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Pope Francis on Friday became the first pope to visit South Sudan — fulfilling a yearslong hope to carry out an ecumenical trip to the war-torn country. Pope Francis had spoken about the possibility of the trip as early as 2017, fewer than four years after the outbreak of civil war in 2013. He has personally intervened to send aid to the country and to encourage South Sudan’s leaders to reach a real and lasting peace agreement — including inviting President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his former rival Vice President Riek Machar for a retreat at the Vatican. The pope has called his February 3-5 visit to Juba, South Sudan’s capital, a “pilgrimage of peace.” His Anglican counterpart, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, along with the moderator of the Church of Scotland, Iain Greenshields, are visiting the newest African nation together.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253542/pope-francis-lands-in-south-sudan-fulfilling-yearslong-dream-of-visit-to-war-torn-country

As CVS and Walgreens continue to seek federal approval to sell an abortion drug, 20 attorneys general whose states restrict abortion warned the pharmacy chains against fulfilling mail orders within their states. Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the sale of mifepristone through pharmacies if the companies receive FDA certification. Walgreens and CVS are both seeking certification to sell the drug but have not yet received approval or begun to sell it. A coalition of 20 attorneys general sent letters to the companies, warning them they cannot sell the drug in their states. Explaining their concern, the state officials cite research published in 2015 that found that abortion-inducing drugs are nearly six times more likely to cause complications for women than surgical abortions. They also note that abortions performed away from medical professionals carry an added risk.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253538/20-attorneys-general-warn-cvs-walgreens-against-abortion-pills-in-their-states

Winona-Rochester Bishop Robert Barron called a newly passed Minnesota abortion bill that enshrines abortion rights into law “the worst kind of barbarism.” The bill, titled the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, enshrines a constitutional right to “reproductive freedom,” ensuring the right to abortion in Minnesota up to birth for any reason, as well as the right to contraception and sterilization. Pro-life advocates fiercely opposed the bill, as it gained national attention and underwent several hours of debate in the state Senate. The pro-life advocacy organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America called the legislation “the most extreme bill in the country.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253535/bishop-barron-says-minnesota-s-new-abortion-law-is-the-worst-kind-of-barbarism

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Blaise, a hard-working bishop dedicated to encouraging the spiritual and physical health of his people in Sebastea, Armenia.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-blaise-136

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To bring about peace, “prayer is the most powerful weapon there is,” Pope Francis told thousands of young adults and catechism teachers in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday. The meeting in Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa, the capital city of the DRC, took place on February 2, the third day of the pope’s visit to the central African country. On February 3, Francis will fly to Juba, South Sudan, for the second leg of his peace pilgrimage. Pope Francis on Thursday interacted with an enthusiastic crowd of around 65,000 young people and adults, some of whom traveled days to be present for the papal visit. During the second half of his speech, the pope was repeatedly drowned out by the energetic audience, which broke out in cheering, singing, and dancing despite the hot weather. The pope invited those present in the stadium to open and close their hands while meditating on whether they wanted to choose peace or violence.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253529/pope-francis-to-congolese-youth-prayer-is-your-secret-weapon-for-peace

President Joe Biden is wrong on taxpayer funding of abortion and wrong on Pope Francis’s view of it, the president of the US bishops conference said Wednesday. The president suggested Tuesday that neither the pope nor all Catholic bishops oppose public funding for abortion in the United States. Biden, a Catholic who supports legal and publicly funded abortion, made that assertion in a brief exchange with EWTN’s White House correspondent, Owen Jensen, on the White House lawn. On Wednesday, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), released a statement contradicting Biden’s comments. “As we are taught by Jesus, human life is sacred. God calls us to defend and nurture life from the moment a new human being is conceived. The Catholic Church has been clear and consistent in this teaching,” Broglio said. “The Catholic bishops of the United States are united in our commitment to life and will continue to work as one body in Christ to make abortion unthinkable.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253528/head-of-us-bishops-conference-contradicts-biden-s-claims-about-taxpayer-funded-abortions

Today, the Church celebrates the Presentation of the Lord in the Jewish temple. At the beginning of the eighth century, Pope Sergius inaugurated a candlelight procession; at the end of the same century the blessing and distribution of candles which continues to this day became part of the celebration, giving the feast its popular name: Candlemass.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/presentation-of-the-lord-427

