Most Popular News Within Last 30 Days
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Chicago archdiocese, Georgia diocese to shut traditionalist churches
Cardinal Blase Cupich has ordered the priests of the traditionalist Institute of Christ the King to stop celebrating the Tridentine Mass in Chicago by August 1. And in Savannah, Georgia, Bishop...
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Pope names three women to Vatican panel choosing bishops
Pope Francis has appointed three women to the Dicastery for Bishops, giving women a direct role for the first time on the body that selects candidates to become bishops. Last week the Pope...3
Bishops’ contrasting steps to implement Traditionis Custodes
Two American prelates have taken sharply contrasting steps to implement the provisions of Traditionis Custodes. In the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, Bishop Michael Burbidge has announced that...4
Pope, in Canada, rues ‘disastrous error’ of residential schools
Pope Francis apologized for the role of the Catholic Church in Canada’s “residential schools” for native children, on the first day of public activities in what the Pontiff has...5
Poll finds US Catholics split on Biden, lax on faith
A survey of Catholic voters in the US, conducted by the EWTN network and Real Clear Opinion Research, found that a small majority had an unfavorable opinion of President Biden. But the same poll...6
‘In persona episcopi’: diocesan consolidations accelerate in Italy
Continuing a trend that has accelerated in recent years, Pope Francis on July 21 united two Italian dioceses in persona episcopi [in the person of the bishop]. While continuing to govern the...7
Thieves stole Precious Blood relic; it reemerged at detective’s door
The Abbaye de la Trinité de Fécamp in France is famed for a reliquary of the Precious Blood, which was stolen in June, and has now been recovered.8
Vatican publishes ‘Keys to Bioethics: A Manual for Youth’
The Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life has released Keys to Bioethics: A Manual for Youth, a free e-book prepared by the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation.“With this Manual we wish to offer young people around the world a practical and up-to-date tool to answer some of the questions that clutter their minds when faced with the great challenges generated by scientific and technological progress,” said Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Dicastery’s prefect.
The Manual states that human life begins at fertilization and that IUDs, RU-486, and the morning-after pill can induce abortions—and that the regular birth control pill can have an abortifacient effect. Other topics covered include the contraceptive mentality, genetic screening, reproductive technology, eugenics, stem-cell research, euthanasia, organ donation, and gender.
Discussing gender identity, the Manual states that “in fact, there is no way to change one’s sex. To try to do so is to mutilate the body and to create a lie within the human person, who may be altered to look like the other sex but can never truly be the other sex.”
The Manual is also critical of homosexual parenting: “Recent research has shown that a loving mother and father in a stable relationship are essential to the healthy development of children. The desire of homosexual couples to override the biological constraint on their ability to have children is not a sufficient reason to place children in a same-sex household.”
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‘We can forgive, but we’ll never forget’: residential school survivors in Manitoba travel to papal visit stop
“When I met with Pope Francis back in April and I told him of my abuse, and the impact it has had on my whole life, I actually believe he had a tear in his eye,” said Andrew Carrier, vice president of the Winnipeg Métis Association, who was sexually abused by a priest at a residential school.The Pope’s apostolic journey to Canada begins on July 24.
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Papal decree alters status of Opus Dei
Pope Francis has issued a motu proprio changing the juridical status of Opus Dei.The document Ad Charisma Tuendum, released on July 22, amends the apostolic constitution Ut Sit, with which Pope John Paul II established Opus Dei as the first (and to date only) personal prelature in the Church in 1982.
Under the terms of the new document, Opus Dei will responsible to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Clergy, rather than (as at present) the Dicastery for Bishops. The prelate of Opus Dei will no longer be eligible to become a bishop.
Pope Francis explained that the new canonical structure was designed to ensure “a form of governance based on charism more than on hierarchical authority.” He encouraged Opus Dei to be guided by the charism of its founder, St. Josemaria Escriva, in spreading “the call to holiness in the world, the sanctification of work and family and social commitments.”
