FEED Validator

for Atom and RSS and KML

Congratulations!

This is a valid RSS feed.

Recommendations

This feed is valid, but interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendations.

line 2, column 0: The prefix "dc" generally is associated with the namespace "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" [help]
```
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" xmlns:dc="htt ...
```

line 13, column 16: Image title doesn't match channel title [help]

      <title>CNA</title> 
                ^

line 23, column 0: style attribute contains potentially dangerous content: max-width (69 occurrences) [help]
```
  <img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/01-23-171351977 ...
```
line 207, column 0: description should not contain iframe tag (3 occurrences) [help]
```
Throughout her freshman and sophomore years at Columbine High School, Jen ...
```
line 222, column 0: description should not contain script tag (6 occurrences) [help]
```
Thousands of pro-lifers, including many groups of Catholic high school an ...
```
line 222, column 0: description should not contain data-drag-handle attribute (6 occurrences) [help]
```
Thousands of pro-lifers, including many groups of Catholic high school an ...
```
line 567, column 0: description should not contain data-instgrm-captioned attribute [help]
```
Mary Jane Rein decided to leave her job as executive director of the Holo ...
```
line 567, column 0: description should not contain data-instgrm-permalink attribute [help]
```
Mary Jane Rein decided to leave her job as executive director of the Holo ...
```
line 567, column 0: description should not contain data-instgrm-version attribute [help]
```
Mary Jane Rein decided to leave her job as executive director of the Holo ...
```
line 777, column 6: Missing atom:link with rel="self" [help]
```
      </channel>
      ^
```

