Catholic Culture Solidarity
Catholic Culture Solidarity

Stories for week of December 24, 2017

Ordered from most to least recent.

Released Saturday, Dec. 30

 Resignations and appointments (12/30)
 Resignations and appointments (12/29)
 Who will pay $100 billion to rebuild Iraq following defeat of Islamic State?
 Yemen: at least 109 civilians killed by Saudi coalition’s raids, UN says
 About 39,000 people killed In Syria in 2017, monitor group says

Released Friday, Dec. 29

 Pope tells theologians: be faithful to Vatican II
 Judge rejects bankruptcy plans for Minnesota archdiocese
 Gunmen attack Coptic church near Cairo; at least 10 killed
 Egypt teenager’s murder ‘aimed to intimidate Copts ahead of Christmas’, says his pastor
 Feast of Immaculate Conception becomes legal holiday in Philippines
 Catholic free medical clinic fills site of former abortion clinic in Virginia
 USCCB blog encourages readers to make ‘racial examination of conscience’
 For 1st time in 50 years, Myanmar’s Christians celebrate Christmas publicly
 The highest-paid Catholic college presidents
 How we ended up with 40% of children born out of wedlock
 Church in Philippines launches fund drive for typhoon victims
 US Catholics engage nation’s ‘transgender moment’
 Syriac Catholic patriarch issues Christmas message, calls for end of sanctions
 Over 3.4 million TV viewers saw Vatican Christmas concert
 UN General Assembly rejects ‘humanitarian abortion’
 Evangelical Christians ‘uncritical’ in support for Trump, UK Anglican bishop says
 +Father Maurice Borrmans, 92
 Putin says Saint Petersburg market explosion was ‘terror attack’
 Italian prime minister mourns failure to pass new citizenship law backed by bishops
 US promises to help Nigeria exterminate Boko Haram
 Ugandan army kills 100 ADF rebels in DR Congo
 New US airstrike in Somalia kills 13 al-Shabaab members
 Globalization has failed poor nations and factory workers, says Vatican newspaper editor
 New wave of violence in Central African Republic
 Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels swap prisoners before New Year
 South Sudan rebels, government accuse each other of breaking truce
 Vatican newspaper: ‘post-truth’ media are constructing image of ‘progressive and permissive Pope’
 Children under attack at shocking scale in conflicts around the world

Released Thursday, Dec. 28

 Peruvian bishops join protests after president pardons Fujimori
 Chinese officials demolish Catholic church without explanation
 Egypt’s Copts caution against US interference
 Papal greetings to young people at Taizé meeting
 Benedict XVI praises Cardinal Müller for continuing service to the Church
 23 Catholic missionaries killed in 2017
 Prince Charles laments persecution of Christians
 Abortion activists who disrupted Mass in Spain are sentenced to year in prison
 Priest on trial in Congo for calling for President Kabila’s departure
 Nigerian Catholic leaders call for end of special police units, action on kidnappings
 Middle East Catholic patriarchs express hope amid uncertainty at Christmas
 Archaeologists puzzled by Rosary beads in child’s grave at Anglican cathedral cemetery
 Nevada high court issues ruling on religious education in custody cases
 EU bishops’ commission weighs in on antibiotic resistance
 ‘Mission is the thermometer of the Church,’ says Pontifical Mission Societies’ new president
 Oklahoma’s only Catholic university closes doors
 Georgetown student group faces opposition for supporting Catholic teaching on marriage
 Catholic hospital in Bethlehem is regional leader in maternity care
 Thomas Aquinas College recovering after harrowing ‘Thomas’ fire
 Child who survived terrorist attack meets with Pope
 Christ must be at the center of Christmas, Pope says at general audience
 Theologian reflects on new Vatican instruction on relics
 Resignations and appointments (12/27)
 Leading Italian bishop highlights plight of unemployed, poor
 Church in Italy aids Iranian earthquake victims
 Patriarch celebrates 1st Mass in Mosul since 2014
 2 relics of St. Thomas Becket discovered in Italian church
 Russian warships pass close to British waters
 Spain’s king, in Christmas message to nation, urges Catalan lawmakers to avoid confrontation with Madrid
 Oil price at 2-1/2 year high following Libyan pipeline explosion
 Italy to send troops to Niger to fight Islamist militants, human trafficking
 255 migrants rescued in Mediterranean
 President Trump cuts funding to UN after Israel vote
 Russia, US discuss need for urgent North Korea negotiations

