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Pope Francis met with Apple CEO Tim Cook at the Vatican on Monday morning. Cook heads up a company whose stock market value hit $3 trillion in June. He spoke privately with Pope Francis on Oct. 3, the eve of the feast day of the pope’s namesake, St. Francis of Assisi — known for embracing radical poverty. The technology executive has been in Italy since Sept. 28. He first traveled to Naples, where he launched the first Apple Developer Academy in Europe and received an honorary degree from the University of Naples Federico II. Pope Francis has often met with tech company executives in recent years. Elon Musk, the head of Tesla and SpaceX, posted a photo with the pope on Twitter in June.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252448/pope-francis-meets-apple-ceo-tim-cook-at-the-vatican

The European Court of Human Rights is set to rule in a landmark euthanasia case on Tuesday on whether Belgium wrongly allowed a woman to be euthanized by lethal injection on the grounds of “untreatable depression.” Tom Mortier is the son of Godelieva de Troyer, who died in 2012 after she had approached the country’s leading euthanasia advocate, who ultimately agreed to euthanize her despite being a cancer specialist. Before her death by euthanasia at age 64, neither her son nor any family member was consulted, according to a statement by the Christan legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF International). Mortier says that Belgium violated the European Convention on Human Rights for failing to adequately protect the right to life of his mother, who suffered severe mental difficulties and coped with depression throughout her life. Countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands have been at the forefront of offering euthanasia and assisted suicide, and doctors who personally object to the practice must still refer patients. Over 27,000 people have died from euthanasia in Belgium since it was legalized 20 years ago.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252447/europe-s-top-human-rights-court-to-rule-on-landmark-euthanasia-case

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Mother Théodore Guérin. A Frech Sister of Providence, Mother Théodore Guérin was sent to Indiana in 1840 to found a convent of the Sisters of Providence in the diocese of Vincennes. There she pioneered Catholic education, opened the first girls’ boarding school in Indiana, and fought against the anti-Catholicism prevalent in the day. She was well known for her heroic witness to faith, her hope, and her love of God.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-mother-theodore-guerin-382

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The Vatican confirmed Wednesday that Pope Francis will travel to the Kingdom of Bahrain, a Muslim island nation in the Persian Gulf, from November 3–6. The possibility of a papal trip to the Islamic monarchy was mentioned on the pope’s return flight from Kazakhstan on September 15. Bahrain, located to the east of Saudi Arabia and west of Qatar, has a population of 1.7 million people. The population is nearly 70% Muslim, with the majority belonging to the Shiite branch of Islam, the country’s state religion.

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Wenceslaus, a Central European ruler who died at the hands of his brother while seeking to strengthen the Catholic faith in his native Bohemia.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-wenceslaus-608

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A suspect was quickly arrested in the vandalism of a Denver-area Catholic pro-life medical clinic, Bella Health and Wellness. It is not clear whether the clinic was targeted for its pro-life Catholic mission, though the various graffiti included a reference to Satan and a stylized depiction of a devilish character. Bella is a nonprofit medical practice that operates in alignment with Catholic teaching.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252386/denver-area-pro-life-medical-practice-vandalized

Cardinal Joseph Zen and five others stood trial in Hong Kong on Monday for failing to properly register a fund to provide legal aid to pro-democracy protesters. The 90-year-old cardinal and retired bishop of Hong Kong arrived at the court in West Kowloon on September 26 using a cane to walk. He was arrested in May along with other democracy activists under Hong Kong’s strict national security law. In addition to Zen, who has been free on bail since early May, several others have been charged for failing to apply for local society registration for the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund between 2019 and 2021. The Vatican has remained mostly silent on Zen’s trial apart from issuing a statement after the cardinal’s arrest in May expressing “concern” and that it was “following the development of the situation with extreme attention.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252387/cardinal-zen-stands-trial-in-hong-kong

Today, the Church celebrates Saints Cosmas and Damian, twins born to Christian parents in Arabia, in the third century. They lived in the region around the border between modern day Turkey and Syria. They were physicians who were renowned for their skill as well as their refusal to charge for their services.In 287, they were captured and ordered to deny their faith in Christ. They refused and underwent a series of tortures, including Crucifixion, from which, miraculously, they remained unscathed. The torturers finally beheaded them both.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/sts-cosmas-and-damian-606