Source: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/rss/news.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" xmlns:dc="http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-namespace/">
<channel>
<title>Catholic News Agency</title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com</link>
<description>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.</description>
<language>en</language>
<copyright>Copyright © 2006-2024, CNA</copyright>
<ttl>60</ttl>
<image>
<title>CNA</title>
<url>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/assets/images/branding/CNA_LOGOredblk.png</url>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com</link>
</image>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ A year after earthquake, Aleppo’s St. George Church rises again ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257475/a-year-after-earthquake-aleppos-st-george-church-rises-again</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257475/a-year-after-earthquake-aleppos-st-george-church-rises-again</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/01-23-1713519779.1249.jpg.webp?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Over a year after the earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey in February 2023, restoration of Aleppo's Church of St. George has been completed. / Credit: Abdul Kareem Daniel
</div>
Aleppo, Syria, Apr 23, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).
This year’s feast of St. George was a particularly joyful one in the Syrian city of Aleppo, especially for the Melkite Greek Catholic community. The church is reopening its doors after undergoing restoration due to damage from a February 2023 earthquake. Additionally, Archbishop George Masri of the Melkite Archdiocese of Aleppo and its environs will celebrate his golden jubilee.The celebrations took place during the visit of Patriarch Joseph Absi, the current patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, who presided over the Divine Liturgy in the restored church on the evening of April 23. The evening before, there was a procession along Holy Bible Street followed by vespers.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/03-8-1713519977.4597.jpg" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="Restoration of the Church of St. George in Aleppo after the February 2023 earthquake. Credit: Father Fadi Najjar"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Restoration of the Church of St. George in Aleppo after the February 2023 earthquake. Credit: Father Fadi Najjar</figcaption></figure>In an exclusive interview with ACI Mena, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, Father Fadi Najjar, principal of Providence Private School, which is adjacent to and belongs to the church, explained that last year’s earthquake caused cracks in the church walls on both the right and left sides, allowing rainwater to leak inside. The exterior facade was also shattered, with falling stones damaging the stairs.“The first step was removing the loose stones from above to protect people, especially since the church hall had sheltered the displaced for over a month, providing meals,” Najjar explained. “The restoration then began, taking about a year under Archbishop Masri’s direct supervision. The cracks were sealed, the exterior facade restored, the interior repainted, the stone polished, and new stairs built.”Regarding Providence School, Najjar said that classroom walls had also cracked while sanitation systems were damaged. “We didn’t just restore the school. Rather, we began a complete renovation, taking advantage of the summer vacation. In five months, the building rose beautifully from the ashes,” he explained.“New classrooms are being opened, the language lab revived, bathrooms added, as well as a TV/cinema hall, playroom, and aerobics studio. About 150 seats will be restored, walls repainted, floors polished, and stonework whitened — all thanks to funding from the Salla charity. Aid to the Church in Need covered the church’s restoration costs,” he added.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/02-14-1713519946.7284.jpg" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="The Church of St. George in Aleppo before and after the restoration work. Credit: Joseph Nono"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">The Church of St. George in Aleppo before and after the restoration work. Credit: Joseph Nono</figcaption></figure>Najjar revealed that Masri strongly supported the school’s renovation, expressing deep appreciation for the contractor, engineer Joseph Nono, who was entrusted with both the church and school projects.Notably, Absi’s Aleppo visit included stops at the Dar Al-Nahda Music Institute under artist Shady Najjar’s direction and a dinner for men and women named after St. George born between 1960 and 1980. He has also planned a tour of Aleppo’s Old Square.This article was <a href="https://www.acimena.com/news/3534/baad-akthr-mn-aaam-aal-alzlzal-tdshyn-knys-alkdwys-gaorgyos-fy-hlb" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">originally published in ACI M</a>ena, CNA's Arabic-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.
]]></description>
<category>Middle East - Africa</category>
<pubDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2024 14:15:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ ‘An unprecedented opportunity’: Augustine Institute announces move to St. Louis ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257474/an-unprecedented-opportunity-augustine-institute-announces-move-to-st-louis</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257474/an-unprecedented-opportunity-augustine-institute-announces-move-to-st-louis</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/ai-facility-download1.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
The Augustine Institute's new facilities in Florissant, Missouri. / Credit: Boeing Company and Augustine Institute
</div>
CNA Staff, Apr 23, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).
The Augustine Institute, a Catholic educational and evangelization apostolate based in Denver for nearly two decades, announced on Tuesday that it will be moving its operations to a new campus in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The institute, founded in 2005 as a Catholic graduate theology school, currently has an enrollment of a little over 300 students. It <a href="https://www.augustineinstitute.org/about" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">says on its website</a> that it exists to serve “the formation of Catholics for the new evangelization” by “equip[ping] Catholics intellectually, spiritually, and pastorally to renew the Church and transform the world for Christ.”The organization announced on Tuesday that it had purchased the former Boeing Leadership Center in Florissant, Missouri, just outside of downtown St. Louis. The school will “begin transitioning its operations over the next few years,” it said in a press release. The nearly 300-acre property “offers an unprecedented opportunity to expand our Graduate School of Theology and further our mission to help Catholics understand, live, and share their faith,” institute President Tim Gray said in a Tuesday press release. The Boeing facility, a former retreat center that went on sale in March, offers “state-of-the-art facilities” for the group’s Catholic mission, Gray said. The president told CNA this week that the Augustine Institute “wasn’t even in a search mode” when they learned of the facility.“Some of the leadership at the Archdiocese of St. Louis told us about this property when it became available,” he said. The property was on the market for nearly a year before the institute began exploring it. “A couple of different buyers tied it up, but those deals fell through,” he said. “We found out about it toward the end of November, and it wasn’t until December that we started looking into it.”Gray himself visited the campus in January; within several weeks the institute had purchased the property. “My head’s still spinning,” he said. “Just a few months ago this was not even on our radar.”<h2>‘We have a big vision for this property’</h2>Archbishop of Denver Samuel Aquila said in the institute’s press release this week that the discovery of the property was “providential” for the organization. “It will allow the institute the opportunity to remain faithful to its mission while continuing to grow,” the prelate said, calling the purchase “the realization of a long-standing hope for a campus environment for students, faculty, and expanded theology programs.”In addition to its graduate school, the Augustine Institute offers sacramental preparation resources, a Bible study app, an apologetics course for high school seniors, and other instructional and catechetical materials. Much of that material is in digital format. Gray said this week that the new property will allow the Augustine Institute to expand from digital into “a national center for Catholic conferences, retreats, evangelization, and fellowship.”The institute had largely outgrown its facilities in Denver, he told CNA. “We’ve been growing here and we’ve filled up our building,” he said. “We love Denver, it’s been great for us. But we didn’t have student housing. Housing is very expensive in Denver and it’s hard to recruit people to move out here. Those were challenges we were facing.”The organization had to work quickly to raise enough funds to realize the sale, he said. “We had to raise a lot of money in just a few months so we could purchase this campus in cash,” he said. “We also had to raise enough money to have a reserve fund for the operations of such a large campus.” The institute amassed $50 million over the course of several months, he said.The Augustine Institute is expecting to hold its 2024-2025 graduate school year at the new property starting in September. <figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/ai-facility-download5.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="The Augustine Institute's new facilities in Florissant, MO. Boeing Company and Augustine Institute"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">The Augustine Institute's new facilities in Florissant, MO. Boeing Company and Augustine Institute</figcaption></figure>Mitchell Rozanski, the archbishop of St. Louis, said in the press release that the facility could become “the premier center for the new evangelization in the United States.”The institute “can foster a new era of collaboration with Catholic organizations nationwide,” the archbishop said, “and invite more people to encounter Jesus Christ and his Church.”
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2024 13:30:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ PHOTOS From the subway to the sacred: Brooklyn’s breathtaking Eucharistic Revival ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257473/photos-from-the-subway-to-the-sacred-brooklyn-s-breathtaking-eucharistic-revival</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257473/photos-from-the-subway-to-the-sacred-brooklyn-s-breathtaking-eucharistic-revival</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/brennan3042324.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan leads a Eucharistic procession inside a packed Louis Armstrong Stadium in Brooklyn, New York, on April 20, 2024. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno
</div>
New York City, N.Y., Apr 23, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).
I’d never ridden the subway with a bishop before.But then again, how many of us have? Bishop Robert Brennan from the Diocese of Brooklyn is not your typical bishop — and I mean that with the utmost respect for the men who hold the office. Each is unique, endowed with their own personalities, charisms, and abilities. So perhaps don’t go telling your bishop he needs to start riding mass transit just yet.He’s striking in the way he carries himself: You can sense a deep spirituality and humility within him. He’s genuinely kind and attentive — a true pastor.If there were a contest for “Most Likely to Ride the Subway With His Flock,” I believe Brennan would win hands down.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/bishopbrennansubway042424.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="Bishop Robert Brennan takes a ride on the subway alongside other faithful heading to the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Eucharistic Revival on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Bishop Robert Brennan takes a ride on the subway alongside other faithful heading to the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Eucharistic Revival on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno</figcaption></figure>I first met him in 2021, upon his eventful reassignment to Brooklyn. He had barely settled into the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, in 2019 — where the paint in his office was probably still drying — only to be moved, much to the sorrow of the Columbus flock.On the bright side, he’s a Mets fan. Though their recent performance hasn’t been much of a consolation, maybe his prayers will give them a boost.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/brennancop1042324.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="Bishop Robert Brennan is greeted by one of New York’s finest as he arrives at the Court Street Station on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Bishop Robert Brennan is greeted by one of New York’s finest as he arrives at the Court Street Station on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno</figcaption></figure>So, early on Saturday morning, in anticipation of the Eucharistic Revival at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Flushing Meadows, he boarded the 7 train with members of his flock in tow. With each stop, more of the faithful joined, filling the carriages.And they did exactly what you would expect a group of Catholics on a subway to do: They sang, they chanted, “Viva Cristo Rey!” and they laughed with a joy so palpable it electrified the air.By the time we rolled into Mets-Willets Point Station, it felt like a rolling celebration.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/brennan2042324.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan carries the Blessed Sacrament and monstrance during a Eucharistic procession at Louis Armstrong Stadium on April 20, 2024. Credit:: Jeffrey Bruno"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan carries the Blessed Sacrament and monstrance during a Eucharistic procession at Louis Armstrong Stadium on April 20, 2024. Credit:: Jeffrey Bruno</figcaption></figure>That would have been enough to fill our hearts, but it was just the warmup.The day unfolded with thousands traversing the borough to join a daylong celebration of the diocese’s <a href="https://dioceseofbrooklyn.org/communicados-de-prensa-2/press-releases/bishop-brennnan-to-ride-7-train-with-hundreds-on-way-to-eucharistic-revival-event-at-louis-armstrong-stadium-in-flushing/" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Eucharistic Revival</a>.I could speak volumes about the day, but there was one moment — a moment that shook me to the core.It was during the Eucharistic procession, a winding path around the stadium’s exterior, mostly out of sight — until the point of entrance.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/brennan8042324.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="Bishop Robert Brennan carries the Blessed Sacrament during a Eucharistic procession at Louis Armstrong Stadium on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Bishop Robert Brennan carries the Blessed Sacrament during a Eucharistic procession at Louis Armstrong Stadium on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno</figcaption></figure>As Brennan, carrying Christ, became visible to the gathered crowd, applause erupted — not just any applause, but one of overwhelming joy.It was the kind of spontaneous outpouring that occurs when words fall short and emotions soar.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/brennan4042324.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="Crowds adore the Blessed Sacrament as the monstrance makes its way to the altar at the Diocese of Brooklyn Eucharistic Revival on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Crowds adore the Blessed Sacrament as the monstrance makes its way to the altar at the Diocese of Brooklyn Eucharistic Revival on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno</figcaption></figure>They were applauding for Christ.The sound wrapped around the stadium, penetrating hearts and souls, as evidenced by the smiling, tear-streaked faces turning toward him.I’ll leave it at this: Something breathtaking happened in Queens that Saturday.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/brennan6042324.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan carries the thurible around the altar inside Louis Armstrong Stadium on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan carries the thurible around the altar inside Louis Armstrong Stadium on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno</figcaption></figure>And in mid-July, that same breathtaking event will unfold at the heart of the United States.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/brennan7042324.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="Priests who concelebrated Mass with Bishop Robert Brennan at Louis Armstrong Stadium on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Priests who concelebrated Mass with Bishop Robert Brennan at Louis Armstrong Stadium on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno</figcaption></figure>In three weeks, the Catholic faithful will kick off four historic and unprecedented pilgrimages, each originating from one of the four compass points of our great land.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/brennan10042324.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan celebrates Mass for thousands gathered at Louis Armstrong Stadium on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan celebrates Mass for thousands gathered at Louis Armstrong Stadium on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno</figcaption></figure>Together, they will travel more than 6,500 miles with more than 100,000 participants converging on the 10th Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis from July 17-21 — the first congress in 83 years.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/brennan9042324.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="A woman prays during Mass during the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Eucharistic Revival at Louis Armstrong Stadium on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">A woman prays during Mass during the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Eucharistic Revival at Louis Armstrong Stadium on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno</figcaption></figure>Proclaiming Christ the King, the giver of all gifts, fully present in the Blessed Sacrament to the entire world.What a beautiful time to be alive.What an incredible gift to have faith.What a breathtaking reality to know and love Jesus Christ.But all of that pales in comparison to the truth that we are known and loved by him.Praise God.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/brennan11042324.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan celebrates Mass inside Louis Armstrong Stadium on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan celebrates Mass inside Louis Armstrong Stadium on April 20, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno</figcaption></figure>This story <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/news/brooklyn-eucharistic-revival-2024-yo5q8nx1" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">was first published</a> by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and is reprinted here on CNA with permission.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2024 13:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urges ‘massive subsidized day care’ plan to reduce abortion ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257472/robert-f-kennedy-jr-urges-massive-subsidized-day-care-plan-to-reduce-abortion</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257472/robert-f-kennedy-jr-urges-massive-subsidized-day-care-plan-to-reduce-abortion</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/shutterstock-2341983453.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. / Credit: Shutterstock
</div>
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 23, 2024 / 11:45 am (CNA).
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is embracing a “massive subsidized day care initiative” to reduce abortions in the United States without restricting legal access to the procedure.In <a href="https://www.kennedy24.com/abortion" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">a new webpage</a> recently added to Kennedy campaign’s website, the candidate unveiled a policy platform the campaign is calling “More Choices, More Life.” The candidate’s plan is to redirect money that is currently used to support military aid to Ukraine and put it toward federal funding for day care to help families in poverty. Last week the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to provide $61 billion to Ukraine, with the government having already provided more than $110 billion in aid since Russia invaded the country. The campaign promises that a Kennedy presidency would “safeguard women’s reproductive rights.”Kennedy, who is the son of former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, first launched his presidential bid in the Democratic primary in April 2023. In October he switched his party registration and declared he would run as an independent.“This policy will dramatically reduce abortion in this country, and it will do so by offering more choices for women and families, not less,” the webpage states.“A lot of women, when they get pregnant, feel they can’t afford to have a baby,” the campaign says. “There isn’t a lot of support to raise a child in this society. You can’t call yourself pro-life if you are concerned only with life before birth. What about after birth? We have to make our society as welcoming as possible to children and to motherhood.”Per the proposal, the federal government would fund 100% of day care costs for children who are under the age of 5 years old and living below the poverty line. For families living above the poverty line, their day care costs would be capped at 10% of the family’s income. Only single-location small businesses that provide day care services — or parents who stay home with their children — would be eligible for subsidies. The plan would not provide subsidies to corporate day care chains or hedge funds that own day care chains.The campaign added that Kennedy supports strengthening adoption infrastructure and increasing the child tax credit. The website also noted that the candidate would fund organizations that support women in pregnancy and the months after birth. “There is a lot we can do to reduce abortions — by choice, not by force,” the campaign says. “As president, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will make it easier for women to choose life. He will give them more choices than they have today, we will see a lot fewer abortions and a lot more flourishing families.”Kennedy has not made abortion a major part of his campaign. When asked about a proposal to prohibit abortion at the federal level in August of last year, the candidate initially said he would back a three-month restriction. However, <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255087/presidential-candidate-robert-f-kennedy-jr-flip-flops-on-abortion" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">his campaign later claimed</a> that he misunderstood the question and “does not support legislation banning abortion.”Kennedy later <a href="https://twitter.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/1761891500554919963?lang=en" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">voiced support</a> for in vitro fertilization (IVF), which often discards human embryos, <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257066/more-human-embryos-destroyed-through-ivf-than-abortion-every-year" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">destroying human lives</a> in the process. His running mate, Nicole Shanahan, <a href="https://twitter.com/NicoleShanahan/status/1777806901314793630" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">has said</a> she does not support “anyone having control over my body” but that she “would not feel right terminating a viable life living inside of me.”<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/22/rfk-jr-abortion-mixed-signals/" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Washington Post reported</a> this week that the Kennedy campaign said the candidate opposes <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257314/trump-on-abortion-it-s-up-to-the-states-to-do-the-right-thing" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">former President Donald Trump’s plan</a> to leave abortion policy to the states and that Kennedy further opposed an <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257327/arizona-supreme-court-upholds-law-restricting-abortion-protecting-life-throughout-pregnancy" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Arizona Supreme Court ruling</a> that allowed a near-total abortion ban from the 1860s to go into effect in the state. Kennedy “makes his position plain but does not dwell on the subject,” the campaign said, according to the Post.The Post said that Kennedy’s new day care plan was posted shortly after the paper’s reporters contacted the staff about the candidate’s abortion policies. Although Kennedy has generally supported legal access to abortion, a pro-abortion group called Reproductive Freedom for All recently <a href="https://twitter.com/reproforall/status/1782431024741327341" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">launched a television advertisement</a> in Michigan and Wisconsin that accuses the independent candidate of not supporting abortion strongly enough. “Kennedy Jr. and Shanahan mean we’d be less safe from dangerous abortion bans and get more attacks on IVF,” the 30-second advertisement claims. “Kennedy Jr. and Shanahan would put your reproductive freedom at risk.”Although Kennedy is polling in a distant third place behind Biden and Trump, he is polling better than any third-party candidate since Reform Party candidate Ross Perot in the 1990s. According to poll averages between Jan. 22 and April 2 from <a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/general/2024/trump-vs-biden-vs-kennedy" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">RealClearPolling</a>, Kennedy is averaging just under 12% in a three-way race.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2024 11:45:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Redeemed from sexual libertinism, prostitution, and occult, Fran Orvich tells his story ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257468/redeemed-from-sexual-libertinism-prostitution-and-occult-fran-orvich-tells-his-story</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257468/redeemed-from-sexual-libertinism-prostitution-and-occult-fran-orvich-tells-his-story</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/orvich.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Orvich said he wanted to share his experience with same sex attraction “so that the Lord might touch hearts and that people repent and try returning to a chaste life." / Credit: Fran Orvich
</div>
ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 23, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
For the last five years Fran Orvich, 30, has been living chastely following a conversion process that began after a traumatic childhood and years of sexual libertinism.The young man shared his conversion process in a telephone interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, “for the glory of God and the salvation of souls and to give light, hope, and salvation to these poor brothers of ours who are in the Church and are very confused.”Specifically, Orvich said he wanted to share his experience with same-sex attraction “so that the Lord might touch hearts and that people repent and try returning to a chaste life.”<h2>A difficult childhood</h2>While only five years have passed since his conversion, to explain what he has experienced Orvich referred back to his childhood. “I had to grow up with a father who beat my mother, an alcoholic, a womanizer always using foul language. It was a hostile, terrible environment.”The young man related that he was “wounded within his mother’s womb” because his father mistreated his mother during her pregnancy. “He never said ‘I love you’ to me,” he related, so his father became an absent figure to him: “My father was there, but I have never had him as a father.”Orvich described his mother as “a woman of unwavering faith, of prayer” who, due to the family situation, adopted a “protective” role. In addition, as he was the youngest of three brothers, he said, “they bullied me a little.”As a child, he began looking at pornography — a habit that continued to increase — so that “when I was 8 or 9 years old, I was already doing things with three boys my age. Not deep into it, but it was already totally perverted,” he explained.Orvich’s school years were difficult. A shy and quiet boy, his classmates ostracized him. He still recalls the day a teacher put him in front of the blackboard to do a simple addition problem. He didn’t know how to do it and the teacher encouraged his classmates to laugh at him. That left a deep wound that would only be healed years later during his conversion process.<h2>‘I opened doors to evil’ through the occult</h2>When he turned 12, he fell into daily masturbation. During high school he continued viewing pornography and entered the world of the occult. “I opened the door to evil,” he acknowledged, through various esoteric practices.The high-school Orvich wasn’t like the grade-school Orvich: “I was the rebel, the bully, the class clown, the good-looking dude.” At that time he had five girlfriends and the homosexual acts of his childhood were just a memory of misdirected curiosity. At one point, however, he began to become interested in a boy at the school. “I started to notice a boy in the classroom next door. He started to get my attention and something awakened in me. I started fooling around and I kind of liked that fooling around,” but it didn’t reach the sexual level.Some time after that, at age 16, Orvich said, “I was with the first boy.” He hid this relationship from his family and carried on the liaison in secret until, at the age of 18, there was a big fight at home between his parents. “My father wanted to hit my mother and at 18 I wasn’t going to allow it,” he recounted.His father called him a “faggot” — “he was always using that word” — and Orvich responded: “Yeah, what’s up!” His father’s reaction was very aggressive: “He wanted to kill me with a sickle, he threw a chair at me and I dodged it,” he said, describing the incident.<h2>Abandoned by his family, he fell into prostitution</h2>“Having just turned 18, my soul was at rock bottom,” he said, and he was terribly lonely. “I didn’t have a Christian friend, a good friend to tell me: ‘Don’t worry, come to my house.’” He said he had faith, because his mother had instilled it in him, but “I didn’t go to Mass, I didn’t do anything, I didn’t pray.”Given the difficult situation at home, the boy with whom he had a relationship at the time took him in: “He is the only one who didn’t fail me, because my whole family failed me, they left me stranded.” However, that relationship ended badly and Orvich was forced to look for a room to rent.He was just a kid who had barely left his parents’ home. “What do I do with my life now?” he thought. He tried a door-to-door sales job that didn’t go well until he made a dramatic decision: “I prostituted myself.”“It was something very painful, very humiliating and terrible. I don’t wish anyone to go through that situation. Now I can talk about it, because the Lord is healing me, but before I couldn’t,” Orvich told ACI Prensa.Fortunately, that only lasted a week, because a cousin of his called and offered him a place to live with his aunt and uncle. In the family it was already known as “official” that Orvich was homosexual.Out of rage toward his father — “I hated him and wanted him dead” — he participated in a television program. “I made the biggest fool of myself in history and the devil deceived me in such a powerful way,” he said of the program, where he acknowledged his homosexuality in front of the cameras.Orvich regrets the episode, especially because of the scandal it caused, particularly for his parents. “I ignored the commandment to honor your father and mother,” he said.<h2>‘I knew this wasn’t normal’</h2>At the time, through social media, Orvich was “totally involved in the gay world.” However, in retrospect, he emphasized that he was always uncomfortable with the lifestyle.“I was not pro-LGBTQ. I wasn’t, because I knew this wasn’t normal. I said to myself: This is what happened to me, because it is what it is. But I wasn’t okay with it.”Despite this, the young man frequented Chueca (a gay haunt in Madrid, Spain) because “when you are so full of demons, of lust, well in the end the body demands from you for what it demands from you.”He had a series of toxic relationships and was emotionally dependent. “In the end, in men I was looking for the figure of my father, but I sexualized it,” he recalled.<h2>Baptized at age 22 </h2>Despite his mother’s faith, various family circumstances led to Orvich not being baptized during his early years. At age 22, however, he sought the sacrament: “Despite being ‘stuck in a bad situation,’ I told my mother that I wanted to be baptized.”Finally, without much formal preparation due to his parents’ business activities, he was baptized.Despite this, Orvich continued with his esoteric practices: “They dealt me cards and I loved the whole subject of spirits.” Deep down, he recognized “it was a God tailored to me, because I believed, but I did whatever I felt like.”Three years went by in which Orvich spent a lot of time cultivating his outward image and going to the gym, which led him to work as a model making good money.The spiritual turnaround in his life came at age 25, when a newborn nephew was on the verge of death. It came as a powerful jolt to his soul that led him to pray fervently for the child’s life. “The Lord told me in my interior: ‘This is the last chance.’ He said it to me like that,” Orvich related.“I understood what I was doing wrong, the condition of my soul. I realized all of it and said: It’s over, I renounce this.” <figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/orvich.model.jpg" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="Asked for his take on Fiducia Supplicans, Orvich commented that "what is being said a lot is 'God loves you' and, in fact, God loves us a lot. But what is being omitted is that you have to convert." Credit: Fran Orvich"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Asked for his take on Fiducia Supplicans, Orvich commented that "what is being said a lot is 'God loves you' and, in fact, God loves us a lot. But what is being omitted is that you have to convert." Credit: Fran Orvich</figcaption></figure><h2>‘I no longer want other loves’</h2>So Orvich decided to go to confession “to a good priest.” He describes what it was like receiving the sacrament of forgiveness.“I have always wanted to find love and peace. I didn’t find it in men, nor in money, nor in fame, because I was always empty. I made my confession and told all my sins, because I had incredible enlightenment from the Holy Spirit,” he recounted.“When the priest gave me absolution, I felt so much love!” he continued. “I felt God’s forgiveness, his mercy. That was something incredible for me. I was on cloud nine, with a weight lifted off my shoulders.”“I couldn’t stop crying and asking the Lord for forgiveness. I felt so loved, so loved! And when I knew this love of God, I said: I no longer want other loves, because I have been unhappy, nothing more, I have suffered a lot. I want to be with this love, I want to be with Jesus.”Thus began a process of faith formation, including devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and divine mercy. Orvich had “an incredible thirst for God, to love him, to worship him, to serve him, to make amends, to do penance.”And, following that path of conversion, he participated in an Ephphatha (“Be opened,” cf Mk 7:34) Retreat where, in front of the Blessed Sacrament, “face to face with the Lord, I cried a lot and asked for forgiveness for what I did,” he said.<h2>Forgiving his mother</h2>He also felt the need to ask forgiveness from his mother. She had been praying for seven years and told him: “Son, the Lord finally heard my prayers. He has already taken out the dagger that I had in my heart for you. Blessed be the Lord.”For Orvich, it’s important to explain how his mother related to him. “She didn’t agree with my sin, but she loved me. She didn’t tell me ‘bring your boyfriend whenever you want and introduce him to me,’ no. She told me twice ‘I don’t agree with this, with your life,’ but always with a lot of love and a lot of mercy.”Some time later, after a process, he was able to ask his father for forgiveness. “He also asked for my forgiveness and I experienced a very powerful release, a weight was taken off my shoulders.”<h2>‘The Holy Virgin is key’</h2>Orvich has been living chastely for five years. “I don’t want to be with anyone, I want to be with Jesus Christ, I want to be in his Church. The things of God are what make me truly happy and give me peace.”Despite his determination, he recognizes that he has temptations, “attacks from the devil,” which he understands are “part of the purification” he must undergo. To combat them he tries to go to daily Mass and receive Communion, pray the rosary, and do penances.He has also consecrated himself to the Virgin Mary in accord  with the 33-day process advocated by St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort.“The Holy Virgin is key in my fight against the demon that will always try to set me back. I have to be in a constant struggle. The Lord gives you perseverance.”As part of this spiritual battle, in addition to his work, Orvich is a “missionary on social media,” through his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/fran.orvich.1" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Facebook</a> and TikTok profiles, where he tries to “witness to young and old, giving the Word of God, a breath of peace and joy.”<h2>Spiritual and psychological help</h2>In order to live this new life, Orvich needed significant spiritual and psychological help, beginning with closing the doors he had opened through the occult.“If St. Mary Magdalene had seven demons, imagine me,” said Orvich, who has undergone “deliverance” prayer. In fact, he assumes he is “still in the process.”In other areas, he is aware that “the psychological part and the spiritual part go together,” which is why he looked for “a good psychologist priest, who will not lead me to evil but who will lead me to God” and has found him. “The Lord has given me an excellent psychologist priest who addresses all these issues of same-sex attraction.”<h2>Fiducia Supplicans</h2>Near the end of the extensive conversation with ACI Prensa, Orvich did not hesitate when asked about his impressions of the Vatican document <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20231218_fiducia-supplicans_en.html" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Fiducia Supplicans</a>, which approves of blessings for same-sex couples.“It caused me a lot of pain and sadness,” he said, because the document “is very confusing, very ambiguous, it doesn’t give light. It can confuse many souls.”“What is being said a lot is ‘God loves you’ and, in fact, God loves us a lot. But what is being omitted is that you have to convert,” Orvich emphasized, recalling the words of Jesus: “Whoever wants to follow me, let him deny himself.”Along these lines, he added: “If we want to be in communion with the Lord, we have to try to do things right. We’re sinners and we fall, but you have to be on the road to conversion, every day. The Holy Curé of Ars already said there is no greater charity than saving a soul from hell by telling the truth.”<h2>Message to parents of children with same-sex attraction</h2>Finally, ACI Prensa asked Orvich to freely say anything he would like to share about his experience and that he considers essential. He had a twofold message for parents of people who experience same-sex attraction.On the one hand, he advised parents to “love their children, but do not accept their sin. Because if you accept it, it will be useless for you to pray.” Driving that point home, he emphasized: “By confirming them in sin we are not helping them, we are condemning them.”The second essential idea he wants to convey to parents is to “never tire of praying for your children, because prayer has a lot of intercessory power.”This story <a href="https://www.aciprensa.com/noticias/104071/vivio-como-homosexual-cayo-en-el-ocultismo-y-prostitucion-ahora-solo-quiere-estar-con-jesus" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">was first published</a> by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
]]></description>
<category>Europe</category>
<pubDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Could Florida become the first state to defeat an abortion amendment? ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257471/could-florida-become-the-first-state-to-defeat-an-abortion-amendment</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257471/could-florida-become-the-first-state-to-defeat-an-abortion-amendment</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/gettyimages-2148535383.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
People join together during a “Rally to Stop the Six-Week Abortion Ban” held at Lake Eola Park on April 13, 2024, in Orlando, Florida. / Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
