Stories for week of March 12, 2023

Ordered from most to least recent.

Released Friday, Mar. 17

 New app allows China to track religious worshippers
 Irish primate: St. Patrick reflects priorities of Pope Francis
 Pope urges religious to uphold ‘the primacy of God’s love’
 Trial testimony: Pope sought quick exit from troubled London deal
 New papal decree for administration of Dicastery for Evangelization
 Online canon-law resource set back by copyright dispute
 2 Saskatoon Catholic schools vandalized
 Former Wyoming Catholic College CFO liable for over $17M
 Oakland diocese ‘giving strong consideration’ to bankruptcy
 Cardinal Dolan discusses Catholic revival in the Bronx
 Polish bishops defend St. John Paul II, form independent commission to investigate ‘full picture’ of archives
 USCCB president criticizes Germany’s Synodal Way
 Michigan adds LGBTQ protections to anti-discrimination law
 Utah governor signs bill banning all abortion clinics
 North Dakota Supreme Court blocks state pro-life law
 USCCB opposes Biden administration’s steep fee increase for religious worker visas
 Hesse’s leader discusses Ukraine, Synodal Way with Pontiff
 Vatican newspaper draws attention to Malawi, ‘a devastated country’

Released Thursday, Mar. 16

 Australian archbishop challenges ‘excessive’ abuse award
 Texas judge hears arguments in key abortion-pill case
 Pope welcomes Taiwanese Buddhists to ‘culture of encounter’
 Lebanese leader meets with Pope to discuss country’s crisis
 Watchdog group cites Pope’s failures on abuse
 German bishops tiptoe toward schism
 Waves of attacks displace Catholic natives in central Nigeria
 Facing hundreds of abuse claims, Albany diocese declares bankruptcy
 Police warn of potential Islamist attack on Vienna’s churches
 Another pope can take up priestly celibacy issue, says Francis
 Maryland bill to remove civil statute of limitations on abuse called ‘unfair’ to Church, other private groups
 Papal appeal for cyclone-hit Malawi
 Pope: Design of sacred architecture must flow from Church’s liturgy
 Papal message to Latin American congress on abuse prevention
 Texas bishop, Japanese feminist nun among 7 named to preparatory commission for October Synod of Bishops
 Pope appoints new Secretary of Dicastery for Evangelization
 ‘A country in ruins’: Vatican newspaper notes 12th anniversary of Syrian civil war

Released Wednesday, Mar. 15

 Sri Lanka: cardinal urges lawmakers to resign
 Pope widens Catholic divisions: New York Times columnist
 Haitian priest is kidnapped
 Pope speaks out against eviction of nuns in Ukraine
 Belgian bishop says Pope accepted policy allowing same-sex blessings
 All Christians must be evangelists, Pope tells audience
 Pope seen avoiding Argentina’s polarized politics
 Vatican tribunal refuses to dismiss lawsuit by former auditor
 Americans mostly favorable to Christian, Jewish faiths, poll shows
 Cardinal McElroy, in new interview, reflects on how Pope Francis has changed the Church
 Germany’s synodal way: How delegates voted and what’s next
 Covid order violated priest’s free exercise rights, Connecticut court rules
 African Catholics give cold reception to Pope’s call to decriminalize homosexuality
 Historic building near Vatican to become Four Seasons hotel
 National Catholic Prayer Breakfast speakers address attacks on human dignity
 Judge approves public release of Baltimore archdiocese sex abuse report with redactions
 President of refounded John Paul II Institute highlights shift in focus
 Pope to Grand Ayatollah: Christians and Muslims must be witnesses of truth and love

Released Tuesday, Mar. 14

 Vatican ‘foreign minister’ admits problems with China accord
 300 attacks on US Catholic churches since 2020
 Cardinal paid consultant for public-relations work, witness says
 20 years after US invasion, Iraq still suffers, prelate says
 Vatican seeking ceasefire in Ukraine, Cardinal Parolin reports
 New Orleans nun condemns ‘ironclad pro-life laws’
 Cardinal Collins reflects on his episcopate, euthanasia, and Canada’s Catholic schools
 Michigan legislature repeals 1931 criminal abortion ban
 Cardinal Dolan defends the unborn, large families, police; criticizes dissent from Church teaching
 Papal reflection on Samaritan woman’s thirst
 Papal encouragement for Church in Spain’s mission outreach efforts
 Pope reflects on women’s capacity for care
 Grand Imam of Al-Azhar pays tribute to papal efforts to build bridges, promote peace
 Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew praises Pope’s priorities and prudence
 Vatican coverage of 10th anniversary of papal election
 Pope, cardinals concelebrate Mass for papal anniversary

Released Monday, Mar. 13

 British chaplain dismissed for answering questions on Christian marriage
 Virginia judge: treat frozen embryos as ‘goods or chattels’
 Spanish bishop bars EWTN
 Feminists vandalize at least 5 Latin American cathedrals, basilicas on International Women’s Day
 Moscow Patriarch appeals to Pope to help stop eviction of monks from Ukraine
 Santa Rosa diocese to file for bankruptcy in wake of nearly 200 sex abuse suits
 Cardinal Czerny calls on universities to become incubators of radical ecological action
 Polish bishops: New allegation that JPII covered up sex abuse based on reports from Communist secret police
 Catholic parish burglarized in Connecticut; hate speech painted on floor and wall
 Chile sees another arson attack on a church
 Women’s ordination, transgender ideology move forward at German Synodal Way
 In new interviews, Pope Francis discusses celibacy, war, and his 10 years
 Pope Francis: Gender ideology is ‘one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations’ today
 Nicaragua suspends Vatican ties after Pope says Ortega regime recalls Nazis, Communists

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Fri3 April
Lent

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

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"It is accomplished; and bowing his head he gave up his spirit." Today the whole Church mourns the death of our Savior. This is traditionally a day of sadness, spent in fasting and prayer. The title for this day varies in different parts of the world: "Holy Friday" for Latin nations, Slavs and…

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