Catholic News

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The Holy See’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, will head the Vatican’s delegation to the COP28 climate conference in place of Pope Francis, who continues to recover from an acute bronchial infection. The Vatican announced on Tuesday that it was canceling the 86-year-old pontiff’s trip to Dubai at the behest of his doctors. The pope has been struggling since last week with both a mild flu and lingering symptoms from that illness.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256154/cardinal-parolin-will-represent-pope-francis-at-climate-conference

Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of December is for people with disabilities. The Holy Father urged civil institutions to “support their projects through access to education, employment, and places where they can express their creativity.” The pope encouraged individuals to change “our mentality a little” and open “ourselves to the abilities and talents of these people who are differently abled, both in society as well as in the life of the Church.” He concluded with a prayer: “Let us pray that people with disabilities may be at the center of attention in society, and that institutions offer inclusion programs that enhance their active participation.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256134/this-is-pope-francis-prayer-intention-for-the-month-of-december

In what it called its “best and final” offer to survivors of abuse, the Diocese of Rockville Centre in New York on Monday proposed a plan that offers $200 million to approximately 600 survivors of abuse, the largest-ever settlement offer made in diocesan bankruptcy history.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256151/new-york-diocese-offers-200-dollars-million-to-abuse-victims-in-largest-ever-settlement-offer

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Edmund Campion. He was born in London on January 25, 1540. He joined the Jesuits and won many Catholic converts in England during a time when the faith was highly persecuted. On July 17, 1581, he was betrayed by one of the faithful who knew his whereabouts, and was thrown into prison. The queen offered him all manner of riches if he would forsake his loyalty to the Pope, but he refused. After spending some time in the Tower of London, he was sentenced to death by hanging, drawing and quartering. His martyrom in Tyburn on December 1, 1581 sparked off a wave of conversions to Catholicism. He was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-edmund-campion-404

The Church also celebrates Saint Eligius, a seventh-century bishop of Noyon-Tournai in France and Belgium. Eligius is the patron of goldsmiths, blacksmiths, and all metal workers. Taxi drivers have also put themselves under his protection.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-eligius-70

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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Pope Francis told health care professionals on Thursday that he has “very acute infectious bronchitis” and was advised not to travel to Dubai to avoid the extreme change in temperature. The Vatican on Wednesday had said Pope Francis’ health was stable as the Holy Father continues to receive treatment for ongoing lung inflammation stemming from a flu infection. Pope Francis has been struggling for several days with persistent symptoms following what the Vatican called a mild flu infection that developed last week. The Vatican announced on Tuesday that it had canceled the pope’s planned trip to Dubai this week due to his continuing struggles with lung inflammation. Francis had been scheduled to travel to Dubai to deliver a speech at the COP28 climate conference. Though he continues to struggle with the symptoms from the flu, the pope has kept up a somewhat regular schedule at the Vatican this week. Francis, who turns 87 next month, has experienced a number of medical setbacks in recent years. He has been hospitalized on more than one occasion, most recently in June for abdominal surgery.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256137/vatican-pope-s-health-stationary-treatment-continues-as-lung-inflammation-remains

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256142/pope-francis-says-he-has-very-acute-infectious-bronchitis

The pastoral center of Christ the King Cathedral in Loikaw, Myanmar, was bombed on November 26 and occupied by the Burmese military the next day. Though no one was killed in the bombing, the pastoral center’s ceiling collapsed and Bishop Celso Ba Shwe and the 80 refugees taking shelter in the church were forced to flee. The cathedral complex had been sheltering about 82 refugees from throughout Myanmar’s Kayah state, a region that has become a major battleground between the Burmese military junta and several rebel militias. Myanmar, which is bordered by India to the west and China to the east, is a majority Buddhist country that has large Catholic and Protestant minorities in some states. The country has been caught in a bloody civil war since 2021 after local militias united to oppose the military junta that had seized control of the government earlier that year. This is not the first time that Catholic churches and holy sites have been caught in the crossfire in the ongoing war. Catholic sites in Kayah state and in the Loikaw Diocese have been especially hard hit by military strikes.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256136/catholic-cathedral-complex-bombed-bishop-flees-with-refugees-in-worsening-myanmar-civil-war