</div>
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 23, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
The Florida Supreme Court recently made national headlines when it issued two significant abortion rulings on the <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257252/florida-supreme-court-approves-15-week-pro-life-law-allows-abortion-amendment-on-ballot" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">same day</a>. One ruling cleared the way for a law to take effect that protects unborn life at six weeks and beyond. The other allowed a far-reaching abortion proposal, titled the <a href="https://initiativepetitions.elections.myflorida.com/InitiativeForms/Fulltext/Fulltext_2307_EN.pdf" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Limiting Government Interference with Abortion Amendment</a>, to be placed on the November ballot.If passed, the amendment would change the Florida Constitution to include a provision reading: “No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s health care provider.”With the abortion amendment now officially on the ballot in Florida, many will be looking to the state this November to see if it will break a long string of pro-life referendum defeats or simply mark another abortion victory.Although several other states are expected to have similar abortion amendments on their ballots, Florida holds special importance both because it is the third-most populous state in the country and because of its perceived role as a leader among conservative states.“It’s critically important that we win Florida,” Kelsey Pritchard, director of state public affairs for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told CNA.“If we win Florida,” she explained, “I think it can really turn the tide on these ballot measure fights.”<h2>Is abortion a winning issue for Democrats? </h2>So far, the pro-life movement has suffered one crushing defeat after another when it comes to abortion referendums. Every abortion-related amendment that has come to a general vote since the overturn of Roe v. Wade has resulted in an abortion victory.The votes have not been close either. Despite a major pro-life push to defeat it, an amendment adding abortion to the Ohio Constitution passed in a <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255937/ohio-voters-overwhelmingly-approve-amendment-enshrining-abortion-in-state-constitution" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">56% to 44%</a> vote last October. Another pro-abortion measure in Michigan passed <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Michigan_Proposal_3,_Right_to_Reproductive_Freedom_Initiative_(2022)" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">56% to 43%</a> in November 2022. In Kansas, which is considered a reliably Republican and conservative state, voters declined <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/2022-live-primary-election-race-results/2022/08/02/1115317596/kansas-voters-abortion-legal-reject-constitutional-amendment" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">59% to 41%</a> to add an amendment that would have protected unborn life from abortion.Several leading Republicans, including former president Donald Trump and Florida Sen. Rick Scott, have since embraced less protective pro-life positions. Despite floating the idea of supporting a national abortion ban earlier in his campaign, <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257314/trump-on-abortion-it-s-up-to-the-states-to-do-the-right-thing" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Trump announced</a> on April 8 that he would not support any federal abortion policy and that the issue is “up to the states.” For his part, Scott <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4595381-rick-scott-florida-abortion-ban/" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said</a> that he would support replacing Florida’s six-week law with a more permissive 15-week abortion limit. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, criticized the Florida six-week law as “extreme” and has signaled his belief that support for abortion will propel him to victory in the 2024 general election. “Trump is scrambling,”<a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257320/biden-campaign-trump-scrambling-on-abortion-amid-policy-announcement" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> Biden said</a>. “He’s worried that since he’s the one responsible for overturning Roe, the voters will hold him accountable in 2024. Well, I have news for Donald: They will.” Biden is set to make a <a href="https://www.mysuncoast.com/2024/04/22/joe-biden-will-talk-abortion-during-his-visit-tampa/" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">campaign stop in Tampa</a> on Tuesday, where he is expected to speak on abortion and the six-week pro-life law.<h2>Can Florida buck the trend? </h2>With all this at play, John White, a professor of politics at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., told CNA that from a purely political perspective, “there is very little that can be done to defeat the initiative.” “The six-week abortion ban in Florida is very likely to be overturned by the ballot initiative,” he said. “In every state in which a ballot initiative has appeared, the pro-life forces have lost. I don’t think Florida will be any different.” “We have already seen the national significance of this issue and its ability to galvanize majorities of voters. Florida will only add to this,” he added.Yet, Seana Sugrue, a politics professor at Ave Maria University in southwest Florida, said that this abortion showdown is “different from the other states both procedurally and substantively.”She pointed out that while the abortion amendments in Ohio and Michigan only required a simple majority to pass, the Florida amendment must clear a 60% threshold to be added to the state’s constitution. This will make a major difference, she said, predicting that the pro-abortion camp will find it very difficult to rally that much support in the state.According to an <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2024/04/11/42-of-florida-voters-want-to-reverse-six-week-abortion-ban-but-almost-as-many-are-undecided-poll-finds/?sh=7d03109b71d4" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Emerson College poll</a> published April 11, 57% of Florida voters believe the six-week pro-life law is too strict. According to the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religious-landscape-study/database/state/florida/views-about-abortion/" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Pew Research Center</a>, 56% of Florida adults believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Sugrue said the Florida amendment is “much more radical” than the other abortion proposals such as the one in Ohio and is “actually very, very broad.”The amendment bans restrictions on abortion before viability, but late-term abortions would still be allowed if determined necessary by a health provider. According to Sugrue’s analysis of the amendment, it would allow abortion until birth in Florida because it doesn’t define what it means by necessary for one’s health and does not specify what type of health care providers are allowed to make that determination.<h2>What the pro-life movement needs to win in Florida</h2>Sugrue said the pro-life movement needs to prioritize communicating the truth about the radical nature of the amendment to the public.“Messaging is going to be very important,” she said, adding that the “constant, faithful, and clear support” from the Catholic Church in Florida will be needed.So far, the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops (FCCB) and Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Catholic, have both criticized the amendment.In a statement shared with CNA on April 1, Michael Sheedy, FCCB executive director, said that the Florida bishops “will work hard to oppose this cruel and dangerous amendment and urge all Floridians to vote no.”DeSantis, meanwhile, has <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/04/desantis-abortion-marijuana-ballot-initiatives-00150616" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">called</a> the amendment “very, very extreme” and said that voters will reject it once they figure out how radical it is. According to Pritchard, there is already a coalition of pro-life groups formed to defeat the amendment. She said that “what’s going to be key to our success is the willingness of Gov. DeSantis to get in this fight.”“We would hope that he would be vocal, continue to be vocal early and often, because that awareness of what this measure actually does is very important starting now rather than waiting until the last couple of weeks before the election,” she said.But just as important as being vocally supportive, according to Pritchard, is for the governor to help with fundraising. In Ohio, the campaign in favor of the abortion amendment <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255903/ohio-abortion-supporters-outraise-pro-life-side-3-1-ahead-of-november-referendum" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">outraised</a> the pro-life campaign by a large margin. “We know the other side is going to easily pour millions upon millions into this, from George Soros to the abortion lobby and abortion industry,” Pritchard said. “So, the dollars will be as crucial as him [DeSantis] being willing to be a vocal advocate.”With the help of the governor, Pritchard believes the pro-life movement can break its losing slump.“Florida is the state where the red wave materialized in 2022. We were all hoping and expecting and praying for a red wave throughout the entire nation in those midterms, but that didn’t happen, except for in Florida, where Ron DeSantis won by double digits and took both houses of the Legislature,” she said. “We have reasons to be hopeful in that respect. At the same time, we have a lot of work to do.”
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2024 06:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Did St. George really slay a dragon? ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257438/did-st-george-really-slay-a-dragon</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257438/did-st-george-really-slay-a-dragon</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/20230424110416-0cd4acb575122de4f7c78d0fa2401f8f9e3a215541650db301e45e67f87d2256.webp?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Edward Burne-Jones, “St. George Kills the Dragon,” 1866 / Credit: Public Domain
</div>
Washington D.C., Apr 23, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).
St. George may be among Christianity’s most famous and beloved saints, immortalized through the famous legend of St. George and the Dragon — a tale thoroughly medieval in character in which a brave and chivalrous knight charges in and saves a fair princess from being devoured by a dragon. In England, a country long devoted to George and one of several nations to claim his patronage, the saint’s name adorns the signs of churches and pubs in nearly equal measure. His feast day is celebrated with festivals, many of which involve reenactments of the saint’s daring feats against the ferocious dragon.Alas for these revelers, the real St. George was not a knight, and to history’s knowledge he did not save any princesses from a fiery death. George was a Roman soldier, condemned to torture and martyrdom during the Diocletian persecution at the beginning of the fourth century. Tradition holds that he withstood several rounds of torture and was ultimately beheaded rather than renounce his Christian faith. He was immediately venerated throughout the Christian world as a martyr, but we know almost nothing else about him. Pope Gelasius I, who canonized him nearly two centuries later in 494, stated on the occasion that George was among those saints “whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose actions are known only to God.”The famed tales of George defeating a dragon did not arise until more than 500 years after his death, and no one is quite sure how a Roman soldier of near-complete anonymity metamorphosed into a dashing hero celebrated the world over for his courage. Likely it began as a fable to demonstrate the warring forces of good and evil, and soon the story obscured the true history of St. George.We cannot say that facts do not matter, but in the case of St. George, perhaps we can argue that the particulars of his life, fantastical or otherwise, do not alter the truth for which he died. G.K. Chesterton wrote:“Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.”The legend of George and the Dragon is not real, but the truth that it reveals most certainly is. There is evil in the world, true evil that seeks to devour all that is good and innocent. In stories it breathes fire and flies. In history it can take the shape of despots like the man who ordered St. George’s death. The bloodlust of the dragon was real, even if its scales were not, and it has not died but continued on to plague our world in all its insidious forms and iterations. But just as the dragon’s brutality was no fable, neither was the bravery of the man who fought it. This courageous faith in the face of evil has echoed through the centuries, to be emulated by knights, soldiers, kings, and even the children brandishing their wooden swords on St. George’s Day.St. George surely never fought a dragon. But he did defy an emperor and stare without flinching into the eyes of his torturers and executioner, unyielding in his faith. No fair maiden awaited him at the end of his trial in life, but upon his death, no doubt, the gentle arms of Christ’s mother clasped him, bringing him to the throne room of her Son.This story was first published by <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/blog/st-george-the-dragonslayer-offered-his-life-to-god" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the National Catholic Register,</a> CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.
]]></description>
<category>Europe</category>
<pubDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2024 04:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ For first time, incurably ill patient undergoes euthanasia in Peru ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257470/for-first-time-incurably-ill-patient-undergoes-euthanasia-in-peru</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257470/for-first-time-incurably-ill-patient-undergoes-euthanasia-in-peru</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/ana.estrada.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Ana Estrada, 47, suffered from polymyositis, an incurable disease that left her confined to a wheelchair. Since 2019, she had been been petitioning Peruvian courts to recognize a right to euthanasia. / Credit: Jessica Alva Piedra CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED
</div>
ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 22, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).
On Sunday, April 21, Peruvian activist Ana Estrada underwent a euthanasia process and died. The terminology employed did not indicate whether it was by direct euthanasia or medically assisted suicide.Euthanasia is not legal in Peru, but the nation’s Supreme Court nevertheless ruled in favor of her appeal.According to a <a href="https://twitter.com/Ojo_Publico/status/1782433873311240577" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">statement</a> released by various Peruvian media, the activist “died on her own terms, in accordance with her idea of dignity and in full control of her autonomy until the end.”“The medical procedure was carried out in accordance with the ‘Plan and Protocol for Death with Dignity’ applicable to Ana, approved by EsSalud, in the context of the historic ruling in her favor, issued on Feb. 23, 2021, and upheld by the Supreme Court on July 14 and 27, 2022,” the press release stated. EsSalud is a government agency providing social security health insurance in Peru.<h2>Who is Ana Estrada?</h2>Ana Estrada was a 47-year-old Peruvian activist who suffered from polymyositis — an incurable disease that left her confined to a wheelchair. Since 2019, she has been petitioning Peruvian courts to recognize a right to euthanasia.Euthanasia is not legal in Peru. However, in 2022 the <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251813/peruvian-archbishop-no-right-to-euthanasia-its-a-crime" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">judiciary ruled in favor of Estrada</a> so that in her case Article 112 of the current Penal Code “would be unenforced.” The code punishes anyone who “out of pity, kills an incurably ill person” with a prison sentence of no more than three years.”Last February, the Superior Court of Justice of Lima ordered Social Security Health (EsSalud) and the Ministry of Health (Minsa) to respect Estrada’s decision.Recently, EsSalud also stated that it was unnecessary for Estrada to undergo an additional psychological evaluation from the one carried out last October and decided that she could designate a trusted person to authorize her consent with their signature.<h2>What does the Catholic Church say about euthanasia?</h2>No. 2277 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable.”“Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator,” the catechism explains.“The error of judgment into which one can fall in good faith does not change the nature of this murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded,” the text clarifies.In early April, the Vatican published the declaration<a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2024/04/08/240408c.html" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> Dignitatis Infinita</a>, which warns of 13 grave violations of human dignity, one of which is euthanasia. The document notes that “there is a widespread notion that euthanasia or assisted suicide is somehow consistent with respect for the dignity of the human person.”“However, in response to this,” the declaration explains, “it must be strongly reiterated that suffering does not cause the sick to lose their dignity, which is intrinsically and inalienably their own. Instead, suffering can become an opportunity to strengthen the bonds of mutual belonging and gain greater awareness of the precious value of each person to the whole human family.”After encouraging palliative care for the sick, Dignitatis Infinita affirms that “helping the suicidal person to take his or her own life is an objective offense against the dignity of the person asking for it, even if one would be thereby fulfilling the person’s wish.”This story <a href="https://www.aciprensa.com/noticias/104099/por-primera-vez-practican-eutanasia-en-peru-muere-activista-ana-estrada" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">was first published</a> by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
]]></description>
<category>Americas</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2024 18:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Argentine doctor completes prison sentence for preventing a chemical abortion in process ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257469/argentine-doctor-completes-sentence-for-preventing-a-chemical-abortion-in-process</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257469/argentine-doctor-completes-sentence-for-preventing-a-chemical-abortion-in-process</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/leandro.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Argentine pro-life Dr. Leandro Rodríguez Lastra. / Credit: Buena Vida
</div>
ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 22, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).
In 2017, a 19-year-old woman arrived in severe pain at the hospital where Argentine doctor Leandro Rodríguez Lastra was working. She was 23 weeks pregnant and had ingested misoprostol, illegally administered by the La Revuelta (“The Revolt”) organization well beyond the outer limit of 10 weeks of pregnancy for use of the drug.Using his professional judgment, Rodríguez stabilized the woman by stopping the chemical abortion process, thus saving both mother and child. When the baby reached six and a half months’ gestation, the medical board decided to deliver the child by cesarean section and the baby was placed for adoption.In 2019, for preventing the completion of the abortion, Rodríguez was given a one-year-and-two-months suspended sentence in prison, and his license to practice medicine was revoked for two years and four months, ending Jan. 30. Speaking with “EWTN Noticias,” EWTN’s Spanish-language news program, Rodríguez explained what had happened that led to the unprecedented sentence: In 2017, he was on duty “at the public hospital where I worked, in the Argentine city of Cipolletti in the Argentine Patagonia, where I received a patient in generally poor condition due to an advanced pregnancy, and I made the decision to stop the process of giving birth prematurely that was going on and improve the patient’s state of health.”“This was interpreted by the justice system, or by the Rio Negro Judiciary, as having overridden the patient’s will to terminate the pregnancy, and so in 2019 I was convicted, and this sentence has just been completed,” he said.This time, Rodríguez said, “has been very significant,” beyond the notoriety of his case, due to the commitment to be “a kind of example of what can happen if one does not submit to the arbitrary decisions of the powers that be.”This experience led him to be “even more committed to caring for life, the protection of the life of the unborn child, the protection of women,” the doctor said.Rodríguez said that in the eyes of the court, his patient was the victim in this case, “since she had been a victim of rape, she was portrayed by all the media, especially the local media, as the great victim in all this, the one who had gotten the worst of it.”However, he pointed out, “once the trial was over, the sentence issued, this woman was abandoned and no one else cared for her; unfortunately she had to seek help” to survive.These facts, the doctor said, make it clear “that those arguments that were put forward at the time, saying that this was for the protection of women, were absolutely false.”“Those arguments, speaking of defending rights, were absolutely false, and the only thing they tried to do was destroy the life of a child who is now about to turn 7 years old, who is happy, with an adoptive family that is taking care of him and giving him the future that any of us deserve. They couldn’t do anything about that,” he said.“The child is alive, the woman who was a victim of all this is fine, she’s healthy; therefore in that aspect I am satisfied because life triumphed, truth triumphed, beyond the injustices that [I] suffered," he said.The doctor anticipates that he will continue working in the private sector, as “it’s difficult for me to go back to public hospitals,” he said. However, he reiterated that his commitment to life “is unwavering,” and if he is faced with a case similar to the one that led to his conviction, “in the same case I will act in precisely the same way.”“When I was sentenced, and before I was sentenced, they looked for a kind of remorse in me, or another message,” he recalled. “No. The message is the same and with more and more conviction: Life must be defended; that’s not up for discussion,” he stressed, telling doctors that “this is our moment, the time to assert our convictions, our moral convictions, that are not negotiable.”“Conscientious objection is that fundamental right that should exonerate us. We should not give it up and we have to defend it today more than ever,” he said.This story <a href="https://www.aciprensa.com/noticias/104077/medico-argentino-cumplio-su-condena-por-negarse-a-realizar-un-aborto" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">was first published</a> by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
]]></description>
<category>Americas</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2024 17:30:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Pope Francis to meet with thousands of grandparents and their grandchildren at the Vatican ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257467/pope-francis-to-meet-with-thousands-of-grandparents-and-their-grandchildren-at-the-vatican</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257467/pope-francis-to-meet-with-thousands-of-grandparents-and-their-grandchildren-at-the-vatican</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/grandparents.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Pope Francis greets an elderly couple at a general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media
</div>
ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 22, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).
“A Caress and a Smile” is the name of the event that will take place Saturday, April 27, in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall where elderly people, grandparents, and grandchildren from Italy will meet Pope Francis.A total of 6,000 grandparents and their grandchildren will arrive this week at the Vatican for a special gathering with the Holy Father, an initiative presented by the Holy See’s Press Office today.Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, noted that Italy has the second-highest number of elderly people in the world and that for the first time in history, four generations are living together, which “had never happened before.”He also lamented that currently “we are afraid to use” the word “old” and that old age “is not only a very beautiful time, but can mean a change of direction, within the culture, society, economy, and also of religion.”The prelate noted the special affection that Pope Francis has for older people and recalled the catechetical series that he dedicated to them, teaching “how to live the last 30 years” of life in a Christian way.“This event will be held to give a new vision of old age. Old age is a great age, not to be wasted or a burden. Old age is not disconnected from other ages of life,” Paglia continued.The prelate also noted the demographic winter that Italy is going through and highlighted the “particular harmony” and special ties that exist between grandparents and their grandchildren, two generations “that cannot live without each other.”The event, organized by the Italian Old Age Foundation, will begin at 8:30 a.m. Rome time with a reflection on old age.About 40 minutes later, Pope Francis will arrive at the Paul VI Hall to hear the testimony of two grandparents (among them a 91-year-old woman) and three grandchildren.Also participating in this morning’s press conference was Lino Banfi, a well-known Italian actor who maintains a friendship with Pope Francis, whom he referred to as “the grandfather of the world.”In addition, Pope Francis has also established the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which this year will be celebrated on July 28.This story <a href="https://www.aciprensa.com/noticias/104094/el-papa-francisco-se-encontrara-con-abuelos-y-nietos-en-el-vaticano-el-27-de-abril" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">was first published</a> by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
]]></description>
<category>Vatican</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2024 17:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ ‘I’m a witness to unspeakable suffering’: Ethiopia bishop wants peace pact implemented ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257465/i-m-a-witness-to-unspeakable-suffering-ethiopia-bishop-wants-peace-pact-implemented</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257465/i-m-a-witness-to-unspeakable-suffering-ethiopia-bishop-wants-peace-pact-implemented</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/mehdinethiopia042224.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Bishop Tesfasellassie Medhin of the Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat in Ethiopia, which covers the Tigray region. / Credit: CBCE
</div>
ACI Africa, Apr 22, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).
The bishop of Ethiopia’s <a href="https://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dadig.html" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat</a>, which covers the Tigray region, said he has witnessed firsthand the “unspeakable suffering” and death of the people of God in the embattled region of the Horn of Africa nation.In a statement that ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, obtained April 19, Bishop Tesfasellassie Medhin pleaded for the implementation of the Nov. 2, 2022, <a href="https://borkena.com/2022/11/02/ethiopias-peace-talk-in-south-africa-concluded-tplf-to-disarm/" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">peace agreement</a> in Pretoria, South Africa, in which the Ethiopian government and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tigray-Peoples-Liberation-Front" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tigray People’s Liberation Front</a> (TPLF) pledged to “permanently silence the guns and end the two years of conflict in northern Ethiopia.”“I am writing as a religious leader with deep concern and feeling for the pain of tens of millions of our population in the country, especially the children, elders, and women of Tigray,” Medhin said. He painted a grim picture of the situation of the people of God in Tigray, saying: “I am a witness to unspeakable suffering, despair, disease, and death around me due to years of conflict, drought, and localized rain failure as well lack of attention to meet basic needs.”Violent conflict in the Tigray region started in November 2020 when TPLF allegedly launched an attack on Ethiopia’s Federal Government Army base in the region.TPLF and people in the Tigray region were reportedly opposed to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s bid to centralize power in Africa’s second most populous country.In his statement, Medhin said that millions of people as well as hundreds of thousands of refugees have been displaced following the conflicts not only in the region of Tigray but also in neighboring Afar, Amhara, and Oromia regions.He said the concerted efforts of his episcopal see in partnership with other entities in reaching out to the needy are insufficient.“We see the human face of the statistics all receive via reports: rising malnutrition, less than half of needs met last year, and even less commitment to meet needs in Tigray this year,” Medhin said.He highlighted the apostolate of the pastoral agents of Adigrat Eparchy, saying: “We embrace children so undernourished that they appear skin and bones, listen to families who are struggling to provide even a portion of a single meal each day, and every month mourn hundreds of beloved community members dying of diseases they might not have succumbed to were they not suffering from severe hunger.”“Our problem is holistic — social, political, economic, psychological, and spiritual — for the whole Tigray and also for the neighboring populations who are in a similar situation,” he said.He pointed to the Catholic Church's teaching on human dignity as important and emphasized the need to protect the vulnerable. “Every human being is a beloved child of God, deserving of equal dignity and care,” he said.He decried the negative effects of environmental degradation, saying: “In the coming months, we face very serious climatic change impacts to be hitting us this year — foreboding unpredictable rains, drought, and flooding.”While Medhin acknowledged with appreciation the efforts being undertaken to alleviate the suffering of the Tigray people, he cautioned: “We need not wait for a truly catastrophic situation to occur before sounding the alarm — we are sounding the alarm now.”“The population of Tigray and neighboring regions have suffered years of war, drought, and disease — and have demonstrated a resilience few can believe — and we pray that we make it through this crisis,” he said.Medhin also appealed for the implementation of peace.“I make this plea to the respective national and international governments and community for relieving the suffering and reduce the dying from such dire situations — and for speeding up the implementation of the Pretoria Peace Agreement.”This story <a href="https://www.aciafrica.org/news/10785/im-a-witness-to-unspeakable-suffering-death-bishop-in-ethiopia-on-tigray-wants-pretoria-peace-pact-implemented" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">was first published</a> by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.
]]></description>
<category>Middle East - Africa</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2024 16:30:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Experts and former abortionist warn about ‘eugenic’ IVF industry ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257464/experts-and-former-abortionist-warn-about-eugenic-ivf-industry</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257464/experts-and-former-abortionist-warn-about-eugenic-ivf-industry</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/e16112be-cc42-4254-ac55-215dd387cf07.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Left to right: Dr. John Bruchalski, a former abortionist and IVF provider, Emma Waters, a senior research associate at the Heritage Foundation, Andrew Kubick, a bioethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center and the Religious Freedom Institute, and Sister Deirdre Byrne, superior of the D.C. Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts, discuss the "eugenic" dangers of in vitro fertilization at a panel event at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., April 18, 2024. / Credit: Photo by Peter Pinedo/CNA
</div>
Washington D.C., Apr 22, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).
A former abortionist and several pro-life ethicists are urging lawmakers to protect children and parents from the in vitro fertilization (IVF) industry, which they say operates on “eugenic” principles.  IVF is a fertility treatment that works by inducing hyper-ovulation during a woman’s cycle to harvest her eggs and then fuse them with sperm to conceive a child outside the womb. The <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256946/what-is-the-catholic-church-s-position-on-ivf" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Catholic Church is opposed to IVF</a> because it separates the marriage act from procreation and destroys embryonic human life. Speaking at a panel discussion on IVF last week at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Dr. John Bruchalski, a former abortionist and IVF provider, said that “IVF is embedded with eugenics” and that anything “not perfect” is either eliminated or used for scientific research.According to Bruchalski, the IVF industry operates like the “Wild West,” with little to no oversight. The result is not only the destruction and abuse of millions of frozen human embryos but also risks to the children born of IVF as well as to the women involved in the process.“Ultimately, the way we do this is we actually experiment on our patients,” Bruchalski said. “So, even without the embryos being created, I would say that it is something that still needs to be very cautioned over.”This comes as IVF has returned to the forefront of American politics in the wake of a controversial <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256891/alabama-supreme-court-rules-that-frozen-embryos-are-children-under-state-law" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Alabama Supreme Court decision</a> that ruled children conceived through IVF should be protected under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.<h2>IVF takes center stage</h2>Since the ruling, many politicians from both parties have rushed to defend IVF. Both <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256918/here-s-what-trump-biden-and-the-catholic-church-are-saying-about-ivf" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump</a> voiced their support for the IVF industry.During the <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257033/biden-promises-legal-abortion-nationwide-in-state-of-the-union-address" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">2024 State of the Union</a>, Biden called the Alabama ruling an “assault on freedom” made possible by the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022. He urged Congress to pass a national “guarantee” of the right to IVF.Trump, meanwhile, <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257314/trump-on-abortion-it-s-up-to-the-states-to-do-the-right-thing" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">praised</a> the Alabama Legislature for quickly passing a law in response to the ruling that gave the IVF industry in the state blanket immunity from certain negligence and malpractice lawsuits.“The Republican Party should always be on the side of the miracle of life,” Trump said, adding that “IVF is an important part of that.”<h2>IVF is not pro-life, ethicists say</h2>IVF researchers and experts at the Georgetown panel, however, contested the idea that IVF is pro-life.Andrew Kubick, a bioethicist with the National Catholic Bioethics Center and the Religious Freedom Institute, said that IVF operates on a “very dangerous eugenic note” in which “only the ‘best’ survive.”“What are some of the aspects of IVF? Well, after sperm-egg fusion, we have pre-implantation genetic testing. We’re literally using arbitrary guidelines to select who is worthy of life,” he said. “From a country that has fallen into the sin of placing one group over another several times throughout history, we cannot fall into the trap of saying: ‘Well, because of this disability, this individual is not worthy.’”“When we view the child as a product or commodity rather than a gift, when we put the domination of life and death in the hands of a technician,” he continued, “I don’t think that’s pro-life.”Despite the current push to expand IVF, Kubick told CNA that he believes the pro-life movement can use this as an educating moment. “The different types of procedures they do to bring about the life of the child can have devastating effects,” he said. “Alabama has given us the opportunity to dig deep, to educate, to pray, and to hopefully change hearts and minds.” <h2>What are realistic pro-life goals?</h2>Emma Waters, another panelist and a senior research associate with the Heritage Foundation, told CNA that her advice to lawmakers is to “take a deep breath” and “not let temporary political pressure result in a rash decision that will have long-term negative consequences.”Though she believes that Democrats will ultimately continue supporting the anti-life position, she said that several pro-life groups are currently strategizing on how to educate Republicans on the dangers of IVF. Right now, their goals are very limited.“I think if we can keep Republicans from rashly putting forward legislation on this topic that’s a win in and of itself,” she said.Going forward, however, she said she thinks it is a realistic goal to get lawmakers to address the “bloat” in the IVF industry by limiting the number of embryos being created through IVF.“Oftentimes anywhere from 15 to 20 embryos are created in one cycle and yet only a couple, at most, actually result in the birth of a child and then parents are left with a really difficult decision where they have to decide what to do with the leftovers,” she said. “So how can we practice IVF in a way that empowers parents so that they’re not put in that position?”Another realistic policy to pursue, Waters said, is to regulate the IVF industry by providing parents with legal recourse to sue fertility clinics for negligent or wrongful deaths of their children.“At least half of the states already have a wrongful death law for children in the womb. So, we just need to extend that to children of in vitro fertilization,” she said. “That’s actually a very reasonable step, it doesn’t penalize IVF, but it does ensure that fertility clinics provide the highest standard of medical care.”
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2024 16:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Columbine High School massacre, 25 years later: ‘God, why did you allow me to survive?’ ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257461/columbine-high-school-massacre-25-years-later-god-why-did-you-allow-me-to-survive</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257461/columbine-high-school-massacre-25-years-later-god-why-did-you-allow-me-to-survive</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/hadrothornbydeangelisenid042224.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Reporter Catherine Hadro speaks with Sister Mary Gianna of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ and Frank DeAngelis on “EWTN News In Depth” on April 19, 2024. Sister Mary Gianna, also known as Jenica Thornby, was a sophomore at Columbine High School and DeAngelis was principal on April 20, 1999, when two gunmen killed 12 students and one teacher before turning their guns on themselves. / Credit: “EWTN News In Depth” screen shots
</div>
CNA Staff, Apr 22, 2024 / 15:30 pm (CNA).
