WASHINGTON (CNS) -- One of the most frequently expressed questions during an international religious freedom symposium Nov. 19 was whether the attention granted to religious freedom during the past four years would continue with the next administration.
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BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (CNS) -- The internationally acclaimed Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Exhibition with its 34 life-size reproductions is designed to give visitors a closer look at the frescoes that adorn the ceiling of the chapel at the Vatican than if they visited in person.
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PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) -- Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland publicly expressed "great disappointment and frustration" over Oregon Gov. Kate Brown's new statewide restrictions that limit faith gatherings to 25 people.
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ALBANY, N.Y. (CNS) -- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's order limiting the size of a congregation for in-person services at Catholic churches and other houses of worship does not target religious gatherings on "the basis of their beliefs," but is based on "the documented fact of their COVID-19 super-spreader potential."
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- There's a theater adage that if you have a lousy dress rehearsal, you're likely to have a great performance. Well, what if you had four dress rehearsals -- twice as many as you had anticipated -- and the outlook was still dodgy?
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In response to the upcoming federal execution of Orlando Hall Nov. 19, and two more federal executions scheduled to take place in December, two U.S. bishops' committee chairmen called on the government to end this practice.
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BRAINTREE, Mass. (CNS) -- The Catholic bishops of Massachusetts Nov. 17 urged the state Senate to reject a budget amendment that would allow girls as young as 16 to get an abortion with the consent of a guardian or a court.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops approved a budget for the year 2021 that has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The vote was 193-1 with four abstentions. The vote was taken via email Nov. 16, the first day of the bishops' Nov. 16-17 fall general meeting, conducted entirely online this year, with the email vote totals announced Nov. 17. The vote required a simple majority of bishops present and voting.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Two women who lead groups that advise the U.S. bishops on key issues, encouraged them Nov. 16 to continue holding dialogues on racism, reaching out to Catholics during the pandemic and letting Catholics know about their efforts to prevent abuse in the church.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Although the U.S. bishops' four-year strategic plan was adopted one year ago, it was not scheduled to go into effect until January 2021. That gave the bishops a window to address two issues that have captured the world's attention since last November: the coronavirus pandemic and racial inequality.
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CLEVELAND (CNS) -- Admitting that people's faith in God "has been shaken" by the pandemic and related economic turmoil, Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez called on his fellow bishops to take the news of the Resurrection and the triumph of life over death directly to people to help them navigate the crises.
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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CNS) -- The Vatican report on Theodore E. McCarrick's rise through the U.S. episcopal ranks should be a contemporary lesson in transparency for the entire church, said U.S. experts in church law.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- U.S. Catholic bishops will address the recent Vatican report on former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick when they gather Nov. 16 and 17 for their annual meeting, taking place in an online format this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- If there is anything different about the 2020 presidential election, don't chalk it up to fickle voters. "The big thing about this election is it happened during a pandemic," said John K. White, a politics professor at The Catholic University of America, Washington.
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BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori in a Nov. 10 letter to the Catholic faithful of his archdiocese said the long-awaited Vatican report on former cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick "brings us to another moment of painful awareness of our church's past failures."
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WILMINGTON, Del. (CNS) -- Pope Francis called President-elect Joe Biden early Nov. 12 to congratulate him on winning the U.S. presidential election. "The president-elect thanked His Holiness for extending blessings and congratulations and noted his appreciation for His Holiness's leadership in promoting peace, reconciliation and the common bonds of humanity around the world," said a readout on the call released by Biden's transition team in Wlmington. It also was all over Twitter.
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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CNS) -- If President Donald Trump's legal efforts to challenge his 2020 reelection results prove unsuccessful and Joe Biden becomes the 46th president of the United States, pro-life advocates are finding no silver linings.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Catholic Church's unusual transparency in a report detailing the ascent to power of former U.S. Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, despite top church officials' knowledge of his sexual abuses, brought feelings of betrayal and hurt after its Nov. 10 release.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Calling a Vatican report on its investigation into its knowledge of sexual improprieties of Theodore McCarrick while a clergyman, Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles said the findings mark "another tragic chapter in the church's long struggle to confront the crimes of sexual abuse by clergy."
