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Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, speaks in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington Oct. 1, 2019. The Legionaries of Christ university in Rome plans to honor Father Pavone with an award Jan. 25, 2021. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn) By Cindy Wooden • Catholic News Service • Posted January 14, 2021 ROME (CNS) — For a variety of reasons, “especially in relation to the political situation” in the United States, the Legionaries of Christ university in Rome will not honor Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said the head of the university’s bioethics faculty. The bioethics department of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum had announced Jan. 7 on the university’s website that it would give Father Pavone its “A Life for Life” Award and tha...

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other pro-abortion groups pushed for the restrictions to be lifted during the COVID-19 pandemic so women would not have to travel to get the abortion pill. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision Tuesday reversed a federal judge’s injunction that had blocked FDA rules requiring women to obtain an abortion pill from a doctor in person. “The question before us is not whether the requirements for dispensing mifepristone impose an undue burden on a woman’s right to an abortion as a general matter,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote Jan. 12. “The question is instead whether the District Court properly ordered the Food and Drug Administration to lift those established requirements because of the court’s own evaluation of th...

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments published a note Jan. 12, directing priests to say the formula for distributing the ashes once to everyone present, rather than to each person. VATICAN CITY — The Vatican gave guidance Tuesday about how priests can distribute ashes on Ash Wednesday amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments published a note Jan. 12, directing priests to say the formula for distributing the ashes once to everyone present, rather than to each person. The priest “addresses all those present and only once says the formula as it appears in the Roman Missal, applying it to all in general: ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel,’ or ‘Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall re...

Pope Francis wrote a letter to Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, explaining his decision to admit women to the ministries of lector and acolyte. VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis issued a motu proprio Monday changing canon law to allow women to serve as lectors and acolytes. In the motu proprio “Spiritus Domini,” issued on Jan. 11, the pope changed canon 230 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law to read: “Lay people who have the age and skills determined by decree of the Episcopal Conference, they can be permanently assumed, through the established liturgical rite, to the ministries of lectors and of acolytes; however this contribution does not give them the right to support or to remuneration by the Church.” Prior to this change, the law formerly said that...

In the midday Marian prayer broadcast live from the library of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, Pope Francis invoked the intercession of the Immaculate Conception, who was proclaimed patroness of the United States in 1846. VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis prayed Sunday for the United States, asking the Immaculate Virgin Mary to help foster a “culture of encounter” after the recent violence at the U.S. Capitol Building. “I extend an affectionate greeting to the people of the United States of America, shaken by the recent siege of Congress. I pray for those who lost their lives, five lost in those dramatic moments,” Pope Francis said after his Angelus address Jan. 10. “I reaffirm that violence is always self-destructive. Nothing is gained with violence and so much is lost. I urge the authority of ...

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 8, 2021 / 05:02 pm MT (CNA).- A Catholic podcast featuring a priest reading and analyzing the Bible has been at the top of the Apple Podcast charts since Jan. 2, ahead of secular podcasts produced by such organizations as The New York Times, NBC News, and NPR. “The Bible in a Year (With Fr. Mike Schmitz),” produced by Ascension Catholic Faith Formation, part of Ascension Press, features episodes containing two to three scriptural readings, a reflection on those readings by Fr. Mike Schmitz, and a prayer. Each episode is about 15 to 25 minutes long, and a new episode is set to be released each day of 2021. Instead of reading the Bible from cover to cover, the podcast follows “The Great Adventure Bible Timeline,” which was developed by Jeff Cavins. Schmitz, a p...

Catholic World News January 08, 2021 » Continue to this story on L’Osservatore Romano CWN Editor’s Note: “Politics cannot ignore individual responsibility, especially on the part of the person who is in power and is able—through a polarizing narrative—to mobilize thousands of people,” the Vatican newspaper’s assistant director, Giuseppe Fiorentino, wrote in an op-ed. “He who sows the wind reaps the whirlwind, and at this point it is easy to tie the events in Washington to the accusations of fraud launched by Trump after the voting Nov. 3, accusations that never found objective confirmation.” The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage. For all current news, visit our News home page. Sound Off! Catholic...

Cardinal Dolan wrote that the cathedral stands for the sacredness of all lives, “as we are all made in God’s image and likeness”, and it also proclaims that “‘black lives matter’ in a dramatic way” through its many ministries that help black and minority men, women and children. MANHATTAN — Cardinal Timothy Dolan has denounced the defacement of St. Patrick’s Cathedral after protesters spray painted graffiti on its exterior. Cardinal Dolan said in a January 5 opinion piece in the New York Post that while he had been silent about previous defacements of the cathedral this summer, he decided it was time to speak out, at the behest of some of his parishioners.  “You may recall that a similar outrage occurred last summer amid the sad violence afflicting American cities. At that time, I let...

Catholic bishops strongly condemned pro-Donald Trump protesters’ incursion that penetrated the Capitol Building Wednesday as Congress debated the certification of the 2020 presidential election results, leading to the evacuation of lawmakers and the deadly shooting of one protester by law enforcement. “I join people of good will in condemning the violence today at the United States Capitol,” Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Jan. 6. “This is not who we are as Americans. I am praying for members of Congress and Capitol staff and for the police and all those working to restore order and public safety.” “The peaceful transition of power is one of the hallmarks of this great nation,” he added. “In this troubling moment, we must ...

CNA Staff, Jan 1, 2021 / 10:42 pm MT (CNA).- A Catholic bishop in Nigeria, who was kidnapped on Sunday, has been released unharmed, according to the Archdiocese of Owerri. The diocese, which is in southeastern Nigeria, announced in a social media post late on Jan. 1 that Bishop Moses Chikwe and his driver, Ndubuisi Robert, had been released by their abductors “unhurt and without ransom.” “More details to come,” the announcement continued. “To GOD be the glory.” The post was accompanied by a photo, with the words “welcome back our beloved Bishop, God heard [the] prayers of his people.” Chikwe, the auxiliary bishop of Owerri archdiocese, was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen on the evening of Sunday, Dec. 27, in Owerri, the capital of Imo State in southeastern Nigeria. The website of the Nige...

Vatican City, Dec 31, 2020 / 10:20 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis explained Thursday why the Catholic Church gives thanks to God at the close of a calendar year, even years that have been marked by tragedy, such as 2020’s coronavirus pandemic. In a homily read by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re Dec. 31, Pope Francis said “tonight we give space to thanks for the year that is drawing to a close. ‘We praise you, God, we proclaim you Lord…’” Cardinal Re delivered the pope’s homily at the Vatican’s First Vespers liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica. Vespers, also known as Evening Prayer, is part of the Liturgy of the Hours. Due to sciatic pain, Pope Francis did not attend the prayer service, which included Eucharistic adoration and benediction, and the singing of the “Te Deum,” a Latin hymn of thanksgivin...

City officials said there is little the hospital could have done to prevent the violence, given that the hospital, an urgent care center, was “drastically understaffed and medical staff is suffering from exhaustion.” LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Jesse Martinez, a COVID-19 patient who beat a fellow patient to death with an oxygen tank at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, will be arraigned on December 31st for murder, elder abuse, and religion-motivated hate crime, authorities announced on December 28. The victim, David Hernandez-Garcia, an 82-year-old Catholic Latino man, was a resident of Lancaster, a suburb north of Los Angeles in California. He was being treated for a COVID-19 infection in a two-person room.  According to a report from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, on T...