Throughout her freshman and sophomore years at Columbine High School, Jenica Thornby went to the library every single day.“Not one day went by that I did not go to the library,” Thornby recently told “EWTN News In Depth” reporter Catherine Hadro. “Except one day.”That day was April 20, 1999. “I was 16 years old, and I was sitting in my art class when all of a sudden I had this overwhelming urge to leave school,” she recalled. “I just over [and over] in my head kept repeating, ‘There’s no way I’m staying here. There’s no way that anyone’s going to talk me into staying.’”Thornby convinced a friend to leave campus with her — they could go study at a local restaurant instead, she told her friend — and the two left school in Thornby’s new car that she had just driven to school for the first time that day.“The moment we turned on the car and started to leave the parking lot and drive away, I looked in my rearview mirror and noticed hundreds and hundreds of schoolmates of mine just running out of the school, and we had no idea what had happened,” she recalled. “We thought maybe it was a fire drill, but we didn’t understand.”Principal Frank DeAngelis, a lifelong Catholic, vividly remembers his secretary coming into his office that day to tell him about reports of a shooting.“All of a sudden I come out of my office, and my worst nightmare becomes a reality because I encounter a gunman coming towards me,” he told Hadro.DeAngelis said he started praying in his head and everything slowed down. He sprinted toward the gunman, managing to avoid gunshots. He then focused on getting as many students as possible into the gym and out of the building.“I pull on the gymnasium door, and it’s locked. And all of a sudden, we hear the sounds of the shots getting closer,” he recalled. “The gunman’s coming around, and I had 30 keys on a key ring. I reached in my suit pocket, stuck the first key that came into my hand, and it opened [the door] on the first try, or I would not be having this conversation [right now].”It was 25 years ago that two gunmen killed 12 students and one teacher before turning their guns on themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, a Denver suburb. The massacre was the deadliest K-12 shooting in U.S. history at the time, only to be surpassed by the Sandy Hook tragedy in 2012. “Reflecting back, I knew that was something beyond me,” Thornby, now Sister Mary Gianna, told “EWTN News In Depth.” After leaving campus in her car that day, as the events unfolded, she learned that 10 of the 12 students killed were in the library. She overheard an adult say that God must have a plan for her life.“I had this urge to leave. God has a plan for my life, and so I did bring that to God after I found faith,” she said. “You know, ‘Why did you allow me to survive?’”A year after the shootings, a friend invited Thornby, who grew up without any faith, to the local Catholic church. When she was 18, she was invited to Eucharistic adoration. She eventually attended Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, and was received into the Catholic Church when she was 19 years old, on March 30, 2002. After college she did missionary work and one day, she picked up a book by Father Benedict Groeschel.“He said, ‘Instead of asking God why something happened, ask God, what would you have me do?’ And so instead of reflecting on my life, why did this happen? … Why did the shootings happen? I started to pray and ask God, okay, what would you have me do?”Eventually Thornby discerned life as a religious sister and is now a member of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in Prayer Town, Texas. DeAngelis said he had his first crisis of faith the night of the shootings. But not long afterward, a priest friend called him to the church and shared some spiritual insight.“He said, Frank, you should have died that day, but God’s got a plan,” he recalled. “And he quoted Proverbs 16:9. He said, ‘In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.’ And he said, you’re going to have to go rebuild this community and help others.”Watch the full “EWTN News In Depth” interview with Thornby and DeAngelis below.<div style="width:100%" class="mx-auto embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FX92ygT19FM?list=PL9CQlldupc5_bOr0J8EslOQ16sr3eNsND" class="embed-responsive-item null" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="null" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2024 15:30:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Thousands of pro-lifers attend ‘joy-filled’ Illinois March for Life ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257463/thousands-of-pro-lifers-attend-joy-filled-illinois-march-for-life</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257463/thousands-of-pro-lifers-attend-joy-filled-illinois-march-for-life</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/873f24f7-bef6-4000-8123-3f834e9646c3.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Pro-lifers participate in the Illinois March for Life in Springfield, April 17, 2024. / Credit: Photo courtesy of March for Life
</div>
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 22, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).
Thousands of pro-lifers, including many groups of Catholic high school and college students, attended the Illinois March for Life in Springfield last week.Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, told CNA that the march was “joy-filled” and “hopeful” and had a large youth turnout.Catholic youth from <a href="https://www.lifeballoons.com/" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">“Crusaders for Life,”</a> a pro-life group from St. John Cantius Parish in Chicago, was one such group that traveled several hours to participate in the event.The group’s members could be seen at the front of the march holding brightly colored umbrellas and inflatables. Many of the young people cheered, danced, and played drums and cymbals, while others in the crowd chanted pro-life slogans and prayed.<div class="twitter-wrapper"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Thousands show up in Illinois to March for Life. Incredible. <a href="https://t.co/fX5Xvtvi8L">pic.twitter.com/fX5Xvtvi8L</a>— Jeanne F. Mancini (@jeannemfl) <a href="https://twitter.com/jeannemfl/status/1780679969636516154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2024</a></blockquote><script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><div class="drag-handle" data-drag-handle="true"> </div></div>Despite Illinois having some of the most pro-abortion laws in the country, allowing the killing of unborn children until birth, Mancini said the thousands of marchers from across the state brought “a message of hope and love for both mom and baby.” <figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/f49558c5-e933-438f-b33d-e003bd05f966.jpg" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="Pro-life youth lead the 2024 Illinois March for Life in front of the Illinois state Capitol in Springfield on April 17, 2024. The march was attended by 4,000 pro-lifers and had a heavy Catholic presence. Credit: Photo courtesy of March for Life"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Pro-life youth lead the 2024 Illinois March for Life in front of the Illinois state Capitol in Springfield on April 17, 2024. The march was attended by 4,000 pro-lifers and had a heavy Catholic presence. Credit: Photo courtesy of March for Life</figcaption></figure>Co-sponsored by Illinois Right to Life and March for Life, the Illinois march is an annual event that begins in front of the state Capitol and proceeds through downtown Springfield.  Mancini said the march was more important than ever because of ongoing efforts to incorporate abortion into the <a href="https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs5.asp?ActID=2266" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Illinois Human Rights Act</a>. Already passed by the Illinois House of Representatives, the state Senate is currently considering a <a href="https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=4867&GAID=17&GA=103&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=152716&SessionID=112" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">bill</a> that would amend the Illinois Human Rights Act to declare that “a person has freedom from unlawful discrimination in making reproductive health decisions [including abortion] and such discrimination is unlawful.” “Illinoisians understand the importance of witnessing for life at the Capitol in Springfield now that the power to protect the unborn has been returned to the American people through their elected representatives post-Roe,” she said. “By marching at the Capitol in Springfield, legislators witness a multitude of Illinoisians stand for the inherent dignity of the unborn child and mother.”The atmosphere at the march was “joy-filled and hopeful, but also reverent with the understanding that we were bringing a voice for the voiceless to the Capitol,” Mancini said.<div class="twitter-wrapper"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">So proud of our youth who participated in the March for Life in Springfield, Illinois today! <a href="https://t.co/wApR1rKhlL">pic.twitter.com/wApR1rKhlL</a>— St John Cantius (@SJCantius) <a href="https://twitter.com/SJCantius/status/1780761467119128881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2024</a></blockquote><script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><div class="drag-handle" data-drag-handle="true"> </div></div><a href="https://dio.org/catholic-times/its-not-a-choice-its-a-child/" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Catholic Times</a>, a news publication of the Diocese of Springfield, reported that over 1,500 Catholics attended Mass in an auditorium at the University of Illinois-Springfield in preparation for the march. The Mass was celebrated by Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki, who was also a speaker at the march.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/e77995e8-6450-4568-a977-00526b1d77bd.jpg" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="Illinois pro-life advocates march for the unborn on April 17, 2024. Credit: Photos courtesy of March for Life"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Illinois pro-life advocates march for the unborn on April 17, 2024. Credit: Photos courtesy of March for Life</figcaption></figure>Samuel Sweeley, a Catholic junior at St. Teresa High School in Decatur, Illinois, told The Catholic Times that he came to the march to bear witness that “God made us all with a purpose.” “No matter what environment you are born into and no matter who you are, you always have a chance to grow closer to Jesus, to live a beautiful life, to love God, and to enjoy that life,” Sweeley said.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2024 15:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Italy set to pass amendment allowing pro-life groups into family planning clinics ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257460/italy-set-to-pass-amendment-allowing-pro-life-groups-into-family-planning-clinics</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257460/italy-set-to-pass-amendment-allowing-pro-life-groups-into-family-planning-clinics</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/italy-pro-llife-march-9.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Participants in Italy's pro-life demonstration in Rome on May 21, 2022. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
</div>
Rome, Italy, Apr 22, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).
An amendment to a health care law that permits “nonprofits with experience providing maternity support” in family planning clinics, including pro-life groups, will be voted on by the Italian Senate on Tuesday, April 23, according to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.  Amendment No. 44.028, a provision attached to a health care system law, part of Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), would allow local public health authorities to freely collaborate with qualified third-party consultants, including nonprofit organizations that specialize in pregnancy and maternity support, “without new or greater burdens on public finance,” according to the web site Centro Studi Livatino. Last week, the Brothers of Italy party, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, introduced the amendment to the Chamber of Deputies, Italy’s lower house of Parliament. On April 18, the amendment passed by a vote of 140-91 and is also expected to pass the Senate, Italy’s upper house of Parliament, this week.In relation to the inclusion of pro-life groups in pregnancy counseling centers, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2024-04/cardinal-parolin-avoid-escalation-in-middle-east-conflicts.html" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said to journalists on Sunday</a>: “We are in favor of life and of all those instruments that can affirm the right to life, especially for women in difficulty.”Since 1978, abortion has been legal in Italy for the first 90 days of pregnancy. Women opting for an abortion — particularly for cases in which the pregnancy is beyond the first trimester — must obtain a certificate from either a public or private health authority attesting to the risk of the pregnancy to her life and the health of the child due to a malformation.  In addition, Article 31 of Italy’s constitution outlines the duty of the state to assist with “the formation of the family” through “economic measures and other benefits, and “protect mothers, children, and the young by adopting necessary provisions.” The prospect of having pro-life groups and associations provide counsel or services in family planning clinics <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/italys-ruling-coalition-accused-attacking-abortion-rights-2024-04-17/#:~:text=ROME%2C%20April%2017%20(Reuters),the%20move%20said%20on%20Wednesday." target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">continues to spur heated debate</a> among the media as well as activist groups in Italy and across Europe.<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68845011" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">According to Eugenia Roccella</a>, Italy’s minister for the family, this amendment does not subvert, and is consistent with, Italy’s abortion law (Law 194/1978). <a href="https://cyber.harvard.edu/population/abortion/Italy.abo.htm" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Article 2 of the Italian abortion law</a> already establishes that family counseling centers should “assist pregnant women” and help them “to overcome the factors which might lead the woman to have her pregnancy terminated.”However, Gilda Sportiello, a member of Parliament representing the Five Stars Movement, argued that a woman should ultimately have the right to choose whether to be a mother or not. “No woman who wants to interrupt her pregnancy should feel attacked by the state,” she said after speaking out in Parliament about her choice to have an abortion 14 years ago.Italian journalist Antonella Mariani offered a different view, saying this health care amendment would afford women more options, information, protection, and support when making their own decision about pregnancy.“Those who truly care about women’s self-determination should consider that it is not one-way: That is, it does not only concern the freedom to have an abortion but also the freedom not to have an abortion,” she said, as reported on the Italian news site Avvenire. The Rosario Livatino Study Centre — a group of jurists inspired by the life and example of Blessed Rosario Livatino who research issues concerning family, the right to life, religious freedom, and legal matters — published an editorial written by one of its members in relation to the health care proposal.A member of the center and a lawyer, Francesco Farri, according to Centro Studi Livatino, wrote that the amendment to be voted on in the Senate this week does not “innovate” but “confirms” current Italian law: “The 194, it should be remembered, does not only concern the voluntary interruption of pregnancy but also ‘norms for the social protection of maternity.’”
]]></description>
<category>Europe</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2024 14:15:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Nuns who feuded with Texas bishop say they will defy Vatican order on monastery’s governance ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257462/nuns-who-feuded-with-texas-bishop-say-they-will-defy-vatican-order-on-monastery-s-governance</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257462/nuns-who-feuded-with-texas-bishop-say-they-will-defy-vatican-order-on-monastery-s-governance</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/gerlach.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
The Reverend Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas. / Credit: Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity Discalced Carmelite Nuns
</div>
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 22, 2024 / 13:45 pm (CNA).
As the Vatican tries to settle a chaotic yearlong dispute between a Carmelite monastery and Diocese of Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson, the nuns at the center of the controversy announced they will defy <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257449/vatican-nuns-who-feuded-with-texas-bishop-will-be-governed-by-monastery-association" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">a Vatican decree</a> that delegates their governance to an outside religious association.The dispute centers on Olson’s investigation into the former prioress of the Arlington-based Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity: the Reverend Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach. The prioress, <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254475/fort-worth-bishop-dismisses-carmelite-mother-superior-in-latest-in-texas-monastery-diocese-dispute" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">who is now defrocked</a>, admitted to sexual misconduct occurring over the phone and through video chats with a priest — a confession she has since retracted and claims was given when she was medically unfit and recovering from an operation.After nearly a year of back-and-forth — which included <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254711/breaking-judge-dismisses-texas-monastery-s-lawsuit-against-fort-worth-bishop" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">a failed civil lawsuit</a> against the bishop for <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254362/carmelite-sisters-sue-fort-worth-bishop-over-grave-misconduct-in-chastity-investigation" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">how he handled the investigation</a> and allegations from the bishop that the nuns may have been <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254526/fort-worth-diocese-releases-photos-allegedly-showing-drug-use-at-carmelite-monastery" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">engaging in drug use</a> — the Vatican ordered that the monastery’s governance will be delegated to the Association of Christ the King, which is a Carmelite monastery association.This governance was meant to be in place until the monastery can hold new elections to replace its leadership, which would be overseen by the bishop. The Vatican also ordered the monastery to regularize its relationship with the bishop, whom the nuns <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255151/bishop-texas-nuns-may-have-excommunicated-themselves-with-defiant-letter" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">forbade from entering the premises</a> and alleged did not have authority over their governance — a claim <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254460/fort-worth-bishop-carmelite-nuns-incited-hatred-animosity-keeps-restrictions-in-place" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">rejected</a> by the Vatican.Rather than following the Vatican’s orders, the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity is going in the opposite direction. The monastery <a href="http://www.carmelnuns.com/Assets/StatementArlingtonCarmel20_April_2024.pdf" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">rejected the Vatican’s decree</a> and banned Association of Christ the King President Mother Marie of the Incarnation, along with any delegates of the association, from entering the monastery.“Neither the president of the Association of Christ the King, nor any delegate of hers, is welcome to enter our monastery at this time,” a statement from the monastery read.The nuns referred to the Vatican’s order as “a hostile takeover that we cannot in conscience accept” and accused Rome of making this decision without the “knowledge or consent” of the monastery. “To accept this would risk the integrity of our monastery as a community, threatening the vocations of individual nuns, our liturgical and spiritual life, and the material assets of the monastery,” the statement read.“This outside authority could easily disperse us, impose its agenda in respect of our daily observance and dispose of our assets — even of the monastery itself — as it wishes, contrary to our vows and to the intentions of those who founded our community and our benefactors,” the statement added.The four-page statement, issued by the monastery in response to the Vatican decree, rehashed its grievances with Olson, particularly the accusation of an “illegal seizure of the personal property of the monastery and copying of private information.” A judge dismissed these claims in a civil trial.In the statement, the nuns also protested <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254460/fort-worth-bishop-carmelite-nuns-incited-hatred-animosity-keeps-restrictions-in-place" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the restrictions that Olson put on the monastery</a> after the nuns filed a civil lawsuit against him. This included temporary measures limiting Mass to only Sundays, banning lay participation in their Masses, and limiting their access to regular confessions. The Vatican, however, sided with the bishop and formally recognized his authority in these matters.The monastery also directed some of its frustrations toward how the Vatican has handled the dispute. In its statement, the nuns said they are still awaiting a response from Rome about their complaints related to the bishop’s conduct during the investigation. They alleged that the Vatican has fallen short of its stated objective to ensure that “every effort should be made to preserve the spiritual health and longevity” of the monastery because the Vatican has not engaged in “active and ongoing dialogue” with the monastery.“If Rome wishes to ‘save face’ and to sweep the issue of the abuse of the bishop under the carpet and move on regardless, this is unacceptable,” the monastery complained. “In justice, the issue of Bishop Olson must be dealt with for our good and for the good of the Diocese of Fort Worth as a whole.”The monastery further argued that the problem posed by the expiration of terms of office could be solved in other ways, such as an extension of the terms during the monastery’s appeal of the bishop’s actions. The nuns claim that “nothing is to be changed and the status quo is to be preserved” when matters are under appeal. “We hope and pray that Rome will engage in dialogue with us directly to find a suitable way of moving forward that respects the integrity of our life and monastery,” the nuns wrote in their statement.While openly defying the Vatican order, the monastery emphasized that it is not rejecting the legitimacy of the offices of either the pope or the bishop: “The Holy Father, Pope Francis, is the pope and enjoys full papal authority [and] … Olson is the legitimate current bishop of Fort Worth with all the authority that this office confers.”“We remain open to any initiative from higher authority that seeks to repair the damage that has been done to us and that respects the integrity of our life, vocation, and monastic community,” the nuns added. “We are not ‘things’ to be traded or given away in back-room deals but women vowed to the exclusive love and service of Almighty God, whose integrity is to be respected and protected for the good of their souls and for the good of the Church.”The Vatican order, however, is not a mere suggestion to the monastery. The order informed the nuns that they were “instructed to cooperate fully” with Mother Marie, who the Vatican declared is now “the lawful major superior of the monastery.”
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2024 13:45:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Indian bishops condemn Hindu group’s attack on Catholic school and priest ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257459/indian-bishops-condemn-hindu-attack-on-catholic-school-and-priest</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257459/indian-bishops-condemn-hindu-attack-on-catholic-school-and-priest</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/shutterstock-1288848109.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
null / Shutterstock
</div>
Bangalore, India, Apr 22, 2024 / 13:15 pm (CNA).
Catholic bishops have condemned a recent attack by a radical Hindu group on a Catholic school in southern India.On April 16 a <a href="https://twitter.com/zoo_bear/status/1780675992069271642" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">mob of activists</a> assaulted a priest and vandalized the Mother Teresa English Medium School in Telangana state after school administrators reprimanded students for wearing Hindu religious clothing instead of the school uniform.The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) released a statement on April 16 following the violent attack.“The assault, carried out by a mob of antisocial elements, is a reprehensible act of violence against an educational institution and its staff,” the CBCI said.Father Jaison Joseph, who serves as principal of the school, which is run by the Missionary Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, described the attack to CNA on April 20.“When I saw some students wearing saffron clothes instead of the school uniform, I told them to change or ask the parents to come and inform us,” Joseph said.“After some time, people wearing saffron clothes started coming in. In an hour, the mob had swelled from 50 to over 500, and they surrounded and started beating me. They put a saffron shawl on my neck and applied tilak [saffron vermillion] on my forehead,” the priest recounted.News outlets carried the shocking visual of the priest being forced to chant “Jai Sri Ram” (“Hail Lord Ram”) while the mob vandalized the school building and attacked teachers and staff. Prior to that, the mob shouted “Jai Shri Ram” and threw stones at the statue of St. Teresa of Calcutta installed at the school’s main gate. The attackers damaged the security office of the school, where more than 1,000 students are enrolled  — 80% Hindu, 10% Christian, and 10% Muslim.“All [political] parties were involved. It was a religiously motivated attack,” said Bishop Prince Antony Panengaden of the Adilabad Diocese of the Syro-Malabar Church.“We requested the authorities to ensure the safety of the fathers and [take] actions against the perpetrators,” Panengaden said.Shortly after the attack, police sparked outrage among Christians after filing a criminal case against the Catholic school and the school’s management, accusing them of “offending religious sentiments and promoting enmity between different groups on grounds.” However, following widespread protests from several Christian groups and viral media coverage of the incident, police on April 18 announced the arrest of nine people in connection with the attack.Leading the protest was the Telangana State Federation of Churches, which deplored the attack as “despicable” before police announced arrests of the alleged attackers.The ecumenical Christian forum said it “condemns with great sorrow and deep concern” the “atrocious attack.” “We request the Christian community to be united and pray for peace and unity at this hour of distress to the peace-loving community,” said Father Alex Raju, secretary of the forum, in the statement.The CBCI also urged “all communities to resist the propagation of misinformation and divisive rhetoric. We are all integral parts of this great nation, and our unity in diversity is a cornerstone of our identity.”“We implore our fellow citizens, irrespective of faith, to stand together against any attempts to exploit our diversity for narrow, selfish agendas. Let us reaffirm our commitment to peace, mutual respect, and the collective prosperity of our beloved country,” the CBCI statement urged through its spokesperson, Father Robinson Rodrigues.
]]></description>
<category>Asia - Pacific</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2024 13:15:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Pew Research: Biden in trouble with Catholic voters ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257457/pew-research-biden-in-most-trouble-among-catholic-voters</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257457/pew-research-biden-in-most-trouble-among-catholic-voters</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/biden.church.jpeg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
President Joe Biden leaves after attending Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 27, 2023. / Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
</div>
Pittsburgh, Pa., Apr 22, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden, a Catholic, is battling a high unfavorability rating among his fellow Catholics, according to survey data released by the Pew Research Center.According to the data, neither Biden nor his Republican rival, former president Donald Trump, are viewed favorably by a majority of Catholics surveyed, but Biden is the more unpopular of the two.The findings were part of a presentation on “Religion and Politics Ahead of the U.S. Elections” by Pew’s associate director of research, Greg Smith, at the 2024 annual conference of the Religion News Association, which concluded over the weekend.Included in the data provided by Smith, Pew’s late February <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2024/03/15/u-s-presidential-candidates-and-their-religious-engagement/#how-favorably-do-americans-view-biden-and-trump" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">survey</a> of 12,000 U.S. adults found that only 35% of Catholics hold a favorable view of Biden while 64% have an unfavorable view of the incumbent president.In contrast, this year’s presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Trump, is viewed favorably by 42% of Catholics, while 57% hold an unfavorable view of the former president.Trump’s edge over Biden among Catholics is fueled by white Catholics, a majority of whom (54%) hold a favorable view of the former president. Trump is considerably less popular, however, with Hispanic Catholics, among whom only 32% view him favorably. As Pew reported earlier this month, the country’s population of 52 million Catholics constitute <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257374/9-facts-about-catholics-in-the-us-according-to-pew-research" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">1 in 5</a> adults in the U.S. Among American Catholics, 57% are white, while 33% are Hispanic, Pew reported.Other Catholic-specific <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/09/party-identification-among-religious-groups-and-religiously-unaffiliated-voters/#religion-race-and-ethnicity-and-partisanship" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">survey results</a> highlighted by Smith included mounting Catholic preference for the Republican Party. Overall, 52% of American Catholics surveyed either identify as Republican or lean Republican. The number climbs to 61% among white Catholics.Meanwhile, 35% of Hispanic Catholics align themselves along the Republican side of the political spectrum. The latest trendline for Republican affiliation by the Hispanic subset, however, is higher than the one observed among white Catholics, registering an uninterrupted uptick since 2020.Perhaps most importantly, Pew’s data reveals a marked difference in political affiliation between Catholics who attend Mass at least monthly or more and those who do not.Regardless of ethnicity, among all Catholics who attend Mass monthly or more often, 61% identify with the Republican Party or lean Republican. This includes a majority (67%) of both white Catholics and Hispanic Catholics (52%).Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan organization that conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, and other social science research. It does not advocate for or against particular policy positions.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2024 06:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ 5 Catholic ways to celebrate Earth Day ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257446/5-catholic-ways-to-celebrate-earth-day</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257446/5-catholic-ways-to-celebrate-earth-day</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/images/Grass_Forrest_Trees_Nature_CC0_10_CNA_2_5_15.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
null / Credit: (CC0 1.0)
</div>
CNA Staff, Apr 22, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).
Since 1970, Earth Day has been celebrated yearly on April 22 to demonstrate support worldwide for environmental protection. The Catholic Church has a long tradition of calling for proper stewardship of the earth. In May 2015, Pope Francis published Laudato Si’, an encyclical focusing on care for the natural environment and includes topics such as global warming and environmental degradation. He then <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255226/pope-francis-to-release-second-laudato-si-on-oct-4" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">released a follow-up document </a>to the encyclical on Oct. 4, 2023, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, to address current issues.In honor of Earth Day and in response to the Holy Father’s message urging the faithful to take action in protecting the environment, here are five ways Catholics can celebrate Earth Day.<h2>1) Spend time with God in nature. </h2>Consider going on a hike or simply take a walk outside and spend time in prayer thanking God for his beautiful creation. You can also find a nice spot to sit and contemplate nature while resting in God’s presence. The whole family can participate in this one. <h2>2) Create a Mary Garden.</h2>A Mary Garden is one filled with plants, flowers, and trees that honor Our Lady and Jesus. Examples include baby’s breath to represent Mary’s veil, lilies to represent Mary’s queenship, poinsettia to represent the Christmas story, and chrysanthemum for Epiphany. You might also consider placing a statue of Mary in your garden. If you don’t have enough space outdoors, consider creating an indoor garden using a terrarium and smaller plants and mosses.<h2>3) Read Laudato Si’.</h2><a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Laudato Si’</a>, Pope Francis’ second encyclical after becoming pope, translates to “praise be to you.” This is in reference to St. Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Creatures,” where the saint praises God for the goodness of natural forces such as the sun, wind, and water. The encyclical not only focuses on care for the environment and all people but also looks at broader questions about the relationship between God, humans, and the earth.<h2>4) Take the St. Francis Pledge.</h2>The St. Francis Pledge, initiated by the <a href="https://catholicclimatecovenant.org/" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Catholic Climate Covenant</a>, asks Catholics to commit to honor God’s creation and advocate on behalf of people in poverty who face the impacts of climate change around the world. The pledge includes praying and reflecting on the duty to care for God’s creation, analyzing how each of us contributes to climate change, and advocating for Catholic principles in discussions on the topic.<h2>5) Learn more about the lives of the saints who had a connection to nature.</h2>There are several saints who are known for their love of God’s creation including St. Francis of Assisi, St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, and St. John Paul II. St. Francis of Assisi and St. Kateri Tekakwitha are considered the patron and patroness of ecology. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was known for his love of hiking in the mountains and encountering God in nature. St. John Paul II was also known for taking spiritual retreats to the mountains and his love for the outdoors.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2024 04:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Pope Francis: Christ the Good Shepherd ‘looks for us until he finds us’ when we’re lost ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257458/pope-francis-christ-the-good-shepherd-looks-for-us-until-he-finds-us-when-we-re-lost</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257458/pope-francis-christ-the-good-shepherd-looks-for-us-until-he-finds-us-when-we-re-lost</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/popefrancisreginacaeli2042124.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Pope Francis waves to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on April 21, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media
</div>
Rome Newsroom, Apr 21, 2024 / 09:36 am (CNA).
Pope Francis reflected on the image of Christ as the Good Shepherd during his Regina Caeli address Sunday, noting that it is a role characterized by his sacrificial love. “Jesus explains that he is not a hired man who cares nothing for the sheep but a man who knows them,” the pope said on April 21, the fourth Sunday of Easter, which is traditionally known as Good Shepherd Sunday because it is the theme of the day’s Gospel. “It is true, he knows us, he calls us by our name and, when we are lost, he looks for us until he finds us.”Pope Francis explained that Christ’s role as a shepherd introduced a new logic, observing that he is not acting as a guide or “the head of the flock” but is instead “living in symbiosis” with his people.“This is what the Lord wants to tell us with the image of the Good Shepherd: not only that he is the guide, the head of the flock, but above all that he thinks of each of us as the love of his life,” the pope said to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square. <figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/popefrancisreginacaeli3042124.jpg" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="Pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’ address and Regina Caeli prayer on April 21, 2024, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’ address and Regina Caeli prayer on April 21, 2024, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media</figcaption></figure>Pope Francis emphasized the sacrificial component of the role of the shepherd, observing that Jesus “is not just a good shepherd who shares the life of the flock” but “is the Good Shepherd who has sacrificed his life for us and has given us his Spirit through his resurrection.” The pope asked the faithful to meditate upon this sacrificial dimension of the shepherd so that we bear in mind that “for Christ, I am important, irreplaceable, worth the infinite price of his life.” “It is not just a way of speaking,” the pope added, “he truly gave his life for me, he died and rose again for me because he loves me and he finds in me a beauty that I often do not see myself.”The pope also cautioned against the temptation to measure our value based on “trivial things,” such as “the goals we achieve” or “on whether we succeed in the eyes of the world, on the judgments of others.” “In order to find ourselves, the first thing to do is to place ourselves in his presence, allowing ourselves to be welcomed and lifted up by the loving arms of our Good Shepherd,” the pope said. <div class="twitter-wrapper"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">🎥VIDEO | Pope Francis recites the Regina Caeli and resumes the theme of the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep, stating: "The Lord thinks of each of us as the love of His life." <a href="https://t.co/GPyhKclO6L">pic.twitter.com/GPyhKclO6L</a>— EWTN Vatican (@EWTNVatican) <a href="https://twitter.com/EWTNVatican/status/1782072454434717789?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2024</a></blockquote><script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><div class="drag-handle" data-drag-handle="true"> </div></div>The Holy Father also drew attention to Sunday’s celebration of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which he observed as an “opportunity to rediscover the Church as a community characterized by a polyphony of charisms and vocations at the service of the Gospel.” Following the recitation of the Regina Caeli, the pope renewed his appeal for peace in the Middle East, imploring leaders not to “give in to the logic of vengeance and war” but instead to let “the paths of dialogue and diplomacy prevail, which can do a lot.” “I pray every day for peace in Palestine and Israel and I hope that those two peoples can soon stop suffering,” he said.<div class="twitter-wrapper"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">🎥VIDEO | Pope Francis' appeal during the Regina Coeli for peace: "May the paths of dialogue and diplomacy prevail," he says, adding, “I pray every day for peace in Palestine and Israel [...] and for Ukraine." <a href="https://t.co/SThjA2nxV0">pic.twitter.com/SThjA2nxV0</a>— EWTN Vatican (@EWTNVatican) <a href="https://twitter.com/EWTNVatican/status/1782091615852437949?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 21, 2024</a></blockquote><script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><div class="drag-handle" data-drag-handle="true"> </div></div>
]]></description>
<category>Vatican</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 21 Apr 2024 09:36:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Vocations Day in Spain: The Church supports 725 seminaries in mission lands ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257441/native-vocations-day-in-spain-the-catholic-church-supports-725-seminaries-in-mission-lands</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257441/native-vocations-day-in-spain-the-catholic-church-supports-725-seminaries-in-mission-lands</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/niceforo-obama-guinea-omp-240416.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Father Nicéforo Obama from Equatorial Guinea was able to be trained as a priest thanks to the Pontifical Mission Societies. / Credit: OMP
</div>
ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 21, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
