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“It is with joy that I received the news that the Holy Father had named me the 11th bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse,” Battersby wrote. “When I was baptized, ordained a priest, and consecrated a bishop, I received a call within a call, an invitation to follow. The Risen One has bid me to follow him to western Wisconsin, to the banks of the Mighty Mississippi. I leave with hope and anticipatory joy.” Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit congratulated Battersby, saying: “The gift of bishop Battersby’s ministry now goes to the people of La Crosse. The priests, religious, and faithful of Detroit send him there with our heartfelt prayers of gratitude.” The Archdiocese of Detroit has been blessed by the gift of Bishop Battersby’s ministry, nearly 26 years of dedicated service as priest, facult...

Angelus Angelus Dómini nuntiávit Mariæ.Et concépit de Spíritu Sancto.Ave Maria… Ecce ancílla Dómini.Fiat mihi secúndum verbum tuum.Ave Maria… Et Verbum caro factum est.Et habitávit in nobis.Ave Maria… Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei génetrix.Ut digni efficiámur promissiónibus Christi. Orémus.Grátiam tuam, quǽsumus, Dómine,méntibus nostris infunde;ut qui, Ángelo nuntiánte, Christi Fílii tui incarnatiónem cognóvimus, per passiónem eius et crucem, ad resurrectiónis glóriam perducámur. Per eúndem Christum Dóminum nostrum. Amen. Gloria Patri… (ter)Requiem aeternam… Benedictio Apostolica seu Papalis Dominus vobiscum.Et cum spiritu tuo.Sit nomen Benedicat vos omnipotens Deus,Pa ter, et Fi lius, et Spiritus Sanctus. Amen. The Angelus Prayer The Angel of the Lord d...

(OSV News) — Recent kidnappings of hundreds of people in Nigeria, including almost 300 schoolchildren March 7 in Kuriga in the central part of the country, have left church leaders and parents, including Catholics, speechless in the face of another wave of senseless violence. As kidnappings become a horrific new normal in Nigeria, church leaders have strongly urged the government to act. In broad daylight gunmen raided a government primary school and kidnapped at least 287 pupils in the biggest mass abduction from a school in a decade. The incident is the second mass kidnapping in the West African nation of more than 200 million in less than a week. “This is heartbreaking to all of us, and it’s now time for the authorities to act fast to stop the killings and abductions,” lamented Emmanuel...

(OSV News) — Losing a young child. Struggling in a troubled marriage with an alcoholic husband. Separating, starting a nursing career in midlife, downsizing to a rental apartment and becoming a widow. And now, moving one step closer to sainthood. On March 14, Pope Francis authorized the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to decree as “venerable” Mother Mary Alphonsa Hawthorne — also known as Rose Hawthorne, the daughter of an American literary icon and founder of the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of St. Rose of Lima. Her extraordinary journey from 19th-century U.S. and European literary circles to religious life and caring for the critically-ill poor is “very relevant” to the faithful today, Mother Marie Edward Deutsch, superior general of the Hawthorne Dominicans, told OSV News. B...

In an autobiography hitting bookshelves on March 19, Pope Francis shares his childhood memories during Argentina’s dictatorship, thoughts on his ministry as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and his belief that serving the most vulnerable is “what every man or woman of God should do.” By Vatican News The Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera” releases several passages from Pope Francis’ autobiographical book entitled “Life. My Story in History,” written with Vatican journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona, set to be released on March 19 by HarperCollins. In the passages released on Thursday, the Pope clarified that were he to resign, he would not choose to be called “Pope Emeritus” but simply “Bishop Emeritus of Rome.” In that case, he would live in the Basilica of St. Mary Major “to...

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated.  As conditions in Haiti rapidly deteriorate, the Biden administration has warned that its teetering government could fall any day, while a leading archbishop said he fears that the country is on the verge of civil war. People in Haiti and charity leaders in the United States who have been active in the Caribbean nation told the Register that despite the country’s long history of hardships — including a devastating earthquake in 2010 that killed more than 100,000 people — they have never seen conditions this bad. “We keep hitting rock bottom, but afterward we find out that there’s a sub-level of rock bottom that we keep digging ourselves through,” said Stephan Destin, executive director of PROCHE, also known as Partnership for Reconstru...

Coptic leaders said their church believes in human rights and freedoms but that these freedoms must not be used to ‘violate the laws of the Creator.’ VATICAN CITY — The Coptic Orthodox Church has confirmed that its decision last week to suspend dialogue with the Catholic Church was due to Rome’s “change of position” on homosexuality. In a video released on Friday, Coptic Orthodox spokesman Father Moussa Ibrahim said “the most notable” of nine decrees emanating from the church’s annual Holy Synod which took place last week in Wadi El-Natrun in Egypt was “to suspend theological dialogue with the Catholic Church after its change of position on the issue of homosexuality.” The video message followed the conclusion of the Holy Synod the day before and an accompanying statement in which Coptic O...

By Philip Pullella ROME (Reuters) –Pope Francis has said in an interview that Ukraine should have what he called the courage of the “white flag” and negotiate an end to the war with Russia that followed Moscow’s full-scale invasion two years ago and that has killed tens of thousands. Francis made his comments in an interview recorded last month with Swiss broadcaster RSI, well before Friday’s latest offer by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to host a summit between Ukraine and Russia to end the war. Erdogan made the fresh offer after a meeting in Istanbul with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Zelenskiy has said while he wants peace he will not give up any territory. The Ukrainian leader’s own peace plan calls for the withdrawal of Russian t...

The prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said a ‘new text’ had been recently prepared having already had ‘several versions.’ A Vatican document on the theme of “human dignity” is almost complete and will be published early next month, the prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has confirmed. Cardinal Victor Fernández, who is overseeing the writing of the document, told the Register March 7 that the document has had “several versions” but that the “text is almost finished and will be published in early April.” The Argentinian cardinal, who began his work as dicastery prefect last September, said that a “new text” had been “prepared in the past few months and discussed by the dicastery’s cardinals and bishops at the Feria IV” — a regular Wednesday ...