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The US bishops on Tuesday opened registration to attend the first National Eucharistic Congress in 83 years. The National Eucharistic Congress will take place in Indianapolis July 17-21, 2024, and will be “a defining moment in our generation,” according to the website for the event. A five-day event of prayers, speakers, and liturgical celebrations, the congress will be the capstone of the bishops’ three-year National Eucharistic Revival campaign, which began June 19, 2022. The congress is expected to have a festival-like atmosphere, similar to World Youth Day, and will likely draw a crowd of 80,000 faithful. The decision to undertake the initiative followed a 2019 Pew survey that revealed that only 31% of Catholics believe that the Body and Blood of Christ are truly, really, and substantially present in the Eucharist.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253654/bishops-open-registration-for-first-national-eucharistic-congress-in-83-years

Michigan Catholics sought solace and support one day after three students were killed in a shooting on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. Two of the victims of Monday night’s shooting had ties to Detroit-area Catholic parishes. The three were killed after a 43-year-old gunman opened fire on campus, injuring five others before apparently taking his own life. The gunman had no known ties to the university, according to the newspaper, and a motive for the attack was still unknown. A Mass was offered Tuesday night at St. John Church and Student Center on MSU’s campus — about two blocks north of the February 13 incident — for the repose of the souls of those who died. In his homily, Father Peter Ludwig reminded the students gathered of God’s love for them in the midst of tragedy.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253653/understand-that-he-still-loves-you-catholics-mourn-victims-of-michigan-state-shooting

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Onesimus, a slave to Philemon, an influential man who had been converted by Saint Paul. Onesimus offended Philemon and fled in order to escape any sort of retribution. He then met Saint Paul while Paul was in a Roman prison. Shortly after, Onesimus was baptized. Later, as Saint Jerome and other fathers testify, he became an ardent preacher of the Gospel and succeeded Saint Timothy as bishop of Ephesus. His martyrdom occurred under Domitian in the year 90.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-onesimus-149

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The Vatican is joining the Italian government and NGOs in sending help to the suffering people of Turkey and Syria. According to Vatican News, Pope Francis has provided 10,000 thermal shirts for people who do not have adequate shelter in Turkey and Syria. The pope has also sent financial aid to Syria through the country’s apostolic nunciature, Vatican almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski told Vatican News. Boxes of thermal shirts took sail from the port of Naples, Italy, on the morning of February 15, together with other aid from NGOs and the Italian government. The shirts were brought to the southern port city on the evening of February 14 by Krajewski. The shirts and other supplies are expected to arrive in Turkey’s port city of Iskenderun in two days. The small city was one of those heavily damaged by the February 6 earthquakes believed to have killed more than 41,000 people in the region — a death toll that rises daily as rescuers continue to search through building rubble.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253650/pope-francis-contributes-to-earthquake-relief-efforts-in-syria-and-turkey

The beatification date has been announced for Józef and Wiktoria Ulma and their seven children, who were killed by the Nazis for hiding a Jewish family in their home in Poland. The Archdiocese of Przemyska announced Tuesday that the entire Ulma family — including one unborn child — will be beatified on September 10. Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, will preside over the beatification ceremony in Markowa, the village in southeast Poland where the Ulma family was executed in 1944. Pope Francis recognized the martyrdom of the couple and their children in a decree signed in December. The World Holocaust Remembrance Center has honored the Ulmas as Righteous Among the Nations for the sacrifice of their lives.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253649/beatification-date-announced-for-married-couple-with-seven-children-martyred-by-nazis

Airline workers and travelers flying through the busiest airport in the world can now spend time in the real presence of Christ thanks to the efforts of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport’s chaplains and the cooperation of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Located in the international terminal, the eucharistic chapel will be a permanent fixture at the airport and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. After receiving approval from the archbishop, the tabernacle was installed in November of last year. But because only travelers and airline workers can get past security to access the chapel, the archbishop was not able to officially bless it until this Monday, shortly before his flight departed.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253646/atlanta-airport-gets-a-247-eucharistic-chapel

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Claude de la Colombiere, the 17th century French Jesuit who authenticated and wrote about Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque's visions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-claude-de-la-colombiere-148

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The Diocese of San Juan de Los Lagos in Jalisco state, Mexico, mourned the February 10 shooting death of one of its priests, Father Juan Angulo Fonseca. According to the Mexican newspaper El Financiero, the 53-year-old priest was shot from behind with two blasts of a shotgun. The homicide occurred in the Atotonilco el Alto district of the state of Jalisco. According to the initial investigation, the murder was apparently due to a dispute over land. The priest had been working since 2017 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in the town of Valle de Guadalupe.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253627/priest-shot-to-death-in-mexico