On Sunday, April 21, in addition to celebrating the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, the Catholic Church in Spain also celebrates what it calls “Native Vocations Day” to support and provide formation for those who feel called to the priesthood and consecrated life in other countries so that no one is prevented from pursuing a vocation due to lack of resources.The Pontifical Society of St. Peter the Apostle is in charge of this effort, one of the four Pontifical Mission Societies that in different ways provides the resources to maintain 725 seminaries around the world.In Asia, these seminaries (152 minor, 13 preparatory, and 62 major) serve more than 15,000 candidates for the priesthood. In Africa, more than 67,000 seminarians attend the 225 minor, 116 preparatory, and 142 major seminaries. In Asia, thanks to the Pontifical Mission Societies, 112 future priests are undergoing formation in five major seminaries, while in the mission lands of the Americas, 157 seminarians are in formation, distributed across one minor seminary, two preparatory, and seven major seminaries, according to data from the Pontifical Mission Societies.To support these seminaries, in 2023 the Pontifical Society of St. Peter the Apostle allocated more than 16 million euros (about $17 million), which helped support more than 83,000 seminarians and 2,000 formators.The aid is intended to cover an annual subsidy for living and enrollment expenses, which represents the largest item (78% of the total). The rest is used for the construction and maintenance of the buildings, with means to self-finance, support for formators, scholarships, and to support the first year of formation for the novitiates of religious congregations originating in mission territories.<h2>One priest’s story</h2>Father Nicéforo Obama learned to read with the Spanish Carmelite missionaries of Charity of St. Joaquina de Vedruna, who went to spread the Gospel in Equatorial Guinea in the 1980s. As a young child, he discovered his priestly vocation and soon entered the minor seminary. He was ordained a priest a decade ago.During <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uHBWmZohs4" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">a meeting held April 16 in Madrid</a>, Obama explained that the first thing he noticed when he reached the age of reason was the Church and the charitable works of the nuns, which made him wonder: “Why do these young girls leave Spain, their people, to work here; what will they be gaining from it?”All of this was causing him inner anxiety. In primary school, he could see the vulnerability of the human condition and found that “Jesus is the one who gives meaning to life and the one who has the answers to the great questions that human beings have,” he explained. This led him to decide to become a priest, not only “to find the answer in Jesus but to help others find these answers.”After going through the minor seminary, he attended the interdiocesan major seminary, which was run by the Diocese of Ávila in an agreement with the Spanish Bishops’ Conference.“If your parents don’t have enough to eat, how are they going to support a vocation?” he asked, to give an example of the typical mentality in mission lands where people don’t always understand “how you can invest in a student who isn’t going to generate income for the family.”The priest explained that unlike the governments in developed countries, in mission lands the Church also provides health care, education, and charitable assistance in addition to its mission to catechize and provide the sacraments.  Thus, “supporting one of these vocations is helping many people.”The Pontifical Mission Societies <a href="https://vocacionesnativas.es/" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">has a website</a> (in Spanish) dedicated to vocations in other countries where testimonies are shared, specific details of different projects are explained, and there is an opportunity to make a donation.This story <a href="https://www.aciprensa.com/noticias/104006/dia-de-las-vocaciones-nativas-725-seminarios-en-tierras-de-mision" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">was first published</a> by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
]]></description>
<category>Europe</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 21 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Historic New York church with link to John Paul II struggles to stay open ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257445/historic-new-york-church-with-link-to-john-paul-ii-struggles-to-stay-open</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257445/historic-new-york-church-with-link-to-john-paul-ii-struggles-to-stay-open</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/nave.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
The nave of St. Casimir Church in Buffalo, New York. / Credit: Michael Shriver/buffalophotoblog.com
</div>
CNA Staff, Apr 21, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
A historic Polish Catholic church in Buffalo, New York — one with a unique connection to St. John Paul II — is facing tens of thousands of dollars in bills that threaten to close the nearly-century-old structure.Father Czeslaw Krysa, SLD, the parochial vicar of St. Casimir, said the Buffalo Diocese has given the church a deadline of August to pay its outstanding accounts. Among those is $55,000 in annual insurance costs, up recently from $32,000.Joe Martone, a spokesman for the Buffalo Diocese, said that the diocesan vicar for renewal and development, Father Bryan Zielenieski, “communicated in February to the pastor of the family of parishes [of which] St. Casimir is a member that the church had entered a one-year evaluation period to determine its financial viability.”“Our diocese is in a family of parishes model, and the families are currently evaluating all aspects of parish life including financial sustainability,” Martone said.The Buffalo Diocese in 2020 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of compensation for victims of clergy sex abuse. The diocese in March <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257087/diocese-of-buffalo-announces-sale-of-headquarters-after-filing-for-bankruptcy" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">announced the sale of its headquarters in downtown Buffalo</a> after nearly 40 years at that location. <figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/exterior.jpg" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="The exterior of St. Casimir church in Buffalo, New York. Credit: Michael Shriver/buffalophotoblog.com"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">The exterior of St. Casimir church in Buffalo, New York. Credit: Michael Shriver/buffalophotoblog.com</figcaption></figure>Supporters of St. Casimir <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-st-casimirs-church" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">recently launched a GoFundMe</a> effort to preserve the historic church and its worship community. Krysa said the church itself has “been in the black for nine out of the last 12 years,” in part because it is entirely volunteer-run. The church is also in the process of selling its social center, formerly the parish school, located several blocks away.Krysa, who was first introduced to the church as a seminarian years ago, said St. Casimir operates “more like a shrine” than a traditional parish. “We have a core group that runs the place and worships each Sunday,” he said. “And then we have what we call ‘event liturgies,’ which draw people like they were coming to a shrine.”“These are liturgies that are not available at other parishes in the diocese,” he said.<h2>‘An exquisite example of old Byzantine architecture’</h2>The cornerstone of Buffalo’s St. Casimir Catholic Church was laid in 1927 and the structure was completed in 1929. It has stood for nearly 100 years, displaying what one local architecture critic <a href="https://www.buffaloah.com/a/cable/160/facade/index.html" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">calls</a> “an exquisite example of old Byzantine architecture” reminiscent of the world-famous Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/01.jpg" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="The cornerstone of St. Casimir Church in Buffalo, New York. Credit: Chuck LaChiusa"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">The cornerstone of St. Casimir Church in Buffalo, New York. Credit: Chuck LaChiusa</figcaption></figure>The church’s richly adorned exterior includes multiple cupolas, a towering 65-foot dome, and a large rose window on a facade set off by eight stone millions. Visible on the facade is a terra cotta mural depicting Christ the King, St. Casimir, St. Stanislaus, and St. Hyacinth.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/03.jpg" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="The dome of St. Casimir Church in Buffalo, New York. Credit: Chuck LaChiusa"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">The dome of St. Casimir Church in Buffalo, New York. Credit: Chuck LaChiusa</figcaption></figure>The interior of the church, meanwhile, includes murals by Marion Rzeznik, a Polish native born in 1899. Among its architectural features are a fully preserved ambo including the original abat-voix, a barrel-vaulted and coffered ceiling, statuary lining both sides of the pews, and the original ad orientem high altar over which is a rendering of the coronation of Mary, the Mother of God. <figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/confessionals.jpg" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="Interior details and confessionals of St. Casimir Church in Buffalo, New York. Credit: Michael Shriver/buffalophotoblog.com"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Interior details and confessionals of St. Casimir Church in Buffalo, New York. Credit: Michael Shriver/buffalophotoblog.com</figcaption></figure>Krysa told CNA that the church offers Masses that employ the “five senses” — sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell.  “During every single worship, liturgy, or devotion, all the five senses are engaged in praising and experiencing God,” the priest said.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/altar.jpg" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="The altar of St. Casimir Church in Buffalo, New York. Credit: Michael Shriver/buffalophotoblog.com"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">The altar of St. Casimir Church in Buffalo, New York. Credit: Michael Shriver/buffalophotoblog.com</figcaption></figure>“Our main mission is to continue our heritage, which is an ethnic Roman Catholic heritage,” the priest added. He explained that though the church started out as a Polish parish, “we’re diversifying.”St. Casimir was first made an oratory in 2009 before receiving its present free-standing designation in 2011, Krysa said.The free-standing designation means that the church “is canonically aligned with the diocese,” Martone told CNA. “Other churches in New York are separately incorporated. So, St. Casimir is a free-standing church under the administrative jurisdiction of the diocese.”<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/nave2.jpg" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="The nave of St. Casimir Church in Buffalo, New York. Credit: Michael Shriver/buffalophotoblog.com"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">The nave of St. Casimir Church in Buffalo, New York. Credit: Michael Shriver/buffalophotoblog.com</figcaption></figure><h2>Hosting the future Pope John Paul II</h2>The church’s Polish roots became known around the country in 1976 when St. Casimir was paid a visit by then-Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła. The prelate in two years’ time would go on to be elected Pope John Paul II.Wojtyła was visiting the United States as part of that year’s International Eucharistic Congress; during his visit he traveled across the country, stopping in Buffalo to visit the city’s large population of Polish immigrants. “He was awestruck about this church. He loved it,” David Grzybek, a lifelong member of the parish, <a href="https://buffalonews.com/news/local/buffalo-church-pope-john-paul/article_30514bf0-e60c-11ee-8a08-13fe878c6078.html" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">told the Buffalo News last month.</a>Wojtyła stayed two days at the parish. The bedroom in which he stayed has since been preserved as a memorial to the historic pope, its spartan interior remaining identical in appearance to when the cardinal slept there nearly 50 years ago. The room is used by the faithful for prayers, Krysa told CNA.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 21 Apr 2024 06:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Catholic Church in Cuba offers to facilitate dialogue between government and opposition ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257456/catholic-church-in-cuba-offers-to-facilitate-dialogue-between-government-and-opposition</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257456/catholic-church-in-cuba-offers-to-facilitate-dialogue-between-government-and-opposition</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/catholicchurchincuba042024.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
People queue to buy food in Havana on March 27, 2024. Claims of lack of food coupled with long blackouts, which affected almost the entire Cuban population in recent weeks, led hundreds of people to demonstrate on March 17 in at least four cities in the country, in the largest protests recorded since the historic anti-government marches of July 11, 2021. / Credit: YAMIL LAGE/AFP via Getty Images
</div>
ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 20, 2024 / 10:30 am (CNA).
The deputy secretary of the Cuban Bishops’ Conference, Father Ariel Suárez, said that the Catholic Church is available to facilitate dialogue “if the different political actors” would agree to it in order to find a solution to the crisis in the country.In an <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/catholic-church-communist-cuba-proposes-open-dialogue-government-rcna148252" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">interview with NBC News</a>, the priest referred to protests that once again shook the country, this time in March on the eastern end of the island.“In the protests of last March 17, this pain turned into a cry, in a cry that was heard and that has been accepted, shall we say, by all the levels of the country,” Suárez said.The deputy secretary of the Cuban Bishops’ Conference said that “at least everyone has agreed to consider that this cry reflected anguish, reflected desperation, and that people were asking obviously for a different situation than the one they were going through.”On March 17, thousands of people took to the streets due to the shortage of food, medicine, and the constant power outages that make daily life more difficult. Despite the promises from the communist regime, the energy supply problems have continued, and on Thursday there were power outages lasting about six hours.According to the <a href="https://diariodecuba.com/cuba/1713552024_54257.html#google_vignette" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Diario de Cuba</a>, the cause is supposedly eight generators that are out of service either for breakdowns or for maintenance and another 32 that were out for lack of fuel.In addition, there is the constant emigration of Cubans from the country, mainly to the United States.Given this scenario, Suárez noted that “the bishops have called for prayer so that solutions can be found, so we can find a way out of this distressing situation, so that those in power may have the wisdom and the boldness when making decisions that will benefit people’s lives.”The bishops “have noted the pain people are in and have also asked the Church, if the different political actors agree, to offer a space for dialogue, a meeting place” between all “these different but not necessarily contradictory positions.”The priest expressed his desire that these different positions “won’t be hostile” to one another and that “they can help find the concrete solutions that this people needs.”“We Cubans can love Cuba with different visions, with different perspectives,” the deputy secretary stated, asking citizens “to put above all those differences the love for Cuba and the desire to improve the life of its people now and in the future.”In addition to the serious economic situation, the nongovernmental organization <a href="https://www.prisonersdefenders.org/2024/04/11/cuba-31-nuevos-presos-politicos-violencia-estatal-salvajes-torturas-y-un-total-de-1-092-prisioneros-politicos/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Prisoner Defenders </a>noted that the communist regime — in power since 1959 — currently holds 1,092 political prisoners, a situation that has also been denounced by the opposition inside and outside Cuba.On several occasions, the leaders of dissident organizations — not legally recognized by the government and therefore constant victims of acts of repression — have indicated that the solution lies in a peaceful transition of Cuba toward a democracy that guarantees human rights and civil liberties for the people.This story <a href="https://www.aciprensa.com/noticias/104078/la-iglesia-catolica-en-cuba-se-ofrece-para-facilitar-un-dialogo-entre-el-gobierno-y-la-oposicion" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">was first published</a>by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
]]></description>
<category>Americas</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Apr 2024 10:30:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Jesuit priest: Stories of Rwandan women ‘scarred by genocide’ must be told ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257429/jesuit-priest-stories-of-rwandan-women-scarred-by-genocide-must-be-told</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257429/jesuit-priest-stories-of-rwandan-women-scarred-by-genocide-must-be-told</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/fathermarceluwineza041724.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Father Marcel Uwineza. / Credit: Sister Olga Massango/Daughters of St. Paul
</div>
ACI Africa, Apr 20, 2024 / 09:30 am (CNA).
Women who were sexually assaulted, infected with diseases, and forced into exile, among other brutalities during the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26875506" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">1994 genocide against Tutsis</a>, remain deeply scarred three decades later, and their stories must be told, a Rwandan-born Jesuit priest has said.According to <a href="https://www.newyorkencounter.org/marcel-uwineza" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Father Marcel Uwineza</a>, telling the stories of the women, “who have endured deep wounds and carried heavy burdens all their lives,” gives a voice to the women who, he said, “were practically silenced by the genocide.”In an April 14 interview with ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, Uwineza, who serves as principal of the Nairobi-based <a href="https://hekima.ac.ke/" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Hekima University College</a>, said that Rwandan women have wounds that manifest today as the country marks 30 years since the April 7–July 19, 1994, genocide against the Tutsis.“Many women in Rwanda have had to carry with them long years of suffering because of bringing up children who were conceived through rape,” Uwineza said. “Others were infected with HIV and have had to live with the condition all their lives. Many carry scars on their bodies because of the beatings they endured. Others had to carry the burden of their families because their husbands were killed. They not only carry the wounds of history but the burden of having to tell the story of their resilience as well.”Some of the women, for fear of reprisal, have not shared about their horrifying encounters in the genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed and millions displaced. An <a href="https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/1994-rwandan-genocide-facts" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">estimated 75%</a> of the Tutsi population are said to have died in the mass killings.Other women who were sexually molested also preferred to keep silent fearing that they would never find a husband if they opened up about the rape, Uwineza said, adding that others feared that they would be rejected by their families. Still, he said, others were afraid that by speaking about the abuse, they would be asked to testify in public.Uwineza said it is important that the stories of resilience of women who suffered the genocide against Tutsis and moderate Hutus be told “because 30 years is a big milestone.”“It is important that the world knows how women can turn a test into a testimony, and a mess into a message,” he said.Alluding to title of his book “<a href="https://www.aciafrica.org/news/7458/in-new-book-rwandan-priest-recounts-genocide-experience-says-forgiveness-is-a-miracle" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Risen from the Ashes: Theology as Autobiography in Post-Genocide Rwanda</a>,” he added: “In what had appeared as complete brokenness, resurrection has happened for many of these women.”Uwineza recalled that in Rwanda’s 100 days of genocide against Tutsis, many women went into exile. Some, he said, joined the armed struggle in their effort to come back home when they felt they had no rights in their host countries.According to Uwineza, women in Rwanda still carry with them wounds from a Church that abandoned them, where many were killed after they went to seek solace.Rwanda’s story of affliction is better told by those who experienced it, Uwineza, who also lost his parents in the 1994 genocide, shared with ACI Africa. “History is often told from the perspective of winners,” he said. “But it is important to listen to the stories of the wounded.”“Survivors are often the best authority when stories of struggle and resilience are told. When we speak, we give voice to those who were meant to be silenced in the genocide. Speaking is giving witness to their lives,” he said.Those who suffered in the genocide also “left an unfinished agenda,” he said. “Telling their stories is joining their fight for dignity.”Uwineza said the story of the genocide against the Tutsis must also continuously be told to counter the narratives of genocide deniers, who he said are on the rise, especially on social media platforms.It is also important that other countries learn from Rwanda that violence leaves behind deep wounds, and some of these wounds never heal, Uwineza further said.“Unfortunately, the only lesson we learn from history is that we don’t learn anything; we don’t seem to have learned from what happened in Rwanda,” he lamented.Uwineza underlined the need for Rwanda to engage with its history, painful as it may be. “After the genocide, we stopped teaching the history of Rwanda because the history we had was very divisive. But we can’t continue ignoring our past if we have to move forward,” he said. “Messy as it has been, it is our past. We therefore must engage it and own it. We all were wounded, and therefore, we need constructive history that will unite us.”To heal, Rwanda also needs “a prophetic Church,” he told ACI Africa. “At the time of the genocide, the Rwandan population was around 80% Christian. Yet all these merciless killings happened, some at religious places. As a Church, we must stop and ask ourselves what went wrong,” Uwineza said. “We must develop a theology of hope and reparation that looks back to where we went wrong and one that envisions a better future so that these things are not repeated,” he continued.“We must also acknowledge that some leaders in the Church made mistakes and that they do not represent the Church. We must also recognize Christian heroes who were killed trying to save lives,” he said.According to Uwineza, a prophetic Church must also look at who is missing at the table of dialoguing into a better future. “Are women included at this table, given that they have made a lot of contributions in the civil society spaces?” he asked.On April 11, Uwineza gave an address at Villanova University on the topic “Women Peace-builders in Rwanda Since Genocide,” highlighting how a section of the Rwandan women affected by the genocide have risen above their wounds to contribute to the healing process of the country.He said that since the genocide, the status of Rwandan women has improved. “Alongside their male counterparts, women chose to look beyond the horizon of tragedy. Women’s participation in associations, credit groups, and farm cooperatives has grown greatly,” Uwineza said, noting that women in the Rwandan Parliament have promoted laws that protect women against gender-based violence.Additionally, after the genocide, women joined support groups and organizations such as <a href="https://profemmes.org/about-us/mission-vision/" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Pro-Femmes</a>, an advocacy organization for women; Abasa, an association of women who were the sole survivors of the genocide in their families; and <a href="https://www.inezafoundation.org/" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ineza</a>, a sewing cooperative of women living with HIV as a result of the genocide.“These women created a new landscape where they could breathe new air through their work and sharing of experiences. Others forged a new future for their children,” Uwineza told ACI Africa on April 14.This story <a href="https://www.aciafrica.org/news/10743/stories-of-rwandan-women-scarred-by-genocide-must-be-told-jesuit-priest-on-30th-anniversary-of-mass-killing" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">was first published</a> by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.
]]></description>
<category>Middle East - Africa</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Apr 2024 09:30:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Pope Francis to canonize new female saint known as ‘an apostle of the Holy Spirit’ ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257452/pope-francis-to-canonize-blessed-elena-guerra-female-saint-known-as-an-apostle-of-the-holy-spirit</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257452/pope-francis-to-canonize-blessed-elena-guerra-female-saint-known-as-an-apostle-of-the-holy-spirit</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/blessedelenaguerra042024.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Blessed Elena Guerra. / Credit: Oblates of the Holy Spirit
</div>
Rome Newsroom, Apr 20, 2024 / 08:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Elena Guerra, paving the way for the canonization of a new female saint known as “an apostle of the Holy Spirit.”A friend of Pope Leo XIII and the teacher of St. Gemma Galgani, <a href="https://www.causesanti.va/it/santi-e-beati/elena-guerra.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Elena Guerra</a> (1835–1914) is known for her <a href="https://www.elenaguerra.it/epistole/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">spiritual writings</a> and her passionate devotion to the Holy Spirit.Guerra wrote more than a dozen letters to Pope Leo XIII between 1895 and 1903 in which she urged him to exhort all Catholics to call upon the Holy Spirit in prayer.The pope heeded Guerra’s request and published three documents on the Holy Spirit during their correspondence, including a letter asking the entire Church to pray a novena to the Holy Spirit leading up to Pentecost in 1895 and his encyclical on the Holy Spirit, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_09051897_divinum-illud-munus.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Divinum Illud Munus</a>, in 1897.“Pentecost is not over,” Guerra wrote. “In fact, it is continually going on in every time and in every place, because the Holy Spirit desired to give himself to all men and all who want him can always receive him, so we do not have to envy the apostles and the first believers; we only have to dispose ourselves like them to receive him well, and he will come to us as he did to them.”Guerra is the foundress of the Oblates of the Holy Spirit, a religious congregation recognized by the Church in 1882.Pope John XXIII called Guerra “a modern-day apostle of the Holy Spirit” as he beatified her in 1959.<h2>The life of Elena Guerra</h2>Born into a noble family in Lucca, Italy in 1835, Guerra was well-educated and formed in her faith.For much of her 20s, Guerra was bedridden with a serious illness, a challenge that turned out to be transformational for her as she dedicated herself to meditating on Scripture and the writings of the Church Fathers.Guerra felt the call to consecrate herself to God during a pilgrimage to Rome with her father after her recovery. She attended the third public session of Vatican I in St. Peter’s Basilica in April 1870 and later met Pope Pius IX on June 23, 1870.“At the sight of Pope Pius IX she was so moved that, upon returning to Lucca, she vowed to offer her life for the pope,” according to the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.Against the wishes of her family, in her mid-30s Guerra formed a religious community dedicated to education, which eventually became the Oblates of the Holy Spirit.One of her students, <a href="https://www.churchpop.com/10-fascinating-facts-about-20th-c-italian-mystic-st-gemma-galgani/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">St. Gemma Galgani</a>, wrote in her autobiography about the strong spiritual impact of her education by the Oblate sisters. Guerra personally taught Galgani French and Church history and exempted Galgani from the monthly school fee when her father fell into bankruptcy.During her correspondence with Pope Leo XIII, Guerra also composed prayers to the Holy Spirit, including a <a href="http://www.societyofsaints.net/uploads/1/7/6/9/17698361/holyspiritchapletelenaguerrav2pdf.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Holy Spirit Chaplet</a>, asking the Lord to “send forth your spirit and renew the world.”The religious founder faced difficulties in the last years of her life when some of her sisters accused her of bad administration, leading her to resign from her duties as superior.Guerra died on Holy Saturday on April 11, 1914. Her tomb is located in Lucca in the Church of Sant’Agostino. The Oblate sisters whom Guerra founded continue her mission today in Italy, Cameroon, Canada, Philippines, and Rwanda.<h2>The miracle</h2>Pope Francis recognized a miracle attributed to Guerra’s intercession that involved the healing of a man named Paulo in Uberlândia, Brazil, in 2010 after he fell from a tree and ended up in a coma with a serious brain injury. After undergoing a craniotomy and decompression surgery, the man’s situation worsened, and 10 days after his fall the protocol was opened to declare brain death, according to the Vatican.While he was in a coma, members of the Charismatic Renewal organized prayer for Paulo’s recovery, asking everyone to pray for his healing through the intercession of Blessed Elena Guerra. On the 10th day after they began praying to Blessed Elena, doctors found an unexpected improvement in his condition, and within less than a month he was discharged from the hospital in good condition.The pope officially approved the miracle during an audience with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, on April 13.During the audience, the pope also approved the martyrdom of Servants of God Cayetano Clausellas Ballvé, a diocesan priest, and Antonio Tort Reixachs, a layman and father, both killed during the Spanish Civil War in 1936.The pope also recognized the heroic virtues of Sister Teresa Lanfranco, an Italian religious from the Congregation of the Daughters of Santa Maria di Leuca, who died in Rome in 1989.The Vatican will announce the canonization date of Blessed Elena Guerra at a later time.
]]></description>
<category>Vatican</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Apr 2024 08:30:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Pope Francis names Filipino priest an auxiliary bishop of Sacramento ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257451/pope-francis-names-filipino-priest-an-auxiliary-bishop-of-sacramento</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257451/pope-francis-names-filipino-priest-an-auxiliary-bishop-of-sacramento</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/bishopelectreybersabal042024.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Pope Francis on April 20, 2024, named Father Reynaldo Bersabal as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento, California. / Credit: Steve German/Diocese of Sacramento
</div>
Rome Newsroom, Apr 20, 2024 / 07:40 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has named Father Reynaldo Bersabal as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento, California. The Vatican announced on Saturday that the priest ordained in the Philippines and incardinated into the Sacramento Diocese in 2004 will be consecrated as a bishop.“I am grateful to His Holiness and honored to have my brother, Bishop-elect Rey Bersabal, as a co-worker for the Episcopal ministry in this favored part of the Lord’s vineyard,” Bishop Jaime Soto of the Diocese of Sacramento said in a <a href="https://www.scd.org/news/auxiliary-bishop-appointed-diocese-sacramento" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Saturday statement</a> on the diocese’s website.“Bishop-elect Rey came as an immigrant priest bringing the rich cultural heritage of the Filipino people,” Soto continued. “He became part of a presbyterate and people that is a global Catholic kaleidoscope of faith and charity radiating the historic credal customs from Portugal, Italy, Ireland, China, Poland, Africa, and more. Bishop-elect Rey has learned a lot and given much during his 25 years as a priest in Sacramento.”Bersabal was born in Magsaysay in the province of Misamis Oriental in the Philippines on Oct. 15, 1964.He was ordained a priest April 29, 1991, for the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro in the Philippines was incardinated in the Diocese of Sacramento 13 years later.In Sacramento, he served as the parish vicar of St. James Church in Davis and St. Anthony Church in Sacramento before being named the parish priest of St. Paul Church in 2003.Bersabal was also the parish priest of St. John the Baptist in Folsom from 2008 to 2016 and St. James in Davis from 2016 to 2022.The 59-year-old priest has served the parish of St. Francis of Assisi in Sacramento since 2022.“The years of pastoral experience working in the parishes of the geographical and demographically large Diocese of Sacramento will be one of the strengths he brings to his new ministry,” Soto said. “His understanding of Catholic faith and mercy springs from lived experiences of families striving to follow the Lord Jesus in our turbulent times.”“I am grateful to Bishop-elect Rey for saying ‘yes’ to the Holy Father’s invitation to the college of bishops,” Soto continued. “I ask all the clergy and faithful of the diocese to join me in praying for our brother, Bishop-elect Rey Bersabal, so that he may always walk first as a faithful disciple of the Lord Jesus and be co-worker and companion cultivating the verdant Sacramento Valley for a lasting harvest of mercy and joy.”The Diocese of Sacramento serves more than 1 million Catholics in 20 counties covering 42,000 square miles of Northern California from San Francisco Bay to Sacramento and the Oregon border, according to a diocesan media release. The diocese includes more than 100 parishes, 42 elementary and secondary schools, and various social service and family support organizations throughout the region.This story was updated at 1:38 p.m. ET on April 20, 2024, with comments from Bishop Jaime Soto.
]]></description>
<category>Vatican</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Apr 2024 07:40:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ New film ‘Unsung Hero’ emphasizes the ‘power of family’ ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257436/new-film-unsung-hero-emphasizes-the-power-of-family</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257436/new-film-unsung-hero-emphasizes-the-power-of-family</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/unsunghero.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
After David Smallbone’s successful music company collapses in their home country of Australia, he moves his family to Nashville, Tennessee, in the hopes of a brighter future in the movie "Unsung Hero." / Credit: Lionsgate
</div>
CNA Staff, Apr 20, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
St. Teresa of Calcutta once said: “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” Her words appear at the end of the new movie “<a href="https://unsunghero.movie/" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Unsung Hero</a>,” which tells the true story of the Smallbone family, widely recognized in the music industry for brothers Luke and Joel Smallbone of the Grammy-award-winning Christian band For King and Country, and their sister Rebecca, better known as singer-songwriter Rebecca St. James. After David Smallbone’s successful music company collapses in their home country of Australia, he moves his family to Nashville, Tennessee, in the hopes of a brighter future. With nothing but the clothes in their suitcases and an empty house waiting for them in Nashville, David, his pregnant wife, Helen, and their six children embark on a journey of faith to rebuild their lives.The film, which will be released in theaters on April 26, depicts how a mother’s faith can stand firm against all odds and inspire her husband and children to do the same. Helen teaches her family how to turn to the Lord in prayer for all their needs and, in time, to begin to see God answer. <figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/smallbonefamily.png" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="The real-life Smallbone family. Credit: Smallbone Management"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">The real-life Smallbone family. Credit: Smallbone Management</figcaption></figure>Luke Smallbone spoke to CNA in an interview about the inspiration behind the movie, the importance of family — especially in today’s society where the family is under attack — and what he hopes people will take away from the film. Smallbone explained that he and his brother have shared their family’s story at concerts and have been told several times that they should write a book but instead thought of making a movie. “You don’t ever think you’re living a movie when you’re living it. This is just my childhood. We weren’t trying to do anything special. We were just a family that had a great love for each other, a great love for Jesus, prayed for things, saw things take place,” Smallbone, a producer of the film, said.He pointed out that “the heartbeat behind the movie actually really is this — I believe in the power of family, I think family is more powerful today than ever in the history of the world yet we don’t value it like we should.”“Mother Teresa says, ‘If you want to change the world, go home and love your family,’ and I think that’s actually really the blueprint behind the film,” he added. The major theme running throughout the movie is the importance of family. James Smallbone, David’s father (Luke and Joel’s grandfather), says in the film: “Your family isn’t in the way, they are the way.” <figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/smallbonefamily4.jpeg" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="The real-life Smallbone family outside their home in Nashville, Tennessee. Credit: Smallbone Management"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">The real-life Smallbone family outside their home in Nashville, Tennessee. Credit: Smallbone Management</figcaption></figure>Smallbone discussed this theme and how in reading the Bible, you get the “framework of family.”“One thing I found amazing about when you read the Bible — thinking of today’s day and age where we put so much trust and faith in governments, in some cases our governments, though it’s challenging at times, for the most part do a relatively good job of giving us freedom, they protect us,” he shared. “But you don’t ever find the framework of government in the Bible, but you do get the framework of family in the Bible.”“So what that tells me is God’s true intent for people is to belong and have healthy families … So for me, when I read Scripture it tells me that I should take family incredibly seriously,” he said.The musician added that he has often heard that if you want your children to be raised learning how to follow Jesus, “they have to see evidence of Jesus in your home, in your family, not in your government, not in your schools, not in all the other things, it starts in your family.”“I don’t want to fail Jesus. I want to be a great husband. And I don’t want to fail my family,” he emphasized. “If I can do those three things well, man, that’s the most satisfying life I think I can live.”<div style="width:100%" class="mx-auto embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YnnZT8yju50?feature=oembed" class="embed-responsive-item " frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>Despite losing everything in Australia, uprooting her family to a new country while expecting another child, and having to rebuild from ground zero, Helen Smallbone’s faith was firm. The movie portrays how she taught her family the importance of prayer, even creating a prayer wall — two file folders with the word “please” written on one and “thank you” written on the other —for family members to post their prayers. When asked about his mother’s faith, Smallbone said: “She taught me right from wrong, she taught me fear of God, she taught me how to forgive. My mom did all the invisible things that have all the power.”In the movie there is a scene where Helen runs to her room and begins to scream into a pillow after receiving bad news. Smallbone shared that this was added into the script to make her appear more “relatable”; however, the incident wasn’t entirely true.“We put that in the script because there were people that were like, ‘Hey man, she’s actually just not relatable. Who can go through that much struggle and not have a moment of breakdown?’” he shared. “Well, the truth is my mom never did that. My dad, yes … but my mom never did.”“I’m telling you, if you want to change the world, do the invisible things very very well and it will be incredibly impactful … At the end of the day, that’s what my mom did well.”<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/unsungheroposter2.png" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt=""Unsung Hero" tells the true story of the Smallbone family, who are widely recognized in the music industry for brothers Luke and Joel Smallbone of the Grammy-award-winning Christian band For King and Country, and their sister Rebecca, better known as singer-songwriter Rebecca St. James. Lionsgate"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">"Unsung Hero" tells the true story of the Smallbone family, who are widely recognized in the music industry for brothers Luke and Joel Smallbone of the Grammy-award-winning Christian band For King and Country, and their sister Rebecca, better known as singer-songwriter Rebecca St. James. Lionsgate</figcaption></figure>As for what he hopes people will take away from this movie, Smallbone hopes that particularly fathers will “go back and they’ll say ‘I want to be a better dad.’”“I hope that mothers see that all of the unseen things they do matter, they’re changing the next generation, and God sees those things,” he added. He hopes children will “dream big dreams” and that the “things that are happening to you as a young child are incredibly powerful and incredibly important and you can go and do extraordinary things.”“There doesn’t have to be a cap onto what you can achieve, and what you can do,” he said. “Not that it’s for achievement’s sake, but because God chooses to do miracles through people like you and me, and he uses his people to do a lot of those miracles and it starts young.”
