MONTREAL (CNS) -- The Quebec government took religious leaders by surprise by announcing Sept. 20 that the maximum number of people allowed to participate in an event in a place of worship would be lowered from 250 to 50 in all regions of the province, starting Sept. 21.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia in many countries, and questions concerning what is morally permissible regarding end-of-life care, the Vatican's doctrinal office released a 25-page letter offering "a moral and practical clarification" on the care of vulnerable patients.
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BEIRUT (CNS) -- Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai warned that the Christian presence in the Middle East is shrinking and church leaders "are called to face the winds that blow in our homelands." The assessment by the patriarch of Maronite Catholics during a meeting of the Middle East Council of Churches executive committee Sept. 18 underscored the dire reality facing Christians in the tumultuous region.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As countries around the world scramble to find a vaccine for COVID-19, Pope Francis again called for an ethical distribution of the vaccine to everyone, especially those who are struggling financially.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Given the COVID-19 pandemic, members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors met online and, for those who could, in Rome for their plenary assembly Sept. 16-18.
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COLOGNE, Germany (CNS) -- Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki warned that the Synodal Path reform project could lead to a "German national church." "The worst outcome would be if the Synodal Path leads to a schism ... with the universal church," Cardinal Woelki told Germany's Catholic News Agency, KNA. "That would be the worst thing if something like a German national church were to be created here."
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis reminded elderly and ill priests that they need not be afraid of suffering because Christ is always there to help them carry that cross. With God's grace, their situation, which was made even more difficult and risky because of the COVID-19 pandemic and strict protocols for containing its spread, can be "an experience of purification," he said.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Euthanasia legislation is headed for the Spanish Senate and, if passed, it would be a defeat for human dignity and would affirm a self-centered view of life that proposes death as a solution to one's problems, the Spanish bishops' conference said.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis' encyclical on fraternity and social friendship will be released with an Italian title that will not be translated into different languages, reported Vatican News.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Human beings must change their relationship with nature and view it not as an "object for unscrupulous use and abuse" but as a gift they are charged by God to care for and protect, Pope Francis said.
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OTTAWA, Ontario (CNS) -- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Catholic Church in Canada will be a key theme of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops when its annual meeting gets underway Sept. 21.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As the expiration of a provisional agreement signed between the Vatican and China approached, the Vatican secretary of state said he hopes it will be extended. "Our intention is that it will be prolonged, that it will continue to be adopted 'ad experimentum,'" or on a trial basis, said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, according to SIR, the news agency of the Italian bishops' conference.
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CNA Staff, Sep 12, 2020 CNA.- Religious ministers should not be required to violate the seal of confession to report child sex abuse, a committee of the upper house of Western Australia’s parliament recommended Thursday.
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Vatican City, Sep 11, 2020 CNA.- Cardinal Luis AntonioTagle, the head of the Vatican’s evangelization congregation, tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday, but is asymptomatic. The Vatican confirmed Sept. 11 that the Filipino cardinal was swabbed and tested positive for COVID-19 after landing in Manila Sept. 10.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As part of its ongoing collaboration with two of the world's leading developers of AI software, the Pontifical Academy for Life will launch a new joint project looking at ethical ways artificial intelligence can be used to guarantee food security.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When he addresses, via video message, the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 21, Pope Francis is expected to speak about using the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity to rethink economic, political and environmental policies in a way that will benefit humanity and the earth.
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DHAKA, Bangladesh (CNS) -- Bangladeshis mourned the death of U.S. Holy Cross Father Richard W. Timm, an internationally acclaimed scientist, educationist, humanist and development pioneer who served in Bangladesh for more than six decades.
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MANCHESTER, England (CNS) -- Catholic bishops said they were disappointed by figures showing abortions in England and Wales were at their highest recorded level. The statistics released Sept. 10 by the Department of Health revealed that 109,836 abortions were performed in the first six months of 2020.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In a letter to people participating in a virtual Marian pilgrimage, Pope Francis offered words of encouragement to families struggling amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The pope's message, which was signed on his behalf by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, was sent to Bishop Stefano Russo, secretary general of the Italian bishops' conference, and to participants in the 13th Annual National Pilgrimage for Families to Pompei and Loreto.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Without God's help, it is impossible to bear the tragic loss of a young life, Pope Francis said. "Every tragic death brings with it great pain. But when it snatches (the lives of) five adolescents and a young mother, it is immense, unbearable without God's help," he told members of the victims' families Sept. 12.