The chief law enforcement officers from 20 states signed a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland condemning a since-retracted “anti-Catholic” leaked internal memorandum produced by the FBI’s Richmond field office. Published February 8, the memo discusses launching an investigation into “radical-traditionalist” Catholics because of possible ties to “the far-right white nationalist movement.” The FBI confirmed to CNA on February 9 that the document came from its Richmond field office and issued a statement retracting it. The signers of the letter expressed their concerns with the agency’s expressed intention to initiate investigations within churches that offer the Latin Mass and within “radical-traditionalist” Catholic online communities, as stated in the memo.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253631/20-state-ags-call-for-investigation-into-fbis-anti-catholic-memo

Today, the Church celebrates Saints Cyril and Methodius. Together they are the patron saints of Europe.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/sts-cyril-and-methodius-147

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-valentine-738

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Pope Francis prayed Sunday for the people of Turkey and Syria who are suffering after devastating earthquakes killed more than 28,000 people. “Dear brothers and sisters, let us continue to be close with prayer and concrete support to the earthquake victims in Syria and Turkey,” the pope said in his Angelus address on February 12. Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace, Pope Francis described how he was moved by the images of pain and suffering from the catastrophe that he saw on television and urged people to “pray and think of what we can do for them.” The pope spoke as rescue efforts continued over the weekend with rescuers pulling more than a dozen survivors out of the rubble on Saturday. Catholic charities are working to respond to the disaster by providing shelter, food, and other humanitarian aid.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253621/pope-francis-urges-support-for-earthquake-victims-in-turkey-and-syria

Pope Francis entrusted Nicaragua to the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary on Sunday after Bishop Rolando Álvarez was sentenced to 26 years in prison by Daniel Ortega’s dictatorship. “The news from Nicaragua has grieved me a great deal, and I cannot but remember with concern Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa, whom I care about deeply,” the pope said on February 12. Speaking at the end of his Angelus address, Pope Francis said that he was also praying for the 222 Nicaraguan political prisoners who were deported to the United States and “for all those who are suffering in that dear nation.” Bishop Álvarez, an outspoken critic of Ortega’s regime, was charged with being a “traitor of the homeland” on February 10. Ortega’s government has in recent years detained, imprisoned, and likely tortured numerous Catholic leaders, including at least one bishop and several priests. His government has also taken action to repress Catholic radio and television stations, and driven Catholic religious orders, including the Missionaries of Charity, from the country.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253622/pope-francis-asks-virgin-mary-to-intercede-for-nicaragua-after-bishop-sentenced-to-26-years-in-prison

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Catherine de Ricci. Born to an ancient Tuscan family, she received the religious veil in the convent of Dominicanesses at Prat, in Tuscany in the year 1535 at fourteen years of age. She experienced the sufferings of Christ’s passion for about two years. Her reputation for extraordinary sanctity and prudence drew her many visits from a great number of bishops, princes, and cardinals. She was canonized in 1746.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-catherine-de-ricci-146

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A little more than a third of Catholic parents say it is extremely or very important for their children to grow up to have religious beliefs similar to their own, according to a recent Pew Research Center report. In the study released last month and expounded further in a February 6 article, 35% of Catholic parents with children under 18 said it is extremely or very important for their children to grow up to share their religious beliefs. A crucial note to the study is that parents who attend services weekly or more were more than three times as likely to say having their children share their beliefs is important, 76% versus 21%, Pew said. In total, 65% of Catholics said it was either extremely, very, or somewhat important for their children to hold their Catholic beliefs as adults. Thirty-four percent of Catholics said it was not too important or not important at all. Hispanic Catholics answered with slightly more enthusiasm with 39% saying it was extremely or very important that their children grow up to share their religious beliefs, while white and non-Hispanic Catholics registered at 29%. Catholics recorded among the lowest enthusiasm for passing their religion to their children of any Christian denomination in the survey. An even lower 29% of white non-evangelical Protestants said it is extremely or very important for their children to share their religious beliefs.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253602/1-in-3-catholic-parents-strongly-believe-their-children-should-be-catholic-survey-finds

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Scholastica, a nun who was the twin sister of Saint Benedict, the "father of monasticism" in Western Europe. The siblings were born around 480 to a Roman noble family in Nursia, Italy. Scholastica seems to have devoted herself to God from her earliest youth, as the account of Benedict's life by Pope Gregory the Great mentions that his sister was "dedicated from her infancy to Our Lord."

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-scholastica-143

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts.