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Andrew, apostle and martyr. A fisherman from Bethsaida and brother of Simon Peter, Andrew is said to have spread Christianity in Russia and Asia minor after Pentecost in the first century. He was crucified by the Romans in Greece on an X-shaped cross, which is now his distinctive symbol as well as the symbol of Scotland, of which he is the patron.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-andrew-apostle-403

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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Pope Francis will not attend the United Nations COP28 climate conference in Dubai this week due to his continuing struggles with lung inflammation stemming from influenza, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256124/vatican-cancels-pope-francis-trip-to-climate-conference-in-dubai-citing-ongoing-illness

Pope Francis has stripped one of his top American critics, Cardinal Raymond Burke, of his Vatican housing and salary privileges, the Associated Press has reported.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256120/pope-francis-reportedly-takes-apartment-salary-from-cardinal-burke

The Catholic child sponsorship charity Unbound announced Tuesday that Jonathan Roumie, the actor who portrays Jesus in “The Chosen” TV series, has partnered with them to sponsor their 1 millionth child currently living in poverty.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256122/catholic-actor-jonathan-roumie-partners-with-child-sponsorship-charity-for-special-milestone

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Saturninus, the first bishop of Toulouse, France. He was martyred by pagan priests.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-saturninus-68

The Church also celebrates the many Franciscan saints who followed in the footsteps of Saint Francis. It is a special day for all Franciscans to celebrate the feast of ‘All the Saints of the Seraphic Order.’

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/all-saints-of-the-seraphic-order-feast-733

Finally, the Church celebrates Blessed Denis of the Nativity and Blessed Redemptorus of the Cross. Blessed Denis was born in 1600 in Honfleur, France. He became a sailor at the age of twelve, and later on became the pilot-in-chief and cartographer of the courts of Portugal and France. In 1635 while he was in Goa, India, he took on the habit of a Discalced Carmelite Monk. Blessed Redemptorus of the Cross was born in Portugal at the end of the 16th century. He became a soldier, but later took on the habit of the Discalced Carmelites in 1615. Together, Denis and Redemptorus set out on mission to the king of Achin in the Malay archipelago. While on their way, they and their party were ambushed and tortured to death by Muslims on November 29, 1638. They were beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1900.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/blessed-denis-of-the-nativity-and-blessed-redemptorus-of-the-cross-402

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Pope Francis is being treated with antibiotics intravenously and has postponed some of his meetings this week as he recovers from a “mild flu,” according to the Vatican. Francis, who turns 87 next month, spent much of the past decade as pope in relatively good health but has dealt with several painful medical conditions over the last few years. To view a timeline charting Pope Francis’ recent health concerns, visit catholic news agency dot com.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251307/pope-francis-health-heres-a-timeline

Father Hans-Joachim Lohre, a member of the Society of the Missionaries of Africa (also known as the White Fathers) who was reportedly kidnapped in Bamako, the capital of Mali, has been set free. According to Agenzia Fides, the information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies, the German priest was released on Sunday, November 26. After being released and handed over to the Malian authorities following a negotiation that was reportedly done directly by the German government, Lohre was said to have been “flown to Germany overnight on a special flight.” Lohre was taken away as he was preparing to celebrate Mass in a church in the capital city of the West African nation. His car was found abandoned and the cross he always carried with him was on the ground near the car.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256111/german-missionary-priest-released-a-year-after-being-abducted-in-mali