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Catholic entrepreneur launches business startup program for teenagers ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257423/business-startup-program-for-teens-launched-to-create-a-more-entrepreneurial-church</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257423/business-startup-program-for-teens-launched-to-create-a-more-entrepreneurial-church</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/img-6778.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Students participating in the CEDE workshop for St. John's College High School gather for a group photo at the basilica at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in November 2022. / Credit: Photo courtesy of CUA
</div>
CNA Staff, Apr 20, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
When Luke Burgis moved to Silicon Valley to start a business, he never expected he would become a seminarian and then go on to launch entrepreneurship programs for Catholic students. Burgis had attended NYU, worked on Wall Street, started several businesses in Silicon Valley, and moved to Las Vegas before deciding he wanted more meaning in his life. With the encouragement of a friend, he rekindled his Catholic faith. After five years in seminary, he ultimately discerned he would not become a priest, but he still found himself in need of deeper meaning in his work.So he founded Catholic Entrepreneurship and Design Experience (CEDE, pronounced “seed”) in 2020 to help students across the country connect their working lives with their faith. Four years later, CEDE is a thriving organization based at Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C., with programs and educational materials across the world. Burgis is the entrepreneur-in-residence and assistant clinical professor of business at CUA. He has developed educational materials shared with Catholic schools and home-school communities in addition to teaching business classes at CUA. “I didn’t understand how I could actually live out my values and be a Catholic in the business world that I was in, even after I’d had that reconversion experience,” Burgis said when asked what inspired him to found CEDE.“But I knew that there was some gap that we had to close in Catholic education between the theoretical or the principles of Catholic social teaching and the way that it actually plays out on the ground, if you’re trying to start something,” he explained. “We launched CEDE to try to reintegrate these disciplines.”This year, Burgis is launching a new project for CEDE — a summer entrepreneurship program for high school students. The 10-week virtual <a href="https://cedeprogram.com/startupventure/" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Startup Venture Challenge</a> will teach high schoolers how to start a business. “CEDE introduces students to basic principles of entrepreneurship within the context of Catholic social teaching and helps them understand that ultimately they are the entrepreneurs of their own lives, whether they ever start a business or not,” Burgis said.“We’re trying to train young Catholics to think more like an entrepreneur, which means finding creative ways to solve problems or to see solutions where other people only see problems,” he said. “We think that that’s really important for all Catholics, period, and that if we had a more entrepreneurial Church, we would have a more adaptive and creative Church.”<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/cna1111722-ciocca-center-workshop-001-1.jpg" class="img-fluid" alt="Luke Burgis speaks at a CEDE Workshop in November 2022. Credit: Photo courtesy of CUA"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Luke Burgis speaks at a CEDE Workshop in November 2022. Credit: Photo courtesy of CUA</figcaption></figure>But being a “Catholic entrepreneur” isn’t necessarily about starting a business, Burgis noted. “Our goal here is not really to create more business owners,” he explained. “Our goal is to help more young Catholics in Catholic schools be equipped and confident to go out into the world, whatever their vocation is.” Burgis wanted to connect what he learned about business with Catholic teaching. “[At NYU] I just learned: ‘Here’s what profit is. Profit is good. Pursue it,’” he recalled. “Most of my classmates simply wanted to make as much money as they could.”“When I left seminary, I realized that there was a real disintegration or gap between what I had learned at my Catholic schools … and what things actually look like in practice when you’re actually out there in the world trying to do things,” he explained. CEDE’s model of education is about “experiential learning,” “creative problem-solving,” and independence and “differs” from the rules-based form of education many American students are accustomed to, Burgis said. “That’s much of what being an entrepreneur feels like,” he said of the model. “You’re not given a roadmap, you’re not told what to do, you have to figure things out, and you have to make decisions and take responsibility for those decisions.”Burgis said it will feel like “a challenge.”“You’re being challenged, being given this mission,” he said. “We want to empower the students to accomplish that mission by working together and finding creative ways to solve problems on their own without being told how to do it. We actually want to make them a little uncomfortable.”Students don’t need to have business ideas to join, as the first three weeks will be spent building up an idea. The full schedule involves a discernment stage, launching, testing, and then a resources and community stage.“We want them to feel what it feels like to have a fire ignited within themselves, to exercise their own creativity, to take ownership of it, to take total responsibility, and to be proud of that, and to be able to serve others through their gifts and talents,” Burgis said. The program runs from June 10 to Aug. 12 and is fully virtual and amenable to the students’ work schedules. The cost is $250, with scholarships available. <a href="https://cedeprogram.com/course-form/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Applications</a> are open for teenagers ages 14–18.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Apr 2024 06:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Vatican: Nuns who feuded with Texas bishop will be governed by monastery association ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257449/vatican-nuns-who-feuded-with-texas-bishop-will-be-governed-by-monastery-association</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257449/vatican-nuns-who-feuded-with-texas-bishop-will-be-governed-by-monastery-association</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/olsongerlach.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, Texas, and Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach of the Most Holy Trinity Monastery in Arlington, Texas. / Credit: Diocese of Fort Worth; Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity Discalced Carmelite Nuns
</div>
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 19, 2024 / 18:40 pm (CNA).
A Carmelite monastery that has engaged in a yearlong feud with Diocese of Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson will be governed by a religious association of monasteries going forward — but must normalize relations with the bishop, per a Vatican order.The Association of Christ the King in the United States of America <a href="https://fwdioc.org/vatican-entrustment-decree.pdf" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">will oversee</a> the “government, discipline, studies, goods, rights, and privileges” of the Arlington-based Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity. This decision ends the bishop’s role as the pontifical commissary, which had previously given him governing authority over the monastery. “It is my prayer that the Arlington Carmel will now have the internal leadership needed to save the monastery and enable it to flourish once again, in unity with the Catholic Church,” Olson <a href="https://fwdioc.org/statement-to-the-faithful-fort-worth-diocese-en-4-18-24.pdf" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said in a statement</a>.A feud between the monastery and the bishop began in late April of last year when the bishop launched an investigation into the Reverend Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach. She was <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254475/fort-worth-bishop-dismisses-carmelite-mother-superior-in-latest-in-texas-monastery-diocese-dispute" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ultimately dismissed</a> from religious life for alleged sexual misconduct with a priest over the phone and through video chats.The monastery <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254362/carmelite-sisters-sue-fort-worth-bishop-over-grave-misconduct-in-chastity-investigation" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">filed a civil lawsuit</a> against the bishop and the diocese for conduct related to the investigation, which was eventually <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254711/breaking-judge-dismisses-texas-monastery-s-lawsuit-against-fort-worth-bishop" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">dismissed by a judge</a>. The bishop <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254460/fort-worth-bishop-carmelite-nuns-incited-hatred-animosity-keeps-restrictions-in-place" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">imposed harsh penalties</a> on the monastery, which led to the nuns issuing a statement that appeared to <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255151/bishop-texas-nuns-may-have-excommunicated-themselves-with-defiant-letter" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reject his authority</a> in governing the monastery.In <a href="https://fwdioc.org/vatican-letter-to-carmelite-nuns.pdf" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the Vatican’s letter</a> to the monastery about the transfer of governing authority, the Church has ordered the nuns to “withdraw and rescind your declaration” challenging the bishop’s authority and “regularize your relationship with the bishop of Fort Worth and the local Church.” The letter also added that the bishop still retains canonical authority over the monastery. The <a href="https://fwdioc.org/vatican-letter-to-bishop-michael-olson.pdf" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Vatican’s letter to Olson</a> thanked the bishop for his “heroic and thankless service to the local church and the Carmel of Arlington as pontifical commissary” and noted the “hardship and unwarranted public attention” brought to the diocese over the past year. “We are fully aware that the health and longevity of this monastic community was always your goal, throughout the ordeals of the last year,” the letter read.The Vatican decree, which entrusted the monastery to the Association of Christ the King, went into effect on Thursday, April 18. With this order, the association’s president, Mother Marie of the Incarnation, is now the lawful superior of the monastery. “With the entrustment of monastery to the Association of Christ the King, you are instructed to cooperate fully with the president of the association,” the Vatican informed the nuns.Olson said in his statement that he “will work closely with [Mother Marie], providing counsel, resources, and support as needed.” The bishop added that, per his responsibility under canon law and the rules of the Carmelite order, “I will oversee at the appropriate time the election of new leadership of the Arlington Carmel.”“I ask the faithful of the Diocese of Fort Worth and all people of goodwill to continue to pray with me for the Catholic Church in North Texas, in particular the Arlington Carmelites, as we persevere together in service to Christ through ministry to our community,” Olson said.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 18:40:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Michigan bishop apologizes for calling President Biden ‘stupid’ ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257448/michigan-bishop-apologizes-for-calling-president-biden-stupid</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257448/michigan-bishop-apologizes-for-calling-president-biden-stupid</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/images/Bishop_Robert_D_Gruss_CNA_file_photo.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Bishop Robert D. Gruss. CNA file photo. / null
</div>
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 19, 2024 / 18:20 pm (CNA).
Bishop Robert Gruss of Saginaw, Michigan, issued an apology on Friday for having referred to President Joe Biden as “stupid” during a talk earlier in the month. Gruss had made the comment in a talk on April 5 titled <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dioceseofsaginaw/posts/pfbid02yjWpoKboWL4jNQiDohcNGLoxfFjRtVURecYm3U7vAWKPN7rtDZZzptE871qjeYiVl" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">“Forgiveness as the Heart of Christianity.” </a>During the address the prelate remarked that he “[doesn’t] have any anger toward the president. I feel sorry for him.” <div style="width:100%" class="mx-auto embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TKG56YlU1fo?feature=oembed" class="embed-responsive-item null" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="null" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>“I’m not angry at him, he’s just stupid,” the bishop said, arguing that he didn’t use the word in “a derogatory way.” “It’s stupidity in the sense of he doesn’t know until he does things,” the bishop said. On Friday the diocese provided CNA with a statement from Gruss in which he argued that his remarks “were taken out of context.” “I was speaking in the context of forgiving the president and any people in government who offend us by their words and actions — that we cannot harbor resentment toward them because in doing so, it would be sinful,” Gruss said. “We must forgive them if we are to be free,” he said.“I used the word ‘stupid’ in reference to President Biden, recognizing that it was poor judgment in my choice of words,” Gruss said. “It was not meant to be disparaging, and I apologize.”“I will continue to pray for the president and all political leaders, that they may seek and be guided by the Spirit of Truth,” he said. “I encourage people of all faiths and goodwill to pray for our great nation.”The bishop noted that “you can find the whole talk online to understand what was really said.”The Saginaw Diocese, one of seven in Michigan, is located in the central part of the state.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 18:20:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Biden DOJ report: ‘No malicious intent’ behind leaked FBI memo targeting traditional Catholics ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257447/biden-doj-report-no-malicious-intent-behind-fbis-leaked-memo-targeting-traditional-catholics</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257447/biden-doj-report-no-malicious-intent-behind-fbis-leaked-memo-targeting-traditional-catholics</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/gettyimages-1340562606.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz speaks during a Senate Judiciary hearing on Capitol Hill on Sept. 15, 2021, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
</div>
CNA Staff, Apr 19, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).
The Department of Justice released a <a href="https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/2024-04/04-18-2024-Letter.pdf" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">report to Congress</a> on Thursday that concluded that the analysts who created an internal memo linking traditionalist Catholics to violent extremists “failed to adhere to FBI standards” but showed no evidence of “malicious intent.”Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s 10-page report found no evidence that anyone ordered either of the unidentified analysts who authored the memo to find a link between racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVE’s) and members of any religion or political affiliation. The report concluded there was no “underlying policy direction” indicating a link.“We also found no evidence that Analyst 1 or 2 took investigative steps beyond searching FBI and other databases to obtain information for the [memo],” the report said.The since-retracted <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253600/fbi-retracts-leaked-document-orchestrating-investigation-of-catholics" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">leaked memo</a>, dated Jan. 23, 2023, originated from the bureau’s Richmond office. It claimed that racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists will likely become more interested in “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology” within the next 12 to 24 months “in the run-up to the next general election cycle.”The U.S. bishops, along with many Catholic leaders, <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253679/us-bishops-fbi-document-targeting-catholics-is-religious-profiling" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">condemned</a> the memo after it was leaked to the press. Additionally, lawmakers, some of whom have accused the FBI of targeting traditionalist Catholics, have demanded answers from the Department of Justice as to how, why, and through whom the document came to be.The report, which Horowitz said included only a “limited review” due to time constraints given by Congress, focused on the work of two unnamed analysts who were the main authors behind the <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/fbi-anti-catholic-memo.pdf" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">memo</a> titled: “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.”Both analysts denied targeting anyone for practicing their faith, with one of them saying suggestions that his motivations included anti-Catholic bias are “patently false.”“Analyst 1 also stated that a close reading of the [memo] would show that it was intended to focus entirely on the threat posed by RMVEs and to promote outreach to the Catholic Church, in part to protect that community from potentially violent actors. Analyst 2 similarly stated the intent behind the [memo] was to try to protect these houses of worship by sensitizing them to a potential threat to their congregations,” the report said.Another major concern raised by critics of the leaked memo was the Richmond field office’s use of biased sourcing, such as the nonprofit activist organization Southern Poverty Law Center, and its designation of nine “Radical Traditional Catholicism” organizations as “hate groups.”The inspector general asked both analysts about its sourcing and both “acknowledged that there were concerns about perceived bias on the part of those organizations and sources,” the report said.“However, both analysts said that the intended audience (FBI Richmond executive management) would understand those concerns without the need for commentary and would weigh the information accordingly,” the report said.Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley told CNA Friday that he appreciated the inspector general’s work under a tight deadline.“However, the report leaves questions unanswered that I and many of my colleagues have been asking of the FBI for over a year. The most important part of this report is what’s not in it, rather than what is,” he said.“[FBI] Director [Christopher] Wray has failed to sufficiently explain why he described the memo to Congress as a ‘single product’ when there were two — one internal to Richmond, and one the FBI planned to elevate to the whole bureau nationwide,” he said.“The FBI has also failed to explain why it ordered the permanent deletion of files related to the memo or why it continues to use biased sources like the Southern Poverty Law Center. The FBI owes the Senate many more answers regarding this appalling case,” he said.CNA reached out to the bureau for comment but did not immediately receive a response by time of publication. In a statement to the New York Times on Thursday, the bureau said that its account of the events agreed with the inspector general’s report.“The FBI has said numerous times that the intelligence product did not meet our exacting standards and was quickly removed from FBI systems,” it said. “We also have said there was no intent or actions taken to investigate Catholics or anyone based on religion.”
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 18:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ U.S. bishops on new federal rule: Employers should not be forced to facilitate abortions ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257444/us-bishops-on-new-federal-rule-employers-should-not-be-forced-to-facilitate-abortions</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257444/us-bishops-on-new-federal-rule-employers-should-not-be-forced-to-facilitate-abortions</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/rhoades.jpeg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, was tabbed as the next chair of the Committee for Religious Liberty on Nov. 16, 2022, in Baltimore. / Credit: Shannon Mullen/CNA
</div>
CNA Staff, Apr 19, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on Friday criticized a new rule from the Biden administration that will force employers to offer leave for employees seeking abortion. The Biden administration’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) this week <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257405/biden-administration-to-mandate-employers-grant-leave-for-workers-to-obtain-abortions" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">issued a change to federal regulations</a> regarding pregnant workers’ fairness, one that mandates employers make “reasonable accommodations,” including granting leave, for workers to obtain abortions.The new rule, which is set to take effect 60 days from its publication on Friday, is part of the commission’s efforts to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), according to a final EEOC rule change announcement.Responding to the new rule on Friday, Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, Bishop Kevin Rhoades <a href="https://www.usccb.org/news/2024/no-employer-should-be-forced-participate-abortion-says-bishop-rhoades" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said in a statement</a> that “no employer should be forced to participate in an employee’s decision to end the life of their child.”“The bipartisan Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, as written, is a pro-life law that protects the security and physical health of pregnant mothers and their preborn children,” Rhoades, the chairman of the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty, said in the statement.“It is indefensible for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to twist the law in a way that violates the consciences of pro-life employers by making them facilitate abortions,” the prelate argued. The USCCB had last year submitted <a href="https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/about/general-counsel/rulemaking/upload/2023.USCCB_.CUA_.comments.PWFA_.regulations.pdf" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">comments on the proposed rule</a> in which the bishops, along with the Catholic University of America, argued that the PWFA “does not require the provision of any benefit for purposes of facilitating an abortion.” “The intent of the PWFA is to require accommodations for ‘pregnancy,’ ‘childbirth,’ and ‘related medical conditions’ — in other words, to assist pregnant workers and workers giving birth to a child by providing accommodations that would permit them to continue to remain both gainfully employed and healthily pregnant,” the bishops and the school argued in the comments. “Abortion is neither pregnancy nor childbirth,” they argued. “And it is not ‘related’ to pregnancy or childbirth as those terms are used in the PWFA because it intentionally ends pregnancy and prevents childbirth.”The USCCB had <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253014/pregnant-workers-bill-tk" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">previously supported the PWFA</a> when it was being considered by Congress, despite some concerns at the time that the bill could be used to force employers to pay for abortion expenses.The new rule applies to all public and private employers with 15 or more workers and is contingent on the accommodations not presenting an “undue hardship on the operation of the business of the covered entity,” the government says.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 16:30:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Catholic Charities denies its purchase of airfare for migrants was misuse of federal funds ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257443/catholic-charities-denies-its-purchase-of-airfare-for-migrants-was-misuse-of-federal-funds</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257443/catholic-charities-denies-its-purchase-of-airfare-for-migrants-was-misuse-of-federal-funds</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/gettyimages-1243365117.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Groups of migrants wait outside the Migrant Resource Center to receive food from San Antonio Catholic Charities on Sept. 19, 2022, in San Antonio, Texas. / Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images
</div>
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 19, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Antonio is denying recent accusations that it misused federal taxpayer funds by paying for migrants’ airfare.This comes after two South Texas members of Congress, Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat, and Rep. Monica de la Cruz, a Republican, accused the San Antonio Catholic relief group of an inappropriate use of funds made available to it by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).Jose Antonio Fernandez, CEO of Catholic Charities San Antonio, confirmed to CNA that the group did indeed help migrants with air travel from San Antonio to other locations in the United States, but he claimed that this was a licit use of funds under FEMA’s rules.Cuellar said in an interview with <a href="https://www.borderreport.com/immigration/migrant-centers/san-antonio-nonprofit-misused-federal-funds-to-buy-migrants-airline-tickets-lawmakers-say/" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Border Report</a> that the nonprofit group’s practice of buying airfare for migrants has made San Antonio a destination for many migrants looking to travel to other parts of the U.S. He said that funding he helped secure for Catholic Charities of San Antonio was intended for humanitarian relief, not to purchase airfare for migrants.“From the very beginning I said it would only be used for food and shelter, maybe transportation inside a city but not to be sending them [across the country],” Cuellar said. “The family or somebody should pay for that, not the taxpayer.”  De la Cruz, meanwhile, told Border Report that the San Antonio Catholic Charities’ use of funds is “just simply unacceptable.”“They misused funds and sent these illegal immigrants where their preferred destination was with taxpayers’ hard-earned money,” she said.Fernandez responded to these allegations by telling CNA that “we have never misused the funding because the funding was given to us to provide transportation.”According to Fernandez, the <a href="https://www.fema.gov/grants/emergency-food-and-shelter-program" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) FEMA grant</a> given to Catholic Charities of San Antonio “clearly stated that you could provide transportation.” “The funds were given to us to provide food, clothing, all these activities, including transportation,” he said.“It’s not my interpretation, it is a fact; many companies in the U.S. provide transportation because it is allowed,” he said. “If you contact FEMA, they will tell you that, yes, you are actually allowed to provide transportation.”CNA reached out to FEMA about its regulations but did not immediately receive a response. Fernandez clarified that Catholic Charities of San Antonio is not currently paying for migrants’ air travel and has not been doing so since the end of 2023. He said that the group stopped purchasing air travel for two reasons: 1) Limited funding necessitated budget cuts, and 2) instead of receiving EFSP FEMA funding the group is now receiving funding under the <a href="https://www.fema.gov/grants/shelter-services-program" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Shelter and Services Program</a>, which limits transportation spending to 5% of the grant.He said that under these limitations San Antonio Catholic Charities would not have been able to offer travel services to all who were seeking it.“It was a huge amount of money spent, I don’t know exactly the amount, but we just couldn’t afford [it],” Fernandez said, adding: “Hopefully people can find a way and we can try to help them.”This, Fernandez said, has presented its own challenge with more migrants amassing in San Antonio. In 2023 alone, Fernandez said that San Antonio Catholic Charities helped well over 250,000 migrants with food, shelter, and other services.“Now we’re seeing a lot more people staying in San Antonio because they don’t have the funds to go someplace else,” he said. “We feed them, we clothe them, we provide them with counseling services, with financial assistance to the people staying in San Antonio, legal services, shelter services. We try to provide them with all these wraparound services to help mind, body, and spirit.”Tony Wen, a representative for Cuellar, declined to comment further on the matter but did clarify that the congressman “never said they were misusing funds” and that particular verbiage was only used by de la Cruz. Despite this, Wen said that Cuellar still stands by his comments about the intended use of federal funds.A proponent of funding for humanitarian relief at the border, Cuellar recently helped advance an <a href="https://www.fema.gov/grants/preparedness/shelter-services-program/awards" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">appropriations bill</a> that granted San Antonio Catholic Charities and other border relief groups hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds.Catholic Charities of San Antonio alone received $10,877,226 from the appropriations bill. Ten other Catholic relief groups at or near the southern border also received federal funding from the same appropriations bill, totaling tens of millions of dollars.Cuellar and several other lawmakers issued a <a href="https://cuellar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=409204" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">statement</a> after securing the funding in which they praised Catholic Charities of San Antonio and other similar groups as a “lifeline” in the face of the “historic number of people being displaced from Latin America.”
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 16:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Biden administration redefines sex discrimination in Title IX to include ‘gender identity’ ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257442/biden-admin-redefines-sex-discrimination-in-title-ix-to-include-gender-identity</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257442/biden-admin-redefines-sex-discrimination-in-title-ix-to-include-gender-identity</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/shutterstock-1928591561.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
null / Credit: Shutterstock
</div>
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 19, 2024 / 15:30 pm (CNA).
President Joe Biden’s Department of Education issued new regulations on Friday, April 19, that prohibit discrimination based on a person’s “gender identity.”The <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/t9-unofficial-final-rule-2024.pdf" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">new rules</a>, which will go into effect on Aug. 1, redefine the prohibition on sex discrimination for schools and education programs that receive federal funding — including K-12 schools and colleges and universities. Under the new interpretation of the Title IX protections, those rules now apply to any form of discrimination that is based on a person’s self-purported “gender identity.”According to the executive summary of the Title IX revision, the changes are meant to “clarify that sex discrimination includes discrimination on the basis of sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”The summary further states that, except in certain situations, education institutions receiving federal funding cannot carry out “different treatment or separation on the basis of sex,” which includes a prohibition on any policy or practice that “prevents a person from participating in an education program or activity consistent with their gender identity.”The new Title IX rules, however, do not have any direct rules related to transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports. About two dozen states have restricted participation in high school and college women’s sports to only biological women. It’s unclear whether these rules would violate the new interpretation of violations based on sex discrimination.It’s also unclear how these rules would affect state laws that restrict bathroom and locker room access to a person based on his or her biological sex rather than gender identity or whether it would jeopardize free speech in relation to the use of a person’s preferred gender pronouns when those pronouns do not align with the person’s biological sex. The new rules did not clearly explain how the new definition would apply to such situations.Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Rachel Rouleau expressed concerns that the Biden administration’s new definition of sex discrimination would negatively impact the rights of girls and women in education institutions.“The Biden administration’s radical redefinition of sex turns back the clock on equal opportunity for women, threatens student safety and privacy, and undermines fairness in women’s sports,” Rouleau <a href="https://adfmedia.org/press-release/biden-wreaks-havoc-title-ix-threatens-future-womens-sports" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said in a statement</a> on Friday. “It is a slap in the face to women and girls who have fought long and hard for equal opportunities,” she added. “The administration continues to ignore biological reality, science, and common sense, and women are suffering as a result. The administration’s new regulation will have devastating consequences on the future of women’s sports, student privacy, and parental rights.”Sarah Parshall Perry, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former senior counsel at the United States Department of Education, <a href="https://www.heritage.org/press/heritage-expert-illegal-title-ix-rule-erases-women-ignores-the-constitution" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said in a statement</a> that Title IX is being “manipulated” by “gender activists and woke politicos” through these actions. “Under the new rule, girls and women will no longer have any sex-separated bathrooms, locker rooms, housing accommodations, or other educational programs,” Perry said. “Women’s sports are likely endangered too. Any education institution, including many private schools that receive even nominal federal funding, will be affected by this rule.”Perry suggested that federal lawmakers should challenge the department’s actions “by clearly defining men and women” in legislation.When Congress first added Title IX’s sex discrimination provisions into federal law in the 1970s, the goal was to give girls and women equal access to education. The law itself does not make reference to “gender identity.”Other changes included in the administration’s rules related to Title IX include the prohibition on discriminating against a girl or a woman based on her being pregnant, her choosing to have an abortion, or her recovery from pregnancy. The revision also changes the process by which sexual assault allegations are handled.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 15:30:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Catechist kidnapped and murdered in Burkina Faso, West Africa ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257440/catechist-kidnapped-and-murdered-in-burkina-faso-west-africa</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257440/catechist-kidnapped-and-murdered-in-burkina-faso-west-africa</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/burkinafasomap2.26.24.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
null / Credit: Peter Hermes Furian via Shutterstock
</div>
ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 19, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).
The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) on April 19 condemned the kidnapping and murder of a catechist in Burkina Faso, West Africa.In a news brief, ACN informed ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that catechist Edouard Yougbare was kidnapped on Thursday night by “terrorists, and his lifeless body was found near Zigni this morning.”According to other local sources, along with Yougbare, who was a member of  Saatenga parish in Fada Gourma, Burkina Faso, more people were kidnapped and murdered.“We are heartbroken by the loss of Yougbare. He served his community faithfully and his death is a devastating blow for the people of Saatenga,” lamented Spaniard María Lozano, press and public relations director of ACN International.“Catechists in Burkina Faso are on the front lines, risking their lives for the good of their people. Just two months ago, another catechist was murdered in the Diocese of Dori while leading a Sunday celebration in a chapel,” she noted.ACN encouraged all the faithful to pray for the families of the victims and the people of Saatenga, hit hard by these events.<h2>Perilous security situation in Burkina Faso</h2>“The security situation in Burkina Faso has become drastic in recent years, with Christians being particularly targeted by terrorist groups inspired by Islamic extremism,” ACN explained.In the city of Essakane in the Diocese of Dori, <a href="https://www.aciafrica.org/news/10340/over-a-dozen-killed-in-attack-on-catholics-at-mass-in-burkina-faso-died-in-faith-priest" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">15 Christians were killed</a> and two others were injured by terrorists during Sunday Mass on Feb. 25.In <a href="https://www.aciafrica.org/news/7366/malian-born-catholic-priest-murdered-in-burkina-faso-bishop-confirms-with-deep-sorrow" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">January 2023,</a> the Diocese of Dédougou reported that Father Jacques Yaro Zerbo, 67, was murdered by unidentified armed men in the country’s northwest.In <a href="https://www.aciafrica.org/news/484/catholic-journalists-in-togo-pray-for-murdered-priests-and-victims-of-terrorism" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">May 2019</a>, Spanish Salesian Father Fernando Hernández, 60, was murdered by a former cook at the Salesian center in the town of Bobo Dioulasso.The violence in the country is part of a broader conflict that involves several countries in the African Sahel region, such as Mali, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, where Christians also suffer persecution.ACN remains committed to helping the Church in Burkina Faso. In 2023, it collaborated on 56 projects in the country with an investment of more than 1 million euros (about $107 million.)This story <a href="https://www.aciprensa.com/noticias/104072/acn-denuncia-secuestro-y-asesinato-de-catequista-catolico-en-burkina-faso-africa" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">was first published </a>by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
]]></description>
<category>Middle East - Africa</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 15:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ FBI investigating threats against ‘multiple faith communities’ in Pennsylvania ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257439/fbi-investigating-threats-against-multiple-faith-communities-in-pennsylvania</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257439/fbi-investigating-threats-against-multiple-faith-communities-in-pennsylvania</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/shutterstock-612694196.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
