to address climate problems.

Pope Francis at a Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square on June 17, 2015. Bohumil Petrik.
Pope Francis at a Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square on June 17, 2015. Bohumil Petrik.

Sept. 19-22 — Pope Francis visits Cuba and meets with Fidel Castro in the first papal visit to the country since Pope John Paul II in 1998. During his homily, Francis discusses the dignity of the human person: “Being a Christian entails promoting the dignity of our brothers and sisters, fighting for it, living for it.”

Sept. 22-27 — After departing from Cuba, Pope Francis makes his first papal visit to the United States. In Washington, D.C., he speaks to a joint session of Congress, in which he urges lawmakers to work toward promoting the common good, and canonizes the Franciscan missionary St. Junípero Serra. He also attends the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, which focuses on celebrating the gift of the family.

Pope Francis speaks to the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 24, 2015. .  L'Osservatore Romano.
Pope Francis speaks to the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 24, 2015. . L'Osservatore Romano.

Oct. 4 — Pope Francis begins the second Synod on the Family to address issues within the modern family, such as single-parent homes, cohabitation, poverty, and abuse.

Oct. 18 — The pope canonizes St. Louis Martin and St. Marie-Azélie “Zelie” Guérin. The married couple were parents to five nuns, including St. Therese of Lisieux. They are the first married couple to be canonized together.

Dec. 8 — Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy begins. The year focuses on God’s mercy and forgiveness and people’s redemption from sin. The pope delegates certain priests in each diocese to be Missionaries of Mercy who have the authority to forgive sins that are usually reserved for the Holy See.

2016

March 19 — Pope Francis publishes the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which discusses a wide variety of issues facing the modern family based on discussions from the two synods on the family. The pope garners significant controversy from within the Church for comments he makes in Chapter 8 about Communion for the divorced and remarried.

April 16 — After visiting refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos, Pope Francis allows three Muslim refugee families to join him on his flight back to Rome. He says the move was not a political statement.

Pope Francis at the General Audience in St. Peter's Square, Feb. 24, 2016.  Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
Pope Francis at the General Audience in St. Peter's Square, Feb. 24, 2016. Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

July 26-31 — Pope Francis visits Krakow, Poland, as part of the World Youth Day festivities. About 3 million young Catholic pilgrims from around the world attend.

Sept. 4 — The pope canonizes St. Teresa of Calcutta, who is also known as Mother Teresa. The saint, a nun from Albania, dedicated her life to missionary and charity work, primarily in India.

Sept. 30-Oct. 2 — Pope Francis visits Georgia and Azerbaijan on his 16th trip outside of Rome since the start of his papacy. His trip focuses on Catholic relations with Orthodox Christians and Muslims.

Oct. 4 — Pope Francis makes a surprise visit to Amatrice, Italy, to pray for the victims of an earthquake in central Italy that killed nearly 300 people.

2017

May 12-13 — In another papal trip, Francis travels to Fatima, Portugal, to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. May 13 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Marian apparition to three children in the city.

July 11 — Pope Francis adds another category of Christian life suitable for the consideration of sainthood: “offering of life.” The category is distinct from martyrdom, which only applies to someone who is killed for his or her faith. The new category applies to those who died prematurely through an offering of their life to God and neighbor.

Pope Francis greets a participant in the World Day of the Poor in Rome, Nov. 16, 2017. L'Osservatore Romano.
Pope Francis greets a participant in the World Day of the Poor in Rome, Nov. 16, 2017. L'Osservatore Romano.

Nov. 19 — On the first-ever World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis eats lunch with 4,000 poor and people in need in Rome.

Nov. 27-Dec. 2 — In another trip to Asia, Pope Francis travels to Myanmar and Bangladesh. He visits landmarks and meets with government officials, Catholic clergy, and Buddhist monks. He also preaches the Gospel and promotes peace in the region.

2018

Jan. 15-21 — The pope takes another trip to Latin America, this time visiting Chile and Peru. The pontiff meets with government officials and members of the clergy while urging the faithful to remain close to the clergy and reject secularism. The Chilean visit leads to controversy over Chilean clergy sex abuse scandals.