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has condemned the vandalism of a pro-life organization’s headquarters in Rome perpetrated during a protest to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Demonstrators threw smoke bombs, smashed windows, and spray-painted pro-abotion graffiti on the “Pro Vita & Famiglia” association’s main office in Rome on Saturday night despite the presence of Italian police at the protest. The vandalism occurred as thousands took to the streets in Italy’s capital for a march protesting violence against women. Pro Vita & Famiglia (“Pro-Life and Family”) is an Italian nonprofit organization that helps organize Italy’s annual March for Life. The association’s headquarters were also vandalized during Rome’s LGBTQ Pride parade in June. The pro-life association said November 26 that an incendiary weapon was also found inside the office near the broken windows, which according to the initial findings of the police could have been an unexploded Molotov cocktail or a similar weapon.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256110/giorgia-meloni-condemns-vandalism-of-pro-life-center-in-rome

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Catherine Labouré, the humble member of the Daughters of Charity to whom Mary appeared, requesting that the Miraculous Medal be stamped so that all who wear it would receive great graces.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-catherine-laboure-401

The Church also celebrates Saint James of the Marches, a Franciscan priest in the 15th century who was known as an eloquent preacher. According to legend, he brought 50,000 heretics into the Church and led 200,000 nonbelievers to baptism.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-james-of-the-marches-67

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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Pope Francis’ lung inflammation has caused him some breathing difficulties, but his condition is stable and “clearly improving,” the Vatican said on Monday. The 86-year-old pope is being treated with antibiotics intravenously and is in “good and stable” condition without a fever, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told journalists. A CT scan at a Rome hospital over the weekend “ruled out pneumonia, but it showed lung inflammation causing some breathing difficulties,” Bruni said.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256109/pope-francis-health-stable-despite-breathing-difficulties-vatican-says

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256108/angelus-sunday-pope-francis-aid-flu

Pope Francis has added 11 new members to the Vatican office that focuses on the lay apostolate and family life, with two married couples and four figures affiliated with ecclesial movements highlighting the selections.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256107/pope-adds-married-couples-church-movement-reps-to-vatican-s-laity-and-family-office

This year, Catholics will be able to receive a plenary indulgence from December 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to February 2, 2024, the feast of the Presentation in the Temple of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by praying before a Nativity scene in a Franciscan church.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256087/catholics-can-receive-a-plenary-indulgence-by-praying-before-a-nativity-scene

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Francesco Antonio Fasani. Born as Giovanneillo in Lucera, Italy in 1681, he entered the Conventual Franciscans in 1695 and took the names of Saint Francis and Saint Anthony. He was a mystic, known for his deep prayer life and supernatural gifts, and was known to levitate while praying.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-francesco-antonio-fasani-66

The Church also celebrates Saint James Intercisus, a soldier and courtier to King Yezdigerd I of Persia in the early fifth century. After previously renouncing his faith out of fear, he went through a true, deep conversion, uniting and conforming himself to the living God. Wanting to make amends, he professed his faith before the new king and was condemned to death. He is the patron saint of lost vocations and torture victims.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-james-intercisus-400

Finally, the Church honors Saint Sechnall of Ireland. Born in 375, around the year 439 he was sent from Gaul to assist his uncle, Saint Patrick, in Ireland, together with Auxilius and Iserninus in thier missionary work there. He became the first bishop of Dunslaughlin in Meath, and then auxiliary bishop of Armagh. He wrote several hymns, notably the alphabetical hymn Audites, omnes amantes Deum (the oldest known Latin hymn written in Ireland) in honor of Patrick and the earliest Latin hymn in Ireland, and Sancti, venite, Christi corpus sumite.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-sechnall-of-ireland-697

Thank you for listening to Catholic News. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday today in the United States, there will not be a new Catholic News briefing until Monday, November 27th. As always, the latest news will still be available at www.catholicnewsagency.com. From all of us at Catholic News Agency, we wish you and your family a blessed Thanksgiving.

