Catholic News

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Pope Francis opened two new laundromats for the homeless in the northern Italian city of Turin last week.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255912/pope-francis-opens-two-new-laundromats-for-the-homeless

Pope Francis is continuing to keep a full schedule even as the Holy Father said he was not feeling well during a meeting Monday morning with Jewish rabbis from Europe.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255920/pope-francis-keeps-busy-schedule-despite-feeling-not-well

The Diocese of Brooklyn announced Saturday that a local pastor who allowed a pop star to shoot a lewd music video in the church no longer has administrative oversight over the parish. Additionally, the diocese told CNA that Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan celebrated a Mass of reparation at the church on Saturday morning in response to the desecration.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255917/brooklyn-church-music-video-altar-desecrated-pastor-disciplined

A statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, including a cloth mantle, was left intact amid the devastation caused by Hurricane Otis, which struck the coastal city of Acapulco and other areas of the Mexican state of Guerrero last month with wind gusts of up to 200 miles per hour.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255914/our-lady-of-guadalupe-statue-untouched-by-hurricane-otis-destructive-winds-in-mexico

A lack of security is impoverishing the Church in Nigeria, the bishop of Nigeria’s Sokoto Diocese said this week, noting that in the northern part of the country alone, more than 30 million naira (about $37,200) has been spent to rescue Church personnel.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255909/nigerian-bishop-more-than-30-million-naira-spent-to-rescue-kidnapped-priests-seminarians

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Leonard of Noblac, a French hermit and monastery founder. Leonard had a great compassion for prisoners, and converted many and obtaining their release.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-leonard-of-noblac-45

The Church also celebrates the feast of Saint Jean-Théophane Vénard, a French missionary to Vietnam who was martyred for the faith. Saint Jean was born in France, became a priest in the Society of Foreign Missions, and was sent to Vietnam. Due to the persecutions of the anti-Christian emperor Minh-Menh, priests were forced to hide in the forest and live in caves. They were able to sneak out at night and minster to the people. Eventually someone betrayed Saint Jean, and he was arrested. During his trial, he refused to renounce his faith in order to save his life. He was condemned to death, and spent the last few weeks of his life locked in a cage. It was during his incarceration that he wrote many letters, some to his family. His most famous line is from a letter to his father in which he said, “We are all flowers planted on this earth, which God plucks in His own good time: some a little sooner, some a little later.” In reading these letters, Saint Therese the Little Flower came to understand and use the image of being a little flower, whom God nevertheless cared for and cultivated, despite her small size. Saint Jean was beheaded February 2, 1861.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-jean-theophane-venard-647

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Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan is “appalled” that a church there was used to shoot a provocative music video, the diocese said this week. The bishop said he will investigate why the more-than-100-year-old parish permitted the controversial video to be recorded on its property. A newly released music video by pop musician Sabrina Carpenter showed the American-born singer dancing provocatively on the altar at the historic 19th-century Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Brooklyn. “The parish did not follow diocesan policy regarding the filming on Church property, which includes a review of the scenes and script,” the diocese said, adding that Brennan “is taking this matter seriously and will be looking into it further.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255900/brooklyn-bishop-appalled-over-music-video-shot-in-catholic-church-will-investigate

FBI Director Christopher Wray this week said that the number of anti-religious attacks on Jewish people has increased in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war and is “wildly disproportionate,” considering the community’s minority status in the United States. The FBI director said the attacks were coming “from racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists,” including “ISIS-inspired violent extremists” and “foreign terrorist organizations, whether they be Sunni, like al-Qaida or ISIS, or Shia, like Hezbollah.” Wray said that “people — eyes and ears in the community” can play a role in alerting law enforcement to suspicious activity, “letting us know when they see something of concern so that law enforcement can take appropriate action.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255897/fbi-director-religious-hate-crimes-against-jewish-population-wildly-disproportionate

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Martin de Porres. The mixed-race Martin was born in Lima, Peru in 1579. became a third order Dominican, which meant he was a lay man associated with the order, living at the monastery. Though he longed to be a missionary, he was never afforded the opportunity. Martin's prayer life was intense, and he practiced many mortifications. He was known to levitate in ecstasy in front of the altar, but he also subjected himself to many severe penances. He was considered to be very wise, and many sought out his advice and intercession.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-martin-de-porres-644

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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Today is All Souls Day. Here’s the Catholic news you need to know.

