Catholic News

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After 72 hours in captivity, a Catholic priest and four other people who were kidnapped in the West African nation of Mali, have been released. The five kidnapping victims were dropped off on a roadside yesterday, and are reported to be in good health. Kidnappings have become common in Mali, especially since 2012, with militants seeking either to obtain ransom money or exert political pressure.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/248118/kidnappers-free-catholic-priest-and-four-others-in-mali

Leading U.S. bishops on Wednesday praised President Joe Biden for pledging 500 million COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries, and urged his administration to work with Catholic and other faith-based groups on vaccine distribution. Pope Francis, in his Easter message, called vaccines an “essential tool” to combat the pandemic, and asked the international community, “in a spirit of global responsibility,” to expedite vaccine distribution to poorer countries.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/248111/leading-us-bishops-praise-bidens-global-vaccine-pledge

Police in British Columbia, Canada are investigating two fires at Catholic Churches that happened earlier this week. Both churches served indigenous First Nations families, and there are concerns the fires could have been targeted attacks, either against the indigenous community, or against the Catholic Church itself. The local native chief said many Canadians are angry about recently discovered Mass graves outside a former Catholic-run residential school in the province.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/248122/police-investigate-after-two-catholic-churches-burn-on-british-columbia-tribal-lands

The Vatican’s new liturgy chief has recommended the practice of adoration to help increase awareness of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. Archbishop Arthur Roche likened the practice of adoration to radiotherapy for sinfulness.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/248119/adoration-is-like-radiotherapy-for-our-sinfulness-says-vaticans-new-liturgy-chief

Today the Church celebrates the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, preacher and relative and Jesus, who baptised and prepared people for Jesus’ coming. He was born to Zachary and Elizabeth, an elderly married couple. The Angel Gabriel had visited Zachary and told him that his wife would bear a child, even though she was already past the child-bearing age.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-john-the-baptist-515

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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A Catholic priest is among five people kidnapped on Monday in the West African nation of Mali. The group of Catholics were reportedly traveling to a funeral when the abduction took place. Mali is a predominantly Muslim country, and it has experienced a surge in violence involving both civilians and the military since 2012. Kidnappings have become common, with militants seeking either to obtain ransom money or exert political pressure.

The cardinal in charge of Saint Peter’s Basilica, has clarified details of a recent ban on the celebration of private Masses in the upper part of the basilica. The cardinal said requests to celebrate - instead of concelebrate - early morning Masses at Saint Peter’s may be allowed, depending on the group’s particular and legitimate needs. The new protocols were released in March, to the criticism of several cardinals including Joseph Zen, Robert Sarah, and Raymond Burke.

At his general audience today, Pope Francis warned against preachers who sow division and mistrust online. The pope said such preachers present themselves, not primarily to announce the Gospel of God, who loves man in Jesus Crucified and Risen, but to insist as true ‘keepers of the truth,’ ... what is the best way to be Christian. He said that these “new preachers” can be recognized by their “rigidity,” which contrasts with preaching the Gospel that makes us free and joyful.

The pope had an unusual guest at his general audience in Rome today: Spider-Man. The man inside the costume is a young Catholic Italian, who dresses up as the comic-book character to visit sick children in hospitals across the country. He gave Pope Francis a Spider-Man mask of his own. The man briefly met the pope, and he said the pope already knew who he was, and about his mission.

Today, the Church remembers Blessed Basil Hopko. He is considered one of the many priests and religious martyred by Communism. He died in 1976 of poor health, after he was imprisoned and tortured for a time for subversive activity.

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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The U.S. bishops are seeking to deepen “awareness” of the Eucharist with their new teaching document, the president of the U.S. bishops’ conference said on Monday. At their annual spring meeting last week, the U.S. bishops voted decisively to begin drafting a teaching document on the Eucharist. Such a document, while addressed to all Catholics, was needed to clarify the problems of Catholic public officials advocating policies contrary to Church teaching on grave moral issues.

Pope Francis has appointed 12 new members of the Vatican’s highest court, including Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark. The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura is one of three courts within the Holy See, and functions as a sort of Supreme Court, hearing appeals coming from the two other tribunals. The court’s new members were appointed for a term of five years.

There is no retirement from spreading the faith. Rather, the prayers of the elderly are needed by the Church and the world. Those were the words of Pope Francis in his message ahead of the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. The pope said elderly have a vocation to preserve their roots, to pass on the faith to the young and to care for the little ones. The World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly takes place annually on the fourth Sunday of July.

Today is the feast of Saint Thomas More. The lawyer, author and statesman was martyred for opposing King Henry VIII's plan to subordinate the Church to the English monarchy. Before the executioner, More said, “I die the king's good servant, but God's first.” St. Thomas More was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1886 and canonized in 1935 by Pope Piux XI. The Academy Award-winning film “A Man For All Seasons” portrayed the events that led to his martyrdom.