Aug. 2 — The Vatican formally revises No. 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which concerns the death penalty. The previous text suggested the death penalty could be permissible in certain circumstances, but the revision states that the death penalty is “inadmissible.”

Aug. 25 — Archbishop Carlo Viganò, former papal nuncio to the United States, publishes an 11-page letter calling for the resignation of Pope Francis and accusing him and other Vatican officials of covering up sexual abuse including allegations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The pope initially does not directly respond to the letter, but nine months after its publication he denies having prior knowledge about McCarrick’s conduct.

Aug. 25-26 — Pope Francis visits Dublin, Ireland, to attend the World Meeting of Families. The theme is “the Gospel of family, joy for the world.”

Pope Francis at the 2018 World Meeting of Families in Ireland.  Daniel Ibanez/CNA.
Pope Francis at the 2018 World Meeting of Families in Ireland. Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

Oct. 3-28 — The Synod on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment takes place. The synod focuses on best practices to teach the faith to young people and to help them discern God’s will.

2019

Jan. 22-27 — The third World Youth Day during Pope Francis’ pontificate takes place during these six days in Panama City, Panama. Young Catholics from around the world gather for the event, with approximately 3 million people in attendance.

Feb. 4 — Pope Francis signs a joint document in with Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, titled the “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.” The document focuses on people of different faiths uniting together to live peacefully and advance a culture of mutual respect.

Pope Francis and Ahmed el-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar, signed a joint declaration on human fraternity during an interreligious meeting in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Feb. 4, 2019. Vatican Media.
Pope Francis and Ahmed el-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar, signed a joint declaration on human fraternity during an interreligious meeting in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Feb. 4, 2019. Vatican Media.

Feb. 21-24 — The Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church, which is labeled the Vatican Sexual Abuse Summit, takes place. The meeting focuses on sexual abuse scandals in the Church and emphasizes responsibility, accountability, and transparency.

Oct. 6-27 — The Church holds the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region, which is also known as the Amazon Synod. The synod is meant to present ways in which the Church can better evangelize the Amazon region but leads to controversy when carved images of a pregnant Amazonian woman, referred to by the pope as Pachamama, are used in several events and displayed in a basilica near the Vatican.

Oct. 13 — St. John Henry Newman, an Anglican convert to Catholicism and a cardinal, is canonized by Pope Francis. Newman’s writings inspired Catholic student associations at nonreligious colleges and universities in the United States and other countries.

2020

March 15 — Pope Francis takes a walking pilgrimage in Rome to the chapel of the crucifix and prays for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. The crucifix was carried through Rome during the plague of 1522.

March 27 — Pope Francis gives an extraordinary “urbi et orbi” blessing in an empty and rain-covered St. Peter’s Square, praying for the world during the coronavirus pandemic.

Pope Francis venerates the miraculous crucifix of San Marcello al Corso in St. Peter's Square during his Urbi et Orbi blessing, March 27, 2020. Vatican Media.
Pope Francis venerates the miraculous crucifix of San Marcello al Corso in St. Peter's Square during his Urbi et Orbi blessing, March 27, 2020. Vatican Media.

2021

March 5-8 — In his first papal trip since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis becomes the first pope to visit Iraq. On his trip, he signs a joint statement with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani condemning extremism and promoting peace.

July 3 — Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis, is indicted in a Vatican court for embezzlement, money laundering, and other crimes. The pope gives approval for the indictment.

July 4 — Pope Francis undergoes colon surgery for diverticulitis, a common condition in older people. The Vatican releases a statement that assures the pope “reacted well” to the surgery. Francis is released from the hospital after 10 days.

July 16 — Pope Francis issues a motu proprio titled Traditionis Custodes. The document imposes heavy restrictions on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass.

Dec. 2-6 — The pope travels to Cyprus and Greece. The trip includes another visit to the Greek island of Lesbos to meet with migrants.