The Catholic Church in Ukraine will face extermination if the Russian invasion is successful, leading Ukrainian Catholic bishops said this week.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255882/catholic-church-in-ukraine-facing-extermination-bishops-say

Pope Francis has called for a “paradigm shift” in Catholic theology that takes widespread engagement with contemporary science, culture, and people’s lived experience as an essential starting point.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255887/pope-francis-calls-for-paradigm-shift-in-theology-for-world-of-today

The Archdiocese of New Orleans has announced the “difficult and painful decision” to consolidate 11 parish communities, permanently close seven churches, and consolidate three territories in the coming months to ensure sustainability and vitality.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255883/new-orleans-parish-closures-mergers-consolidation

Leopoldo González González, archbishop of Acapulco, Mexico, expressed his closeness to those affected by Hurricane Otis in Mexico and called on the faithful to help the victims, noting that each person is “God’s provident hand” in working together with those most in need in the face of the emergency that began on October 25 when the hurricane made landfall.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255880/archbishop-of-acapulco-we-re-provident-hands-of-god-for-those-affected-by-hurricane-otis

Today, the Church marks All Souls Day. Today and throughout the month of November, the Church makes a special effort to remember, honor and pray for the dead, especially those in purgatory. Purgatory is a place where the souls go who die in friendship with God but are still imperfectly purified, and the Church teaches that souls in Purgatory rely on the prayers of souls still on Earth to relieve some of their temporal suffering and speed their journey to Heaven. There are many different cultural traditions around this period, but one of the most consistently honored is the practice of visiting cemeteries.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/all-souls-day-41

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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Today is a Holy Day of Obligation. Make sure to go to Mass today to celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints.

Pope Francis’ prayer intention of the month of November is for himself — the pope.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255877/this-is-pope-francis-prayer-intention-for-the-month-of-november

The US bishops recently renewed their call for peace in the Holy Land as the Israel-Hamas war moves toward its second month and the casualties of the conflict continue to grow.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255874/us-bishops-renew-call-for-peace-in-the-holy-land

The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy has agreed to review the mergers of two Archdiocese of Saint Louis parishes, which Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski had decreed in May as part of a major pastoral planning initiative affecting parishes and priests in the archdiocese. Rozanski received correspondence this week informing him that the dicastery has accepted petitions for recourse against decrees related to two parishes: Saint Elizabeth, Mother of John the Baptist Parish in Saint Louis, and Saints Philip and James Parish in River aux Vases, Missouri. Saint Elizabeth and Saints Philip and James were just two of several parishes with parishioners who sought recourse from the Vatican against Rozanski’s decrees, beginning this summer. There is no specific timeline for the Vatican’s review of the decrees, but a decision could take several months, the archdiocese said.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255876/vatican-agrees-to-review-the-closures-of-two-st-louis-parishes-amid-archdiocesan-restructuring

A judge in Kansas this week blocked several state-level pro-life laws there, claiming the measures are prohibited by the state’s constitution. District Judge K Christopher Jayaram said in his Monday ruling that portions of the “Woman’s Right to Know” Act and the state Medication Abortion “Reversal” Amendment would be subject to temporary injunctions pending a trial in June 2024 on the merits of a lawsuit against the state filed by Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. The group Kansans for Life said the judge’s ruling left Kansas women “even more vulnerable to a predatory abortion industry.” The state suffered a pro-life defeat last year when a pro-life ballot initiative to reverse the 2019 court ruling by amending the state’s constitution was defeated by a wide margin.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255879/kansas-judge-blocks-several-state-pro-life-laws-ahead-of-2024-trial

