Kamala Harris’ record on Catholic issues: what you need to know
(Tyler Arnold, CNA)
With President Joe Biden bowing out of the 2024 presidential race following intense pressure from within his own party, Vice President Kamala Harris is the likely Democratic nominee to face former president Donald Trump in November’s general election.
Church in Dominican Republic advocates new pro-life penal code
(Diego López Marina. CNA).
The Senate of the Dominican Republic has approved the first reading of a draft penal code, which maintains the total prohibition of abortion in the country and establishes new criminal charges with penalties ranging between 30 and 40 years in prison.
Australian bishop hails U.S. Eucharistic Congress as model for global Catholic renewal
(AC Wimmer. CNA)
As the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis drew to a close, an Australian bishop praised the event as a model for revitalizing the Catholic faith across the world and expressed hope that it could inspire similar revivals worldwide.
Church leaders praise Pakistan amendment raising legal age for marriage of Christians
(Kate Quiñones. CNA).
Pakistan’s National Assembly unanimously approved the raising of the minimum legal age for marriage to 18 earlier this month, amending a 19th-century law allowing the marriage of Christian children.
Ohio priest apologizes for destroying hard drive containing possible child porn
(Daniel Payne. CNA).
A priest in Ohio has issued an apology to parishioners after a media report revealed that he had destroyed a hard drive reportedly containing inappropriate pictures of children — and potentially child pornography — and then delayed reporting the incident to police.
Pope Francis: In the silence of adoration we receive God’s grace
(Hannah Brockhaus. CNA).
Do not be consumed by “the anxiety of doing” but spend time in rest and silent prayer to receive God’s grace, Pope Francis said on Sunday.
World Day of Grandparents: Vatican grants plenary indulgence for visiting the elderly
(Hannah Brockhaus. CNA).
The Vatican has granted a plenary indulgence to anyone who visits a sick, lonely, or disabled elderly person on the fourth annual World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly on July 28.
(CNA).
With regard to the topic of artificial intelligence and war, Augsburg’s auxiliary bishop Anton Losinger has called for a “technology that complies with human rights and human dignity.”
Suspect charged with felony hate crime after beheading statue of Jesus at New York parish
(Daniel Payne. CNA).
A suspect in a vandalism incident at a New York City parish has been charged with a hate crime after beheading a statue of the Christ Child in Queens.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has accepted the decree of a bishop approving the spiritual activities of a shrine at the site of alleged Marian apparition “Our Lady of the Rock” in southern Italy.
(CNA. Hannah Brockhaus).
First women hired for St. Peter Basilica’s ‘Sanpietrini’ maintenance crew
(Hannah Brockhaus. CNA).
The Vatican has said that two women have been hired for the specialized maintenance crew of St. Peter’s Basilica for the first time in its 500-year history. While women have worked for the Fabbrica di San Pietro — the department that oversees maintenance, restoration, and repairs of the Vatican’s papal basilica — before, it is the first time women are officially part of the “Sanpietrini” maintenance staff, according to Vatican News. Two teams of Sanpietrini “work simultaneously on a daily basis to fulfill their principal tasks of reception, stewardship, cleaning, and maintenance of the Vatican Basilica and its facilities respectively,” the basilica’s website says.
Pope Francis authors preface to book on ‘Women and Ministries in the Synodal Church’
(Walter Sánchez Silva. CNA).
Pope Francis has written the preface to the book “Women and Ministries in the Synodal Church,” authored by three theologians and two cardinals who participated in the meeting of the Council of Cardinals, C9, this past February at the Vatican. The theologians, noted Vatican News, are Salesian Sister Linda Pocher, professor of Christology and Mariology at the Auxilium in Rome; who also wrote the book’s introduction; Jo Bailey Wells, a female Anglican bishop and undersecretary general of the Anglican Communion; and Giuliva Di Berardino, consecrated woman of the Ordo Virginum of the Diocese of Verona in Italy, liturgist, teacher and organizer of spirituality courses and spiritual exercises.