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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Dozens of Catholic members of Congress issued a statement on Friday, claiming that denial of Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians is a “weaponization of the Eucharist.” The statement was released hours after U-S bishops voted at their spring meeting to draft a document on the Eucharist. In the statement, sixty House Democrats claimed their Catholic faith influences their actions in Congress, and that denial of Communion for their support of legal abortion would be “contradictory.”

Inmates of a Rome prison met with Pope Francis this morning at the Vatican, before making a visit to the Vatican Museums. The group of around 20 prisoners met Pope Francis shortly before 9 a.m. at his residence, the Vatican said. The men are inmates of a low-security prison, located in Rome’s east suburb. The prison caters to those with addictive disorders and includes a treatment center and program for inmates with substance dependence.

Pope Francis has declared venerable a Frenchman who is known as one of the key founding fathers of the European Union. Robert Schuman dedicated much of his life to unifying Europe, including seeking peace and reconciliation with Germany after the second World War.

In his Angelus message this Sunday, Pope Francis offered a reminder that the Lord wants us to seek his presence in the trials and storms of life. How often do we remain fixated on problems, rather than going to the Lord and casting our concerns upon him, the pope asked. He encouraged Catholics to pray for the grace of a faith that never tires of seeking the Lord.

Today is the feast of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. Aloysius was born into a noble Italian family. At 18 he signed away his legal claim to his title and his family's lands and entered the Jesuits. He died shortly thereafter of the plague at the age of 23, having devotedly cared for plague victims in Rome in the outbreak of 1591. He was canonized in 1726 and is the patron saint of youth, AIDS patients and AIDS caregivers.

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 Supreme Court on Thursday, decided unanimously in favor of Catholic Social Services, in its lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia. The court ruled that the city violated the group’s free exercise of religion. In 2018, the city stopped partnering with the agency in its foster-care program, since Catholic Social Services would not certify same-sex couples as foster parents, on religious grounds.

U.S. bishops held extensive debate on Thursday, before voting on whether to draft a teaching document on the Eucharist, at their annual spring meeting held virtually this week. The text of a proposed Eucharistic document has not yet been drafted, but a proposed outline explained the Church’s Eucharistic teaching on a number of points, including the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, the importance of Sunday as a holy day, and the need for Catholics to live out the Church’s teaching in their lives after receiving Communion.

In a nearly unanimous vote, U.S. bishops have advanced the sainthood causes of two Americans. Father Joseph Verbis Lafleur was a World War II military chaplain, and Marinus Leonard LaRue, a merchant mariner who became a Benedictine monk.

Teachers in Ireland say they’re worried that bullies in schools are targeting practicing Catholics. The teachers shared their concerns at a parliamentary meeting this week. The teachers suggested bullying is driven by issues of identity, including faith and ethnicity. A 2016 census found that 78.3% of Ireland’s population identified as Catholic, the lowest level recorded.

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Osanna Andreasi. The saint was a Dominican tertiary. She spent her adult life serving the poor and sick. She was also a mystic and visionary, and bore the red marks of the stigmata.

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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The president of the US bishops made a passionate call for unity, in his address opening the bishops’ annual spring meeting. Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles said that only a Church that is united can heal brokenness, and challenge injustices. US bishops are meeting virtually through Friday, to deliberate and vote on several agenda items, including approving of two causes of canonization, approving a pastoral statement on marriage ministry, and authorizing statements on Native American ministry and the Eucharist in the life of the Church.

Two parishes in the Archdiocese of Vancouver were vandalized last weekend. Vandals wrote ‘release the records’, and ‘killers’, on the front door of one parish. At another, a pro-life memorial gravestone was knocked to the ground, while the stone on which it was standing has been broken. The incidents come shortly after the discovery of the remains of 215 indigenous children in unmarked graves at a Catholic-run residential school in Canada.

A group of young Catholics in Spain have launched a campaign of prayer and fasting, leading up to the day when a euthanasia and assisted suicide law goes into effect in Spain. Spain’s legislature passed a law legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide in March.

The Vatican is partnering in an event that will bring together scientists and religious leaders, ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. The event will take place in October at the Vatican. It was organized by the British and Italian Embassies to the Holy See. The Holy See’s secretary for Relations with States has said it is highly likely Pope Francis will attend the October meeting at the Vatican, given his commitment to the issue of climate change.

Today is the feast of Saint Albert Chmielowski. The Polish saint founded the Albertine Brothers and Sisters, and he was among those who inspired the vocation of the future Pope John Paul the Second.

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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The Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to reinstate a death sentence for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, for his role in the Boston Marathon bombings. The past three administrations have pushed for the federal death penalty for Tsarnaev. The Boston archdiocese has instead called for life in prison without parole.

Catholic bishops will consecrate the Middle East to the Holy Family on June 27. The consecration will take place during Mass, in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Catholic bishops throughout the Middle East will then celebrate an annual Mass for peace starting June 27.

