Catholic News

U-S bishops are in Baltimore this week for their annual fall meeting. This is their first in-person assembly since 2019. The bishops began their meeting today with a session that was closed to the media. It is believed the bishops will use that private session to have a frank exchange about a document on Eucharistic coherence. The document could have ramifications for pro-abortion Catholic politicians, including President Joe Biden, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The Diocese of Madison is defending its decision, to not host onsite COVID-19 vaccination clinics, at parishes and other diocesan entities. Some media outlets and Catholic personalities have characterized the decision as a condemnation of the vaccine. The diocese has said the decision was never about discouraging vaccination. Wisconsin bishops have encouraged Catholics to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Are you investing your life in the eternal things that really matter, or passing things, such as money, success, and appearance. Those were the questions posed by Pope Francis on Sunday, during his Angelus address in Rome. The pope reflected on scripture, which warns that this world will pass away, and only love will remain.

Today is the feast of Saint Albert the Great, a Doctor of the Church, and the patron saint of scientists.

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A Catholic parish in Houston held a prayer vigil this week for victims of a stampede at the Astroworld music festival. At least nine people died in the stampede, and hundreds were injured. A 9-year-old boy remains in a medically induced coma. A criminal investigation is underway.

A pro-life display at Saint Louis University was vandalized this week, shortly after it was set up. The display featured hundreds of small flags, in the shape of a cross. Each flag represented over 800 abortions performed last year, in the United States. Within hours, several young people began trampling the flags.

The archbishop of Sydney is calling on Catholics to speak out against euthanasia. The New South Wales parliament is debating a bill that would legalize euthanasia. The public inquiry period for the bill ends November 22nd.

Portugal’s bishops will create an independent commission to investigate clerical sexual abuse in the country. The bishops announced the decision this week, at the close of their plenary assembly in Fatima. Hundreds of Catholics sent a letter to the bishops ahead of the assembly, calling for an independent investigation into clerical abuse.

Today, the Roman Catholic Church and some Eastern Catholics remember Saint Josaphat. Josaphat was a bishop, monk, and martyr.

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Catholic bishops in Poland are calling for fervent prayer, for an end to the crisis at the country’s border with Belarus. Thousands of Middle Eastern migrants are gathered at Poland’s border with Belarus, seeking to enter Poland. Many of the migrants are fleeing violence in Belarus.

A cathedral in central Burma was reportedly struck by military artillery fire yesterday, during ongoing armed clashes between government and rebel forces. The city surrounding the cathedral was reportedly evacuated. This was the third artillery attack since a coup in February, by the Burmese military.

A priest in Cleveland was sentenced to life in prison this week, on convictions of sex trafficking of youths under 18, child pornography, and sexual exploitation of children. Father Robert McWilliams was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Cleveland in 2017. He was arrested in December 2019.

Today, the Church remembers Saint Martin of Tours. Martin was born around the year 316 in modern-day Hungary. He is remembered for abandoning his post in the Roman army to become a soldier of Christ, as a monk, and later, a bishop.

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The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday, in the case of a man seeking to pray with his pastor as he is executed. John Henry Ramirez was scheduled to be executed in September, in Texas. His execution was delayed, after the Supreme Court agreed to hear his case. Ramirez has requested to have a baptist pastor present with him, as he receives lethal injection. He has also requested that the pastor be able to lay hands on him as he is dying. He was told personal contact by his pastor would not be permitted.

Slovakia’s parliament is debating a bill that would increase support for pregnant women, in hopes of reducing the number of abortions in the country. The bill would extend the mandatory waiting period before an abortion, ban abortion advertising, and offer more financial support to new mothers. Abortion is legal in Slovakia up to twelve weeks.

Are you feeling discouraged or exhausted? Try calling on the Holy Spirit. That was the message of Pope Francis today, during his general audience in Rome. The pope recommended all Catholics carry a copy of the prayer that the Church recites on Pentecost, or simply pray, “Come, Holy Spirit, Come.”

Today the Church honors Pope Saint Leo the Great. The fifth-century pope is remembered for his involvement in the fourth ecumenical council, which helped prevent the spread of error concerning Christ’s divine and human natures.

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The Vatican’s liturgy chief has said that the Traditional Latin Mass was “abrogated by Pope Saint Paul VI.” Archbishop Arthur Roche made the comment in a letter dated August fourth to the English Cardinal Vincent Nichols. The prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments was replying to a letter from the cardinal dated July twenty eighth, regarding the application of Pope Francis’ motu proprio Traditionis custodes in England and Wales.

A married father of three from the Diocese of Lansing claims that Blessed Solanus Casey, the humble Capuchin friar and priest, visited him twice in hospital and hastened what he believes to be a miraculous recovery from COVID nineteen. The fifty two year old construction worker, Nolan Ostrowski, had been placed on a ventilator and was suffering from severe respiratory issues. One night, he saw a man sitting at the end of his bed. He said, quote, "he reached out and he touched my rib cage under my arm and then at the bottom of my rib cage. I remember kind of lifting my arm a little bit, but it was all very quick. And then he just stepped back a couple steps, and I felt like there was this ease that came over me and I felt very relaxed and comfortable. I knew I was saved.” That apparent visitation occurred on July thirtieth, the Feast of Blessed Solanus Casey.