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Pope Francis visited the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on Monday to entrust his upcoming trip to Africa to the Blessed Virgin Mary. And before departing on his flight to Africa on Tuesday morning, the pope met with a group of refugees and migrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan at the Vatican. Pope Francis landed Tuesday morning in the capital city of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country home to more than 52 million Catholics. It will be the first papal trip to Congo in 37 years, since John Paul II visited Kinshasa in 1985 when it was the capital of Zaire. Pope Francis will visit Kinshasa Jan 31-February 3 before traveling to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, February 3-5. Francis has called his visit to South Sudan “an ecumenical pilgrimage of peace.” The pope will travel together with the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the moderator of the Church of Scotland, Iain Greenshields.Pope Francis will be the first pope to visit South Sudan, the world’s newest country, which declared independence from the Republic of the Sudan in 2011.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253503/pope-francis-meets-with-refugees-from-congo-and-south-sudan-before-flight-to-africa

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253498/pope-francis-entrusts-trip-to-congo-and-south-sudan-to-blessed-virgin-mary

Pro-life activist Mark Houck was found not guilty Monday on federal assault charges stemming from a shoving incident outside a Philadelphia abortion clinic. Supporters of the Catholic father of seven children cried and hugged one another after the verdict was read in US District Court in Philadelphia. The fourty-eight year old Houck acknowledged that he twice pushed a volunteer escort outside a Planned Parenthood facility on October 13, 2021, though Houck maintained he did so because the clinic volunteer was verbally harassing Houck’s 12-year-old son. After local authorities declined to press charges, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) stepped in, dispatching a team of FBI agents to arrest Houck at gunpoint in front of his terrified wife and children. The morning raid on September 23, 2022, at the family’s home sparked outrage within pro-life circles and swift condemnation from many federal lawmakers, who blasted the FBI’s heavy-handed tactics and the Justice Department’s use of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. Though the 1993 federal law, known as the FACE Act, was written to also prosecute crimes at pro-life pregnancy facilities and places of worship, it has been used almost exclusively against pro-life activists. Houck was charged with two counts of violating the act and faced 11 years in federal prison if convicted. The verdict is a victory for pro-life advocates who rallied to Houck’s defense and a rebuke to the Biden administration’s Justice Department, which has pledged to aggressively enforce the FACE Act in the wake of last year’s US Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v Wade.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252380/fbi-raids-home-of-pro-life-leader-on-questionable-charges

Today, the Church celebrates Saint John Bosco, a 19th century Italian priest who reached out to young people to remedy their lack of education, opportunities, and faith.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-john-bosco-133

Pro-life activist Mark Houck was found not guilty Monday on federal assault charges stemming from a shoving incident outside a Philadelphia abortion clinic.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253477/breaking-mark-houck-cleared-of-face-act-charges-in-rebuke-to-justice-department

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Pope Francis appealed for peace in the Holy Land on Sunday, calling the recent spike in Israeli-Palestinian violence a “spiral of death” that accomplishes nothing. In his Sunday Angelus address on January 29, the pope expressed “great sorrow” for the death of Palestinians killed in an Israeli military raid as well as seven Israelis killed in a shooting outside of a synagogue in east Jerusalem. The pope spoke following a wave of violence in Israel and Palestine this week. On Friday night, seven Israelis were killed and three wounded in a shooting outside of a synagogue in east Jerusalem on the Jewish Sabbath, the deadliest attack on Israelis in 15 years, according to the Associated Press. The synagogue shooting occurred the day after an Israeli military raid in the West Bank killed nine Palestinians and another Palestinian man was shot by Israeli forces in al-Ram, north of Jerusalem.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253494/pope-francis-expresses-sorrow-over-spiral-of-death-in-the-holy-land

A compilation of new data by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University shows that Nigeria and Kenya have the highest proportion of Catholics who attend Mass weekly or more, with Nigeria as the clear leader. Ninety-four percent of Catholics in Nigeria say they attend Mass at least weekly. In Kenya, the figure was 73%, and in Lebanon it was 69%. The level of attendance in Nigeria is notably high given the high number of violent attacks against Christians across the country in recent years. But in 29 of the 36 countries examined, fewer than half of self-identified Catholics attend Sunday Mass. Countries with a higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita had lower levels of Mass attendance and vice versa. The researchers acknowledged that the use of self-reported Mass attendance numbers could inflate the figures slightly, meaning actual attendance numbers could be, in reality, slightly lower across the board.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253488/where-is-mass-attendance-highest-one-country-is-the-clear-leader