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In the aftermath of the fire that gutted a church in Cameroon, Bishop Aloysius Fondong of the Diocese of Mamfé entered the ruins to retrieve the Blessed Sacrament and found the sacred Hosts and the ciborium containing them to be intact. On the night of September 16, armed men set fire to Saint Mary’s church in the town of Nchang, located in the Diocese of Mamfé, and kidnapped five priests, a nun, and three lay people. The archbishop of Bamenda, Andrew Nkea Fuanya, said that the kidnappers have demanded a ransom. The prelate commented that there are groups that see the Church as an “easy target to make money.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252363/blessed-sacrament-found-intact-in-tabernacle-of-church-burned-by-armed-men-in-cameroon

President Joe Biden on Thursday appeared to erroneously suggest that the Catholic Church makes exceptions for rape and incest in its condemnation of abortion. Biden made the remarks at a fundraising event for the Democratic National Committee at a private home in New York City’s Central Park South neighborhood while discussing a Republican-backed congressional bill to ban abortions after 15 weeks into pregnancy. The president incorrectly said the bill has no exceptions for rape and incest. A White House spokesperson was not immediately available Thursday night to clarify what Biden meant. But any implication that the Catholic Church makes exceptions where abortion is concerned is incorrect. “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church states. “This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed as an ends or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252367/president-biden-catholic-church-abortion-teaching-exceptions

A priest along with the former parish administrator of a Catholic church in Florida funneled nearly $1.5 million in parishioners’ donations into a secret bank account for personal use, Vero Beach police said Tuesday.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252364/florida-priest-and-parish-administrator-embezzled-1-dollars-5-cents-million-from-parish-police-say

Today, the Church celebrates the Italian Franciscan priest Saint Pio of Petrelcina, better known as “Padre Pio” and known for his suffering, humility and miracles. Born Francesco Forgione, he joined the Franciscans in 1903. He took the new name Pio, a modernized Italian form of “Pius,” in honor of Pope Saint Pius the fifth. He made his solemn vows four years later, and received priestly ordination in the summer of 1910. Shortly after, he first received the Stigmata – Christ’s wounds, present in his own flesh. Against his own wishes, the friar’s reputation for holiness, and attending miracles, began to attract huge crowds. Some Church officials, however, denounced the priest and had him banned from public ministry in 1931. Pope Pius XI ended the ban two years later, and his successor Pius XII encouraged pilgrimages to Padre Pio’s friary. Known for patient suffering, fervent prayer, and compassionate spiritual guidance, Padre Pio also lent his efforts to the establishment of a major hospital, the “Home to Relieve Suffering.” Padre Pio died in 1968, and was declared a saint in 2002.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-pio-of-pietrelcina-603

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A Catholic church in Tangamandapio and seven other Catholic churches were damaged in the state of Michoacán by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck Mexico on Monday, September 19. The earthquake’s epicenter was 49 miles from the town of Coalcomán in the state of Michoacán. So far, two people have reportedly died. The earthquake, which was felt in other parts of the country such as Mexico City, occurred on the anniversary of two other major earthquakes in 1985 and 2017, which claimed many lives.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252354/eight-churches-damaged-by-sept-19-earthquake-in-mexico

The vice president of the German bishops’ conference said Thursday he had thought about resigning after the publication of a report claiming he mishandled abuse cases, but that he had ultimately decided against it. A report published Sept. 20 said Bishop Franz-Josef Bode mishandled abuse cases in the Diocese of Osnabrück, in northwestern Germany, which he has led since 1995. The 71-year-old bishop has been vice president of the German bishops’ conference since 2017. He is also vice president of the German Synodal Way. He has publically supported women deacons and the development of a Church ceremony for blessing same-sex unions.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252357/german-bishop-says-he-will-not-resign-after-report-he-mishandled-abuse-cases

After the pro-life pregnancy center he runs outside Buffalo was firebombed and vandalized on June 7, James Harden gave investigators video-surveillance footage of the attack, along with what he described as a “mountain of other evidence.” Harden said that he has asked both the FBI and local police for access to the footage so he can make a copy of it, to no avail. The police showed him still images taken from the video, he said, but would not give him access to the footage itself. So on Tuesday CompassCare filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order the police department to provide CompassCare with a copy of the footage. The legal action is the latest manifestation of mounting frustration about what some see as a lackluster response by the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies to the wave of violent attacks on pro-life groups and Catholic churches across the US since an early draft of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade was leaked on May 2.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252352/pregnancy-clinic-firebombed-janes-revenge-no-arrests

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Maurice, a member of the Theban Legion, a Roman legion said to have been constituted by Christian soldiers from Africa, which was called to put down a revolt in Aaunum, located in modern day Switzerland, in the year 287. Two legends exist about the martyrdom of Saint Maurice and his companions. According to the legends, the legion's soldiers were either ordered to take part in pagan sacrifices, or ordered to harass and kill some local Christians. In either event, the 6,600 men of Maurice's legion refused. In punishment for their disobedience, every tenth man in the legion was killed. When the remaining soldiers, fortified by Saint Maurice, still refused other legions were called in to force them to follow their orders. Persisting in their refusal, they were all massacred.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-maurice-and-companions-602