null / Credit: Dzelat/Shutterstock
</div>
CNA Staff, Apr 19, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating what it says have been multiple threats made against houses of worship, religious schools, and other institutions — including Catholic ones — in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania local media had <a href="https://www.wtae.com/article/fbi-swatting-pittsburgh-diocese-jewish-federation/60528388" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reported</a> on the alleged threats made earlier in the week. An FBI spokesman told CNA on Thursday that the bureau “is aware of a number of threats made against multiple faith communities, houses of worship, and schools in Western Pennsylvania recently.”Investigators have “no information at this time to indicate a specific and credible threat against any faith community, religious institution, or educational facility,” the bureau said.Agents “continue to work with our law enforcement and community partners to mitigate any threat investigations when information comes to our attention,” the spokesman said.<h2>Diocese increases security at schools amid threats</h2>Wendell Hissrich, the director of safety and security at the Diocese of Pittsburgh in the western part of the state, told CNA that the diocese has increased security at several area schools in response to the threats. Hissrich, who served in the FBI for 25 years and previously worked as the safety director for the city of Pittsburgh, said that earlier in the week a diocesan elementary school had received “two simultaneous emails” that were “concerning in nature” via a contact form on the school’s website. “The staff notified the authorities and our officers,” Hissrich said. The diocese recently launched a new security protocol that includes armed officers being placed in diocesan schools.“When the local authorities arrived, they indicated there was a similar incident at another school — not a Catholic school — south of ours,” Hissrich said. He spoke with the FBI who told him threats had been made “to not only the schools but other houses of worship.”“We increased our security throughout all our diocesan schools” as a result, Hissrich said. The security director praised the diocese’s team of officers, who were hired last year and whom the diocese recently began to place in schools.“The officers we have are all retired from local law enforcement or state police, with in excess of 20 years experience for each of them,” Hissrich said. “We’re very fortunate to have those officers.”Hissrich said the threat against the school was “not specific” and ultimately “not credible,” though he said that “this time of year, there’s usually an upswing in threats.” “We’re prepared for that and we’re still prepared for it,” he said. Jewish institutions have also been targeted by threats this month. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh <a href="https://jewishpgh.org/security-update-39/" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said in a statement last week</a> that “several Jewish organizations throughout Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh,” had been “targeted with hoax bomb threats.”The federation said it had launched a “Virtual Block Watch Program” that would allow citizens to “provide residential or business video surveillance footage to help prevent, deter, and possibly solve crimes.”Hissrich confirmed that Jewish institutions in the area are being targeted.“Our Jewish friends are receiving a lot of threats, especially with what’s happening in Israel,” he said.The FBI, meanwhile, said it urged residents to “remain vigilant and to promptly report any suspicious individuals or activities to law enforcement immediately.”
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 12:30:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Secular university’s head of Holocaust studies finds ‘warmer welcome’ at Catholic university ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257437/clark-universitys-head-of-holocaust-studies-finds-warmer-welcome-at-catholic-assumption-university</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257437/clark-universitys-head-of-holocaust-studies-finds-warmer-welcome-at-catholic-assumption-university</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/shutterstock-2005162769.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Worcester, Massachusetts, is home to Clark University, Assumption University, and Worcester State University. / Credit: Shutterstock
</div>
Boston, Mass., Apr 19, 2024 / 11:50 am (CNA).
Mary Jane Rein decided to leave her job as executive director of the Holocaust studies center at the secular Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, in hopes of finding a “warmer welcome” at a nearby Catholic university in the same city. Rein, who is Jewish, announced that she was resigning in an April Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-im-leaving-clark-university-academic-freedom-israel-hamas-9a59061c" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">op-ed</a> titled “Why I’m leaving Clark University,” following an incident at an event in which students from Clark heckled her as she attempted to introduce the evening’s speaker, an Israeli military reservist. “There is no joy in working on behalf of those students who would, with the support of university leadership, try to silence me in public rather than engage with me civilly,” she wrote. “I can’t invest my time and efforts to advance an institution that lacks the strength of character to protect diverse points of view.”<div class="instagram-wrapper"><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="null" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4ifkvpOczm/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF;
border:0;
border-radius:3px;
box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);
margin: 1px;
max-width:550px;
min-width:326px;
padding:0;
width:99.375%;
width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px);
width:calc(100% - 2px)">null</blockquote><script src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><div class="drag-handle" data-drag-handle="true"> </div></div>Clark University has since issued a statement to the <a href="https://www.wbjournal.com/article/clark-fires-back-as-outgoing-holocaust-center-director-admonishes-school-in-wsj-op-ed" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">media</a> denying any wrongdoing.But Rein has already moved on to her new role at the Augustinian-run Assumption University in Worcester to launch the <a href="https://www.assumption.edu/center-for-civic-friendship" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Center for Civic Friendship</a>, an institution with a stated mission to be a national resource on “civic friendship, its possibilities and boundaries, and what makes it harder or easier to achieve,” the center’s website says.Assumption is led by Greg Weiner, the first Jewish president of a Catholic university in the United States.“To my surprise as both a scholar and a Jew, I feel a warmer welcome and more commonality of purpose at a Catholic institution than at Clark, a secular one,” Rein wrote in her op-ed.“I find common cause with Assumption and have chosen to align myself with its mission to pursue truth in the company of friends. Its commitment to a style of learning that acknowledges and respects different opinions gives me hope that universities can lead us toward a better future,” she wrote.Rein’s departure follows 20 years with the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University, an undergraduate and Ph.D. program studying the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, and other mass atrocities.Her parents’ extended families were victims of the Holocaust, Rein wrote in the piece. CNA reached out to Rein for comment but did not receive a response.<h2>What happened at Clark?</h2>On March 13, Rein, a self-proclaimed Zionist, helped host a pro-Israel <a href="https://www.jewishcentralmass.org/calendar/special-israel-program-with-idf-soldier-shahar-peled" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">lecture</a> at nearby Worcester State University, along with one of Worcester State’s history professors and the advocacy organization Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts.The lecturer was a man named Shahar Peled, a soldier of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) who was to speak about his experience as a first responder after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on innocents in Israel by Hamas, Rein wrote in her op-ed.The event was attended by protesters who “repeatedly” interrupted the lecture, stood up and made statements, rang their cellphones, and even pulled a fire alarm, forcing the evacuation of everyone from the auditorium, according to Rein.Students are shown in a <a href="https://twitter.com/OnlinePalEng/status/1768332420644794755?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1768332420644794755%7Ctwgr%5Ef9ae2a47960b4c0ac05f104a87cbf759a4b01296%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dan-margolis.com%2Fworcester-state-cowardly-admins-give-in-on-free-speech-antisemitism%2F" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">video of the event online</a> yelling at the speaker, calling the IDF “terrorists” and the soldier a “genocide supporter,” while an alarm is heard going off and police are shown directing people to leave the event.Rein also said that she was heckled at the talk by “a trio” of Clark University Ph.D. students from the Strassler Center who attended the lecture and whom she is familiar with.When Rein was being introduced so that she could introduce the soldier, one of the Ph.D. students “shouted,” demanding that Rein’s university title not be used, according to her op-ed.Rein wrote that the same student spoke at a question and answer session after the talk and accused Israel of committing genocide in its military response in Gaza. The three students then approached Rein after the event, demanded that she resign from her position at Clark and threatened to have her “investigated,” Rein wrote. A “senior administrator” at Clark then “admonished” Rein the next day, directing her not to use her university affiliation with events not sponsored by Clark, calling it “highly problematic,” Rein continued.Rein, who said she never mentioned her title, wrote that she asked the administrator if the university would hold others at Clark to the same standard. The administrator replied that while faculty members drawing on their “research and expertise” may “speak freely,” an “administrator in an executive position like yours running a center” would create “confusion” if her title was used, according to Rein.“I suspected I was being asked to censor myself on the basis of my Jewish identity and support for Israel, as I inferred there would be professional consequences if I presented that disfavored view,” she wrote.In a statement to the <a href="https://www.wbjournal.com/article/clark-fires-back-as-outgoing-holocaust-center-director-admonishes-school-in-wsj-op-ed" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Worcester Business Journal</a>, Clark denied allegations of admonishing Rein. “Ms. Rein was not admonished,” the statement said. “As a non-faculty administrator of the Strassler Center, Ms. Rein was provided guidance after the event about appropriately clarifying when participation in future activities is in a professional or personal capacity.”“This is important because it avoids confusion by making clear when an administrator is representing the university. We would provide this guidance to any administrator at Clark University regardless of religion, identity, or political views,” the university wrote.The school also said that if the interruption had occurred on Clark’s campus, “we would have intervened and handled the disruption consistent with our community standards and policies articulated in our Student Code of Conduct.”“As specified in our Code of Conduct Clark students are responsible for their behavior outside the university’s confines. However, the university may invoke disciplinary action when notified of violations of federal, state, and local laws,” the statement said.<h2>Catholic universities a haven for Jewish students</h2>“I am ready to sign on to a different cause, one rooted in respect, honest inquiry, and the free exchange of ideas in the context of civic friendship. I will be joining Assumption University, where I will help launch the new <a href="https://www.assumption.edu/center-for-civic-friendship" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Center for Civic Friendship</a>,” she wrote.Her departure to a Catholic university comes as a number of Catholic universities have sought to make themselves more hospitable to Jewish students amid the war between Israel and Hamas since the Oct. 7 attack on innocents in Israel.Since the war began there have been several reported instances of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses across the nation that have resulted in the harassment of Jewish students. Many reports have indicated that Jewish students feel unsafe on campus.Last October, a coalition of over 100 institutions called <a href="https://universitiesunitedagainstterrorism.org/" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Universities United Against Terrorism</a> denounced the Oct. 7 attacks, adding that they “stand with Israel, with the Palestinians who suffer under Hamas’ cruel rule in Gaza and with all people of moral conscience.”Many of those institutions are Catholic, including Assumption University, Catholic University, Franciscan University of Steubenville, University of Notre Dame, Mercyhurst University, and Salve Regina University, among others.All of the schools in the coalition vowed to offer Jewish students an “expedited” transfer process, Stephen Hildebrand, Franciscan University’s then-vice president for campus affairs told <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-catholic-universities-offer-campuses-as-refuge-for-harassed-jewish-students/" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Times of Israel</a> last November. Hildebrand said that several Jewish students had reached out to the school at the time with interest in transferring.However, a school spokesman told CNA Thursday that ultimately none ended up doing so but the offer still stands.“It just seemed so obvious, the right thing to do,” Hildebrand told the outlet. “To make our Jewish brethren aware if they need help that we are here as a safe haven.”“We are doing this because of our Catholic faith, not in spite of it,” he said.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 11:50:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Pope Francis issues motu proprio on Vatican judiciary retirement age and benefits ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257433/pope-francis-issues-motu-proprio-on-vatican-judiciary-retirement-age-and-benefits</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257433/pope-francis-issues-motu-proprio-on-vatican-judiciary-retirement-age-and-benefits</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/popefrancisgeneralaudience2032724.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Pope Francis addresses the faithful at his Wednesday general audience on March 27, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media
</div>
Vatican City, Apr 19, 2024 / 10:07 am (CNA).
In the latest move in Pope Francis’ reform of the Vatican judiciary, the pope issued a new motu proprio on Friday on the retirement age and benefits for cardinal judges and magistrates in the Vatican’s court system.The April 19 <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/motu_proprio/documents/20240327-motu-proprio.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">motu proprio</a> states that Vatican magistrates will retire at the end of the judicial year in which they turn 75 and cardinal judges at the age of 80, unless Pope Francis asks them to remain in office beyond the age limit.Magistrates and judges who wish to resign from office before the retirement age can only do so with the approval of the pope.The pope also has the prerogative to dismiss magistrates unable to fulfill their duties at any time. Upon the termination of their duties, magistrates will retain the rights to assistance and welfare provided to Vatican citizens and employees.The motu proprio, which will go into effect the day after its publication, amends the Church’s Law on the Judicial System of Vatican City State. The changes stipulate that the pope can appoint the president of the court’s successor to serve as an assistant in the year leading up to the president’s retirement.The amended law also states that magistrates who have retired are entitled to full pension benefits from Vatican City State regardless of whether they receive other payments of a similar nature accrued in another country. Other articles in the motu proprio enumerate the laws governing the salary structure, retirement benefits, and civil liability for Vatican magistrates.Pope Francis wrote in his brief introduction to the amendments that “the experience gained over the last few years in the administration of justice has led to the need for a series of interventions relating to the judicial system of the Vatican City State.”He said that the changes aim to promote “the professional dignity and economic treatment of the ordinary magistrates of the Tribunal and the Office of the Promoter of Justice.”
]]></description>
<category>Vatican</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 10:07:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Cause for canonization opened for young Polish lay missionary killed in Bolivia ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257431/cause-for-canonization-opened-for-young-polish-lay-missionary-killed-in-bolivia</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257431/cause-for-canonization-opened-for-young-polish-lay-missionary-killed-in-bolivia</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/helena-kmiec-the-helena-kmiec-foundation-14042024.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski of Krakow announced on April 14, 2024, the decision to begin the process of beatification and canonization of Helena Agnieszka Kmiec, a young lay missionary murdered in Bolivia in 2017. / Credit: The Helena Kmiec Foundation
</div>
ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 19, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski of Krakow, Poland, announced the decision to begin the process of beatification and canonization of Helena Agnieszka Kmiec, a young lay missionary murdered in Bolivia in 2017.The prelate said that after the preliminary phase began in December 2022, he made the decision to officially open the process for Kmiec after having consulted the Polish Bishops’ Conference and receiving the go-ahead from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.“With this edict I call on all those who have any document, letter, or information about the Servant of God, both positive and negative, to send them to the Metropolitan Curia of Krakow before June 30,” the archbishop stated.<a href="https://diecezja.pl/aktualnosci/edykt-w-sprawie-procesu-beatyfikacyjnego-sluzebnicy-bozej-heleny-kmiec/" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The edict</a> opening the cause was published April 14 and will be read in all the parishes and chapels in Krakow on Sunday, April 21. <h2>Who was Helena Kmiec?</h2>Servant of God Helena Agnieszka Kmiec was born on Feb. 9, 1991, in Krakow. She was the second daughter of Jan Kmiec and Agnieszka Bejska. Her mother died just a few weeks after she was born.Her father later married Barbara Zając, and Kmiec was raised “in a home full of love, warmth, and, above all, deep faith,” the edict noted.Beginning in 1998, she attended primary and secondary schools run by the Association of Catholic Educators in Libiąż, Poland. She then spent two years on a scholarship in the United Kingdom. From 2009–2014 she studied engineering at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, Poland.The edict noted that Kmiec went “to holy Mass almost every day while she was a student, which for her was a very important time of the day.”At the university, she learned about the Salvator Missionary Volunteer Service of the Congregation of Salvatorian Priests and became one of their missionaries. In 2012 she went to Hungary to run a summer camp for children; in 2013 she was sent to Zambia, where she worked with street children; and in 2014 she went to Romania, where she served young people.Before being sent on one of these missions, Kmiec wrote: “I received the grace of God, … the gift freely given to give to others, and I have to share this gift! All the skills I have, the abilities I acquire, the talents I develop, are not meant to serve me, but so that I can use them to help others.”“The greatest gift is that I know God and I can’t keep it to myself, I have to spread it! If I can help someone, make them smile, make them happier, teach them something, then I want to do it,” she added.<h2>Murdered in Bolivia</h2>On Jan. 8, 2017, Kmiec began volunteering in Bolivia, where she planned to stay six months. Just days after her arrival, on Jan. 24, she was murdered at Edmundo Bojanowski School, which is run by the Congregation of the Servants of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Pacata neighborhood of Cochabamba.According to reports, two criminals entered the school to rob the place and were surprised by the young woman. One of them attacked her with a knife, killing her.Kmiec was 26 years old when she died on her last volunteer mission with Salvator.After her death, the edict related, “her reputation for a holy life and dedication to God and the Church spontaneously arose among the faithful. Many people prayed and continue to pray for her intercession.”The edict concluded by noting that “the example of the Servant of God can certainly be an inspiration for people — especially young people — to pursue their vocation to holiness with great passion and commitment through volunteering and missionary activity.”This story <a href="https://www.aciprensa.com/noticias/103984/helena-kmiec-misionera-de-cracovia-asesinada-en-bolivia-podria-ser-nueva-santa-de-polonia" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">was first published</a> by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
]]></description>
<category>Europe</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Scotland pauses sex-change and puberty-blocker drugs for children ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257432/scotland-pauses-sex-change-puberty-blocker-drugs-for-children</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257432/scotland-pauses-sex-change-puberty-blocker-drugs-for-children</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/shutterstock-2315937259.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
null / Shutterstock
</div>
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 18, 2024 / 17:55 pm (CNA).
Scotland’s only gender clinic for minors is formally pausing the prescription of puberty blockers and hormone medications that are designed to facilitate gender transitions for children after a review commissioned by the English government questioned the efficacy of those practices.This announcement effectively ends the practice of providing sex-change drugs and hormone medications to children in Scotland — just one month after <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257070/breaking-englands-national-health-service-ends-puberty-blockers-for-kids" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">England instituted the same ban</a>.Per the new policy formalized on April 18, new patients in Scotland must wait until they are 18 years old to access those drugs or hormone medications. However, patients who are under the age of 18 and have already begun such remedies to facilitate a gender transition will not be forced to stop.“We are committed to providing the best possible clinical care for young people … and [we] understand the distress that gender incongruence can cause,” <a href="https://www.sandyford.scot/sexual-health-services/gender-service-at-sandyford/gender-young-people-service/" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the announcement from the Glasgow-based Sandyford Sexual Health Service</a> read.“While this pause is in place, we will continue to give anyone who is referred into the Young People Gender Service the psychological support that they require while we review the pathways in line with the findings,” the announcement added.The National Health Services of Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC), which is the publicly funded health care system that runs the gender clinic, <a href="https://www.nhsggc.scot/service-update/" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">formally notified its patients</a> of the pause on Thursday.According to a statement from NHSGGC, these remedies were paused because of the <a href="https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">findings in the Cass Review</a>: a comprehensive report on gender transition treatments for minors that was commissioned by the English government. The report, led by Dr. Hilary Cass, found that the rationale used to justify sex-change drugs and hormone alterations to facilitate sex changes in children is based on weak evidence and that the health risks it poses to children are unclear. “The findings informing the Cass Review are important, and we have reviewed the impact on our clinical pathways,” NHSGGC Director of Public Health Emilia Crighton said in a statement.“The next step from here is to work with the Scottish government and academic partners to generate evidence that enables us to deliver safe care for our patients,” she added.Crighton also said the “toxicity around public debate” about treatments for children with gender dysphoria “is impacting the lives of young people seeking the care of our service and does not serve the teams working hard to care and support them.”Tracey Gillies, the executive medical director of NHS Lothian, emphasized the importance of putting patient safety above all else.“The Cass Review is a significant piece of work into how the NHS can better support children and young people who present with gender dysphoria,” Gillies said in a statement. “Patient safety must always be our priority, and it is right that we pause this treatment to allow more research to be carried out.”Researchers in the United States have also been studying the potential that puberty blockers could cause irreversible negative effects on children. <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257353/puberty-blockers-may-cause-irreversible-harm-to-young-boys-mayo-clinic-study-finds" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">A study published by the Mayo Clinic in March</a> found that boys who take puberty blockers could suffer “irreversible” harm based on the effects the drugs have on testicular cells.The study was conducted by researchers at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Minnesota, which is a leading research institution in the field of genetics that has produced five Nobel Prize-winning scientists.Although some Republican-led states in the United States have begun to prohibit doctors from prescribing these drugs and hormone medications to children, the practice is still legal in more than half of the country. Access to these drugs, and access to sex-change surgeries for minors, has become a leading cause of division between Republicans and Democrats in the country.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 17:55:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Ex-Jesuit, alleged abuser Rupnik listed as consultant in 2024 Pontifical Yearbook ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257430/ex-jesuit-alleged-abuser-rupnik-listed-as-consultant-in-2024-pontifical-yearbook</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257430/ex-jesuit-alleged-abuser-rupnik-listed-as-consultant-in-2024-pontifical-yearbook</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/rupnik-abusos-obispos-eslovenia-vatican-media-22122022.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Father Marko Rupnik. / Credit: Screen shot/ACI Prensa
</div>
ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 18, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).
Father Marko Rupnik, a priest dismissed from the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 2023 — accused since 2018 of having committed serious sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse against at least 20 women in the Loyola Community that he co-founded in Slovenia — continues to appear as a Jesuit and consultant to the Vatican in the 2024 Pontifical Yearbook.The information appears on page 1346 of the yearbook, where the list of the consultants of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments is published. The entry reads “P. Rupnik Marko Ivan, S.I.” The abbreviation “S.I.” stands for “Societas Iesu,” the Latin name for the Society of Jesus.Rupnik was <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254574/breaking-rupnik-dismissed-from-jesuits" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">dismissed from the Jesuits</a> on June 15, 2023. The decision was made public in a statement noting that on more than one occasion he ignored the restrictions imposed by his superior and refused to respond to his alleged victims and to address his past actions.ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, contacted the director of the Vatican Press Office, Matteo Bruni, to ask him how it is that Rupnik appears in the Pontifical Yearbook but did not receive a response by time of publication.<h2>The debate on Rupnik’s art</h2>Rupnik is also a famous Catholic artist whose works — especially mosaics — are found in many pilgrimage sites around the world. An important part of the ethical debate surrounding Rupnik’s case is <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253999/the-sanctuary-of-lourdes-may-remove-the-mosaics-of-fr-rupnik-out-of-respect-for-victims" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">whether his artwork should be removed</a> out of respect for his victims.An April 15 editorial in the <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/remove-rupnik-art" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">National Catholic Register</a>, CNA’s sister news partner, argued: “His distinctive mosaics were commissioned for a purpose: to lift minds and hearts toward God. They are no longer capable (if they ever were) of achieving that purpose,” therefore they should be removed.Father Eduardo Hayen Cuarón, a Mexican priest and exorcist, <a href="https://twitter.com/padrehayen/status/1779986526119645256" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">wrote on X April 15</a>: “I found the mosaics of Father Marko Rupnik to be amazing, especially <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256999/john-paul-ii-shrine-considering-whether-to-remove-mosaics-by-father-rupnik" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">those at the National Shrine of St. John Paul II</a> in Washington.”“It's a shame that they have to be removed now. The reason? After the accusations against him for abusing several nuns, his works of art no longer fulfill their function of elevating the spirit toward God,” the priest commented.Blogger and <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/interview/ethics-mathematics-and-the-rosary-an-ex-atheist-discusses-her-conversion" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">former atheist Leah Libresco</a> on April 16 <a href="https://twitter.com/LeahLibresco/status/1780248798419157036" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">commented on X</a> that “if you want to defend Rupnik’s art, you have to be advocating for justice for Rupnik and reparations for his victims. Part of why people are going after the art is because there has been so little progress in pursuing consequences for the man.”Catholic radio show host Al Kresta<a href="https://twitter.com/KrestaAfternoon/status/1780398880779116913" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> quoted from the Register editorial April 16 on X:</a> “While it is far short of the sort of justice that this case demands, we have reached beyond the point in the Father Marko Rupnik scandal when concrete steps must be taken to remove the disgraced artist’s ubiquitous mosaics from public display.”<h2>The Rupnik case</h2>Bishop Daniele Libanori, the Vatican investigator who uncovered allegations of sexual and spiritual abuse by Rupnik, said the claims are true, according to a letter he sent to Italian priests <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-religion-scandals-27203a01c46a7f0e5d54616b8c30a7f9" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">obtained by the Associated Press.</a> Libanori now serves as the Holy Father’s supervisor for Consecrated Life.Rupnik <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-religion-crime-17d8cd4680d1fb8e10e66f2eeb623877" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">was excommunicated</a> in May 2020 for hearing the confession of one of his victims with whom he had sexual activity, but the sanction <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253118/report-vatican-investigator-says-father-rupnik-and-hierarchy-s-complicit-silence-ruined-victims-lives" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">was lifted two weeks later.</a>The Society of Jesus dismissed Rupnik from the order in June 2023, and the Diocese of Koper in Slovenia <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255893/jesuits-say-they-warned-diocese-that-incardinated-rupnik-about-complaints-against-him" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">incardinated the priest </a>in August that year stating that it did so because “no judicial ruling has been issued” against him.In October 2023, Pope Francis <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255835/vatican-pope-francis-has-lifted-the-statute-of-limitations-on-rupnik-case" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">lifted the statute of limitations</a> and asked the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to review the case in order to allow a process to take place after it had been determined that “there were serious problems in the handling of the Father Marko Rupnik case and lack of outreach to victims.”This story <a href="https://www.aciprensa.com/noticias/104030/vaticano-marko-rupnik-aparece-como-jesuita-y-consultor-de-dicasterio-en-anuario-pontificio-2024" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">was first published</a> by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
]]></description>
<category>Vatican</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 16:30:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Planned Parenthood reports record number of abortions in latest annual report ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257428/planned-parenthood-reports-record-number-abortions-latest-annual-report</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257428/planned-parenthood-reports-record-number-abortions-latest-annual-report</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/shutterstock-1419202763.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
null / Shutterstock
</div>
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 18, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).
Planned Parenthood’s latest report reveals that the abortion giant performed its highest-ever number of abortions the year Roe v. Wade was overturned.Released on Tuesday, the 2022-2023 report, titled <a href="https://cdn.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/ec/f4/ecf43d92-fcd2-4d11-b299-e67b5c3ac394/2024-ppfa-annualreport-c3-digital.pdf" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">“Above & Beyond,”</a> shows that Planned Parenthood performed 392,715 abortions between Oct. 1, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2022. This is an increase of 18,560 — or 5% — from the <a href="https://cdn.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/25/ed/25ed2675-fbbc-453b-8b35-f8ddaa025b57/281222-ppfa-annualreport-c3-digital.pdf" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">previous report</a>, which showed 374,155 abortions in a one-year period.According to an analysis by the faith-based law firm <a href="https://lc.org/newsroom/details/041824-planned-parenthoods-profitable-mission-continues-above-and-beyond" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Liberty Counsel</a>, Planned Parenthood’s latest abortion numbers mean that the organization ended 1,075 human lives through abortion every day and 44 every hour.Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver said that despite the Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, “Planned Parenthood’s annual report reveals once again that its primary mission is making huge profit by aborting innocent babies.”The Planned Parenthood report reflects abortion numbers in the months before and after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The document says that locations in states “where abortion is protected” saw a 700% increase in demand. The report also said that Planned Parenthood helped to refer and coordinate travel for over 33,000 abortions.While showing a 10-year high in abortions, overall services offered by Planned Parenthood, such as cancer screenings, prenatal services, contraceptive services, and STD prevention, continued a downward trend, according to the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute.The Lozier Institute’s <a href="https://lozierinstitute.org/fact-sheet-planned-parenthoods-2022-23-annual-report/" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">analysis</a> of the report found that Planned Parenthood’s total services are down by 17% since 2010 while cancer screenings and prevention services are notably down 71%.According to the Lozier Institute, Planned Parenthood performed 228 abortions for every adoption referral between 2021 and 2022.Planned Parenthood’s 2023 revenue, meanwhile, amounted to nearly $2.1 billion, which is an increase from approximately $1.9 billion reported the previous year. As much as $699.3 million of that revenue came from tax-dollar-funded government grants, contracts, and Medicaid reimbursements, according to the report.Pro-life advocates responded to the report by criticizing Planned Parenthood for its emphasis on abortions rather than health care. “Planned Parenthood murdered an average of: 1,076 babies every day 45 babies every hour 1 baby every 80 seconds,” Lila Rose, the founder of Live Action, said on X. “We must defund & shut down Planned Parenthood NOW,” she said.<div class="twitter-wrapper"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Planned Parenthood murdered an average of: 1,076 babies every day 45 babies every hour 1 baby every 80 seconds We must defund & shut down Planned Parenthood NOW— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) <a href="https://twitter.com/LilaGraceRose/status/1780662347322867925?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2024</a></blockquote><script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><div class="drag-handle" data-drag-handle="true"> </div></div>Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/more-abortions-more-taxpayer-dollars-and-fewer-health-services/" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">wrote at National Review</a> that the figures were “consistent with Planned Parenthood’s long-term trend of performing more abortions and providing fewer health services.”“This is helpful information as pro-lifers continue our efforts to defund Planned Parenthood at both the state and the federal levels,” New said.“This report is jarringly titled ‘Above and Beyond.’ The sick irony is that they are going ‘above and beyond’ not to care for women but to expand abortion,” Human Coalition President Jeff Bradford said in a statement to CNA. The result, Bradford continued, is “more wounded women” and “more dead children.” “At Human Coalition, we know full well that vulnerable women are victims of the abortion industry because we see the walking wounded all the time,” Bradford said in the statement. “They leave abortion clinics and return to the very circumstances that pressured them to abort in the first place — poverty, unemployment, family pressure, or domestic abuse. Abortion solves none of these problems,” he said.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 16:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Cardinal Gregory recalls time when Black Catholics could not study in U.S. seminaries ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257424/first-african-american-cardinal-recalls-time-when-black-catholics-could-not-study-in-us-seminaries</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257424/first-african-american-cardinal-recalls-time-when-black-catholics-could-not-study-in-us-seminaries</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/screenshot-2024-04-18-at-1.21.17-pm.png?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Cardinal Wilton Gregory speaks at an interview in Rome on April 11, 2024. / Credit: “EWTN News Nightly” screen shot
</div>
Rome Newsroom, Apr 18, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).