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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Pope Francis has expressed deep reservations about the direction of the Catholic Church in Germany, warning that concrete steps currently being taken “threaten” to undermine unity with the universal Church.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256068/breaking-pope-francis-intervenes-with-german-synodal-way

A French bishop has been charged with the attempted rape of an adult man that allegedly took place more than a decade ago. Bishop Georges Colomb of La Rochelle and Saintes was reportedly charged on Friday with the 2013 attempted rape of an adult man.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256073/french-bishop-charged-with-attempted-2013-rape-of-adult-man

A man calling himself “Father Martin” attempted to infiltrate several Texas parishes last month and reportedly succeeded in stealing several hundred dollars from one Houston parish, with the scam prompting a security warning from one of the state’s dioceses. On October 25, a person who identified himself as a visiting priest named “Father Martin” showed up at six different parishes in the Diocese of Dallas.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256075/texas-dioceses-targeted-by-scammer-impersonating-catholic-priest

A legislative council member from the pro-Beijing New People’s Party has criticized a joint petition signed by ten Catholic bishops, including three Americans, calling for the immediate release of pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256078/hong-kong-lawmaker-blasts-catholic-bishops-petition-for-release-of-jimmy-lai

Over 100 members of Congress are urging the Supreme Court to stop more than half of US abortions by ordering the FDA to revoke its abortion pill approval. The lawmakers are arguing that the FDA’s approval process for the abortion drug had many “irregularities” and the decision to approve them has “endangered women and girls.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256080/over-100-members-of-congress-urge-supreme-court-to-revoke-abortion-pill-approval

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Cecilia. Cecilia was an early Roman martyr, and is the patron of musicians and poets because according to tradition, she sang while being burned in an oven during her martyrdom.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-cecilia-61

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A religious sister in Pennsylvania died over the weekend after colliding head-on with another vehicle on the road as she was traveling to a reunion of women who participated in an annual discernment retreat known as Fiat. Sister Augustine Marie Molnar, 43, a member of the Sister Servants of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, was a middle school religion teacher at All Saints Catholic School in Cresson, Pennsylvania. She sometimes assisted in vocation work and was headed to Reading, Pennsylvania, in the Diocese of Allentown, to share her own vocation story. Sister Augustine Marie had taken temporary vows with the community and possibly would have made her perpetual profession of vows as early as March of next year. A funeral Mass will be held at 11:30 am on Monday, November 27. She will be buried at Saint Francis Xavier Parish Cemetery in Cresson.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256060/pennsylvania-religious-sister-dies-in-car-accident

An Ohio priest was sentenced to life in prison Friday after being convicted of multiple sexual abuse charges earlier this year. Parish priest Michael Zacharias was convicted on five counts of sex trafficking by a federal jury in the Northern District of Ohio in May. The priest had been arrested in 2020 on the charges, which included “coercion and enticement, sex trafficking of a minor, and sex trafficking of an adult by force, fraud, or coercion.” Upon learning of the abuse charges in 2020, Toledo Bishop Daniel Thomas placed Zacharias on immediate administrative leave, forbidding him from exercising public priestly ministry or presenting himself as a priest while the claims were being investigated. After his conviction earlier this year, the diocese said Zacharias’ case would “be presented to the Holy See, who will make the final judgment, which will lead to a determination of his status as a priest.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256059/ohio-priest-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-sex-trafficking

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commemorating the presentation of the Blessed Virgin as a child by her parents in the Temple in Jerusalem. The celebration of the Feast is first documented in the 11th century within the Byzantine Catholic Church. It was introduced into the Roman Catholic Church in the 15th century by Pope Gregory XI, then removed from the calendar by Pope Pius V in the mid 16th century.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/feast-of-the-presentation-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-60