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Hyacintha of Mariscotti. Born of a noble family near Viterbo (Italy,) Hyacintha entered a local convent of sisters who followed the Third Order Rule. She eventually became very penitential in food and clothing, and was ready to do the most humble work in the convent. She developed a special devotion to the sufferings of Christ and by her penances became an inspiration to the sisters in her convent. The people loved her so much that her veil had to be replaced multiple times due to people clipping off pieces of it to keep for themselves. She was canonized in 1807.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-hyacintha-of-mariscotti-132

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A sacristan was killed and a priest wounded during a suspected terrorist attack Wednesday on two Catholic churches in Spain. According to police sources, the sacristan of the Church of Our Lady of La Palma was murdered and the pastor of St. Isidore Church was wounded. Both churches are in the city of Algeciras near the far southern end of the Iberian peninsula across the strait of Gibraltar from Morocco. The National Court has initiated the investigation as an alleged jihadist terror attack. In wake of the attacks, the mayor of Algeciras, José Ignacio Landaluce, decreed a day of official mourning, with flags at half staff on municipal buildings, and announced that a rally will be held in front of the city’s largest church. Various Spanish bishops condemned the attack and offered their condolences to the victims and their families.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253471/sacristan-killed-priest-wounded-in-terrorist-attacks-in-spain-bishops-condemn-violence

The Catholic bishops of Minnesota urged lawmakers to vote down a bill that would codify the right to abortion, proposing instead a slate of pro-family measures that they say will reduce demand for abortions. Minnesota’s HF 1, which has a companion bill in the state Senate, passed the House Jan. 19 by a narrow 69-65 vote. Abortion already is available in Minnesota throughout pregnancy for most reasons. The present bill — known as the Protect Reproductive Options Act — would codify into law a constitutional right to “reproductive freedom,” ensuring the right to abortion in Minnesota up to birth for any reason. Separate bills under consideration in Minnesota would remove parental notification requirements for minors procuring abortions as well as remove state protections for babies born alive after an abortion. The midwestern state’s Catholic bishops lamented the haste with which the bills were being advanced and implored lawmakers to “pause” and consider the broader implications. “When contemplating policy on any issue, we must consider all those who will be affected. In this case, that includes the mother, father, and most especially, the unborn child whose life is being taken,” Minnesota’s bishops said in a January 26 statement.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253469/minnesota-bishops-decry-bill-that-would-make-abortion-a-right

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Angela Merici, foundress of the Ursuline Sisters. She gathered around her a group of women who looked toward Angela as an inspirational leader and as a model of apostolic charity. In 1535, the Institute of Saint Ursula was formally recognized by the Pope and Angela was accorded the title of foundress. Angela Merici died on January 27, 1540, and was canonized in 1807.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-angela-merici-129

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The Department of Justice on Tuesday indicted two suspects accused of vandalizing three pro-life pregnancy centers in Florida in June 2022, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade. Pro-life pregnancy centers, also known as crisis pregnancy centers, provide free services and resources to pregnant women, including alternatives to abortion.The indictment against the two Floridians accuses them of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which is also known as the FACE Act. The indictment alleges that their actions amount to a conspiracy to prevent the employees from providing services. They could face up to 12 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and up to $350,000 in fines. CNA has independently tracked and confirmed nearly 60 attacks nationwide on pro-life pregnancy centers since May 2022.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253464/two-florida-residents-indicted-for-vandalizing-pro-life-pregnancy-centers

Pope Francis has offered his condolences after 11 people were killed in a shooting at a Los Angeles dance hall, one of two deadly mass shootings in California this week. The pope sent a condolence telegram to Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles on January 25 expressing his sadness and assuring his spiritual closeness to “those affected by this tragedy.” A gunman opened fire at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, California, on Saturday night amid celebrations of the Lunar New Year. It was the worst massacre in Los Angeles county history, according to the Associated Press. “His Holiness joins the entire community in commending the souls of those who died to almighty God’s loving mercy and he implores the divine gifts of healing and consolation upon the injured and bereaved,” the papal telegram said.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253458/pope-francis-offers-condolences-for-monterey-park-shooting

