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The decisions come one week after Bishop Peter Baldacchino of Las Cruces, New Mexico, became the first bishop in the United States to lift the ban on public celebration of Mass in his diocese. HELENA, Montana — Three further Catholic dioceses have announced they will resume public celebration of Mass, subject to the requirements of public health orders and social distancing. The Montana dioceses of Great Falls-Billings and Helena both announced the re-openings on Thursday, April 23, one day after the bishop of Lubbock, Texas told his priests to prepare to restore access to Communion for Catholics in the diocese. The public celebration of Mass has been prohibited in dioceses across the United States for over a month as part of efforts to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus pa...

CNA Staff, Apr 23, 2020 / 09:00 am MT (CNA).- Archbishop Jose Gomez, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, is inviting all U.S. bishops to join him on May 1 in reconsecrating the U.S. to the Blessed Virgin Mary in response to the pandemic. The reconsecration is timed to coincide with the bishops of Canada consecrating their own country to Mary at the same time. Archbishop Gomez, who is the Archbishop of Los Angeles, said in a letter sent to all American bishops April 22, that the Marian reconsecration would be done under the title of “Mary, Mother of the Church.” He invited all the bishops of the country to join him in prayer on May 1 at 12 p.m. PDT, or 3 p.m. EDT. “Every year, the Church seeks the special intercession of the Mother of God during the month of May. This year, we ...

Vatican City, Apr 22, 2020 / 06:30 am MT (CNA).- Commenting on the celebration of Earth Day during his general audience Wednesday, Pope Francis urged people to show solidarity with the weak and vulnerable and to protect humanity’s common home. According to Pope Francis, Earth Day “is an occasion for renewing our commitment to love and care for our common home and for the weaker members of our human family.” “As the tragic coronavirus pandemic has taught us, we can overcome global challenges only by showing solidarity with one another and embracing the most vulnerable in our midst,” the pope said April 22. He called for a renewed sense “of sacred respect for the earth, for it is not just our home but also God’s home,” adding that “this should make us all the more aware that we stand on holy...

The bombings left some 280 people dead and nearly 600 wounded. Card Ranjith thanks all those helping victims’ families, urges the government to find the culprits. The commemoration took place amid the pandemic crisis. Colombo (AsiaNews) – One year after the tragedy, Sri Lanka came to stop today to remember the victims of the bomb attacks against three churches – two Catholic and one Protestant – and three hotels on Easter Sunday 2019. The explosions left some 280 people dead, including 45 foreigners, and nearly 600 wounded. In a video message carried on Verbum Catholic TV, Archbishop Card Malcom Ranjith of Colombo thanked all those who showed respect to the victims and expressed solidarity with them and their families. The cardinal also called for those in office a year ago to pay for thei...

Vatican City, Apr 20, 2020 / 10:00 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis has decided to postpone by one year World Youth Day and the World Meeting of Families, according to the Vatican. The events were expected to take place during the summers of 2022 and 2021. World Youth Day, programmed for Lisbon, Portugal in August 2022, will now take place in August 2023, according to an April 20 statement from Matteo Bruni, Holy See press office director. The World Meeting of Families, previously scheduled to be held in Rome in June 2021, will now happen in June 2022. Both events usually include the presence of the pope and gather at least tens of thousands of people. Bruni said Pope Francis’ decision to move the dates of the global gatherings was “due to the current health situation and its consequences on the...

Vatican City, Apr 19, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- Here is the full text of Pope Francis’ homily on Divine Mercy Sunday, delivered April 19 at Santo Spirito in Sassia, Rome. Last Sunday we celebrated the Lord’s resurrection; today we witness the resurrection of his disciple. It has already been a week, a week since the disciples had seen the Risen Lord, but in spite of this, they remained fearful, cringing behind “closed doors” (Jn 20:26), unable even to convince Thomas, the only one absent, of the resurrection. What does Jesus do in the face of this timorous lack of belief? He returns and, standing in the same place, “in the midst” of the disciples, he repeats his greeting: “Peace be with you!” (Jn 20:19, 26). He starts all over. The resurrection of his disciple begins here, from this fa...

Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki. (EWTN.) Other German bishops have also called for the easing of restrictions, including Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops’ conference, and Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke of Eichstätt. COLOGNE, Germany — A German cardinal has said it is “high time” to restore public liturgies as the country begins to ease lockdown measures. Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne said that Masses with congregations should be permitted “as soon as possible” after German Chancellor Angela Merkel signaled that smaller shops and schools could reopen in the coming weeks. Cardinal Woelki told CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, April 17: “Without throwing these rules overboard, it is high time to make public services possible again. I...

ROME – In a provocative reflection on the coronavirus and Europe, Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich said aloud what many at this moment are likely thinking: With the European Union in disarray over the migration crisis and weakened by the withdrawal of the United Kingdom, could the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic be the tipping point signaling the end is near? Speaking of the global impact the coronavirus is having and the need for solidarity with those who will and are suffering in the economic fallout, Hollerich, who was given a red hat by Pope Francis in 2019, said “The largest solidarity network we can imagine is the European Union. Yet the EU seems paralyzed.” President of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), Hollerich spoke in an art...

Bishop Peter Baldacchino celebrates Mass on Holy Thursday. (David McNamara/Diocese of Las Cruces) Bishop Baldacchino is the first U.S. bishop known to have amended a previously declared diocesan ban on public Masses since the coronavirus pandemic took hold of the U.S. last month. Ed Condon/CNA. WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Bishop of Las Cruces, New Mexico, has lifted a diocesan ban on the public celebration of Mass, issued guidelines for distribution of Holy Communion, and told priests they may resume sacramental ministry if they follow state-ordered health precautions. “We [as priests] have been called by Christ and ordained to serve the people of the Diocese of Las Cruces, to bring them hope and consolation during this difficult time,” Bishop Peter Baldacchino wrote in a letter dated April 15 ...

NEW YORK — As flames engulfed Notre Dame Cathedral one year ago, two critical moments standout among many of the first responders in Paris: The moment the Crown of Thorns was retrieved from a glass safe in the reliquary and the decision to send 50 firefighters into the north tower to directly fight the blaze. The first ensured that one of Christendom’s most prized relics would be saved and the second prevented both of the towers from collapsing, saving the 850-year-old landmark itself. While April 15 may be Tax Day for Americans, for France — and for Catholics around the world — it will forever be remembered as the day that one of the treasures of Western Civilization was spared destruction. Last year’s fire occurred at the start of Holy Week, resulting in Paris’s Archbishop Michel Aupetit...

Cardinal George Pell has revealed he is ashamed of the Catholic Church for the way it dealt with the “cancer” of child sex abuse in the past. In an exclusive world-first televised interview with Sky News Australia presenter Andrew Bolt, Cardinal Pell talks candidly about the scourge of child abuse within his own church and how the many failures to act still haunt him today. “It was like a cancer … we had to cut it out,” he said. “I totally condemn these sorts of activities, and the damage that it’s done to people. “One of the things that aggrieves me is the suggestion that I’m anti-victim, or not sufficiently sympathetic. I devoted a lot of time and energy to try to save them, to get justice, to get help and to get compensation.” Cardinal Pell also shone light on the 405 days he spent lock...

‘Demonic Deal’: Pornography Industry Targets the Isolated in Coronavirus Pandemic Smut is being offered for free — an offer that has drawn harsh criticism from leaders of the fight against sexual exploitation. WASHINGTON — While many Americans are coping with the fear and uncertainty of the global coronavirus pandemic, the pornography industry has responded by providing free access to content — an offer that has drawn harsh criticism from leaders of the fight against sexual exploitation. Global porn consumption rates have gone up significantly with most people confined to their homes. While the Church teaches that pornography is a “grave offense” that “does grave injury to the dignity of its participants,” experts are also cautioning that porn consumption could exacerbate mental-health iss...