Pope Francis greets His Beatitude Ieronymos II in Athens, Greece on Dec. 5, 2021. Vatican Media
Pope Francis greets His Beatitude Ieronymos II in Athens, Greece on Dec. 5, 2021. Vatican Media

2022

Jan. 11 — Pope Francis makes a surprise visit to a record store in Rome called StereoSound. The pope, who has an affinity for classical music, blesses the newly renovated store.

March 19 — The pope promulgates Praedicate Evangelium, which reforms the Roman Curia. The reforms emphasize evangelization and establish more opportunities for the laity to be in leadership positions.

May 5 — Pope Francis is seen in a wheelchair for the first time in public and begins to use one more frequently. The pope has been suffering from knee problems for months.

Pope Francis greeted the crowd in a wheelchair at the end of his general audience on Aug. 3, 2022. Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Pope Francis greeted the crowd in a wheelchair at the end of his general audience on Aug. 3, 2022. Daniel Ibanez/CNA

July 24-30 — In his first papal visit to Canada, Pope Francis apologizes for the harsh treatment of the indigenous Canadians, saying many Christians and members of the Catholic Church were complicit.

2023

Jan. 31-Feb. 5 — Pope Francis travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. During his visit, the pope condemns political violence in the countries and promotes peace. He also participates in an ecumenical prayer service with Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Moderator of the Church of Scotland Iain Greenshields.

Pope Francis greets a young boy a Mass in Juba, South Sudan on Feb. 5, 2023. Vatican Media
Pope Francis greets a young boy a Mass in Juba, South Sudan on Feb. 5, 2023. Vatican Media

March 29-April 1 — Pope Francis is hospitalized for a respiratory infection. During his stay at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, he visits the pediatric cancer ward and baptizes a newborn baby.

April 5 — The pope appears in the Disney documentary “The Pope: Answers,” which is in Spanish, answering six “hot-button” issues from members of Gen Z from various backgrounds. The group discusses immigration, depression, abortion, clergy sexual and psychological abuse, transgenderism, pornography, and loss of faith.

April 28-30 — Pope Francis visits Hungary to meet with government officials, civil society members, bishops, priests, seminarians, Jesuits, consecrated men and women, and pastoral workers. He celebrates Mass on the final day of the trip in Kossuth Lajos Square.

Pope Francis stands on an altar erected outside the Parliament Building in Budapest's Kossuth Lajos' Square during a public outdoor Mass on April 30, 2023. Vatican Media
Pope Francis stands on an altar erected outside the Parliament Building in Budapest's Kossuth Lajos' Square during a public outdoor Mass on April 30, 2023. Vatican Media

June 7 — The Vatican announces that Pope Francis will undergo abdominal surgery that afternoon under general anesthesia due to a hernia that is causing painful, recurring, and worsening symptoms. In his general audience that morning before the surgery, Francis says he intends to publish an apostolic letter on St. Thérèse of Lisieux, “patroness of the missions,” to mark the 150th anniversary of her birth.

June 15 — After successful surgery and a week of recovery, Pope Francis is released from Gemelli Hospital.

Aug. 2-6 — Pope Francis travels to Lisbon, Portugal, for World Youth Day 2023, taking place from Aug. 1-6. He meets with Church and civil leaders ahead of presiding at the welcoming Mass and Stations of the Cross. He also hears the confessions of several pilgrims. On Aug. 5, he visits the Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima, where he prays the rosary with young people with disabilities. That evening he presides over the vigil and on Sunday, Aug. 6, he celebrates the closing Mass, where he urges the 1.5 million young people present to “be not afraid,” echoing the words of the founder of World Youth Days, St. John Paul II.

Pope Francis waves at the crowd of 1.5 million people who attended the closing Mass of World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal on Aug. 6, 2023. Vatican Media.
Pope Francis waves at the crowd of 1.5 million people who attended the closing Mass of World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal on Aug. 6, 2023. Vatican Media.

Aug. 31-Sept. 4 — Pope Francis travels to Mongolia, the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign country. The trip makes Francis the first pope to visit the Asian country that shares a 2,880-mile border with China, its most significant economic partner. Mongolia has a population of about 1,300 Catholics in a country of more than 3 million people.