Today, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints. It was instituted to honor all of the saints, both known and unknown, and, according to Pope Urban IV, to supply any deficiencies in the faithful's celebration of saints' feasts during the year.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/all-saints-day-40

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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At the Vatican, Pope Francis will mark the first days of November, a holy and significant season, with prayer and two liturgies. On the solemnity of All Saints on November 1, Pope Francis will give a short address and lead the Angelus, a traditional Marian prayer, from a window overlooking Saint Peter’s Square at noon Rome time. Since All Saints’ Day falls on a Wednesday this year, Francis will not hold his usual weekly general audience. For All Souls’ Day on November 2, he will continue his recent custom of holding a Mass at a cemetery to pray for the dead. The following morning, on November 3, Pope Francis will preside over a Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica for the repose of the soul of Pope Benedict XVI and the bishops and cardinals who have died in the previous year. It is the pope’s practice to offer this Mass sometime during the first week of November.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255871/here-is-what-pope-francis-is-doing-for-the-week-of-all-saints-and-all-souls-days

An assault at a San Francisco Catholic church on Sunday led to a police pursuit that reportedly included the possible use of a pipe bomb. It happened at Saints Peter and Paul Church, run by the Salesians of Don Bosco of the Western United States. Archdiocesan spokesman Peter Marlow told CNA on Monday that the incident began after an individual received Communion but did not consume the host, and then punched a person who tried to stop him and fled. It is unclear what happened to the Host.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255869/assault-at-san-francisco-catholic-church-leads-to-police-pursuit-reported-pipe-bomb

For the first time since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, the Catholic Church of the Holy Land gathered around its patriarch on the feast day of Our Lady, Queen of Palestine and the Holy Land and reconsecrated the local Church and the entire land to her. On Sunday, October 29, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over a Mass at the shrine dedicated to the Blessed Mother in Deir Rafat in the presence of a few hundred faithful. The feast in honor of Our Lady, Queen of Palestine and patroness of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, was first celebrated on August 15, 1928. Since 1971, following the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council, the feast was moved to October 25, and since then, it has been celebrated on the last Sunday of the month. At the end of the Mass, the Act of Consecration of the Holy Land to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was read.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255863/latin-patriarch-of-jerusalem-reconsecrates-holy-land-to-our-lady-queen-of-palestine

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Alonso Rodriguez, a man whose humble occupation gave the world only glimpses of his extraordinary holiness. During his lifetime, Jesuit Brother Alonso Rodriguez never became a priest, published a book, or advanced professionally. But writings discovered after his death revealed a true mystic, who attended to a rich spiritual life while he worked as a doorkeeper and porter. Alonso carried bags and ran errands for 46 years. He was declared a saint in 1887.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-alonso-rodriguez-640

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 Vatican announced Friday that Pope Francis has decided to lift the statute of limitations in the case of Father Marko Rupnik, the former Jesuit priest and mosaic artist accused of serious abuses against women.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255835/vatican-pope-francis-has-lifted-the-statute-of-limitations-on-rupnik-case

Synod on Synodality delegate Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost said this week that “clericalizing women” would not solve problems in the Catholic Church.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255823/cardinal-at-synod-on-synodality-clericalizing-women-will-not-solve-problems

The Church in India has welcomed the news that the Vatican will initiate the beatification process for the 35 Catholic martyrs of Kandhamal who were killed in the 2008 Christian persecution in the remote jungle district of the eastern Odisha state.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255826/vatican-puts-35-catholic-martyrs-of-kandhamal-in-india-on-road-to-sainthood