Released Wednesday, Dec. 27

 Cameroon: violence flares in Anglophone crisis; bishop urges prayers
 Chinese Communist Party orders members to boycott ‘Western religious activities’ at Christmas time
 Report: 5,000 Muslims attack, desecrate church in Egypt
 Ohio priest takes own life amid allegations
 Federal agents found fetuses in body broker’s warehouse
 China: university bans Christmas to resist ‘corrosion’ of Western culture
 Iranian Christian convert discusses Christmas in prison
 England’s Court of Appeal rejects religious objections to transgender parent’s contact with children
 Archbishop urges Nigerian government to invest in prisons, rehabilitation
 North Dakota county described as most Catholic place in US
 Priests reflect on Christmas and a free economy
 Pope Francis: video message to believers in Northern Peru
 German Catholics commemorate St. Stephen’s Day with prayer for persecuted Nigerian Christians
 Prayer vigils held all over Pakistan in memory of victims of recent church attack
 HHS mandate: judge temporarily blocks Trump administration’s protection of conscience rights
 Holy Land Custos reflects on challenges, emphasizes importance of prayer
 Pope Francis makes Christmas visit to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
 Vatican Secretary of State affirms Church’s opposition to drugs
 Homily at Midnight Mass in Bethlehem

Released Tuesday, Dec. 26

 British public wants bishops out of House of Lords
 Vacation lodge used by St. John Paul II going on the market
 Irish primate: do not let Brexit debate rekindle passions in Northern Ireland
 Archbishop sees 2017 as ‘annus horribilis’ for Australian Church
 English court convicts former Benedictine abbot of molesting pupils
 Pope defends embattled Cardinal Maradiaga
 Christmas in North Korea: an inner celebration
 Prelate, Catholic organizations urge 18-month extension of Temporary Protected Status for El Salvador
 Italian foreign minister recalls 800th anniversary of Franciscans in the Holy Land
 Pope exchanges Christmas greetings with Vatican employees
 Pope Francis: St. Stephen’s Day Angelus address
 Italian bishops, pro-life advocates decry new end-of-life law
 Bangladesh’s prime minister holds Christmas gathering for Christian leaders
 Diphtheria spreads in Bangladesh’s refugee camps
 Sri Lankan president: follow the spirit of Christmas to achieve reconciliation
 Cardinal Bo’s Christmas message urges healing, reconciliation and love in Myanmar
 Vatican Secretariat for Communication, Salesians agree to collaborate
 Church in Poland launches English-language Twitter account
 Undersecretary looks back on new dicastery’s 1st year
 +Bishop Matthias Yu Chengxin, 90
 Cameroon: Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim leaders call for peace and dialogue
 Respecting Sunday rest, large UK toy retailer was closed on Christmas Eve
 Macron: France ready to strengthen force in Sahel fighting Islamists
 Resignations and appointments (12/23)
 Pope Francis: 12/24 Angelus address on the Annunciation
 South Sudan cease-fire begins in attempt to calm civil war
 Docudrama featuring Franciscan scholars to appear on PBS
 UN votes for new sanctions against North Korea
 US national shrine rector discusses recently dedicated Trinity Dome
 Cardinal welcomes 162 refugees as Italy establishes humanitarian corridor
 Topless Femen activist tries to snatch Jesus statue from Vatican crib
 Israel announces exit from UNESCO

Released Monday, Dec. 25

 The Pope’s Christmas greetings in 7 languages
 Pope Francis: Christmas Message Urbi et Orbi (To the City and the World)

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