As the Catholic Church’s first African American cardinal was honored at a U.S. seminary in Rome, he recalled the legacy of faith and perseverance of Black Catholics in America, including at a time when they were not accepted by U.S. seminaries. Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, received this year’s Rector’s Award at an April 11 banquet at the Pontifical North American College, where seminarians from across 99 dioceses in the U.S. live while studying for the priesthood in Rome.In an interview with CNA before the award ceremony, Gregory pointed out that in the 19th century, African Americans who had a vocation to the priesthood were sent to study in Rome and then to serve as missionaries in Africa because at the time they were not allowed to enter U.S. seminaries.“Being in Rome reminds me also that Rome is the place that provided a seminary education and formation for Augustus Tolton, the first African American priest to serve openly in the United States,” Gregory said.Tolton “came to Rome because Rome … was willing to take him on as a seminarian when no other seminary in the United States would accept that.”Venerable Augustus Tolton, a former slave turned Catholic priest, is now on the path to sainthood in the Catholic Church. He studied in Rome near the Spanish Steps at the Pontifical Urban University, run by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, from 1880 to 1886, when he was ordained in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.Tolton offered his first Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on April 25, 1886. One hundred and thirty-four years later, Pope Francis made Gregory the first African American cardinal in a ceremony in the same basilica in 2020. “I know that the honor that was given to me by Pope Francis rested solidly on the faith of African American Catholics,” Gregory told CNA.“Even in times when we weren’t respected, or understood, or honored, we remained faithful.”“And the fact that I can enjoy the office, knowing that it rests on the quality of goodness, faith, and charity of the African American community, humbles me deeply,” the cardinal said with tears in his eyes.Gregory has led the Archdiocese of Washington since 2019. He said that navigating a U.S. presidential election year as the archbishop requires prudence.“We’re living in a very divisive moment, both in our political life in the United States, but sometimes also … in our Church,” he said.“In the United States, we’re struggling with trying to be one people —  one people with a common purpose, a common future. And sometimes the rhetoric gets to be so hostile and so vitriolic that it causes us to step back and say, ‘Is this really the nation that is the land of the free and the home of the brave?’”The cardinal, who will be in Rome for the month leading up to the U.S. election as a delegate in the Synod on Synodality, said that his task is “difficult, but not impossible.”“As the archbishop of Washington, I have to focus on the fact that in spite of all of the differences that are at play, I have wonderful people in my archdiocese. And people have great generosity and devotion to the country and to the Church.”Gregory recently made headlines for calling President Joe Biden a “cafeteria Catholic” in an Easter interview on “Face the Nation,” explaining that Biden “picks and chooses dimensions of the faith to highlight while ignoring or even contradicting other parts.”While he did not receive a response from the White House to the comments, the cardinal said that “the overwhelming response was positive” from the Catholics in his archdiocese.“I respect the president. I believe that he is a sincere man of faith, I really do believe that. I would just ask that he would somehow find a way to better allow his personal religious convictions to engage in the public forum,” Gregory said.The cardinal pointed to<a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257311/dignitas-infinita-vatican-document-release-gender-abortion-surrogacy" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> the Vatican’s recent declaration on human dignity</a>, Dignitas Infinita, as “a wonderful summation of the Church’s moral teaching.”Gregory said that he hopes that the Eucharistic revival in the U.S. will lead American Catholics to “draw closer together as a family of faith around the altar that Christ sets for us.”“The emphasis on the Real Presence also should generate the next question: If Christ is really present and I receive him in the Eucharist, what does that demand of me?” he said.“His Eucharistic presence is a gift of unquestionable importance. But it’s also a challenge that those of us who dine with him must live like him and have the same values that he expressed in the Gospels as his legacy of faith and love.”
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 15:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Tennessee names first English-language Bible translation in U.S. as official state book ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257426/tennessee-names-first-english-language-bible-translation-in-us-as-official-state-book</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257426/tennessee-names-first-english-language-bible-translation-in-us-as-official-state-book</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/gettyimages-2102423945.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee speaks during the signing of the ELVIS Act to Protect Voice & Likeness in Age of AI event at Robert’s Western World on March 21, 2024, in Nashville, Tennessee. / Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Human Artistry Campaign
</div>
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 18, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).
The first English-language translation of the Bible in the United States will become an “official state book” in Tennessee on July 1.Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, <a href="https://legiscan.com/TN/text/HB1828/2023" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">signed a bill</a> on Tuesday that names the Aitken Bible and nine other texts as official state books in the Tennessee Blue Book (an official manual on the state government). This is the first time Tennessee has formally recognized any official state books.The Bible translation was published by Philadelphia printer Robert Aitken in 1782 and received an official endorsement from Congress. The American Revolution, which began in 1776, halted trade with Great Britain and cut off the supply of Bibles, which prompted Aitken to publish an English-language Bible in the country, according to the legislation.Aitken’s translation received its <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Journals_of_the_American_Congress_from_1/sEQUAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22That+the+United+States+in+Congress+assembled,+highly+approve+the+pious+and+laudable+undertaking+of+Mr.+Aitken,+as+subservient+to+the+interest+of+religion+as+well+as+an+instance+of+the+progress+of+the+arts+in+this+country,+and+being+satisfied+from+the+above+report,+of+his+care+and+accuracy+in+the+execution+of+the+work+they+recommend+this+edition+of+the+Bible+to+the+inhabitants+of+the+United+States+and+hereby+authorize+him+to+publish+this+recommendation+in+the+manner+he+shall+think+proper%22&pg=PA76&printsec=frontcover" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">official endorsement</a> from the Congress of the Confederation in 1782, which was the American legislative body that preceded the establishment of the House of Representatives and the Senate.The 18th-century resolution states that the lawmakers “highly approve the pious and laudable undertaking of Mr. Aitken, as subservient to the interest of religion, as well as the interest of the progress of arts in this country.” It further states that the lawmakers “recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States.”The translation, which is a version of the Protestant King James Version of the Bible, is not approved by the Vatican for Catholics. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops lists approved translations of the Bible <a href="https://www.usccb.org/offices/new-american-bible/approved-translations-bible" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">on its website</a>.Tennessee’s legislation that names the Aitken Bible as an official state book notes that the state is home to “the largest publisher of authentic reproductions of the Aitken Bible,” which is the Aitken Bible Historical Foundation. It adds that Tennessee is home to “three of the five privately owned original first American Bibles remaining in the world today.”The legislation received strong support from Republicans in the Tennessee House and Senate, who hold strong supermajorities in both chambers. The bill faced opposition from most Democrats but received one Democratic vote in the House.Some of the other historic books designated as official state books in this legislation included President George Washington’s “Farewell Address” and “Democracy in America” by Alexis de Tocqueville. The bill also recognized the 1977 book “Roots” by Alex Haley, which discusses slavery in the United States, and the 2016 book “Coat of Many Colors” by the Tennessee-born country singer Dolly Parton.Tennessee lawmakers also <a href="https://legiscan.com/TN/text/HB2125/id/2907729" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">passed a bill</a> that would recognize November as “Christian Heritage Month.” The legislation was sent to Lee, but the governor has not yet taken any action on it.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 14:15:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ ‘I forgive whoever has done this’: Australian bishop who survived stabbing speaks out ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257427/i-forgive-whoever-has-done-this-assyrian-bishop-who-survived-stabbing-speaks</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257427/i-forgive-whoever-has-done-this-assyrian-bishop-who-survived-stabbing-speaks</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/gettyimages-2148779704.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
A member of New South Wales Forensic Police is seen at Christ the Good Shepherd Church in the Sydney suburb of Wakeley, Australia, on April 16, 2024. Hundreds clashed with police in western Sydney on April 15 after Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was stabbed at the altar. New South Wales police have declared the attack a terror event. Police apprehended a 16-year-old in connection with the attack. / Credit: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
</div>
CNA Staff, Apr 18, 2024 / 13:35 pm (CNA).
The Assyrian bishop <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257380/australian-police-arrest-male-following-stabbing-attack-in-sydney-church" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">who was attacked</a> at an Australian church earlier this week shared that he is “doing fine” and told his attacker: “You’re my son, and you’ll always be in my prayers.”In what Australian police are calling a terrorist attack, a young male entered Christ the Good Shepherd Church on Monday evening, April 15, and stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel. The bishop is a leader in the Assyrian Church, a branch of Eastern Christianity.New South Wales police have the suspect in custody — a 16-year-old boy whose identity has not been released due to laws protecting minor offenders. The attack on Emmanuel was inadvertently livestreamed on his YouTube channel and came in the wake of a mass stabbing at an Australian shopping mall in the Bondi area on Saturday. Father Isaac Royel and other church members were also injured during the attack in their attempts to protect the bishop. In a <a href="https://youtu.be/2ZT4DiampFE?si=J2k30fdjQxGUpBqM&t=201" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">video announcement</a> from Christ the Good Shepherd Church, Father Daniel Kochou confirmed that Emmanuel endured “non-life-threatening injuries” and is “stable.” Emmanuel said in the parish announcement, posted to YouTube, that “we need to be always thankful to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ of Nazareth for whatever trials and tribulations we go through.”“We are carrying the cross,” he said. “Let us not forget that at all.”Speaking from his hospital bed, Emmanuel confirmed that he is “recovering very quickly” and said that “there is no need to be worried or concerned.”“For this young man, I say to you, you’re my son, and you’ll always be in my prayers,” he said, speaking to his attacker. “May the Lord Jesus forgive you, may the Lord Jesus bless you and show you the way, my dear son.” “I forgive whoever has done this act, and I say to him you are my son, I love you, and I will always pray for you,” he continued. “And whoever sent you to do this, I forgive them as well.”Emmanuel emphasized that he has “nothing in my heart but love for everyone,” noting that Jesus taught that Christians should love their neighbors as themselves.  Shortly after the stabbing, protesters began rioting outside of Christ the Good Shepherd Church, leading to some property damage and blockage of the emergency responders.“The unfortunate events which took place outside the church caused unnecessary delays and threats to both victims, paramedics, and police,” Kochou said, noting that the church “does not condone” the activities that led to property damage, injuries, and delays in assistance due to the riot.“I need you to act Christ-like,” Emmanuel said. “The Lord Jesus never taught us to fight. The Lord Jesus never taught us to retaliate. The Lord Jesus never said to us ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ The Lord Jesus said, ‘Never return evil with evil, but return evil with good.’”“My beloveds, I want you to always be calm,” he continued. “We need to be always law-abiding citizens as well. We need to cooperate with the police… whether it be at a state level or federal level.”“And once again, to our beloved faithfuls, we need to reflect Christ in our life,” Emmanuel said. “The Lord Jesus never said go out and fight on the street … but to pray.”“We pray for our beloved country Australia and our beautiful city of Sydney,” he concluded. “We should never forget that we are very blessed to be Aussies. But above all we are Christians, and we need to act like it.”
]]></description>
<category>Asia - Pacific</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 13:35:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Michigan priest resigns amid dispute over school appearance by ‘openly gay’ author ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257425/michigan-priest-resigns-amid-dispute-over-school-appearance-by-openly-gay-author</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257425/michigan-priest-resigns-amid-dispute-over-school-appearance-by-openly-gay-author</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/images/RainbowflagforPolandreport.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Credit: Unsplash. / null
</div>
CNA Staff, Apr 18, 2024 / 12:45 pm (CNA).
A priest at a Michigan parish has resigned his post following a controversy over an “openly gay” author’s appearance at the parish parochial school’s pre-kindergarten class.Father Thomas Held has resigned from the pastorship at St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Beal City “effective immediately,” Diocese of Saginaw Bishop Robert Gruss <a href="https://saginaw.org/news/statement-bishop-robert-gruss" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said in a statement on Tuesday.</a>The parish and Held himself have been at the center of controversy since last month after area author Dominic Thrasher made an appearance at the parish’s school to read one of his children’s books, which are based on his family’s dogs. Thrasher has identified himself as “openly gay.” About a week after he visited the school, the church’s Facebook page was updated with a message from Held in which he wrote that “a guest who does not represent the values of our Catholic faith read to our pre-k children” as part of a schoolwide reading program. “To my knowledge, the book and any related conversation [were] appropriate for our students. A St. Joseph teacher was present in the room at all times,” the priest wrote. In the post, Held said he was “unaware” that Thrasher had been invited. “As your pastor, I will see to it that a new vetting police is put in place in order to minimize anything of the sort from happening again in the future,” he wrote. Backlash erupted following the message, with protesters demonstrating against Held and local businesses calling for his removal. A Facebook group demanding his dismissal grew to hundreds of participants, while critics urged residents to write to the diocese with complaints about the priest. On Tuesday, Gruss said that the controversy led Held to “come to the decision that it would be impossible for him to bring unity to the parish.”The bishop in his statement criticized what he said was uncharitable “disunity” on display amid the controversy.“The division, lack of charity, and the wounds caused by the division in the St. Joseph the Worker Parish community has brought deep sadness to the Lord Jesus, especially when we are living in the light of the Resurrection we celebrated on Easter Sunday,” Gruss wrote in his statement. “Jesus weeps when he sees division and disunity in the body of Christ, his Church. It is not his desire nor his will,” the prelate said. “The Gospel of Jesus calls all of us to be a healing presence in the community in which we live and worship.”“My prayers and concern go out to all the members of St. Joseph the Worker Catholic community, that Christ’s peace may be a uniting force for a greater good,” the bishop added. Visiting priests will oversee Mass at the Beal City parish until a permanent pastor can be appointed, the bishop said.In the weeks since the controversy began, Thrasher himself has expressed anger over the priest’s decision to post the statement, <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/2024/03/michigan-priests-apology-for-letting-gay-author-read-to-children-sparks-backlash.html" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">telling local media</a> that the priest’s remarks had “made me out like I’m some predator or convict coming in to read to these children.” Thrasher did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday morning. Following Held’s resignation, meanwhile, he <a href="https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/michigan/beal-city-priest-resigns-following-controversy-with-gay-author" target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">told a local news station</a> that “a battle has been won, but the war is not over.”The Saginaw Diocese is located in the central part of the state. Beal City is about 60 miles northeast of Grand Rapids. St. Joseph Parish dates back to the 1880s and was originally called St. Philomena. The school serves preschool through sixth graders.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 12:45:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ House Republicans call for NCAA ban on biological men in women’s sports ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257422/house-republicans-call-for-ncaa-ban-on-biological-men-in-womens-sports</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257422/house-republicans-call-for-ncaa-ban-on-biological-men-in-womens-sports</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/girls-track.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
null / Credit: Shutterstock
</div>
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 18, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).
A group of 17 House Republican lawmakers, led by Rep. Claudia Tenney from New York, is urging the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to prohibit biological men from participating in women’s sports.Under <a href="https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2022/1/27/transgender-participation-policy.aspx" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">current NCAA rules</a>, biological male athletes who self-identify as women can participate in women-only sports competitions if they take testosterone suppressants and bring down their testosterone levels to the maximum allowed for a specific sport. The athletes must provide documentation several times per year to show their testosterone levels.The lawmakers <a href="https://tenney.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/tenney.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/FINAL%20-NCAA%20Letter.pdf" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">penned a letter</a> to NCAA President Charlie Baker that asks him to limit participation in women-only sports to biological women. They sent the letter to Baker about a week after a smaller college athletics association — the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) — <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257332/college-sports-association-bans-biological-men-from-women-s-sports" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">unanimously voted</a> to restrict most women’s sports to biological women and forbade biological males from participating in such competitions.“We must protect the opportunity for women and girls to compete and succeed in athletics fairly,” Tenney <a href="https://tenney.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswoman-tenney-calls-ncaa-ban-biological-men-womens-sports" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said in a statement</a>.“While I applaud the NAIA’s recent decision to ban biological men from women’s sports, I am deeply disturbed that the NCAA is ignoring the facts and failing to do the same,” Tenney added. “Women fought hard to earn the critical protections of Title IX, and we must continue to protect these opportunities for generations to come. I am dedicated to defending the future of women’s sports and providing a level playing field for all female athletes.”The letter praises the NAIA decision, stating it “appropriately recognizes the natural advantages that biological men have in certain athletic competitions.” It asks Baker “to reconsider [the NCAA’s] current policy that allows biological males to deprive women of a fair opportunity to compete and achieve athletic success.” “All women in NCAA-affiliated schools should not fear having their athletic accomplishments minimized by biological males, as happened in the 2022 NCAA 500-yard freestyle event, with Lia Thomas, a biological man, taking the championship over Emma Weyant,” the lawmakers wrote. “This cannot be allowed to ever happen again. The NCAA must follow the NAIA’s lead and prohibit biological males from competing in women’s sports.”In the letter, the lawmakers cite a 2022 study that found that biological men have certain physical advantages over biological women, even after taking testosterone suppressants. The study, titled “<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9331831/" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Transwoman Elite Athletes: Their Extra Percentage Relative to Female Physiology</a>,” noted that many anatomical sex differences that are driven by testosterone are not reversible. “The NCAA’s current transgender policy fails to take these scientific facts into consideration,” the lawmakers said.The NAIA is the governing body for about 250 colleges and universities. The NCAA represents more than 1,100 colleges and universities, which includes dozens of Catholic institutions. The NCAA rules do not require Catholic institutions to permit biological men on the women’s teams; however, they may be forced to compete against colleges and universities that include biological men on their teams. About two dozen states have passed legislation to restrict women’s and girls’ sports to only biological women and girls in recent years. Still, more than half of the states in the country allow biological men who identify as women to participate in women’s sports.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Rite of peace is not just a greeting or friendly gesture, nun explains ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257419/rite-of-peace-is-not-just-a-greeting-or-friendly-gesture-nun-explains</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257419/rite-of-peace-is-not-just-a-greeting-or-friendly-gesture-nun-explains</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/images/Sign_of_Peace_Credit_Fr_Lawrence_Lew_OP_Photo_courtesy_of_Martin_Beek_via_Flickr_CC_BY_NC_ND_20_CNA_8_10_15.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
A bishop and a priest exchange the sign of peace during Mass. / Credit: Father Lawrence Lew, OP; photo courtesy of Martin Beek via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
</div>
ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 18, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
The director of the Chair of Theology of the Consecrated Life at San Dámaso Ecclesiastical University in Spain, Sister Carolina Blázquez Casado, OSA, explained that the rite of peace at Mass “is not a greeting or friendly gesture.”The sister explained the meaning of the rite in a video posted by the university, which is under the Archdiocese of Madrid.The <a href="https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/sign-of-peace-4330" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">sign of peace</a>, which takes place between the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and the Fraction (breaking) of the Host, “is a prior step to be able to approach Communion with the body of Christ in a dignified manner,” the Augustinian sister explained.The sign of peace is exchanged in recollection of the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 5:23-24, namely: “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”Blázquez noted that “Christians, from when they first began to celebrate the Eucharist, had these words of the Lord in their minds and hearts. And that is why the rite of peace has been present since very ancient times in the Eucharistic celebration.”Consequently, the sign of peace is not a simple polite gesture or a gesture of human love, but rather it expresses “the sincere desire to be reconciled among ourselves, to overcome all divisions between us, to be instruments of peace, to be truly members, one of another, of the one body of Christ.”The video posted by the San Dámaso Ecclesiastical University is part of a series titled “The Eucharist. Learn More” in which several teachers from the institution explain various aspects of the sacrament.<h2>Abuses of the rite </h2>In 2014, while Cardenal Antonio Cañizares was prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, a letter on the subject titled “<a href="https://www.liturgybrisbane.net.au/media/1182/the-ritual-expression-of-the-gift-of-peace-at-mass1.pdf" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Ritual Meaning of the Gift of Peace in the Mass</a>” was approved and confirmed by Pope Francis.The letter addresses problems arising from some “exaggerated expressions” of the rite of peace, which led Pope Benedict XVI to consult the bishops’ conferences on the possibility of the rite being modified or eliminated from the Roman Missal.In the end, it was decided to keep it in place while offering a series of “practical provisions to better explain the content of the exchange of peace and to moderate excessive expressions that give rise to disarray in the liturgical assembly before Communion.”The letter emphasized that “if the faithful through their ritual gestures do not appreciate and do not show themselves to be living the authentic meaning of the rite of peace, the Christian concept of peace is weakened and their fruitful participation at the Eucharist is impaired.”Among the provisions, the letter stated that the rite of peace can be omitted “and sometimes ought to be omitted” if circumstances deem it advisable. The bishops’ conferences should consider, “in those places where familiar and profane gestures of greeting were previously chosen,” replacing them with “other more appropriate gestures.”Abuses to avoid include “the introduction of a ‘song for peace,’ which is nonexistent in the Roman Missal; the movement of the faithful from their places to exchange the sign of peace; the departure of the priest from the altar in order to offer the sign of peace to some of the faithful” or taking advantage of the occasion “for expressing congratulations, best wishes, or condolences among those present.” This story <a href="https://www.aciprensa.com/noticias/104027/rito-de-la-paz-en-misa-no-es-un-saludo-ni-un-gesto-de-simpatia-explica-experta" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">was first published</a> by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
]]></description>
<category>Europe</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ As new altar is consecrated at destroyed Iraq church, former parishioner recalls ‘wonderful days’ ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257407/as-new-altar-of-destroyed-mosul-church-is-consecrated-former-parishioner-recalls-wonderful-days</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257407/as-new-altar-of-destroyed-mosul-church-is-consecrated-former-parishioner-recalls-wonderful-days</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/img-2654-1712331959-1.3482.jpeg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako presides over the dedication ceremony of the altar of the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Mosul, Iraq. April 5, 2024. / Credit: Fadi Dinkha/ACI Mena
</div>
CNA Newsroom, Apr 18, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
When the altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chaldean Catholic Church was consecrated earlier this month in Mosul, Iraq, a former parishioner now living in the United States said she was moved to tears.“My eyes were filled with tears as I watched my church and my school return to the beautiful picture engraved in my memory,” said Georgena Habbaba, who used to attend the parish and study at the parish school with her brothers. Her own children studied there, too, before the family had to flee Mosul amid worsening violence in 2007. (Note: Habbaba also writes for ACI Mena, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner.)“I remembered the wonderful days I spent studying at this school and praying in this church. Very close to my family’s house,” she told CNA.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/image-3.png" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="Georgena Habbaba pictured circa 1985 in the front kneeling, third from the right with her school scout team at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chaldean Catholic School in Mosul, Iraq. Habbaba, who now lives in the United States, said her memories of her childhood days at the school and parish are "wonderful." Credit: Photo courtesy of Georgena Habbaba"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Georgena Habbaba pictured circa 1985 in the front kneeling, third from the right with her school scout team at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chaldean Catholic School in Mosul, Iraq. Habbaba, who now lives in the United States, said her memories of her childhood days at the school and parish are "wonderful." Credit: Photo courtesy of Georgena Habbaba</figcaption></figure>Habbaba remembers how all the statues as well as the altar and everything in the church were destroyed by ISIS. “I especially missed the statue of Our Lady of Perpetual Help above the altar,” she said.On April 5, Chaldean patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako presided at a Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help and consecrated the altar, expressing his happiness at its reconstruction. He said it “gives hope for a safe and better future for the people of this city.”“It is a distinguished achievement that may encourage Christians to return to their dear city and contribute to building confidence, promoting harmonious coexistence, and preserving the fabric of Mosul,” he added.In his comments, Sako also recalled when the foundation stone for the church was laid in 1944 and the construction of the school was finished in 1946. “It is a great spiritual and cultural joy that we celebrate today the restoration of the opening of this great religious and educational edifice,” he <a href="https://www.acimena.com/news/3497/tkrys-mthbh-knys-amw-almaaon-aldaym-fy-almosl-alaarakyw-baad-aaaad-aaamarha" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">told ACI Mena</a>, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner. The school has also been completely reconstructed.Habbaba recalled that when the school first opened, it was directed by Chaldean nuns. “The school and the church owe a lot to the nuns,” she said.<figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/olph.jpg" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="A photo of a Chaldean Catholic nun with school children circa 1973. Credit: Photo courtesy of Georgena Habbaba"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">A photo of a Chaldean Catholic nun with school children circa 1973. Credit: Photo courtesy of Georgena Habbaba</figcaption></figure>Habbaba also recalled that the school was a mixture of Christians and Muslims without discrimination, ”although the numbers of Christians decreased beginning in 2003 until the school in its last days before the occupation of ISIS in 2014 was almost free of Christian students.”Before 2003, Christians in Iraq numbered nearly 2 million. Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq, had nearly half a million Christians. Today, Iraqi Christians number fewer than 200,000, though a lack of official statistics makes it difficult to know for sure. Christians are returning to Mosul but so far in small numbers. <figure class="mx-auto" style="width:100%"><img src="https://admin.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/image-2.png" class="img-fluid" style="null" alt="Georgena Habbaba on her wedding day in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chaldean Catholic Church in Mosul, Iraq, on Oct. 14, 1998. Habbaba, who now lives in the United States, said her eyes filled with tears when she recently saw photos of her home parish and school rebuilt and consecrated. Credit: Photo courtesy of Georgena Habbaba"><figcaption class="caption text-muted">Georgena Habbaba on her wedding day in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chaldean Catholic Church in Mosul, Iraq, on Oct. 14, 1998. Habbaba, who now lives in the United States, said her eyes filled with tears when she recently saw photos of her home parish and school rebuilt and consecrated. Credit: Photo courtesy of Georgena Habbaba</figcaption></figure>The most prominent pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was Father Faraj Rahho, who became the archbishop of Mosul and was kidnapped and martyred by terrorists in 2008. Sako, the current patriarch, also spent 15 years as pastor of the parish.Also present at the special Mass on April 5 was Bishop Najib Mikhail, the pastor of the Chaldean Diocese of Mosul, who thanked the French donors, the SOS organization, and all those responsible for accomplishing the restoration work. The church was rebuilt according to its original architecture and building materials, despite difficult circumstances. Earlier this year, ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language partner, <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256504/church-destroyed-by-isis-in-iraq-completely-restored-10-years-later" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reported on another Catholic church in Mosul</a> that was recently restored. The Dominican Church of Our Lady of the Hour was completely restored after destruction by Islamic State terrorists 10 years ago.ACI Mena, CNA's Arabic-language news partner, contributed to this story.
]]></description>
<category>Middle East - Africa</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 06:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[ Arizona lawmakers vote to retain law protecting life at conception ]]></title>
<link>https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257421/arizona-lawmakers-vote-to-retain-law-protecting-life-at-conception</link>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257421/arizona-lawmakers-vote-to-retain-law-protecting-life-at-conception</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ <div style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 25px;">
<img src="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/storage/image/bebe-jill-sauve-unsplash-010623.jpg?w=800&jpg" style="display: block; margin: auto; max-width: 100%" />
null / Credit: Jill Sauve/Unsplash
</div>
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 17, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).
Arizona House Republicans blocked two attempts on Wednesday to repeal an 1864 law protecting life at conception.In a near party-line <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gigi1AVT7yU" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">30-30 vote</a> on Wednesday, House Democrats failed to gain a majority of votes to suspend the Legislature’s rules to fast-track a so-called <a href="https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/56leg/2R/bills/HB2677P.pdf" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">“abortion ban repeal” bill</a> that would have overturned the <a href="https://www.azleg.gov/ars/13/03603.htm" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">1864 pro-life law</a>. Dormant since being invalidated by Roe v. Wade in 1973, the 1864 law protects all unborn life from conception and imposes prison time for those who “provide, supply, or administer” an abortion. This temporarily stalls ongoing efforts to repeal the law, which is set to go into effect in the next 37 days.Debate on the House floor was tense just before the vote as Democrats called the pro-life law “abhorrent” and “archaic.” Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez bashed Republicans, saying that “the fact that we will not even entertain a motion to allow those who have been raped or pregnant by incest to be able to have an abortion is extremely, extremely disappointing.” Republican Rep. Ben Toma, meanwhile, said: “I understand that we have deeply held beliefs [about abortion], and I would ask everyone in this chamber to respect the fact that some of us believe that abortion is in fact the murder of children.” Abortion is currently legal in Arizona until the 15th week of pregnancy. If the 1864 law takes effect, however, all abortion will be illegal, except in cases in which the mother’s life is in danger. Outrage from abortion advocates erupted last week when the Arizona Supreme Court issued an <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/257327/arizona-supreme-court-upholds-law-restricting-abortion-protecting-life-throughout-pregnancy" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">April 9 ruling</a> that cleared the way for the law to go back into effect. The court ruled that since the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision, there were no legal reasons to keep the law from being enforced.Planned Parenthood is continuing abortions in Arizona for the time being. The abortion organization holds that a <a href="https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-arizona/news/planned-parenthood-arizona-condemns-arizona-supreme-courts-decision-to-revive-archaic-near-total-abortion-ban-2" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">separate ruling by the Maricopa County Superior Court</a> keeps the 1864 law from being enforced until 45 days after the high court’s ruling. After the state Supreme Court’s ruling, Democrats in the Arizona House moved quickly to repeal the law, demanding a vote on the measure on April 10. That attempt was also blocked by Republicans. After their efforts to repeal the law were blocked, <a href="https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1778141153696817347" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Democrats began shouting “shame” and “blood on your hands”</a> at their Republican colleagues on the House floor.This comes as Arizona will likely be one of <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256377/here-s-every-state-where-abortion-is-on-the-ballot-in-2024" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">several states</a> considering an abortion-until-birth amendment on the ballot this November. If passed, the amendment would enshrine a “right” to abortion in the state constitution, strike down virtually all of Arizona’s pro-life protections, and legalize abortion until viability and through all nine months of pregnancy for physical or mental health reasons.The group advocating for the amendment, Arizona for Abortion Access PAC, has surpassed the required number of signatures and already filed language with the state to include the proposal on the November ballot.The Arizona secretary of state’s office has yet to verify the signatures, which must happen before the initiative will officially be on the ballot.The Arizona Catholic Conference, which consists of the state’s four bishops, has spoken out against the ballot initiative, saying that it would “remove most safeguards for girls and women” and “allow for painful late-term abortions of viable preborn babies.” “We do not believe that this extreme initiative is what Arizona wants or needs, and we continue to pray that it does not succeed,” the Arizona bishops said in a <a href="https://azcatholicconference.org/colums-and-statements/bishops-of-the-arizona-catholic-conference-statement-on-az-supreme-court-abortion-opinion/" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">statement published April 9</a>.According to the <a href="https://www.azdhs.gov/documents/preparedness/public-health-statistics/abortions/2022-arizona-abortion-report.pdf" target="null" class="null" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Arizona Department of Health Services</a>, 11,530 babies were killed through abortion in Arizona in 2022.
]]></description>
<category>US</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Apr 2024 17:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>

If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:

Download the "valid RSS" banner.
Upload the image to your own server. (This step is important. Please do not link directly to the image on this server.)
Add this HTML to your page (change the image src attribute if necessary):

<a href="http://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//www.catholicnewsagency.com/rss/news.xml"><img src="valid-rss-rogers.png" alt="[Valid RSS]" title="Validate my RSS feed" /></a>

If you would like to create a text link instead, here is the URL you can use:

http://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//www.catholicnewsagency.com/rss/news.xml

Home · About · News · Docs · Terms