The Church also celebrates Saint Thomas of Villanova, a 16th century Spanish Augustinian monk and archbishop who lived a life of austerity in order to provide for the spiritual and material needs of his people.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-thomas-of-villanova-710

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Pope Francis has called on Christians to support communities in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico devastated by Hurricane Fiona. The pope expressed his solidarity with all affected by the category 3 hurricane in a telegram sent on September 21 to bishops in the Caribbean countries. More than 1.3 million homes and businesses were left without power in Puerto Rico after the storm dumped 30 inches of rain, causing surging floodwaters, submerged homes, and damaged roads. Catholic Charities USA is currently coordinating distributions of food, water, and other essential items. Kim Burgo, vice president of Catholic Charities USA’s disaster operations, told CNA that many families are still recovering from Hurricane Maria, the 2017 storm that the government says caused $90 billion in damage in Puerto Rico.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252349/pope-francis-urges-support-for-hurricane-fiona-victims

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252344/catholic-charities-to-provide-aid-to-puerto-ricans-devastated-by-hurricane-fiona

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Sunday signed a bill into law that will allow the composting of human remains starting in 2027 — a bill that the state’s Catholic Conference had opposed. The process of human composting — also known as natural organic reduction (NOR) — is a relatively new phenomenon in the U.S. and is legal in a handful of other states. When a body is composted, it is placed in a reusable container where microbes and bacteria decompose it into soil over the course of 30–45 days. The state’s Catholic conference had expressed opposition to the bill in a June letter. Kathleen Domingo, executive director of the California Catholic Conference, said the use of a body composting method originally developed for farm animals creates an “unfortunate spiritual, emotional, and psychological distancing from the deceased.” In addition, she said, the process “reduces the human body to simply a disposable commodity.” The Catholic Church does not have an official teaching on the composting of human bodies but has weighed in many times over the years on the practice of cremation. While strongly discouraged, cremation can be permissible under certain restrictions; notably, the remains are not to be scattered and must be kept in a sacred place, out of reverence for the Church’s teaching on the eventual resurrection of the body.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252342/human-composting-california-bishops-raise-objections

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Matthew the Apostle. Although relatively little is known about the life of Saint Matthew, the account he wrote of Christ's ministry – traditionally considered to be the first of the four Gospels - is of inestimable value to the Church, particularly in its verification of Jesus as the Messiah.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-matthew-apostle-601

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A Vatican envoy in Ukraine prayed in silence at the recently discovered mass grave in Izium on Monday while forensic experts in white protective suits exhumed bodies, at least 146 so far. Cardinal Konrad Krajewski said during his visit to the grave site on September 19 that “seeing so many [dead] in one area is a difficult thing … to explain.” “The words of Sacred Scripture came to mind that evil must always be overcome with good,” he told Vatican News. It is the Polish cardinal’s fourth trip to Ukraine since the start of the war. Pope Francis sent the cardinal as his personal representative to “be with the people who are suffering.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252338/cardinal-konrad-krajewski-prays-at-mass-grave-in-ukraine

The Synod on Synodality has thus far demonstrated the “joys, hopes, and wounds” shared by members of the Church in the United States, according to a report on the process issued Monday. “These consultations express a deep desire for greater communion,” read the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Synthesis document, released September 19. The fruit of consultation in the Latin-rite dioceses in the U.S, as well as Catholic associations, organizations, and national ministries, the synthesis noted several themes: enduring wounds, especially those inflicted by the sexual abuse crisis; enhancing communion and participation in the life of the Church; ongoing formation for mission; and engaging discernment. According to the report, about 700,000 people participated in the diocesan phase of the synod in the U.S., out of 66.8 million Catholics in the country. The report can be read on the USCCB website.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252336/us-synod-synthesis-shows-desire-for-greater-communion

Today, the Church celebrates Saints Andrew Kim Taegon and Paul Chong Hasañg, who were leaders of the Catholic Church in Korea. Andrew Kim Taegon was born to Korean nobility, and his parents converted when he was 15-years old. He traveled over 1000 miles to study in a seminary and became the first native Korean priest. He was tortured and beheaded in 1846. Paul Choñg Hasang was a Korean Catholic lay leader who defended the faith before the government of Korea, and reunited the Christians in the midst of the persecutions, encouraging them to stay strong in the faith. In response to his direct appeals, the Pope, Gregory the tenth, confirmed the validity of the Korean Church and sent more priests to Korea. He was martyred in 1839.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/sts-andrew-kim-taegon-paul-chong-ha-600