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Horns blared near the White House just before noon Nov. 7 as major U.S. news organizations projected Democrat Joe Biden will be the 46th president of the United States, making him the second Catholic in the country's history to be elected to the nation's highest office.
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MIAMI (CNS) -- Deacon Paul Pierce, a transitional deacon hoping to be ordained a priest as soon as next year, has been on a long, improbable but faith-filled journey for a young adult. Born and raised in Maui, Hawaii, he was raised by an agnostic, science-driven father and a New Age-influenced mother steeped in Hindu belief at the time. He was living a typical teen's life in a tropical paradise -- but paradise hadn't been all that fulfilling, as it turned out.
Read moreWASHINGTON (CNS) -- Less than half a dozen states were still counting the ballots that will hand either a second term to Republican President Donald Trump or victory to his Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CNS) -- Catholic families in the Diocese of Nashville were affected by World War II like every family in the country. They fought on the front lines and in the air. They worked in factories producing materiel for the war effort. They lived with rationing of a host of products, including meat and sugar, rubber and steel. They anxiously awaited word about their sons, brothers and fathers fighting half a world away. They prayed for peace.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. remains in uncertainty about the presidential race after Election Day, as a counting of the vote continues, showing Democratic candidate Joe Biden ahead in electoral votes, but not by much.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (CNS) -- Archbishop John C. Wester said a decision to close Catholic churches in the Santa Fe Archdiocese for indoor worship amid a new wave of COVID-19 cases in New Mexico "is both prudent and necessary."
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Blessed Michael J. McGivney was a priest of the Eight Beatitudes because he lived them "so consistently and thoroughly" as a parish priest and as the founder of the Knights of Columbus, said Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, the Knights' supreme chaplain.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- If there's one thing that Republican and Democrats in the 2020 election share, it's angst. This year's election, amid a pandemic, amid economic instability and distrust of institutions, has done little to bring out the best in the country's political animals.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Bishops in the United States and around the world expressed condolences after three people were murdered before Mass Oct. 29 in the basilica in Nice, France. French police have confirmed they are treating the killings as a terrorist incident. The attacks came less than two weeks after a Paris teacher was beheaded Oct. 16 by a Muslim migrant; the teacher had shown satirical cartoons of the prophet Muhammad to school children in a lesson about free speech.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Abortion is on the ballot in two states Nov. 3: Colorado and Louisiana. In Colorado, Proposition 115 would ban abortion beginning at 22 weeks of pregnancy. The measure includes exceptions to save the life of the pregnant woman but not for instances of rape or incest.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The chairmen of two U.S. bishops' committees said Oct. 27 that companion bills in the House and Senate are needed measures to protect athletic programs designated for women and girls at educational institutions that receive Title IX funds for these programs.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The nationwide reckoning on racial justice spurred by cases of police killing unarmed Black men and women should impel Catholics to learn about racism and its history in the church and to draw on their faith to take action to combat it, panelists said during an online discussion.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) -- In a year when a pandemic has entangled lives across the globe, Presentation Sister Carrie Link painted an icon that may help Catholics straighten them out. The icon -- and a devotion -- is called Mary, Undoer of Knots.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A divided Senate, in a 52-48 vote, confirmed Amy Coney Barrett as a justice for the Supreme Court the evening of Oct. 26 and soon afterward she was sworn in by Justice Clarence Thomas at a White House ceremony.
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BALTIMORE (CNS) -- After more than 75 years helping form families through international adoption, Catholic Charities of Baltimore has closed its international adoption program. The agency cited changing circumstances within other countries and a "negative stance" toward international adoption from the U.S. government.
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