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Frumentius of Ethiopia. Frumentius helped in a great capacity to bring Christianity to Ethiopia. He was born in Lebanon, and was shipwrecked in East Africa while voyaging on the Red Sea. They were taken to the king at Axum, Ethiopia, and became members of the court. When the king died, the two brothers stayed on as part of the queen's court. She permitted them to introduce Christianity to the country, as well as opening up trade between Ethiopia and the west. Frumentius convinced Saint Athanasius to send missionaries from Alexandria, and he was later consecrated as the bishop of Ethiopia. He converted many people to Christianity before his death in 380. He is the patron of Ethiopia. His brother, Aedeius, was also canonized.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-frumentius-of-ethiopia-637

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 reaffirmed the impossibility of women becoming priests, or even modern Church deacons, in an interview for a book released Tuesday in Italy.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255804/pope-francis-on-women-deacons-holy-orders-is-reserved-for-men

The Synod on Synodality has addressed the members of the Catholic Church in a letter published during the final days of the October gathering in Rome, inviting them to take an active role in “the discernment and decision-making” of the Church.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255806/synod-on-synodality-addresses-the-church-in-letter-to-the-people-of-god

Father Marko Rupnik, the former Jesuit priest and mosaic artist accused of serious abuses against women, has been accepted for priestly ministry in a diocese in Slovenia.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255805/rupnik-accepted-for-priestly-ministry-in-diocese-in-slovenia

Pope Francis on Wednesday appointed Father Richard Laurenson as the new bishop of the Diocese of Hamilton in northern New Zealand.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255813/pope-francis-appoints-long-standing-parish-priest-as-new-zealand-bishop

Today the Church honors Saint Evaristus, the son of a Greek Jew originally from Bethlehem, who was the sixth Pope of the Catholic Church. He is traditionally considered a martyr, but there is no documentation of the event. He is buried in the Vatican, near Saint Peter.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-evaristus-pope-33

The Church also celebrates Blessed Damian of Fulcheri. Born the son of a wealthy Italian family, Damian was kidnapped as an infant by a man who suffered from a mental illness. His parents prayed fervently to the Virgin Mary for help, and searchers were led to the unharmed boy by a miraculous light. Damian later became a Dominican priest, and he was famous for his missions throughout Italy, during which hundreds of people were converted to the faith, and was also known for working miracles. Many miracles were reported at his tomb in Modena, Italy after his death in 1484.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/blessed-damian-of-fulcheri-636

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A diocese in Nigeria has announced that Brother Godwin Eze, a monk who was kidnapped on October 17 alongside two others from the Benedictine monastery in Eruku, was murdered. Eze was kidnapped alongside Brother Anthony Eze and Brother Peter Olarewaju. Abductors shot Eze and threw his body in a river. Ekesioba said that the monastery was organizing a search to retrieve the body of Godwin Eze from the river. The Diocese of Ilorin serves Kwara state, which is bordered to the east by Kogi state, to the north by Niger state, and to the south by Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo states. Some of these Nigerian states, including Kogi and Niger, continue to witness attacks reportedly perpetrated by armed Fulani herdsmen and other bandits.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255791/monk-shot-body-thrown-in-river-following-kidnapping-at-nigerian-monastery

The Supreme Court of Georgia on Tuesday upheld the state’s “heartbeat” law that bans abortion at six weeks and recognizes the personhood of unborn babies. The 6-1 decision allows the “Living Infants Fairness and Equality” (LIFE) Act law to remain in effect while other challenges to the measure are further considered by the court. This means that abortion in Georgia is banned after an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable, except in some cases of rape, incest, and situations of serious pregnancy complications. Besides banning abortion at six weeks, the LIFE Act also establishes that unborn babies are human persons in the eyes of the law, allows mothers to receive child support from the beginning of pregnancy, and allows parents to claim unborn babies as dependents on state income taxes.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255796/georgia-supreme-court-upholds-heartbeat-law-banning-abortion-recognizes-personhood-for-unborn

