Most Popular News Within Last 30 Days
Archbishop of Canterbury resigns
Dr. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has resigned in the face of angry criticism about his handling of a sex-abuse scandal.Dr. Welby, who has been leader of the worldwide Anglican communion since 2013, announced his decision to step down on November 12, saying that it was “very clear I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and re-traumatising period between 2013 and 2024.”
The Anglican leader had earlier stated that he would not resign, despite harsh criticism of his leadership in a report on the handling of sex-abuse complaints against the late John Smyth, a prominent barrister who has been accused of molesting dozens of young people at church-run camps. Dr. Welby continues to say that he had “no idea or suspicion of this abuse,” but concedes that he failed to ensure a thorough investigation of complaints.
Cardinal Parolin offers Vatican views on Trump victory
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, offered his thoughts on the presidential election of Donald Trump in an exchange with reporters on November 7.“Of course we wish him well,” Cardinal Parolin said. “We wish him much wisdom, vbecause that is the principal virtue of leaders according to the Bible.”
Cardinal Parolin said that he hoped Trump could fulfill his promise to end the warfare in Ukraine and Gaza, but added “I don’t think he has a magic wand.” He was stronger in his opposition to Trump’s plan to deport illegal immigrants, saying: “We are for a wise policy toward immigrants and therefore one does not go to these extremes.”
Hinting at a criticism of Trump’s confrontational style, the Vatican Secretary of State said he acknowledged that Trump should “above all be president of the whole country.” While he acknowledged that Trump is closer than his Democratic rivals to the Vatican’s stand on the defense of human life, he said that Trump “should try to gather consensus around this issue and not [pursue] a policy once again of polarization and division.”
Abortion ballot initiatives pass in most states, fall short in others
Voters supported abortion ballot initiatives in most of the ten states in which it was under consideration. In Arizona, with 86% of precincts reporting, voters approved Proposition 139 by a...Nigerian seminary rector freed by kidnappers
Father Thomas Oyode, the seminary rector who voluntarily took the place of two seminarians who had been seized by gunmen on October 27, has been released by his captors.The Auchi diocese said that Father Oyode was currently hospitalized for evaluation after eleven days in captivity. The diocesan announcement did not indicate that his physical condition was serious.
However Church sources in Nigeria reported the kidnapping of two other priests in recent days. Father Christian Uchegbu was seized on November 6; Fahte Emmanuel Azubuike on November 5.
Pope receives Assyrian Patriarch, adds St. Isaac of Nineveh to Roman Martyrology
Pope Francis received Mar Awa III, the Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East (CNEWA profile), on November 9 to commemorate the anniversary of two ecumenical milestones: the 30th...Co-founder resigns after La Leche League opens to support breastfeeding males
Two board members of the La Leche League—including one of the group’s founders—have resigned to protest the organization’s decision to provide support for men who want to breastfeed children.Marian Thompson, one of the seven Illinois women who founded the breastfeeding-support group in 1956, said the organization had become “a travesty of my original intent.”
Catholic vote moved toward Trump, poll shows
President-elect Donald Trump won 56% of the Catholic vote nationwide, according to a Washington Post exit poll.That figure represents an important increase in Catholic support from the 2020 election, when—according to the same Post exit poll—Trump captured a bare 52% majority of the Catholic vote.
Although exit polls are notoriously imprecise, the result suggests that the Catholic vote, which traditionally had been heavily Democratic, is moving away from that party—likely because of its extreme stand on abortion and other social issues.
Convert becomes foundress of 1st Ethiopian Catholic convent
A convert to Catholicism has founded the first local convent of the Eastern-rite Ethiopian Catholic Church.After her conversion to Catholicism, Emahoy Haregeweine entered the Little Sisters of Jesus, a Latin-rite institute inspired by St. Charles de Foucauld. She later felt called to found her own Ethiopian Catholic convent that combines monasticism, agricultural sustainability, and education of the young.
Ethiopia, an African nation of 116 million (map), is 60% Christian (41% Orthodox, 16% Protestant), 34% Muslim, and 5% ethnic religionist.
‘Rediscover the Rosary,’ Pope writes in message to Marian shrine of Pompei
In a message to Archbishop Tommaso Caputo, prelate of the Pontifical Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary of Pompei, Pope Francis recalled the upcoming 150th anniversary of the arrival of the Marian image there, encouraged a renewed devotion to the Rosary, and paid tribute to the shrine’s “great history of charity.”“It is providential that the jubilee of the image of Our Lady of Pompei coincides with the imminent Jubilee Year, focused on Jesus our hope, and with the seventeenth centenary of the Council of Nicaea (325), which gave particular prominence to the divine-human mystery of Christ, in the light of the Trinity,” Pope Francis wrote in the message, dated October 7 and released by the Vatican on November 10.
“It is good to rediscover the Rosary, in this perspective, in order to assimilate the mysteries of the Saviour’s life, contemplating them through the gaze of Mary,” the Pope continued. “The Rosary, a simple instrument within everyone’s reach, can support the renewed evangelization to which the Church is called today.”
There is an error in the Vatican’s English translation of the Pope’s message. The translation states that “the image arrived there on 13 November 1975”; it actually arrived in 1875, as the Pope wrote in his Italian-language text.
Pope warns against hypocrisy, praises humble service
Reflecting on the Gospel reading of the day (Mark 12:38-44), Pope Francis discussed the hypocrisy of the scribes and encouraged those in positions of responsibility to serve humbly.Some of the scribes “behaved like corrupt people, feeding a social and religious system in which it was normal to take advantage of others behind their backs, especially the most defenseless, committing injustices and ensuring impunity for themselves,” the Pope told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his November 10 Angelus address. “Jesus warned to stay away from these people, to beware of them, not to imitate them.”
The Pope added:
So, brothers and sisters, we can ask ourselves: how do I behave in my fields of responsibility? Do I act with humility, or do I vaunt my position? Am I generous and respectful with people, or do I treat them in a rude and authoritarian way? And with my most fragile brothers and sisters, am I close to them, do I know how to bow to help lift them up?
May the Virgin Mary help us fight the temptation of hypocrisy in ourselves—Jesus tells them they are hypocrites, hypocrisy is a great temptation—and help us to do good, simply and without ostentation.
