Vatican City, Aug 16, 2016 / 10:42 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Tuesday, Pope Francis voiced his sorrow for the damage done by wildfires raging on the Portuguese island of Madeira, entrusting the victims to the intercession of Our Lady and offering his clos... Read more
Bhubaneswar, India, Aug 16, 2016 / 06:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, who lived through one of the worst Christian persecutions in modern India and spent the remainder of his life fighting for justice for those who suffered in the ... Read more
Washington D.C., Aug 16, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Religious freedom advocates praised the State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom report published last week, but insisted that words must be followed by action. “W... Read more
Washington D.C., Aug 16, 2016 / 12:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Sponsors of a proposed bill in the U.S. Congress say that churches are not able to help pay people’s insurance premiums in 38 states, but is that really the case? “There’s no... Read more
Milwaukee, Wis., Aug 15, 2016 / 02:49 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Milwaukee riots and violence that followed a police shooting of an armed man this weekend show the need for a true Christian transformation in life and society, the city’s archbishop ... Read more
Bogotá, Colombia, Aug 15, 2016 / 02:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Colombian Conference of Catholic Bishops welcomed the government's announcement that it will not promote or implement gender ideology in the nation’s schools, after massive marches of protest last week. In a statement released Friday, August 12, the bishops thanked President Juan Manuel Santos for his invitation to dialogue and said that they “received with satisfaction the announcement of the National Government and the Department of Education that they will not promote or implement gender ideology in the country.” A meeting with the president and three bishops, which included Cardinal Rubén Salazar Gómez, took place August 11, after which the president made a public statement on the issue. Additionally, the Department of Education published a statement in which they stated that neither they nor the National Government would advocate or put into practice gender ideology teachings. The department's text states that “the United Nation's Population Fund's document on school environments was published on the United Nations web pages in order to be discussed, without authorization from the department, as was noted in the public statement of that organization. That document will not be authorized.” The document they referred to is the 93-page text entitled “Discrimination Free School Environments,” developed within the framework of an agreement signed by the Department of Education and three U.N. institutions: the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund; the United Nations Population Fund; and the United Nations Development Program. The cost of the agreement is more than $500,000. It was created in consultation with principals and teachers from the schools. In their August 12 statement, the bishops of Colombia said that “we will follow closely and provide timely follow up to what the National Government has said in the August 11 statement, released by the Department of Education.” After reports that the Department of Education was preparing teaching manuals promoting homosexuality and suggesting that there is no essential difference between male and female, Colombians took to the streets in massive protest marches on Aug. 10. The protests took place in Bogotá, Barranquilla, Cali, Medellín, Ibagué, Bucaramanga, Tunca, Palmira, Popayán, and other cities. Commenting on the marches, the bishops said that they see in them a strong support for the family unit as the fundamental cell of society and “an exercise by the parents of their right to be assisted in educating their children in accordance with their convictions and values.” They then emphasized the importance of respect “for every human being regardless of their race, sex, sexual orientation, national or family origin, language, religion or political opinion” and encouraged the creation of environments free of violence and discrimination. Finally, the bishops urged parents to “assume with real responsibility the mission of being the first teachers of your children, according to the dictates of your conscience, and to actively participate in all the processes related to their integral formation.” In July this year, a similar occurrence took place in Panama. Proposed Law 61, which would have promoted sexual and reproductive education in the schools, was returned to the nation’s health committee after a massive march by thousands of citizens in the capital. Read more
