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Pope Francis is visiting Bahrain Nov. 3-6. Located to the east of Saudi Arabia and west of Qatar, the country has a total population of 1.5 million, according to a 2022 estimate by the CIA World Factbook. There are around 161,000 Catholics in Bahrain, many of whom are migrants from Asia, particularly the Philippines and India, according to 2020 Vatican statistics. There are two Catholic churches and 20 Catholic priests. The visit’s theme is “Peace on earth to people of goodwill,” inspired by Luke 2:14, and will include meetings with both Muslim leaders and the small Christian community. The population is more than 70% Muslim, with the majority belonging to the Shiite branch of Islam, the country’s state religion.  Speaking to journalists aboard the flight Nov. 3, Cardinal Miguel...

By Francesca Merlo Presiding over Mass in St Peter’s Basilica offered in suffrage for the Cardinals and Bishops who died during the year, Pope Francis noted that two words struck him from the readings they just heard: expectation and surprise. Living in expectation Beginning with the first word, the Pope noted that expectation expresses the meaning of life, “because we live in expectation of the encounter: the encounter with God, which is the reason for our intercessory prayer today”. He explained that we all live in expectation, in the hope of one day hearing those words of Jesus: “Come, you blessed of my Father”. Pope Francis urged those present to ask themselves, “How does my waiting go? Do I go to the essentials or am I distracted by many superf...

Archbishop Schick recently came under pressure for the handling of sexual abuse cases in his diocese. Pope Francis accepted the resignation of a German archbishop on Tuesday.  Archbishop Ludwig Schick of Bamberg had been in charge of the Bavarian archdiocese since 2002. Archbishop Schick recently came under pressure for the handling of sexual abuse cases in his diocese. The archbishop of the diocese in Southern Germany said in a statement published Nov. 1 that he had conveyed this request “to the Pope verbally and in writing during a private audience in April of this year, explaining it thus: I have fulfilled and completed my duties in the archdiocese.”  Archbishop Schick said the Pope had asked him to remain in office. “After presenting my reasons again, he then granted my reque...

Speaking at the end of his Angelus address, the pope also prayed for the victims of a crowd surge at a massive Halloween festival in South Korea that killed at least 151 people, according to Reuters. “And let us also pray to the Risen Lord for those, mostly young people, who died last night in Seoul from the tragic consequences of a sudden crowd surge,” the pope said. In his reflection on Sunday’s Gospel, Pope Francis told the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square during life’s most difficult moments “Jesus always looks at us with love.” “God’s gaze never stops at our past full of mistakes, but looks with infinite confidence at what we can become,” the pope said. The pope noted that Jesus looked up to see Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree in the Gospel of Luke. “This is the history of...

Ireland may have a new saint soon.  The cause of Father Willie Doyle, Jesuit priest and heroic military war chaplain, has just been opened.  Today, Irish Bishop Tom Deenihan, of the Diocese of Meath, issued the requisite edict, stating: “After having obtained the unanimous consent of the Irish Episcopal Conference and the granting of the nihil obstat of the Sacred Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, hereby decree … and inform the diocesan community of Meath that we intend to introduce the cause of beatification and sanctification of the Servant of God Father William Doyle.” This is the first step in a canonization process. Now, there will be a diocesan investigation into the life and virtues of the now-“Servant of God.” If the process is approved by the diocesan tribunals, it wil...

CNA Newsroom, Oct 23, 2022 / 05:32 am Archbishop Charles Chaput said on Saturday that Joe Biden “is not in communion with the Catholic faith” and that “any priest who now provides Communion to the president participates in his hypocrisy.”  Speaking at a Eucharistic Symposium at the Diocese of Arlington on Oct. 22, the 78-year-old prelate also accused the second Catholic president in the history of the United States of “apostasy on the abortion issue.”  In his address, titled “Do this in Remembrance of Me: Memory, Culture, Sacrament,” the archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia spoke about “American Catholics and our 200-year struggle to fit into mainstream American culture.”   “We succeeded. But in the process, we’ve been digested and bleached out by the culture, ...

After the China deal was signed in 2018, state officials in different regions of China removed crosses and demolished church buildings, and underground Catholics and clergy have reported harassment and detention. The Vatican announced Saturday it has renewed its 2018 deal with China on the appointment of Catholic bishops for an additional two years. “After appropriate consultation and assessment, the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China have agreed to extend for another two years the Provisional Agreement regarding the appointment of Bishops,” the Vatican said in an Oct. 22 press release. “The Vatican Party,” it continued, “is committed to continuing a respectful and constructive dialogue with the Chinese Party for a productive implementation of the Accord and further development of...