CNA

U.S.A

Posted on by Catholic Radar JM

China is removing crosses from churches, replacing images of Christ with Xi Jinping

(Tyler Arnold. CNA).

A new report details the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) efforts to “exert total control” over the Catholic Church and other religious faiths within its borders and to “forcibly eradicate religious elements” that the party deems contrary to its political and policy agenda.

The analysis, published by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) last week, asserts that the CCP’s “sinicization of religion” policy consistently violates the internationally protected right to freedom of religion. The term sinicization means to conform something to Chinese culture, but the policy essentially subordinates faiths to “the CCP’s political agenda and Marxist vision for religion,” according to the report.

Italia

Posted on by Catholic Radar JM

Pope Francis responds to critics of comments he made in Belgium about women

(CNA Staff).

Aboard the papal plane to Rome on Sunday, Pope Francis responded to criticism of remarks he made about women during a Sept. 28 visit to a Catholic university in Louvain, Belgium, saying it is an “obtuse mind” that intentionally misunderstands his position.

In a meeting with students of the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Francis reflected at length on the role of women in the Church, saying: “What characterizes women, that which is truly feminine, is not stipulated by consensus or ideologies, just as dignity itself is ensured not by laws written on paper, but by an original law written on our hearts.”

VATICAN

Posted on by Catholic Radar An

Vatican secretary of state warns of Europe’s low birth rates, ‘demographic winter’

(Jonah McKeown for CNA.)

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, said in a recent interview that Pope Francis wants Europe to rediscover its founding principles in order to approach problems — including a looming “demographic winter” caused by low birth rates — with “a forward-looking spirit of solidarity.”

U.S. AND LATIN AMERICA

Posted on by Catholic Radar An

Pew survey in U.S. and Latin America gauges views on Church teachings, popularity of Pope Francis 

(Ken Oliver-Méndez, Eduardo Berdejo for CNA)

The Pew Research Center has released the results of a survey of how Catholics in the United States and six Latin American countries feel the Church should handle a variety of issues related to the priesthood, contraception, and sexuality as well as their views of Pope Francis

U.S.A

Posted on by Catholic Radar JM

Pope Francis names consultants to Vatican doctrine office, including controversial theologian

(Hannah Brockhaus. CNA)

Pope Francis has named 28 new consultors to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, including moral theologian Father Maurizio Chiodi, who has expressed opinions contrary to Church teaching.

Chiodi, a moral theologian, has come under media scrutiny in recent years for suggesting contraception use in marriage could be morally permissible in some circumstances.

In a 2017 lecture in Rome, the priest also said that homosexual relationships “under certain conditions” could be “the most fruitful way” for those with same-sex attraction “to enjoy good relations.


Kenia

Posted on by Catholic Radar JM

Bishops tell young African digital influencers: ‘Brace for the challenges ahead’

(Agnes Aineah. CNA).

Members of the African Synodal Digital Youth Influencers who graduated recently from the African Digital Faith Influencers Formation program of the Pan African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN) were told to “brace for the challenges that lie ahead of [them] in the digital peripheries [they] seek to evangelize.”

In his keynote address at the Sept. 12 graduation ceremony, Bishop Godfrey Igwebuike Onah of Nigeria’s Diocese of Nsukka warned the 56 participants in the PACTPAN program of the complexities that exist in digital spaces.

U.S.A

Posted on by Catholic Radar JM

“FSSPX, una mirada al cronvertido grupo tradicionalista”

CNA Staff 

A group of Carmelite nuns in Arlington, Texas, announced this month that they would henceforth associate with the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), a traditionalist group that is not in full communion with the Catholic Church and has a canonically irregular status.

The nuns have been at the center of considerable controversy since last year after an investigation was launched by the Diocese of Fort Worth over reported sexual misconduct by the order’s reverend mother superior. 

Israel

Posted on by Catholic Radar JM

New pilgrimage brings Christians, Muslims, and Jews together in Holy Land at Abraham House

Marinella Bandini. CNA.

On Sept. 14 in Jerusalem, a new pilgrimage called “Pilgrims of Hope Way” was inaugurated. The event marked the 60th anniversary of Maison Abraham (Abraham House), a pilgrim guest house created by Secours Catholique-Caritas France.

Abraham House is located on top of a hill in the heart of the Muslim neighborhood of Ras al-Amud in East Jerusalem. From here, the view stretches across the walls of Jerusalem, encompassing the city from Mount Moriah (the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa Compound) to Mount Zion.