Paris, France, Aug 15, 2016 / 12:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Following the wave of Islamist terror attacks that have bloodied France since last year, the country’s bishops have decided to offer all Masses on the Feast of the Assumption for France. In an Aug. 1 communique, the president of the French Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Georges Pontier of Marseille, noted how the Aug. 15 Solemnity of the Assumption has always held “a special place” in the heart of Catholics. “In this celebration of hope, we suggest that the general intercessions of the Mass that day mention this intention,” he said, and asked that at noon sharp, “the bells of our churches sound” in unison. “May God bless our country in the trials that she is enduring,” the archbishop said, referring to the recent terrorist attacks that have crippled the nation. From the Jan. 7, 2015 slaughter of 12 journalists at the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly that has published insulting cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed, to the Nov. 13, 2015 series of bombings in Paris that claimed more than 100 lives, to the July 14 truck attack that killed 84 in Nice, and finally the brutal July 26 murder of Fr. Jaques Hamel, the French people have suffered much in recent months. As a response, both the French bishops and the country’s Muslim community have launched several initiatives aimed at praying for France, its people and for Christians. Friday, July 29, was declared by the bishops as a day of fasting after two armed gunmen stormed a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in the Normandy region of France July 26, slitting Fr. Hamel’s throat as he celebrated Mass. After the priest’s murder, which was claimed by the Islamic State, Muslims across France and Italy attended Mass the following Sunday in a sign of solidarity with Catholics. The initiative was created by the French Center for Muslim Worship, which was joined by the Italian Muslim Religious Community. The dedication of every Mass on the Feast of the Assumption to France and her intentions, then, marks the latest initiative of the bishops in offering prayers for peace and stability. Dogmatically defined in 1950, the solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary's body into heaven is celebrated Aug. 15 every year, and is one of the most important Marian feast days in the Catholic Church. Read more
Philadelphia, Pa., Aug 15, 2016 / 09:34 am (CNA).- In his latest column for the Philly Catholic Archdiocesan paper, Archbishop Chaput shared some of his personal thoughts on the upcoming presidential election, and implored Catholics to take the time to... Read more
Vatican City, Aug 15, 2016 / 03:59 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis marked the feast of the Assumption of Mary by praying for the dozens of people massacred over the weekend in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and decrying the “shameful silence” which surround these attacks. “To the Queen of Peace, who we contemplate today in heavenly glory, I wish to entrust once again the anxieties and sufferings of the people who, in many parts of the world, are innocent victims of persistent conflict,” the Pope said during Monday's Angelus address. Saturday's attacks in the DRC's North Kivu province have long been “perpetuated in shameful silence, without even drawing our attention,” he said, and its victims include the “many innocent people who have no influence on global opinion.” “May Mary obtain for everyone sentiments of understanding, and a desire for harmony!” At least 36 civilians were killed late Saturday during an attack blamed on the Rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), Reuters reports, although other estimates have the death toll as high as 42. Local authorities say it is the deadliest attack in the conflict-ridden region this year. Pope Francis held the special Angelus in St. Peter's Square on Monday for the Feast of the Assumption, a day which commemorates the Virgin Mary being assumed into heaven, body and soul. In his reflection, the Pope spoke of the day's Gospel reading which recounts Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth shortly after the Annunciation, and reciting what the Church refers to as the Magnificat. “She was the first to believe in the Son of God, and is the first to have been assumed into heaven body and soul,” the pontiff said. Mary was the first to welcome and take the child Jesus in her arms, “and is the first to have been welcomed by his arms to be introduced into the Eternal Kingdom of the Father.” “Mary, a humble and simple girl from a remote village in the outskirts of the Empire, because she welcomed and lived the Gospel, was permitted by God to stand next to the throne of the Son for all eternity.” Pope Francis spoke of the relevance of Mary's Assumption for each of us. “Today's feast promises a 'new heaven and a new earth', with the victory of the risen Christ over death and the final defeat of the evil one.” “The exaltation of the humble girl from Galilee, expressed in the song of the Magnificat, becomes the song of the whole of humanity,” he said. The Lord bends over “all men and all women, humble creatures, and takes them with him in heaven.” Pope Francis reflected on the relevance of the Magnificat prayer for those who live in “painful situations.” He spoke particularly of “women overwhelmed by the weight of life and the drama of violence, women enslaved by the arrogance of the powerful, girls forced into inhuman work, women forced to surrender themselves in body and in spirit to the greed of men.” “May the beginning of a new life of peace, justice, and love begin as soon as possible” for these women, who await the day in which they will finally “feel seized by hands which do not humiliate, but which, with tenderness, lift them up and guide them on the path of life, up to heaven.” “Mary, a young maiden, a woman who suffered much in her life, makes us think of these women who suffer so much,” the Pope said. “We ask the Lord himself to guide them by the hand, and carry them on the path of life, liberating them from this slavery.” Read more
Orange County, Calif., Aug 14, 2016 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- For twenty-five years, Tom Riles has carried a stack of index cards in his shirt pocket. On the cards, in his neat, all-caps handwriting, Riles scrawled scripture verses and affirming qu... Read more
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