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran. It marks the dedication of the cathedral church of Rome by Pope Sylvester I in 324. This church is the cathedra (or chair) of the bishop of Rome, who is the Pope.

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A child’s tip led police to arrest a Catholic youth leader in McLean, Virginia, on nine counts of aggravated sexual battery on November first. Antonio Pérez-Alcalá, seventy five, is accused of sexually assaulting minors while serving as a local leader for Secular Institute Stabat Mater, a program dedicated to the “formation of young people toward integrating the spiritual with the secular” through Ignatian spiritual exercises with Marian devotion. Authorities say he ran the group from his home until a child revealed to an adult that he was sexually assaulted by a leader there.

A student from Loyola Marymount University, a Catholic university in California, has restarted the school’s inactive prolife program after the university hosted a Planned Parenthood fundraiser on campus. Two days before the fundraiser took place, Megan Glaudini made the decision and also held a rosary rally before the Planned Parenthood event. The rosary rally pulled in over 20 people including faculty, Jesuit priests on campus, and students.

During his weekly Angelus, Pope Francis said the sacred things of our Catholic faith must be freed from their ties with money. In a reflection on the Gospel of the “widow’s mite”, the pope praised the woman for giving everything she had, without concern for how it would look to others.

Today the Church honors saint Elizabeth of the Trinity. She was born in France, became a discalced carmelite and died at the age of twenty six of Addison’s disease.

Federal authorities have filed additional child pornography charges against Father James Jackson. The priest was arrested last weekend, after investigators allegedly found hundreds of explicit sexual images on an external hard drive in his rectory office. He is a member of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, and pastor of a parish in Providence Rhode Island. He was previously pastor of a Traditional Latin Rite parish in Colorado.

Texans voted this week to prohibit the state from taking any action that would prohibit or limit religious services. The vote is widely considered to be a response to the closing of churches and religious services during the COVID pandemic.

Pope Francis will travel to Cyprus and Greece in early December. The four-day trip will include stops in Athens, Nicosia, and the Greek island of Lesbos. This will be the pope’s second trip to the island of Lesbos. The island is home to an infamous refugee camp that was damaged in a fire last year.

Today the Church honors Saints Elizabeth and Zachariah, the parents of John the Baptist. Elizabeth was a relative of Mary, but the exact biological relationship between them is unclear.

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A Catholic high school in San Francisco is defending its decision to host a pro-life speaker at an all-school assembly, after students at the school staged a walkout because of the speaker. Students reportedly began to exit the assembly about five minutes into the presentation. By the end of the walkout, only a few dozen of the school’s more than 800 students remained in the auditorium. Despite the walkout, the school’s president said the assembly was an opportunity for students to learn more about the dignity of human life.

Pope Francis celebrated Mass today for the repose of the souls of more than two hundred cardinals and bishops, who died in the past year. Seventeen cardinals, and 191 bishops and archbishops died in the past year. Last year’s Mass commemorated six cardinals, and 163 bishops and archbishops. The higher death rate of this year reflects the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Church’s leadership.

The pope has appointed a Franciscan sister to the second-ranking position in the government of the Vatican City State. Sister Raffaella Petrini is the first woman and non-clergy member to hold the position. The appointment makes her one of the highest-ranking women at the Vatican.

Today is the feast of Saint Charles Borromeo.

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The Supreme Court has declined to hear a case involving a Catholic hospital, that refused to perform a hysterectomy, on a woman who identifies as a transgender man. The hospital refused to perform the surgery on the grounds that the surgery would violate Catholic ethics, and directives from US bishops.

A draft text of the US bishops’ forthcoming document on Eucharistic coherence does not explicitly mention denying the sacrament to any Catholics. Instead, the document focuses on the importance of teaching about the Real Presence of the Eucharist, and the Eucharist as a tool for evangelization. It had been widely speculated that this document would address communion for President Joe Biden, a Catholic who supports abortion.

Twelve bishops in Mexico are reportedly under investigation for covering up the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults. The investigations are under the norms established by Pope Francis in his 2019 motu proprio, "Vos estis lux mundi."

The pope’s prayer intention this month is for people suffering from depression or burnout, that they might find the support they need. The pope said sadness, apathy and spiritual tiredness can sometimes dominate a person’s life. He encouraged Catholics to be close to those who are exhausted, or without hope.

Today is the feast of Saint Martin de Porres from Peru.

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The Supreme Court heard nearly three hours of oral arguments on Monday, in a pair of cases challenging an abortion ban in the state of Texas. The law restricts most abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, which typically happens at about six weeks gestation. The two challenges heard on Monday focus on the way the law is designed to be enforced, through private civil lawsuits, rather than by state officials. One of the challenges was brought to the court by the Biden administration.

A 28-year-old man was arrested Monday, after bringing a gun to a parish in Providence Rhode Island. The man threatened a priest and parishioners at a Monday evening Mass. It was the former parish of a recently arrested priest in Providence. Police have said the threat was related to the recent arrest of the former pastor.

Pope Francis prayed today before the tombs of deceased popes, in the crypt beneath Saint Peter’s Basilica. The pope visited the tombs after celebrating Mass for All Souls’ Day, at a military cemetery in Rome. Pope Francis also prayed before the tomb of Saint Peter.

Today is the feast of All Souls Day. The celebration is based on the doctrine that the faithful on earth can help souls trying to reach Heaven, by prayers, almsgiving, and the sacrifice of the Mass.