For the first time, Pope Francis has commented publicly about the scandal surrounding Father Marko Rupnik, denying that he intervened to help the famous Jesuit artist avoid punishment for the alleged sexual abuse of women in a religious community in Slovenia.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253454/pope-francis-i-had-nothing-to-do-with-father-marko-rupnik-case

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently warned that Japan’s birthrate — one of the lowest in the world — is not sustainable and that the ongoing population decline in the country poses an urgent risk to Japanese society. “Japan is standing on the verge of whether we can continue to function as a society,” Kishida said in Monday’s speech before the newly opened session of Parliament. Kishida, who took office in 2021, said he intends to launch a new government agency in April to support children and families. Kishida said he wants the government to double its spending on child-related programs. The prime minister noted that only 800,000 births were recorded in the country last year, a low figure that Japan was previously not projected to reach until 2030. It’s also the lowest figure recorded since Japan began compiling statistics on births in 1899.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253460/japanese-prime-minister-vows-to-take-action-on-declining-birthrate

Today, the Church celebrates the liturgical memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, close companions of the Apostle Paul and bishops of the Catholic Church in its earliest days. Both men received letters from Saint Paul, which are included in the New Testament.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/sts-timothy-and-titus-128

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A Catholic priest who blocked access to a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic could face up to one year in prison after being found guilty Monday of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, also known as the FACE Act. On the morning of July 7, 2022, Father Fidelis Moscinski, 52, a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, effectively shut down the Planned Parenthood of Greater New York clinic in Hempstead for about two hours using padlocks, chains, and his own body, according to the DOJ. On Monday, the court delivered a guilty verdict from the bench. Sentencing is scheduled for April 24. Moscinski has garnered media attention in recent years for his prayerful protests in the face of pro-abortion opposition and his work with the group Red Rose Rescue. Some members of the pro-life community commended Moscinski for his actions at the abortion clinic and criticized those who would put him behind bars.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253450/priest-found-guilty-of-blocking-entrance-to-abortion-clinic-faces-one-year-in-prison

In the wake of yet another mass shooting in California, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone released a statement Monday reminding people of the frailty of human life. “The recent shootings in Monterey Park and now in Half Moon Bay remind us of how fragile human life is, but also how precious human life is,” the archbishop said in the statement posted on the archdiocese’s website. “We must never take human life for granted. We must never take out our aggressions and our frustrations on others, especially in any form of violence.” Seven farmworkers were killed and one was critically injured after a gunman opened fire Monday afternoon at two separate nurseries in Half Moon Bay, California, about 30 miles south of San Francisco. The 67-year-old suspect, Chunli Zhao, is thought to have worked at one of the farms and is believed to have acted alone, NBC Bay Area news reported. He was taken into custody without incident later that afternoon.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253445/never-take-human-life-for-granted-archbishop-cordileone-says-after-second-mass-shooting

Today, the Church commemorates the conversion of St. Paul.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/conversion-of-st-paul-127

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Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez on Sunday offered prayers for victims of a Saturday shooting at a Monterey Park, California, ballroom dance studio. “We pray for those killed and injured in this shooting, we ask that God stay close to their families and loved ones,” the archbishop said in a statement released Sunday. “We pray for the wounded to be healed, and we ask that God give strength and guidance to the doctors and nurses who are caring for them.” Ten people were killed and at least 10 more were wounded after a gunman opened fire late Saturday night at Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park. Twenty minutes after the shooting, the 72-year-old suspect entered another nearby dance studio but was disarmed by two community members, the Los Angeles Times reported. The suspect then fled in a white cargo van. The shooting, one of the worst in Los Angeles County history, took place in the midst of a two-day Lunar New Year festival that attracted tens of thousands of participants to what is considered a core of the Southern California Chinese community, according to the Times.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253430/los-angeles-archbishop-prays-for-peace-in-our-hearts-after-shooting-at-dance-studio