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A little more than a third of Catholic parents say it is extremely or very important for their children to grow up to have religious beliefs similar to their own, according to a recent Pew Research Center report. In the study released last month and expounded further in a February 6 article, 35% of Catholic parents with children under 18 said it is extremely or very important for their children to grow up to share their religious beliefs. A crucial note to the study is that parents who attend services weekly or more were more than three times as likely to say having their children share their beliefs is important, 76% versus 21%, Pew said. In total, 65% of Catholics said it was either extremely, very, or somewhat important for their children to hold their Catholic beliefs as adults. Thirty-four percent of Catholics said it was not too important or not important at all. Hispanic Catholics answered with slightly more enthusiasm with 39% saying it was extremely or very important that their children grow up to share their religious beliefs, while white and non-Hispanic Catholics registered at 29%. Catholics recorded among the lowest enthusiasm for passing their religion to their children of any Christian denomination in the survey. An even lower 29% of white non-evangelical Protestants said it is extremely or very important for their children to share their religious beliefs.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253602/1-in-3-catholic-parents-strongly-believe-their-children-should-be-catholic-survey-finds

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Scholastica, a nun who was the twin sister of Saint Benedict, the "father of monasticism" in Western Europe. The siblings were born around 480 to a Roman noble family in Nursia, Italy. Scholastica seems to have devoted herself to God from her earliest youth, as the account of Benedict's life by Pope Gregory the Great mentions that his sister was "dedicated from her infancy to Our Lord."

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-scholastica-143

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

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The Claretian Missionaries’ Independent Delegation for the Antilles reported that on February 7 one of its priests was kidnapped in Haiti. Father Antoine Macaire Christian Noah was abducted in the morning when he was going to his missionary community in Kazal, about 20 miles north of Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital. The kidnappers have contacted “the superior of his missionary community asking for money in exchange for his release,” according to the Claretians. Macaire is originally from Cameroon and has been the parochial vicar at Saint Michael the Archangel Parish in Kazal for one year. In recent months, armed gangs have gained significant control over the country in Haiti and also are attacking Catholic schools and hospitals.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253591/priest-kidnapped-in-haiti-captors-demand-ransom

Three prominent Christian leaders in Syria issued a joint letter Tuesday calling for an end to sanctions against Syria, which they say are unjustly preventing vital aid from reaching the people most affected by the devastating earthquake that struck the region earlier this week. The February 7 letter was signed by the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Youssef the first, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem the second, and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch John the tenth. They wrote: “We, the three patriarchs with the heads of churches in Syria, demand from the United Nations and the countries imposing sanctions on Syria to lift the embargo and unjust sanctions imposed on the Syrian people, and to take exceptional measures and immediate initiatives to secure the delivery of the much-needed relief and humanitarian aid.” According to the latest available estimates as of midday Wednesday, the 7.8-magnitude quake ​​has left at least 11,600 people dead in Turkey and Syria. Many international Catholic aid agencies, such as Caritas, Catholic Relief Services, and Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) are soliciting donations, mobilizing resources, and coordinating relief efforts.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253590/christian-leaders-in-syria-call-for-an-end-to-unjust-sanctions-that-they-say-hamper-aid-to-the-needy

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) announced Monday that it is switching its fixed-date religious celebrations to match the Gregorian calendar used by the Church in the West. Ukrainian Catholics have been among the few remaining sects under the papacy to celebrate holidays according to the Julian calendar, which celebrates Christmas on January 7 and Epiphany on January 19. The Russian Orthodox Church and other Eastern Churches under the Patriarchate of Moscow follow the Julian calendar. Now, Catholics in Ukraine will celebrate feasts on the same dates as Catholics in the US and other Western nations, meaning Christmas will be observed on December 25 and Epiphany on January 6. The change will take place at the beginning of the Ukrainian Catholic Church’s liturgical year, September 1, 2023.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253587/ukrainian-catholics-will-now-celebrate-christmas-on-dec-25

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Apollonia of Alexandria, a holy virgin who suffered martyrdom in Alexandria during a local uprising against the Christians in the early 3rd century.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-apollonia-of-alexandria-142

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts.

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During his 2023 State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Joe Biden called on Congress to codify Roe v Wade and pass legislation banning discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity. Codifying Roe v Wade would establish federal abortion laws that mirror the standards that were set under the now obsolete Roe v Wade decision. Such a law would prohibit states from banning abortion and would prevent certain state-level abortion restrictions. Although Biden is the nation’s second Catholic president, he remains at odds with American Catholic bishops and Catholic Church teaching.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253582/biden-calls-to-codify-roe-pass-equality-act-in-sotu-speech

Pope Francis concluded his public audience on Wednesday with a prayer for the intercession of the Virgin Mary for the thousands of victims of a deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria. “Let’s pray together so that these brothers and sisters can move forward from this tragedy. And we pray that Our Lady will protect them,” the pope said in the Vatican’s Paul the sixth Hall on February 8. He then led pilgrims at the event in praying a Hail Mary for all those affected. A series of large earthquakes in parts of Turkey and Syria February 6 created massive destruction and killed an estimated 9,600 people, according to the latest available estimates reported by Reuters early Wednesday morning.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253581/pope-francis-leads-hail-mary-for-victims-of-earthquake-in-turkey-and-syria

