From Vatican Radio:  The Vatican has created new email addresses for well wishers to leave Birthday messages for the Pope. Pope Francis turns 80 years old on December 17th. According to his staff, Pope Francis will be working “just as normal” on the day itself. He will receive the President of Malta in audience and will later meet with the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Marc Oullet, as well as other guests and dignitaries. He will also celebrate... Read more

Details:  When an elderly woman left her purse in a pew as she stood in line for Communion inside a Green church, a couple stole her purse and fled before running up more than $1,000 in purchases on her credit cards at local stores. Summit County Sheriff’s deputies are looking for the couple and they’re asking the public for help. Inspector Bill Holland said the 79-year-old victim left her purse in a pew as she went to stand in line... Read more

Details, from an email sent around this morning from his order: With profound sadness I would like to inform that Mike Manning passed away this morning at 7.05. His long struggle and suffering has ended. He is in a better and painless place. Last evening I prayed with him and anointed him along with his cousins. He had a smile on his face ready to go home. Thank you for your prayers. Let us place him in the loving hands of... Read more

Seriously? In what parallel universe did this man honestly think this stunt was a good idea?  What made him believe that upsetting children and angering parents —and causing a public spectacle—would somehow turn people to Christ? Here’s the story:  A Texas pastor targeted a group of children in line to see Santa Claus at Amarillo’s Westgate Mall, intent on telling all of them that good ol’ Saint Nick is not real. A video posted to YouTube shows David Grisham of Repent Amarillo and Last... Read more

Please remember this couple and their loved ones in your prayers.  Details:  A Rockledge couple with ties to two Brevard County Catholic churches were killed Monday in a traffic crash near the center of the University of Florida campus in Gainesville. The deadly crash happened about 9:52 a.m. Monday near the intersection of SW 34th Street and SW 20th Avenue, according to the Gainesville Police Department, the agency investigating the accident. The couple, Eugene O’Hern, 73, and Carol O’Hern, 75, attended... Read more

Details: While describing himself as a champion for the sanctity of life, Gov. John Kasich vetoed a bill Tuesday that would have forbidden abortions once a fetal heartbeat could be detected. The second-term Republican, however, did sign into law a second bill, a GOP-backed lame-duck measure banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy — providing an exception for saving the mother’s life but none for rape or incest. The Heartbeat Bill’s foremost champion, Janet Porter of Faith2Action, immediately denounced Kasich’s “betrayal... Read more

You can watch the video above for a look at what all the fuss is about, but this is what we have come to:  A small Indiana town on Monday afternoon conceded it was no match for the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, declining to fight a lawsuit filed Friday that demanded Knightstown remove a lighted cross from the top of its town Christmas tree. It is with regret and sadness that the Knightstown Town Council has had the cross... Read more

A deacon in one archdiocese dropped me a line this morning and made a few pointed observations about the video roundtable I took part in with America Media. He felt there are other aspects of diaconal ministry—and the challenges deacons face—that should be kept in mind: I cannot help but feel that the video did drift towards a more aspirational wish list as opposed to being rooted in reality. It may seem provocative, but given the fact that women have had second-class... Read more

From Vatican Radio:  The spirit of clericalism is an evil that is present in the Church today, Pope Francis said, and the victim of this spirit is the people, who feel discarded and abused. That was the Pope’s message in the homily at the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta. Among those taking part in the Mass were the members of the Council of cardinals, who are meeting with the Pope this week in Rome. In his homily, Pope... Read more

Check out the video above. It happened in Rhode Island: Residents at the Jeanne Jugan Residence of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Pawtucket are heartbroken that someone stole the statues from the elder care facility’s nativity scene. According to surveillance footage from about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, three men, two of them wearing hooded shirts, stole the nativity statues from the small manger. “It sort of saddened and dampened the spirit in the home when they know that the... Read more