The parliament of Pakistan moved this week to tighten its already far-reaching blasphemy laws, under which numerous Christians and other minorities have been prosecuted and subjected to mob violence, often for dubious charges of blasphemy against beliefs or figures associated with Islam. Insulting the Prophet Muhammad is already, at least on paper, a capital offense in Pakistan. Under the newest legal changes, those convicted of insulting the Prophet Muhammad’s wives, companions, or close relatives will now face 10 years in prison, a sentence that can be extended to life, along with a fine of 1 million rupees, or roughly $4,500, reported the New York Times. It also makes the charge of blasphemy an offense for which bail is not possible. Islam is the state religion of Pakistan, and blasphemy laws have been on the books in the country for more than a century, even before it became an independent nation. A notable escalation of the country’s blasphemy laws occurred in 1987 when the death sentence was made mandatory for some violations. One of the most famous cases in recent years was that of Asia Bibi, a Catholic woman who spent nearly a decade on death row after being accused of disparaging Islam. Numerous world leaders called for her immediate release, including Popes Benedict XVI and Francis. In October 2018, the Pakistani Supreme Court overturned her blasphemy conviction. She subsequently fled the country and reportedly still receives death threats.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253436/pakistan-tightens-its-already-far-reaching-blasphemy-laws

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Francis de Sales, the patron saint of writers and Christian unity whose role as a priest and bishop helped bring thousands of Protestants back to the Catholic Church.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-francis-de-sales-126

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At least 11 people, most of them Catholics, were killed January 19 when alleged Fulani herdsmen attacked a village near a refugee camp in Nigeria’s Makurdi Diocese, a diocesan official has reported. In an interview with ACI Africa, CNA’s sister news partner, Father Moses Aondover Iorapuu, the diocese’s vicar general, recounted the “horrifying” persecution that Catholics were subjected to during the attack. “The images of the attack are horrifying, and I keep saying that not even ISIS is capable of such brutality,” he said. “After killing, these guys decapitated some and took the parts away as proof to whoever is the sponsor.” Aondover said the attacks took place Thursday about 9 p.m. in a village near Makurdi, the Benue State capital, where there is a displaced persons camp. Nigeria has been experiencing insecurity since 2009 when Boko Haram’s insurgency began with the aim of turning the country into an Islamic state.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253420/priest-describes-horrifying-new-attack-on-catholics-in-nigeria-that-leaves-at-least-11-dead

As tens of thousands of pro-life activists marched to the Supreme Court on Friday for the annual March for Life, President Joe Biden issued a pro-abortion proclamation to commemorate the anniversary of the now-obsolete Roe v Wade decision. The president officially recognized January 22 as the 50th anniversary of Roe v Wade, saying the Supreme Court “got Roe right 50 years ago.” The decision, which was handed down on January 22, 1973, proclaimed abortion to be a constitutional right and barred states from enforcing most abortion restrictions. On June 24, the US Supreme Court fully reversed that decision and ruled that the constitution does not protect a right to have an abortion, returning the issue of abortion to the states to regulate as they see fit. Although Biden is the nation’s second Catholic president, his pro-abortion position is directly at odds with Church teaching.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253421/biden-commemorates-abortion-as-pro-lifers-march-in-washington

Pope Francis formally conferred the ministries of lector and catechist upon four men and six women from the Philippines, Mexico, Congo, Italy, and the UK on Sunday at a Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica. The ministries themselves have also been shaped by Pope Francis in recent years. The pope changed Church law in January 2021 so that women could be formally instituted to the lay ministries of lector and acolyte. Pope Francis established the ministry of catechist as an instituted, vocational service within the Catholic Church in May 2021. The ministry is for laypeople who have a particular call to serve the Catholic Church as a teacher of the faith. The ministry lasts for the entirety of life, regardless of whether the person is actively carrying out that activity during every part of his or her life.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253425/pope-francis-confers-lay-ministries-upon-ten-people-in-st-peter-s-basilica

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Ildephonsus, a seventh-century Archbishop of Toledo, who had a great devotion to the Virgin Mary. According to one account the Blessed Virgin appeared to him in person and presented him with a priestly vestment, to reward him for his zeal in honoring her.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-ildephonsus-125

The Church also honors Saint Marianne Cope, a German born ninteenth century sister who served as a teacher and principal in several schools in New York state and established two of the first hospitals in the central New York area: Saint Elizabeth Hospital in Utica and Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-marianne-cope-727