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RYE, N.Y. (CNS) -- Faith-based organizations have worked with and alongside the United Nations since it was founded 75 years ago. Given this history, faith groups and their leaders are uniquely suited to build on past cooperation to address current crises and future challenges, said presenters at a Sept. 8 online conference.
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MANCHESTER, England (CNS) -- Only a small minority of British Catholics said they would not return to worship in church when the coronavirus pandemic is fully over, according to a new survey. Just 4% of people interviewed in the study, conducted between May 19 and July 26, said they would abandon going to church when restrictions are finally lifted.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While the COVID-19 pandemic has put the brakes on most foreign travel and many in-person meetings, Pope Francis still has some major events on his fall 2020 agenda. The United Nations celebrates its 75th anniversary with the opening of its annual General Assembly Sept. 15; Pope Francis is expected to be among the world leaders addressing the assembly with a prerecorded video.
Read moreVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Cardinal Marian Jaworski, a close friend of St. John Paul II and former Latin-rite archbishop of Lviv, Ukraine, died Sept. 5 at the age of 94. His friendship with St. John Paul began in the 1950s and lasted until the pope's death in 2005.
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BRISBANE, Australia (CNS) -- A new law requires priests in the state of Queensland to break the seal of confession to report child sex abuse to police or face three years in jail. The law was passed by Queensland Parliament Sept. 8. It had support from both major parties and was opposed by the Catholic Church.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Gossip is "a plague worse than COVID," Pope Francis said, asserting that while speaking ill of others comes almost naturally, it is a tool of the devil to divide the church. Commenting Sept. 6 on the Sunday Gospel reading about Jesus telling his disciples what to do when a member of the community errs and requires correction, Pope Francis said that rather than helping the other mend his or her ways, "when we see a mistake, a fault, a slip, in that brother or sister, usually the first thing we do is to go and recount it to others -- to gossip."
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BEIRUT (CNS) -- Bringing a message of hope to Lebanon, a month after a double blast struck Beirut, Pope Francis' closest collaborator assured the Lebanese: "You are not alone. The whole world supports you."
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Vatican City (CNA) -- In his first Wednesday audience with pilgrims since Italy's lockdown, Pope Francis called for solidarity to reawaken unity and bring God's love to a suffering world. "In the midst of crises and storms, the Lord challenges us and invites us to reawaken and activate this solidarity capable of giving solidity, support and meaning to these hours in which everything seems to be wrecked," Pope Francis said Sept. 2 in the San Damaso Courtyard within the Vatican's apostolic palace.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In reporting historical and recent abuse of minors, the media should broaden its focus to include portrayals of survivors as active agents of reform, one survivor said. Interviewing survivors about their abuse and the emotional impact of it brings an important "human face" to the crimes, said Mark Vincent Healy, an advocate in Ireland for safe spaces, care and services for survivors of child sexual abuse.
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LAHORE, Pakistan (CNS) -- Human rights activists were shocked after Asia Bibi dissociated herself from her autobiography, due out later in September. Bibi, the Catholic woman acquitted of blasphemy in 2018 after spending eight years on death row in Pakistan, sparked controversy with an Aug. 31 interview with Voice of America Urdu, reported ucanews.com.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis has asked Catholics and all people of goodwill to observe Sept. 4 as a day of prayer and fasting for Lebanon. As Pope Francis greeted people gathered in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace for his general audience Sept. 2, Father Georges Briedi, a member of the Congregation of Lebanese Maronite Missionaries, held up a Lebanese flag.
Read moreBOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) -- Deacon Mauricio Castiblanco used to spend most of his day traveling to funeral homes around the city, where he blessed families who recently lost a loved one. But over the past two months, he has been spending much more time outside cemeteries, dressed in a face mask, disposable white overalls and a purple sash decorated with a cross. His mission is to conduct roadside funeral services for victims of COVID-19.
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WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- The president of the Belarusian bishops' conference has been barred from reentering his country from abroad, after warning in a pastoral letter that the nation's worsening crisis could spill into civil war.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Italian bishops finally have printed their new Missal, and they gave the symbolic first copy to Pope Francis, who usually celebrates Mass in Italian. The Italian bishops' conference worked for almost 20 years translating the texts of all the prayers used at Mass by the celebrants and the faithful and then discussing proposed changes with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christ's cross is a powerful symbol of God's love for humanity and not just a decoration or trinket, Pope Francis said. While Christians often hang a crucifix on the wall or wear one around their necks, it should be used as a sign "of our desire to be united with Christ" and not "reduced to a superstitious object or an ornamental necklace," the pope said Aug. 30 during his Sunday Angelus address.
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