Vatican City, Jan 9, 2017 / 04:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Following a year marred by war and terrorism, Pope Francis told diplomats Monday that for 2017, peace has to be more than just an idea or a nice theory, but must be actively pursued with concrete p... Read more
Rome, Italy, Jan 8, 2017 / 04:25 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Erio Castellucci has a response to those who think the devil is not real: “they’re mistaken.” “All you have to do is witness an exorcism to understand that evil is a specif... Read more
Vatican City, Jan 8, 2017 / 01:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In a new interview published Sunday, Pope Francis said that though his many papal trips are often very tiring, both from a physical and mental standpoint, the people he encounters and the testimoni... Read more
Vatican City, Jan 8, 2017 / 07:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis announced Sunday after the Angelus that his “urgent” prayer for the month of January is for all those without shelter, who are especially affected by the cold weather durin... Read more
Vatican City, Jan 8, 2017 / 07:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis announced Sunday after the Angelus that his “urgent” prayer for the month of January is for all those without shelter, who are especially affected by the cold weather durin... Read more
Khartoum, Sudan, Jan 8, 2017 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Charges have been dropped against one Christian pastor in Sudan, but another pastor could face execution for what his defenders say are trumped-up charges based on animosity toward their religion. In November 2015, Kuwa Shamal and Hassan Abduraheem attended a Christian conference where Abduraheem was a speaker, according to the American Center for Law and Justice, which is supporting the pastors. During his speech, Abduraheem showed a picture of a young man who was beaten badly for attending a demonstration. The pastor said he was helping pay for his medical treatment. In December 2015, the two pastors were arrested by Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services, which claimed their financial aid constituted support for rebel forces in the country's South Kordofan region, part of which is contested with South Sudan. The American Center for Law and Justice alleged that the charges were “trumped-up” and said the two were on trial for their Christian faith. A judge dropped all charges against Shamal Jan. 2 and released him to his family. Abduraheem and two other men standing trial continue to face many charges, including espionage and agitating hatred between classes. They could be sentenced to death if convicted. Their fellow defendants are Petr Jasek, a Christian aid worker from the Czech Republic, and Abdulmonem Abdumawla Issa Abdumawla, a graduate student and activist from Darfur. Shamal and Abduraheem's case was noted on Twitter in August 2016 by David Saperstein, the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. The American Center for Law and Justice welcomed the end of charges against Shamal, while continguing to call for prayer and advocacy for Abduraheem. At least 90 percent of Sudan's population is Muslim, and sharia is the source of the nation's legislation. Apostasy from Islam is punishable by the death penalty. Since 1999, the U.S. state department has listed Sudan as a country of particular concern due to religious freedom violations. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which advises the U.S. government, has said in a recent report that Sudan’s government “continues to engage in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief.” The report noted that the country’s “restrictive interpretation” of sharia is imposed on both Muslims and non-Muslims. International Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need noted in its 2016 Religious Freedom Report that Sudan's constitution was amended to “widen and increase” the power of the National Intelligence and Security Services, which has impacted “human resources issues and the prosecution of individuals, media outlets and organisations for alleged breaches of the law.” Open Doors' 2016 World Watch List ranked Sudan eighth in a list of 50 countries where Christians are most persecuted. Meriam Ibrahim, a Christian woman who had been sentenced to death for alleged apostasy from Islam, was evacuated from her Sudanese homeland in July 2014. She was allowed to leave Sudan only after several months of imprisonment, and intense international pressure was brought to bear on her situation. Sudan scored a 12 out of 100 in Transparency International's 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking ahead of only Afghanistan, North Korea, and Somalia. Read more
Vatican City, Jan 8, 2017 / 05:18 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis Sunday baptized 28 babies during Mass in the Sistine Chapel, reminding parents that by asking for the Sacrament of Baptism, the gift of faith, for their child, they have a responsibility to guard it and to help it deepen. “The faith is to believe what is the Truth,” he said Jan. 8. “God the Father who sent His Son, and the Spirit who gives life. But faith is also to trust in God, and that you must teach them, with your example, with your life.” Pope St. John Paul II started the custom for the Pope to baptize babies in the Sistine Chapel on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The Baptism of the Lord is typically celebrated by the Church on the Sunday following Jan. 6, which is the Feast of the Epiphany, unless in a particular country the Epiphany is celebrated on Jan. 7 or 8, as it is in the US, then the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated on the Monday following. Faith, Pope Francis said, “must be lived,” it is a journey which must be walked, which must give “witness.” “And the faith is light: in the Baptism ceremony you will be given a lighted candle, as in the early days of the Church. And for this reason Baptism, in those days, was called ‘illumination,’ because faith illuminates the heart, makes things seen with a different light,” he said. During Mass, the Pope baptized 15 baby boys and 13 baby girls. During the homily, when some started to cry, Francis commented on the “concert” which was starting in the chapel, saying that he likes to think that Jesus’ first sermon was a cry while in the stable in Bethlehem. He also assured mothers not to worry about nursing their baby if he or she needed to be fed, they should do so “without fear, with total normality,” just as Mary nursed the baby Jesus. “You asked the faith,” Pope Francis reminded the parents. “The Church gives the faith to your children through Baptism, and you have the task to make it grow, preserve it, and it becomes a testimony to all the others. This is the meaning of this ceremony.” Concluding, he noted how the task for parents of growing and guarding the faith in their children is a “testimony for all of us: even for us clergy, priests, bishops, everyone." Read more