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Josephine Bakhita, a Canossian Sister who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Sudan.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-josephine-bakhita-680

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Pope Francis and local Church leaders on Monday reacted with dismay and calls for prayer following a devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria. According to Reuters, the series of earthquakes — up to 7.8 magnitude — killed about 5,400 people and injured thousands more, with many people still trapped under the rubble. A “deeply saddened” Pope Francis sent “heartfelt condolences to those who mourn their loss” in telegrams addressed to the apostolic nuncios of Turkey and Syria. Among the many victims, the body of Father Imad Daher, a priest of the Greek Melkite Catholic Parish of Our Lady, was found under the rubble — after many hours of searching for the priest.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253564/pope-francis-syriac-patriarch-call-for-prayers-after-devastating-earthquakes-in-turkey-and-syria

A crowd of military veterans, their families, and Boy Scouts filled a New Jersey parish church on Sunday to honor the “Four Chaplains” — a band of men of different faiths who all sacrificed their lives to save others on the torpedoed USAT Dorchester 80 years ago. The Four Chaplains — Father John P Washington, a Catholic priest; Reverend George L Fox, a Methodist minister; Rabbi Alexander D Goode; and Reverend Clark V Poling, a Reformed Church in America minister — gave their life jackets to save others when their ship was torpedoed in the frigid North Atlantic in 1943. The Mass commemorating the 80th anniversary of the chaplains’ sacrifice took place at St. Stephen’s Church in Kearney, New Jersey — the last parish where Washington served before being dispatched for war. Washington, Fox, Goode, and Poling, all first lieutenants, met in 1942, having been inspired to sign up as military chaplains after Pearl Harbor. Their vessel, the Dorchester, a troop ship bound for a US military base in Greenland, was struck by a U-boat torpedo in the early morning hours of February 3, 1943. Washington had celebrated Mass just hours before the hit and began to offer absolution. The chaplains calmly assisted and encouraged numerous civilians and soldiers, offering them their own life jackets as the terrified crowd sped to the lifeboats. In 1944, all four men posthumously received the Distinguished Service Cross and Purple Heart.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253569/the-four-chaplains-selfless-heroes-of-wwii-honored-for-sacrifice-80-years-ago

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Richard, the father of Saints Willibald, Winnebald, and Walburga.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-richard-140

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Pope Francis was greeted by cheers on Saturday as he arrived at a meeting with roughly 2,500 South Sudanese refugees. The meeting with internally displaced persons (IDPs) took place at Freedom Hall in South Sudan’s capital of Juba, where Pope Francis is undertaking a pilgrimage of peace from February 3-5. “You, from all your different ethnic groups, you who have suffered and are still suffering, you who do not want to respond to evil with more evil. You, who choose fraternity and forgiveness, are even now cultivating a better tomorrow,” he encouraged those present. South Sudan has the largest refugee crisis in Africa, with 2 million IDPs due to conflict, insecurity, and environmental challenges, the UN Refugee Agency reports. There are also more than 2 million South Sudanese refugees living in neighboring countries.

On Sunday, Pope Francis urged Christians in the war-torn African country to make “a decisive contribution to changing history” by refusing to repay evil with evil. More than 100,000 people attended the papal Mass in Juba held on the grounds of a mausoleum commemorating John Garang, a liberation leader known as the “father of South Sudan,” though he died in a helicopter crash before the newest African country gained its independence in 2011 and plunged into a brutal civil war two years later. Pope Francis underlined that South Sudan’s Christians are called to be “light that shines in the darkness” by living out the Beatitudes. In his homily, Pope Francis said that Christians are called to be “people capable of building good human relationships as a way of curbing the corruption of evil, the disease of division, the filth of fraudulent business dealings and the plague of injustice.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253556/pope-francis-meets-2500-refugees-in-south-sudan

Congress will begin investigating what Republicans call the “weaponization” of the federal government against pro-life advocates and Christians next Thursday, according to announcements from leading House members. A primary focus of the investigation will be the Biden administration’s targeting of pro-lifers through the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. In 2022 the Biden Justice Department prosecuted a record 26 pro-life advocates under the FACE Act. Meanwhile, last year saw nearly 100 attacks against pregnancy resource centers and churches that went largely unpunished.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253555/investigation-into-fbi-fed-agencies-targeting-of-pro-lifers-parents-to-begin-next-week

Today, the Church celebrates the 26 Martyrs of Nagasaki, a group of native Japanese Catholics and foreign missionaries who suffered death for their faith in the year 1597.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-paul-miki-and-companions-139