Today the Church honors Saints Crispin and Crispinian, brothers who together evangelized Gaul in the middle of the third century. They preached in the streets by day and made shoes by night. Their charity, piety, and contempt of material things impressed the locals and many were converted to Christianity.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-crispin-and-st-crispinian-32

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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Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, last week lamented the deaths of 18 Palestinians in a missile strike on the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City. Speaking of those killed in the bombings, Pizzaballa said: “The pain of those families, who have already been suffering for a long time, is enormous, and we are with them.” The missile blasts, which struck a building on the church compound on Thursday, reportedly killed 18 people, including children, and injured several others.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255781/latin-patriarch-of-jerusalem-mourns-18-dead-in-gaza-christian-church-bombing

The Diocese of Stockton, California, has issued a warning about a pair of imposters posing as Catholic clergymen in the city of Modesto and charging high fees for blessings and sacraments. The diocese said that two unidentified men are falsely using the names of actual clergymen from Mexico, namely Archbishop Raúl Gómez González of Toluca and Father José Adán González Estrada, a priest from the same archdiocese. The imposters are charging high fees for sacramental blessings and for “conducting unauthorized celebrations” of sacraments like baptism, confirmation, and first Communion, the diocese said in its Friday warning. Modesto police have been notified of the deception but the diocese said it has been advised that only victims of the fraud can file criminal complaints. The diocese is strongly encouraging any victims of the fraud to contact the police.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255784/wolves-in-sheep-s-clothing-california-diocese-warns-about-imposter-priests

Today the Church celebrates Saint Anthony Claret, a 19th-century missionary and Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-anthony-claret-634

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Pope Francis and US President Joe Biden spoke by phone on Sunday afternoon to discuss “the latest developments in Israel and Gaza,” according to a statement from the White House. The Holy See Press Office said earlier the phone call lasted about 20 minutes and focused on “conflict situations in the world and the need to identify paths to peace.” “The president condemned the barbarous attack by Hamas against Israeli civilians and affirmed the need to protect civilians in Gaza,“ the White House statement said. The two also talked about Biden’s trip to Israel last week and his efforts at humanitarian assistance in the region. The pope and the president also discussed “the need to prevent escalation in the region and to work toward a durable peace in the Middle East,” the White House said. Earlier in the day, Pope Francis in his Sunday Angelus appealed for peace in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, which is entering its third week. “Once again my thoughts turn to what is happening in Israel and Palestine. I am very worried, saddened; I pray and I am close to all those who suffer, the hostages, the injured, the victims, and their families,” the pope said. The pope also remembered those who continue to suffer in Ukraine.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255774/pope-francis-and-us-president-biden-speak-by-phone

The attorney general of Oklahoma has filed a lawsuit against the nation’s first religious charter school, claiming its establishment violates the state’s religious liberty protections. State Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a Republican, announced the lawsuit October 20 in the Oklahoma State Supreme Court. The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board had earlier this month approved the contract of Saint Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. The board in June had approved the school’s application, with this month’s contract approval clearing another hurdle for the school’s projected opening next year. Charter schools are special publicly funded education institutions. Drummond said the contract approval “violated the religious liberty of every Oklahoman” by forcing state residents to fund “the teachings of a specific religious sect with our tax dollars.” The charter school “clearly violates the Establishment Clause and must be stopped,” the lawsuit states. It asks the court to “correct the board’s unlawful actions.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255777/oklahoma-attorney-general-files-lawsuit-against-nation-s-first-religious-charter-school

Today the Church celebrates Saint John of Capistrano, a Franciscan priest whose life included a political career, extensive missionary journeys, efforts to reunite separated Eastern Christians with Rome, and a historically important turn at military leadership. Invoked as a patron of military chaplains, Saint John of Capistrano was praised by Saint John Paul II in a 2002 general audience for his “glorious evangelical witness,” as a priest who “gave himself with great generosity for the salvation of souls.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-john-of-capistrano-633