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Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral is today, and many Catholics are praying for the repose of her soul, and for the new King, Charles III. The Catholic bishops of England and Wales have released statements, made comments, and issued pastoral letters about the death of Her Majesty. “Our prayer is that she is now received into the merciful presence of God, there to be reunited with her beloved Prince Philip. This is the promise of our faith, and our deep consolation,” Cardinal Vincent Nichols f Westminster said. “Even in my sorrow, shared with so many around the world, I am filled with an immense sense of gratitude for the gift to the world that has been the life of Queen Elizabeth II,” he said. The cardinal said on September 8 that the queen’s “Christian faith marked every day of her life and activity.” Together with many Catholics around the U.K. and the Commonwealth, the faithful in Westminster on September 11 also prayed for the queen’s son, King Charles III, as he took on the burdens of the royal office.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252329/catholic-prayers-for-queen-elizabeth-ii-and-the-new-king

Gunmen set a Catholic church on fire and kidnapped five priests, one religious sister, and two lay people in western Cameroon on September 16, where a civil war has been raging since 2017. The attack took place on Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in Nchang, Mamfe Diocese. Cameroon has been embroiled in a civil war known as the “Anglophone Crisis” in which armed separatists from the Anglophone regions of the country in the Northwest and Southwest have taken part in an uprising against government forces. Both sides have been accused of atrocities, including the murder and torture of civilians. About two-thirds of Cameroonians practice Christianity, while 25–30% are Muslim.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252326/catholic-church-burned-down-priests-and-religious-sister-kidnapped-in-cameroon

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Emily de Rodat, founder of the Religious Congregation of the Holy Family of Villefranche. The congregation was devoted to caring for the elderly, prisoners, and orphans, in addition to the schools for the poor. Some of the nuns were also contemplative and spent their time in prayer and adoration. She died of cancer at Villefranche on September 19, 1852. At the time of her death Saint Emily de Rodat had opened 38 charitable institutions.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-emily-de-rodat-599

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Speaking to priests, religious sisters, and missionaries living in Kazakhstan, where Catholics make up less than 1% of the population, Pope Francis on Thursday said that God’s power is made manifest when “we acknowledge our littleness.” “The Gospel says that being little, poor in spirit, is a blessing, a beatitude, and indeed the first of the beatitudes,” Pope Francis said in Nur-Sultan’s Cathedral of Our Lady Of Perpetual Help on September 15. Kazakhstan is a majority-Muslim country home to an ethnically diverse minority of Catholics — an estimated 125,000 out of the Central Asian country’s population of 19 million.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252297/pope-francis-tells-kazakhstan-s-small-catholic-community-being-little-is-a-blessing

Discussing on the flight from Kazakhstan to Italy on Thursday the moral degradation of the West, particularly concerning the advance of legal euthanasia, Pope Francis said the region has taken the wrong path and that killing should be left “to the animals.” Pressed on the problem of euthanasia, Pope Francis said: “To kill is not human, period. If you kill — with motivation yes — in the end you will kill more. It’s not human. Let’s leave killing to the animals.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252304/pope-francis-the-west-has-taken-the-wrong-paths

By a broad majority, members of the European Parliament on Thursday condemned the escalating repression against the Catholic Church and others in Nicaragua. The resolution, passed September 15, criticized the arbitrary “arrest of Bishop Rolando Álvarez” of Matagalpa and called “for his and others’ immediate and unconditional release and the annulment of all legal proceedings against them.” Pope Francis on Thursday called for dialogue, saying: “There have been talks with the government; there is dialogue. That doesn’t mean you approve of everything the government does or you disapprove of everything. It does not. There is dialogue and there is a need to solve problems.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252307/european-parliament-condemns-growing-repression-of-catholic-church-in-nicaragua-calls-for-release-of-bishop

Today, the Church celebrates Saints Cornelius and Cyprian, martyrs. Saint Cornelius was elected Pope in 251 during the persecutions of the Emperor Decius. Cornelius decreed that apostates must be welcomed back and insisted that they perform an adequate penance. In 253 Cornelius was exiled by the emperor Gallus and died of the hardships he endured in exile. Saint Cyprian of Carthage is second in importance only to the great Saint Augustine as a figure and Father of the African church. He was a close friend of Pope Cornelius, and supported him both against the anti-pope Novatian and in his views concerning the re-admittance of apostates into the Church. He was martyred during the persecutions of the emperor Valerian.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-cornelius-pope-martyr-and-st-cyprian-bishop-martyr-596

September 14, 2022 by Catholic News Agency