Is Catholicism dying out among U.S. Hispanics? Latino Catholics weigh in
(Peter Pinedo. CNA).
It’s Dec. 12 in San Antonio. Despite the cold outside, the inside of San Fernando Cathedral is packed with thousands of people of all ages: young, old, and in between. By the altar is a brightly lit image of Our Lady of Guadalupe surrounded by roses of all colors. It’s a peaceful scene. But that peace is suddenly broken by the loud, quick thumping of drums and the rattling of maracas as two lines of brightly colored dancers process in from the back doors. In unison, the dancers approach the image of the Virgin and after dancing before Our Lady for a few moments, the drums cease just as suddenly as they began. All say a silent prayer and then the drums resume as the group exits the church.
Devout Christian dad killed in Trump assassination attempt was ‘the very best of us’
(Joe Bukuras, Matt McDonald. CNA).
The 50-year-old husband and father who was fatally shot Saturday at former president Donald Trump’s campaign rally outside of Pittsburgh was a devoted Christian and “the very best of us,” according to his family and the state’s governor. Corey Comperatore “went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community. Most especially, Corey loved his family,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a press conference Sunday. Speaking to reporters north of Pittsburgh, the Democratic governor said that he spoke to Comperatore’s wife and two daughters. Comperatore was a “girl dad” who worked as a firefighter, Shapiro said.
‘Excess enslaves you,’ Pope Francis warns Christians
(Hannah Brockhaus. CNA).
Pope Francis on Sunday urged Christians to be an example to others of how to live a sober, nonmaterialistic lifestyle in peace with one’s community.
Communism is ‘imminent’ in Mexico, bishop says
(Diego López Colín. CNA).
Cristóbal Ascencio García, the bishop of Apatzingán in the Mexican state of Michoacán, said that with the victory of presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum and her left-wing party MORENA in the June 2 elections, the arrival of communism to Mexico is “imminent.” In a Mass celebrated on June 30, a month after the elections, the prelate thanked those who remain in prayer for Mexico and pray “in face of the imminent arrival of communism.” The prelate said “it’s becoming increasingly clear” that the electoral process that led to Sheinbaum’s victory “was an election [orchestrated by] the state, with as many irregularities as had ever been seen.”
(CNA. Rudolf Gehrig)
A few weeks ago it was announced that Pope Francis had appointed the former Prefect of the Papal Household, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, as Nuncio to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. On the sidelines of the “Benedict XVI Forum” in the Bavarian Marian pilgrimage site of Altötting, EWTN News spoke with Pope Benedict XVI’s former private secretary at the weekend about his new tasks in the Baltic States and about the legacy of the German Pope ( here is the interview as a video ).
(CNA).
The American journalist George Weigel, known as the biographer of Pope John Paul II, has stated that the German Synodal Path seems to have been “more characterized by the deconstruction of tradition.” Weigel spoke to the Catholic weekly newspaper “Die Tagespost” (current edition).
‘Excess enslaves you,’ Pope Francis warns Christians
(Hannah Brockhaus. CNA).
Pope Francis on Sunday urged Christians to be an example to others of how to live a sober, nonmaterialistic lifestyle in peace with one’s community. “It is important to know how to guard sobriety, to know how to be sober in the use of things — sharing resources, skills, and gifts, and doing without excess. Why? To be free: Excess enslaves you,” the pope said in his Angelus address on July 14. The pope addressed the problems of materialism in his comments before praying the Angelus, a Marian prayer he leads every week on Sundays.
States, doctors sue Biden administration over transgender medical mandate
(Tyler Arnold. CNA).
Seven states and a group of pediatricians are suing President Joe Biden’s administration over a rule that would force doctors to provide sex-change procedures and require health insurers to cover them. “Joe Biden is once again exceeding his legal authority in order to force his radical transgender ideology onto the American people,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who led the seven-state coalition, said in a statement on Wednesday. The lawsuit argues that HHS did not have the authority to create the rule and that it is not a legitimate interpretation of the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition on sex discrimination. It also argues that the rule violates the First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights of health care providers.