Stories for week of April 11, 2021

Ordered from most to least recent.

Released Friday, Apr. 16

 USCCB letter campaign urges abortion-free vaccines
 Scientists create embryos mixing human, monkey cells
 Vatican statement for Muslims at Ramadan: focus on hope
 Irish Church leaders meet with premier: ban on Mass not discussed
 Pennsylvania diocese launches ‘Year of the Real Presence’
 Haitian police fire tear gas at conclusion of Mass celebrated by 11 bishops
 Father Kapaun’s remains to return to Kansas, family says
 Kerala: 42-year-old nun found dead inside the well
 Nuncio to Filipinos: ‘Live your baptismal calling’
 Notre-Dame Cathedral ‘holding up’ 2 years after Paris fire
 Pope calls on every diocese to accompany popular movements for work, wages, and housing
 Missionary priest assesses US withdrawal from Afghanistan
 The Chinese government is ‘relentlessly suppressing’ the Church, priest warns
 Irish bishops: Further delay in resettling refugee children ‘appalling’
 Archbishop Gomez: ‘The Church is not a political party, and we are not activists’
 Pope Francis: ‘Brazil’s Covid crisis has left no one untouched’
 German Catholics plan huge blessing of same-sex unions on May 10
 German legislators consider ending state payments to churches
 ‘Look reality in the eye,’ nuncio tells Mexican bishops
 Accountability, transparency, due process still needed, abuse experts say
 As policies shift, Protestants and other faith groups join Catholics in helping immigrants at the border

Released Thursday, Apr. 15

 Vatican plans conference on holistic healing
 USCCB launches letter-writing campaign to pharmaceutical companies on vaccines and abortion
 French high court clears cardinal of abuse cover-up claims
 South Carolina diocese files suit over anti-Catholic Blaine amendment
 Sant’Egidio community, French government sign refugee agreement
 Europe’s Christian leaders celebrate 20th anniversary of the ‘Charta Oecumenica’
 In Ireland, Catholic, Protestant leaders call for unified political response to tensions
 Pope pays tribute to St. Teresa of Avila
 Haiti’s bishops demand release of kidnapping victims
 Belarus bishops silent on human rights abuses
 In South Korea, record low growth in Church membership amid pandemic
 Ban children and young people from extraordinary form of the Mass, Jesuit writer urges
 Cardinal Cupich, other Catholic leaders tell Harvard panel victims are ‘true north’ of anti-abuse fight
 Scottish bishops’ election statement emphasizes human life, dignity of the person
 New assisted suicide law threatens the disabled and mentally ill, Canadian bishops warn
 Ghana’s bishops deplore ritual killings
 Cardinal Parolin offers overview of Vatican’s Secretariat of State

Released Wednesday, Apr. 14

 Pope Francis reflects on the Church as teacher of prayer
 Priests in Daunte Wright’s community urge Catholics to fight racism, police violence
 Police, DA’s office clashed amid Bishop Hart investigation, documents show
 7th Catholic peace activist sentenced to prison for nuclear base break-in
 New Jersey gubernatorial candidate faces criticism for anti-Catholic comments
 ‘Vaccine passports’ draw debate over medical necessity and ethics
 CRS praises Biden administration’s proposed boost to foreign assistance
 Scholar urges Catholics to have courage to speak out against Equality Act
 Cardinal Cupich pays tribute to Cardinal Bernardin’s 1992 plan to confront abuse
 Chaldean Patriarch, in Ramadan message, calls for removal of anti-Christian polemics from Iraqi textbooks
 Hebei closes nuns’ orphanage for the disabled
 German Catholics, Lutherans devote ecumenical week to end-of-life care
 Pontifical academy concerned about neo-populism
 Pope expresses closeness to victims of violence in southern Colombia
 Nigerian bishop builds mosque for displaced Muslims
 Myanmar military raids churches, temples
 El Paso bishop: Christianize the situation at the border—don’t politicize it
 Pandemic’s overarching failure is lack of cooperation, says Vatican health task force leader

Released Tuesday, Apr. 13

 Jimmy Lai urges journalists to seek justice in Hong Kong
 Italian magistrate orders arrest of suspect in Vatican real-estate scandal
 Minnesota bishop resigns after Vatican investigation
 Former Cincinnati auxiliary bishop who withheld abuse information named pastor of 2 parishes
 New book explores plague of abuse in Church’s new religious movements
 Colorado bishops: Sunday and holy day dispensation to be lifted on Pentecost Sunday
 Priest who leads elite Jesuit school is fired over sexual misconduct charges
 Tabernacle, Eucharist desecrated in Mexican chapel
 Archbishop Hebda encourages prayers, peace after police-involved traffic-stop death
 Australian bishops’ conference receives positive safeguarding audit
 Chaldean Patriarch calls for a ‘secular and civil’ Iraqi state
 In Faisalabad, 2 Christian nurses accused of blasphemy; 1 is injured
 Kenya’s bishops oppose plans to close massive refugee camps
 Catholic conservative candidate wins Ecuador’s presidential election
 Imo priest freed after one night in kidnappers’ den
 ‘We cannot wait any longer’: Venezuela’s bishops call on Maduro regime to vaccinate population
 Catholic Patriarch deplores sanctions against Syria
 US, India lead world in priestly ordinations
 Interfaith group asks Biden administration to step up reunification of border families
 Church in Malta concerned over push to legalize marijuana

Released Monday, Apr. 12

 Vatican symposium to study theology of priesthood
 Haitian priests, nuns among kidnap victims
 Shanghai pilgrimage cancelled, but amusement park is open
 London police ‘regret’ disrupting Good Friday liturgy
 +Cardinal Edward Cassidy, 96
 Supreme Court halts enforcement of California’s limits on in-home worship services
 The disciples received Jesus’ mercy and became merciful, Pope preaches on Divine Mercy Sunday
 Catholic nonprofit CEO arrested by FBI in fraud case
 Defrocked US priest revered in East Timor despite abuse accusations
 Catholic Charities director accuses Alex Jones of ‘staged confrontation’ over child migrant video
 Few signs of a Catholic ‘bump’ for Biden
 Bishop urges politicians to avoid ‘damaging politicization’ as unrest engulfs Belfast
 Warsaw Jewish Museum director calls on Polish Catholic university to take action against ‘blood libel’ priest
 Pope offers condolences following death of Prince Philip
 DR Congo’s bishops warn of ‘Islamization’ in east
 Cardinal Czerny calls for Eastertide conversion that could ‘eventually reverse the climate crisis’
 Bishops seek changes from Nigerian government
 Ireland’s bishops seek feedback on Synodal Pathway process
 Vatican Covid commission backs debt cancellation for African nations
 South Sudan’s leading prelate hopeful Pope will visit nation
 Holy See, Philippines mark 70 years of diplomatic relations

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Wed18 March
Lent

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent; Opt. Mem. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop

Image for Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent; Opt. Mem. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop

The first reading from Isaiah represents one of the most striking passages of the Bible that affirms the love of God for his people. It was a message of consolation addressed to the Jewish captives in Babylon promising them the joys of Messianic times. We are also captives and exiles because of our sins and human…

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