Washington D.C., Jan 7, 2017 / 04:21 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Audits showing Planned Parenthood’s alleged misuse of federal funds are further proof that the organization should be barred from receiving federal money, pro-life advocates say. “T... Read more
Steubenville, Ohio, Jan 7, 2017 / 10:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Father Michael Scanlan, TOR, the former president and chancellor of Franciscan University of Steubenville, passed away on the morning of Jan. 7, after an extended illness, at age 85. The university’s current president, Father Sean O. Sheridan, said in a statement that Fr. Scanlan was “rightfully credited with revitalizing the Catholic and Franciscan mission of the University.” “During his tenure as president from 1974-2000, his ideas, guided by the Holy Spirit, turned things around at the struggling College of Steubenville and led to its prominence as Franciscan University of Steubenville,” he said. “Father Mike wisely surrounded himself with friars and dedicated people who helped him to carry out the Franciscan University mission. He also spent time with the students, listened to their concerns, and prayed how he might help them. He emphasized the importance of academics, particularly theology – now, by far our largest major – and stressed the role of campus ministry and student life in the daily lives of the students.” Born Vincent Michael Scanlan in 1931 in Cedarhurst, Long Island, New York, Fr. Scanlan would go on to graduate from Harvard Law School and serving as Staff Judge Advocate in the U.S. Air Force before entering the Franciscan Third Order Regular. He made his first profession of Franciscan vows in 1959 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1964. After being named acting dean of the College of Steubenville, he eventually became president of the college in 1974, a role in which he served until 2000. “Over the next 26 years, he transformed the College into Franciscan University of Steubenville and gained for it a worldwide reputation for both excellence in academics and its passionate Catholic faith environment,” the university said in a statement. “His success helped spark a restoration of authentic Catholic education in the United States and beyond, with many colleges and universities renewing their Catholic identity and new schools imitating his emphasis on Catholic Church teaching.” Fr. Scanlan is widely credited with creating the Catholic atmosphere present at the campus today, establishing faith households for students, and developing new academic programs, particularly emphasizing the theology program, which has become the largest undergraduate Theology Program at any U.S. Catholic university. He also started the university’s study abroad program in Austria, established a pre-seminary program at the campus, and helped the university pay off its entire debt and double its enrollment. In 1989, Franciscan University, under the leadership of Fr. Scanlan, became the first U.S. Catholic college or university whose theology faculty and priests publicly took the Oath of Fidelity to the teaching authority of the Church, a practice that continues to this day. Fr. Scanlan was also known as a pro-life leader, as well as an early leader in the Catholic charismatic renewal movement, and wrote 16 books and booklets. He hosted Franciscan University Presents for 18 years on EWTN and started the university’s summer youth conference series, which would grow to nationwide impact. From 2000-2011, Fr. Scanlan was chancellor of the university, before retiring to the Third Order Regular Sacred Heart Province’s motherhouse in Loretto, Pennsylvania. When asked in a December 2013 interview what he considered his greatest accomplishment, Father Scanlan said, “Living the life faithfully, living the [Franciscan] rule, being a Franciscan, being able to be sent wherever God wants you and serve his people. This is what is most important.” Tributes remembering the lasting impact of Fr. Scanlan poured in after his death. “He made the name of a small, relatively unknown, Franciscan University of the United States resound throughout the entire Catholic Church,” said Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM, Cap., Preacher to the Papal Household “Father Michael Scanlan, TOR, was a dynamo of evangelical energy who knew that the renewal of Catholic higher education was a critical component of the New Evangelization,” said George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. “His personal witness, exuberant manner of life, and ability to communicate the Gospel in a joyful way made major contributions, not only to Franciscan University, but to the entire Catholic Church in the United States—indeed, to the World Church.” Dr. Scott Hahn, noted Professor of Biblical Theology and the New Evangelization at Steubenville, recalled Fr. Scanlan’s spiritual fatherhood. “I experienced his fatherhood in many ways. He baptized our three youngest sons, and two of them are now discerning priesthood. I don’t think that’s coincidental,” Hahn reflected. “The day I met him he showed such love to my wife, Kimberly, who was not Catholic. She had been suffering after a miscarriage. He prayed over her – and soon we conceived again – and a short while later, Kimberly became Catholic.” Father Mitch Pacwa, SJ, host of EWTN Live, recalled attending one of the Steubenville summer conference shortly after being ordained. “This was a great witness to a young priest such as I,” he said, noting that he would later go on to become friends with Fr. Scanlan. One time, he recalled, Fr. Scanlan “shared some of the difficulties, challenges, and pain of taking his role as a leader. Then he pulled out a photograph of a severely deformed young man that he knew, saying, ‘Compared to him, I don't have any real problems.’” “This indicated the mature Christian approach to life that made it possible for him to maintain a healthy perspective on life's problems,” Fr. Pacwa said. “I will never forget that.” Read more
New York City, N.Y., Jan 7, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- “Reality has never betrayed me.” Those were among the words of Monsignor Luigi Giussani on his deathbed. The priest, who as a theologian and the founder of the international Ca... Read more
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