Pope Francis meets with local priests and religious of Mongolia, which includes only 25 priests (19 religious and six diocesan), 33 women religious, and one bishop — Cardinal Giorgio Marengo — in Ulaanbaatar’s Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul on Sept. 2, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis meets with local priests and religious of Mongolia, which includes only 25 priests (19 religious and six diocesan), 33 women religious, and one bishop — Cardinal Giorgio Marengo — in Ulaanbaatar’s Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul on Sept. 2, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media

Sept. 22-23 — On a two-day trip to Marseille, France, Pope Francis meets with local civil and religious leaders and participates in the Mediterranean Encounter, a gathering of some 120 young people of various creeds with bishops from 30 countries.

Pope Francis asks for a moment of silence at a memorial dedicated to sailors and migrants lost at sea on the first of a two-day visit to Marseille, France, Sept. 22, 2023. A Camargue cross, which comes from the Camargue area of France, represents the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. The three tridents represent faith, the anchor represents hope, and the heart represents charity. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Pope Francis asks for a moment of silence at a memorial dedicated to sailors and migrants lost at sea on the first of a two-day visit to Marseille, France, Sept. 22, 2023. A Camargue cross, which comes from the Camargue area of France, represents the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. The three tridents represent faith, the anchor represents hope, and the heart represents charity. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Oct. 4-29 — The Vatican hosts the first of two monthlong global assemblies of the Synod on Synodality, initiated by Pope Francis in 2021 to enhance the communion, participation, and mission of the Church. Pope Francis celebrates the closing Mass of the synod at St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 29. The second and final global assembly will take place at the Vatican in October 2024.

Pope Francis at the Synod on Synodality’s closing Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 29, 2023. Vatican Media
Pope Francis at the Synod on Synodality’s closing Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 29, 2023. Vatican Media

Nov. 25 — Pope Francis visits the hospital briefly for precautionary testing after coming down with the flu earlier in the day. Although he still participates in scheduled activities, other officials read his prepared remarks. The Vatican on Nov. 28 cancels the pope’s planned Dec. 1–3 trip to Dubai for the COP28 climate conference, where he was scheduled to deliver a speech, due to his illness.

Dec. 18 — The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issues the declaration Fiducia Supplicans, which authorizes nonliturgical blessings for same-sex couples and couples in “irregular situations.” Various bishops from around the world voice both support for and criticism of the document.

2024

Jan. 4 — Amid widespread backlash to Fiducia Supplicans, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, publishes a five-page press release that refers to Fiducia Supplicans as “perennial doctrine” and underlines that pastoral blessings of couples in irregular situations should not be “an endorsement of the life led by those who request them.”

Jan. 14 — Pope Francis for the first time responds publicly to questions about Fiducia Supplicans in an interview on an Italian television show. The pope underlines that “the Lord blesses everyone” and that a blessing is an invitation to enter into a conversation “to see what the road is that the Lord proposes to them.”

Feb. 11 — In a ceremony attended by Argentine president Javier Milei, Pope Francis canonizes María Antonia of St. Joseph — known affectionately in the pope’s home country as “Mama Antula” — in a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. The president and the former archbishop of Buenos Aires embrace after the ceremony. Pope Francis, who has not returned to his homeland since becoming pope in 2013, has said he wants to visit Argentina in the second half of this year.

Pope Francis meets with Argentina President Javier Milei in a private audience on Feb. 12, 2024, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis meets with Argentina President Javier Milei in a private audience on Feb. 12, 2024, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

Feb. 28 — After canceling audiences the previous Saturday and having an aide read his prepared remarks at his Wednesday audience due to a “mild flu,” Pope Francis visits the hospital for diagnostic tests but returns to the Vatican afterward.

March 2 — Despite having an aide read his speech “because of bronchitis,” the pope presides over the inauguration of the 95th Judicial Year of the Vatican City State and maintains a full schedule.

March 13 — Pope Francis celebrates 11 years as Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.

This story was last updated on March 13, 2024.

