Stories for week of January 12, 2020

Ordered from most to least recent.

Released Saturday, Jan. 18

 Background: Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Released Friday, Jan. 17

 Cardinal Sarah: no confusion on Benedict’s role in new book
 Virginia Episcopalians cancel plan for bishop’s consecration in Catholic church
 260 million Christians face persecution worldwide
 Pope greets Lutherans, emphasizes common Baptism
 Vatican, Congo, reach bilateral accord
 German court affirms pharmacist’s conscience rights
 Turkmenistan police raid Christmas gathering of Protestant women
 Italian bishops decry anti-Semitism
 ‘The blasphemy law is like a sword,’ Pakistani prelate says
 Iran bulldozes grave of pastor hanged by regime
 Nicaraguan police record license plates of those attending Mass
 Trump administration issues updated guidance on prayer in public schools
 Marxist communism is being reborn in Spain, cardinal warns
 Leading Australian archbishop rejects breaking seal of confession for abusers
 Pope, at weekday Mass, reflects on ‘the little prayer that moves God’
 Bishops call for the application of international law in the Holy Land
 67,000 Austrians left Church in 2019
 Protecting unborn is a preeminent priority, Pope Francis tells US bishops
 USCCB Martin Luther King Day statement: ‘We have not come nearly far enough’

Released Thursday, Jan. 16

 Case of Benedict’s book is closed, Pope tells Scalfari
 Virginia bishop defends use of cathedral for Episcopalian ordination
 Ganswein filters information to Benedict, Archbishop Vigano charges
 Peace accord strengthens chance of papal visit to South Sudan
 Chinese ‘underground’ bishop evicted, homeless
 Cardinal Hummes offers tips for allies on promoting Synod document
 Belgian missionary priest killed in South Africa
 Bishops ask Kerala state to end discrimination against Christians in benefit distribution
 Turkish police release Syriac priest; Christian couple abducted
 Mongolia, Vatican ‘foreign minister’ sign agreement on cultural collaboration
 Victims face French ex-priest in court for first time
 Bishops urge Central African Republic’s government to hold ‘free, transparent elections’
 Vatican authorizes 85 scholars to examine Pius XII archives
 After signing peace deal, South Sudan’s government, opposition leaders pay tribute to Pope Francis
 Cardinal asks DR Congo’s president for solutions for strife-torn region
 Australian bishops support proposed climate change bill
 USCCB committee chairman appreciative of Trump administration’s ‘concrete actions’ on religious liberty
 Christians persecuted in Nigeria amid deafening silence
 Pope appoints woman undersecretary in Vatican Secretariat of State
 Reflecting on St. Paul’s imprisonment in Rome, Pope concludes general audiences on Acts of the Apostles

Released Wednesday, Jan. 15

 Cardinal Burke: ‘I do not believe that the Holy Father will ever answer the 5 dubia’
 Utah bill would require priests to report child sexual abuse disclosed in Confession
 Mexico’s bishops urge no statute of limitations for sexual abuse
 Brazil’s supreme court sides with Netflix over blasphemous portrayal of Christ
 Muslim Fulani herdsmen kill 13 Christians, wound 3 in central Nigeria
 Arson at historic French church
 Jihadists murder 3 Kenyan teachers
 Thieves desecrate relics of Italian saint
 Influential Jesuit journal: Pope Francis ‘has never intended to tell Islam what it should be’
 Jihadists’ aim is forced conversion of Sahel region to Islam, bishop warns
 Central African Republic bishops warn against syncretism, Freemasonry, other secret societies
 Cardinal Filoni bids farewell to ‘Propaganda Fide’
 Showdown brewing over Equal Rights Amendment
 New documentary offers rare glimpse of Benedict XVI’s life in Vatican Gardens
 Authority is not in commanding but in consistent witness, Pope preaches at weekday Mass

Released Tuesday, Jan. 14

 Korean Catholic population soars, but Mass attendance falls
 Former Pope’s name removed as co-author of book on celibacy
 Turkish police arrest Syriac priest
 Massachusetts court holds there is no right to assisted suicide
 Fewer than 3% of Russians attend church Christmas
 In India, hundreds of Hindu radicals protest against statue of Christ
 Latin American bishops plead with world leaders to pursue peace
 Record number of tourists and pilgrims in the Holy Land
 Colombian Bishops appeal for resumption of peace process
 Following Sant’Egidio meeting, South Sudan’s leaders vow to recommit to truce, pursue peace
 Pope Francis would rather give his life ‘than change the law on celibacy,’ Vatican press office director recalls
 Hungarian bishops raise $223M for Syrian hospitals
 Pope emphasizes prayer in meeting with Minnesota, Dakota bishops
 Vatican spokesman responds to new book by Pope Emeritus Benedict, Cardinal Sarah

Released Monday, Jan. 13

 French bishops to remove references to parents’ sex on birth certificates
 Four Nigerian seminarians kidnapped
 Dutch survey: when churches close, most parishioners don’t seek another
 Cardinal Pell moved to new maximum-security prison
 Pope Emeritus Benedict, Cardinal Sarah author new book on priesthood, celibacy
 Seasoned Vatican diplomat named nuncio in France, succeeding accused prelate
 Leaders of Catholic women’s organization meet with Pope
 Catholic, Protestant leaders welcome new political agreement for Northern Ireland
 Bishops from Europe, North America visit Gaza
 Rome’s Lutheran pastor meets with Pope
 Pope emphasizes ‘welcome’ in audience with Pontifical Ethiopian College
 Cardinal Tagle urges prayers for peace amid tension in Middle East
 Texas bishops denounce governor’s decision not to accept refugees
 Love is expressed in concrete actions, Pope preaches at weekday Mass
 Vatican officials hail importance of migration, 2018 global compact
 Following scandal, Caritas in Central African Republic adopts safeguarding policies
 May we ‘understand increasingly the gift of our Baptism and live it coherently,’ Pope tells pilgrims
 Pope Francis baptizes 32 children during Mass in Sistine Chapel

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Thu18 September
Ordinary Time

Thursday of the Twenty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

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The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663), who was born at Cupertino, Italy, and died in Osimo. He was of lowly origin and had little formal education. In his youth he was employed as an apprentice to a shoemaker. He joined the Conventual Franciscans as a lay brother but…

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