Catholics should take courage in the fact that, even as Jesus was dying on the cross, his most agonizing moment on earth, he was praying for them. Those were the words of Pope Francis in his general audience today. The pope said that “even in the most painful of our sufferings, we are never alone.”

A street in the capital city of Burkina Faso has been renamed after Pope emeritus Benedict XVI. The country’s apostolic nunciature is located on the street. Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, with a population of 20 million people, around 19% of whom are baptized Catholics.

Today is the feast day of Saint John Francis Regis. The 17th-century French Jesuit is remembered for his zealous missionary work, and his care for the poor and marginalized. Although June 16 was established as his feast day, there are differing local and particular customs, including the Jesuits' celebration of his feast on July 2.

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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President Joe Biden’s attendance at early morning Mass with Pope Francis was nixed from an early plan for the first meeting of both leaders. A reliable Vatican source told CNA the Vatican nixed the Mass from a meeting proposal, after considering the impact that Biden receiving Holy Communion from the pope would have on the discussions US bishops will have at their Spring Meeting this week. Bishops will vote on creating a committee that would draft a document about Eucharistic coherence.

First Nation leaders are encouraging Canadian Catholics to skip Mass, in response to historic abuses at Catholic-run schools for Indigenous children. The remains of 215 Indigenous children were recently discovered in unmarked graves, at the site of a former Catholic-run boarding school in British Columbia. Since the discovery, there have been demands for Pope Francis to issue a formal apology. Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto said that a formal papal apology would require a papal trip to Canada, involving significant logistical difficulties.

A record number of abortions took place in England and Wales in 2020, according to new statistics. The figures, released June 10, showed that there were 210,860 abortions last year. That’s the highest number since the Abortion Act 1967 was introduced. A pro-life group said that the figure marked “a devastating surge” in abortions, after the government allowed women in England to complete medical abortions at home, in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Archdiocese of Paris launched a multimillion-dollar appeal Monday to restore the interior of Notre-Dame Cathedral, following the devastating fire in 2019. The archbishop of Paris hopes to reopen the cathedral in 2024.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Germaine Cousin. Germaine was a simple, pious girl, who lived in France in the late 1500s. She was born with a deformed right arm. She died at the age of 22. She was incorrupt.

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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The Texas supreme court, on Friday, rejected a defamation lawsuit against the Lubbock diocese. The suit was filed by a former deacon, who disputed the diocese listing him as “credibly accused” of abuse of a minor. The Texas supreme court ruled, that the First Amendment shields the internal management decisions of churches, from secular courts and governments.

A new Gallup poll reveals, for the first time in two decades of surveys, more Americans believe abortion is “morally acceptable” than “morally wrong.” 47% of people surveyed found abortion to be “morally acceptable,” which is the highest tally since the poll began in 2001. 46% of those surveyed, said that they believed abortion to be “morally wrong.”

Catholics in the English seaside town of St. Ives Cornwall, were surprised Sunday to find the President of the United States at Mass in their parish church. Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attended the 9 a.m. Mass at a parish in southwest England. They were in England for the G7 summit.

Pope Francis said today that “the very concept of democracy is jeopardized”, when the poor are marginalized, and treated as if they are to blame for their condition. The pope made his comments in his message for today’s World Day of the Poor.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. Aloysius was born into a noble Italian family. He received his first Communion from St. Charles Borromeo and studied under St. Robert Bellarmine. At 18, he signed away his legal claim to his title and his family's lands and entered the Jesuits. He died a few years later after caring for plague victims in Rome, in the outbreak of 1591. He is the patron saint of youth, AIDS patients, and AIDS caregivers.

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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After a lengthy legal battle, a secular group will be permitted to install a mock Nativity display at the Texas Capitol. The scene mimics the traditional Nativity scene. But instead of the Holy Family, it features the Statue of Liberty as the Blessed Mother, and the founding fathers surrounding the Bill of Rights in a manger.

The pope has named a new prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy. The 69-year-old bishop is the first Korean to lead a Vatican congregation. He succeeds an Italian Cardinal, who led the dicastery beginning in 2013. The dicastery oversees the world’s diocesan priests and deacons.

The Vatican issued a decree today, setting limits on the terms of leaders of international associations of the faithful, and new communities. The new decree limits the terms of office in the central governing body to a maximum of five years, with one person being able to hold positions at the international governing level for no more than 10 years consecutively.

Pope Francis Thursday urged a group of Italian seminarians to avoid rigidity, which he said lacks humanity, and encouraged them to ask God for the gift of docility. The pope spoke about the qualities of a good seminarian and priest, in a meeting with the students, rector, and formators of the Pius XI regional pontifical seminary, located in central Italy.

Today is the feast of Saint Barnabas. The apostle and missionary was among Christ's earliest followers, and was responsible for welcoming St. Paul into the Church.