Marco Rubio draws attention to pro-life strategy, spike in church vandalism
Wed, 13 Mar 2024 09:00:00 -0400

Speaking with EWTN Capitol Hill correspondent Erik Rosales, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, railed against the Biden administration’s passivity as more than 400 attacks against Catholic churches in the U.S. have been perpetrated during the last four years. / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN News Nightly

CNA Newsroom, Mar 13, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

The need for the pro-life movement to update its strategy and hold the Biden administration accountable for its failure to address the wave of vandalism against Catholic churches across the country were the top two issues raised by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, in an interview with EWTN News.

Speaking with EWTN Capitol Hill correspondent Erik Rosales, Rubio expounded upon his proposed pro-life strategy released earlier this year. As part of that strategy, the Florida senator called on pro-life Americans to rally behind “supporting mothers and their babies with compassionate, pro-family policies; exposing the Democrats’ abortion extremism; and protecting the unborn by championing just limits to abortion.”

Rubio also railed against the Biden administration’s passivity as more than 400 attacks against Catholic churches in the U.S. have been perpetrated during the last four years.

“We have these anti-Christian violent extremists operating in this country, and it is not a focus or [has] the attention of this administration or this Justice Department,” Rubio told Rosales.

“They can’t find a single person or any of these people that were responsible for these, what is a pretty concerted effort to attack Catholic churches in America,” Rubio emphasized.

In a March 5 letter to President Joe Biden, Rubio pointed out that the rash of attacks on Catholic churches “seldom result in any consequences for offenders” and demanded that Biden “make investigating, and fully prosecuting, these incidents an urgent priority for [his] administration.”

“These attacks are not random nor are they the result of a temporary lapse in judgment by perpetrators,” Rubio, who is Catholic, wrote, citing numerous examples, including “a priest being attacked with a machete, a 249-year-old church being set on fire and nearly fully destroyed, and, in Florida, a man crashed a van into a Catholic church and then set it on fire with people inside.”

Returning to the topic of pro-life strategy in the post-Dobbs era, Rubio told Rosales that “unfortunately, a lot of the debate around abortion talks about children as a burden, as something terrible that’s going to ruin your life.”

Rubio’s strategy emphasizes the importance of “dismantling the false choice between motherhood and opportunity” while also “exposing “the truth about abortion.”

In his pro-life strategy proposal, Rubio slams Democrats for “painting apocalyptic visions of what a supposedly pro-life future would look like.”

“Key to their strategy,” Rubio says, “has been peddling disinformation that pro-life laws criminalize treatments for miscarriage, stillbirth, and ectopic pregnancy.”

As Rubio sees it, “we can change Americans’ perception of the pro-life movement by embracing an agenda that provides generous material support to pregnant women and their children.” He pointed to the Providing for Life Act as a concrete example, as the measure boosts paid parental leave, enhances child support enforcement, and improves the Child Tax Credit.

In his proposal, Rubio also notes that “other countries in the civilized world have far stronger limits on abortion than the average blue state. Nations like Switzerland prohibit abortions after 12 weeks with limited exceptions and require physicians to counsel women seeking abortions about the risks of the procedure, as well as provide them with information about alternatives like adoption.”

“Yet reasonable laws such as these are decried by the media as ‘draconian’ and ‘evil’ when they are proposed in our country,” Rubio observes. “If Republicans cannot go at least as far in limiting abortion as Europe, then truly we have failed our voters and do not deserve to be described as a pro-life party.”

In 2022, Rubio co-sponsored Sen. Lindsey Graham’s bill for a 15-week abortion ban as a starting point to protect life. Graham plans to reintroduce the bill in the coming months.

Catholic organizations host seminars on disability and inclusion in the Catholic Church 
Wed, 13 Mar 2024 08:00:00 -0400

Pope Francis meets on April 29, 2023, with children and adults who are visually impaired and have other disabilities at a Catholic institute in Budapest, Hungary, dedicated to Blessed László Batthyány-Strattmann. / Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Mar 13, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The University of Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church Life and the National Catholic Partnership on Disability (NCPD) are together hosting six online seminars in March and April to help develop pastoral guidance regarding the experiences and needs of persons with disabilities.