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Pope Francis will meet with the families of Israelis being held hostage by Hamas at his next Wednesday general audience, and he will also meet separately with a group of Palestinians with relatives suffering in Gaza. Pope Francis has frequently prayed for peace in the Holy Land in his public audiences since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last month. He has also repeatedly called for the hostages being held by Hamas to be freed and for the protection and humanitarian support of civilians in Gaza. About 240 people are being held hostage by Hamas, according to the United Nations. Four hostages have been released so far and another was freed by Israeli forces in October.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256054/pope-francis-to-meet-with-families-of-israeli-hostages-and-palestinians-with-relatives-in-gaza

During the night of November 14–15, unidentified persons destroyed the altar and stole sacred vessels from the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in the Archdiocese of Rouen, France. According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, the prosecutor’s office confirmed that the Sacré-Coeur basilica was vandalized and that the unidentified persons also smashed a statue, although the Blessed Sacrament was not stolen. The authorities have not yet identified the vandals, but local police have already launched an investigation to find them.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256049/altar-vandalized-sacred-vessels-stolen-from-sacred-heart-basilica-in-france

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Bernward, who served as the thirteenth Bishop of Hildesheim, Germany during the middle of the tenth century. A man of extraordinary piety, he was deeply devoted to prayer as well as the practice of mortification, and his knowledge and practice of the arts were employed generously in the service of the Church.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-bernward-59

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With the National Eucharistic Congress just eight months away, the US bishops announced that scholarships and single-day and weekend passes will be available to make it possible for more Catholics to attend the event to be held next July in Indianapolis. As many as 80,000 Catholics are expected to attend the event from July 17–21, 2024, at Lucas Oil Stadium, home to the Indianapolis Colts. Almost 30,000 tickets have been sold for the full five-day congress, which has just released an updated schedule of events. A complete and detailed schedule will be available in January. The congress is the climax of the bishops’ three-year National Eucharistic Revival initiative, which was launched in part because of a Pew Research poll that suggested only one-third of adult Catholics in the US believe in the Church’s teaching on the Blessed Sacrament. Visit catholic news agency dot com for more information.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256033/national-eucharistic-congress-releases-schedule-offers-scholarships-and-weekend-passes

The US bishops will continue to highlight the threat of abortion as a “preeminent priority” in the introduction to a guide they’ll disseminate to Catholic voters ahead of the 2024 election. That designation, the source of debate among some bishops in recent years, was retained when the bishops voted overwhelmingly, 225-11, with seven abstentions, to approve a revised introduction to the guide, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” at their annual fall assembly Wednesday in Baltimore. The new introduction also lists euthanasia, gun violence, terrorism, the death penalty, and human trafficking as “other grave threats to life and dignity of the human person.” In a press conference after the vote, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, vice president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that while many issues are important, “not all issues are equal.” “We are called to stand in radical solidarity with women in difficult pregnancies and their unborn children and to provide them with the kind of support and services and public policies that they need,” he explained.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256025/us-bishops-approve-voting-guide-that-calls-abortion-preeminent-priority

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) this week called for an “immediate cessation of violence” in the Gaza Strip so that the humanitarian organization and other groups can deliver sorely needed supplies to civilians in the region. CRS does not have staff at Al-Shifa Hospital, where fighting has been taking place. But CRS is “supporting four churches in Gaza … which are serving as temporary shelter locations for thousands of people.” “There needs to be an immediate cessation of violence so that CRS and other groups can really bring in and establish a humanitarian operation for, really, the entire 2.4 million people in Gaza,” a CRS executive said this week.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256028/catholic-relief-services-calls-for-immediate-cessation-of-violence-in-gaza-to-allow-aid

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a medieval noblewoman who responded to personal tragedy by embracing Saint Francis' ideals of poverty and service. A patron of secular Franciscans, she is especially beloved to Germans, as well as the faithful of her native Hungary.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-elizabeth-of-hungary-56

The Church also celebrates Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus, who was elected bishop of Neocaesarea in present-day Turkey around 238. He was a much-sought-after arbiter for his wisdom and legal knowledge and ability. He is invoked against floods and earthquakes.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-gregory-thaumaturgus-692