The online series, “In Communion: Advancing the Full Participation of Persons with Disabilities in the Church,” launched on March 7. Each seminar highlights a different angle on communion and participation and features three to four speakers.

The seminars were launched in light of an upcoming pastoral statement on disability and inclusion in the Church that was announced in June of last year. The USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, headed by Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, will lead the drafting process.

Charleen Katra, executive director of NCPD, said that one of the central needs of the Church right now is “removal of barriers to access: from properties, liturgies, faith formation, and schools.”

“The gifts of persons living with disabilities are vast. When fully included in faith communities the entire community flourishes in the most surprising ways — much like in families,” she told CNA in an email.

“Another need is for the Church to extend to persons with disabilities and their families our best efforts to support their spiritual journey and affirm their Catholic identity,” she said.

“We are called to accompany all the faithful in sharing their challenges and blessings experienced in the body of Christ,” she continued. “We need persons with disabilities to slow us down and to see the world in another way. Calling each of us to be a better person: more patient, empathetic, and loving.”

“Through these seminars, we hope to help Church leadership understand that when persons with disabilities are welcomed — and invited to participate in all aspects of Church life — the body of Christ is more complete,” Katra said in a March 6 press release.

The University of Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church Life and the National Catholic Partnership on Disability (NCPD) have partnered to offer six online seminars in March and April to help develop pastoral guidance regarding the experiences and needs of persons with disabilities. Credit: Courtesy of McGrath Institute for Church Life
The University of Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church Life and the National Catholic Partnership on Disability (NCPD) have partnered to offer six online seminars in March and April to help develop pastoral guidance regarding the experiences and needs of persons with disabilities. Credit: Courtesy of McGrath Institute for Church Life

Each webinar is hosted by “a cross-disciplinary group of experts, including people with disabilities, theologians, clergy, laypeople, and professionals in the field,” the press release noted.

“The content of these educational seminars is designed to communicate foundational and aspirational ideas that will be of special benefit to the committee members drafting the new statement, who we expect will want to attend the seminars or watch the archived footage,” Katra told CNA.

“The needs and realities of the disability community vary from person to person,” she noted. “Hence, we intend to raise awareness and discuss as many lenses as possible via instructional content, panel discussions, case studies, and more.”

Katra said the first seminar had “impressively high” attendance.

Clare Kilbane, the director of research and development for McGrath’s Digital Education Program, said in a press release that one important goal is to help leaders understand how “to welcome Church members who experience disability more fully into the life of the Church.”

“We will look at how … the Church can welcome all members into greater communion and sharing of divine love, and each individual into a deeper relationship with God,” Kilbane said.

“We also plan to explore how methods of inclusion and intentional efforts to promote belonging can transform opportunities for relationship and faith development for all,” she added.

Kilbane noted that the seminar is geared toward helping the authors of the pastoral letter engage with the experiences of people with disabilities as well as an appreciation for the gifts they have to offer.

The U.S. bishops have offered guidance in the past on inviting persons with disabilities into the Church, building off a foundational pastoral statement published in 1978.

The webinar will conclude with a presentation from Bishop Barron on April 25.

When asked how individual parishes and communities can be more supportive of persons with disabilities, Katra emphasized the importance of “increased awareness of the needs of persons with disabilities and an appreciation for their gifts.”

“Seek out training, which is now more readily available than ever, to become better equipped to respond proactively to all persons who desire growth in their faith and to be in communion with the Church,” she suggested. “Take an assessment of parish properties for accessibility. Raise awareness of issues and needs regarding autism and mental health, etc., via prayers of the faithful, in homilies, registration forms, and so on. Consider inviting a person with a disability to serve on a parish committee — faith formation, school, finance, or pastoral council to see your community through new eyes!”

The free online seminars began on March 7 and will continue on March 14 and 21, and April 11, 18, and 25, and are available to the public. To view the schedule or register, visit here.

For more background on the USCCB’s 1978 pastoral statement, view the March 7 seminar here.