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Hong Kong bishop Joseph Zen (Facebook photo) Hong Kong bishop Joseph Zen (Facebook photo) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Former Hong Kong bishop and human rights campaigner, Joseph Zen (陳日君), has sent a letter to the College of Cardinals seeking protection for churches in China from Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecution. On Wednesday (Jan. 8), Rome’s largest newspaper agency, Il Messaggero, revealed Zen’s letter, which was dated Sept. 27, 2019. In his letter, the 87-year-old bishop emeritus protested that Pope Francis has stayed silent despite promising to tackle religious oppression in China. Zen said he was “begging on his knees” for help from his fellow cardinals and criticized the Vatican for inking agreements with the Beijing government. He pointed out a document s...

EL TUKUKO, Venezuela — The Rev. Nelson Sandoval’s repeated clashes with Socialist officials, Marxist rebels and tribal chiefs have earned him both loyal followers and bitter enemies in a remote and neglected Indigenous village in the rainforest of western Venezuela. To some of the community’s 3,500 residents, he is “the Devil.” His supporters know him as their “second father.” For the last 15 years, Father Sandoval has been working to bring education and health care to the village, El Tukuko. His allies say this has made him the main lifeline keeping El Tukuko afloat amid Venezuela’s unprecedented economic crisis, underlining how the fortunes of entire communities can hinge on single individuals in a disintegrating country. His detractors, however, “tell me I will go to hell,” said Father ...

The half-hour documentary, which aired Jan. 3 on German television, is dignified and respectful of the 92-year-old Pope Emeritus. Benedict XVI appears mentally alert but noticeably frailer and almost unable to speak in a new German television documentary providing a rare glimpse into his daily life. In the half-hour film aired on Bayerischer Rundfunk (Bavarian state television) on Jan. 3, the 92-year-old Pope Emeritus speaks only three times but in a barely audible voice. “I used to have a great voice, now it doesn’t work anymore,” Benedict says in the program, which was filmed at his Mater Ecclesiae monastery residence in the Vatican. “One sees that his strength isn’t there anymore,” his personal secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein says in the program. “His voice is simply broken, we...

The half-hour documentary, which aired Jan. 3 on German television, is dignified and respectful of the 92-year-old Pope Emeritus. Benedict XVI appears mentally alert but noticeably frailer and almost unable to speak in a new German television documentary providing a rare glimpse into his daily life. In the half-hour film aired on Bayerischer Rundfunk (Bavarian state television) on Jan. 3, the 92-year-old Pope Emeritus speaks only three times but in a barely audible voice. “I used to have a great voice, now it doesn’t work anymore,” Benedict says in the program, which was filmed at his Mater Ecclesiae monastery residence in the Vatican. “One sees that his strength isn’t there anymore,” his personal secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein says in the program. “His voice is simply broken, we...

Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life” does not drag. Its deliberate pace describing why its protagonist—a Catholic who defied Hitler’s Reich by refusing military service—died is a moving icon, a window into that mystery of why and how silence and conscience lead to true freedom. “There isn’t any twirling, is there?” I asked my former student Emily and her mother. They were emerging from the 4:30 showing of Terrence Malick’s powerful new film about Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian villager who decided to defy the Reich by refusing military service or even service as a medical orderly if it involved swearing allegiance to Hitler. I was there at the Uptown Theater in Minneapolis for the 8 P.M. showing with my three oldest sons and was a bit nervous since one of my boys kept asking me, “Is this an ...

Washington D.C., Jan 6, 2020 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception in 2012, a team of Navy SEALs navigated the mountains of remote eastern Afghanistan in darkness, on a daring mission to rescue a captured U.S. doctor. Accompanying the SEALs was Chief Petty Officer Special Warfare Operator Edward C. Byers Jr., a Catholic with a devotion to St. Michael the Archangel. A SEAL since 2001, Byers had already seen seven straight years of combat. He was unaware of the feast day due the gravity of the operation and lack of access to a church. “That is something that gives me chills thinking about,” Byers told Columbia Magazine seven years later in a recent interview. “I don’t believe in coincidences.” Byers is a member of the Knights of Columbus; Columbia Magazine is the m...

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“The Magi Journeying” – James Tissot, Brooklyn Museum by Donal Anthony Foley – On Sunday, we celebrate the Epiphany, or manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, in the persons of the Magi, or wise men, whose presence is one of the most mysterious aspects of the whole nativity story. St. Matthew introduces the Magi in his Gospel as wise men from the East who have come to Jerusalem in search of the newborn King of the Jews. We are not told where they came from or how many they were, but are informed that their arrival caused a stir in Herod, and “all of Jerusalem with him” (Mt 2:3). We also learn that it is Herod who assembles the chief priest and scribes to learn more about where the Messiah is to be born and directs the Magi to Bethlehem. So who were the wise men? The Greek word for “wise ...

The commercial below is a reminder to all of us clergy who stand before the people of God each Sunday that they aren’t easily fooled. People know if we are genuine or if we are just saying things we think we ought to say or heard others say. They can tell if we really know the Lord and the truths we proclaim or if we’ve just studied them. No preacher can perfectly live the Gospel he preaches, but people know when clergymen are living double lives or are being inauthentic. They know when we are merely playing a role. They know when we are half-heartedly saying what we think we’re expected to say without really believing it—a lot like Pinocchio in the commercial. People also recognize when we are striving for holiness, really loving God and His people. They can tell whether we are men of pra...

There are so many wonderful details in the Epiphany story: the call of the Gentiles, their enthusiastic response, the significance of the star they seek, the gifts they bring, the dramatic interaction with Herod, and their ultimate rejection of Herod in favor of Christ. In this meditation, I would like to follow these Magi in their journey of faith to become “Wise Men.” As magi, they followed the faint stars, distant points of light; as wise men, they follow Jesus, who is the ever glorious Light from Light, true God from true God. We can observe how they journey in stages from the light of a star to the bright and glorious Light of Jesus Christ. And, of course, to authentically encounter the Lord is to experience conversion. All the elements of this story ultimately serve to cause them to ...

2 Minute Read Actor Jim Caviezel is most well-known for his role as Jesus in The Passion of the Christ, but in recent years he also starred in the popular CBS series entitled, Person of Interest, as well as the movie, Paul, Apostle of Christ. However, his career may have never gone anywhere if he did not have a providential encounter with Father Patrick Peyton in 1991. At the time Caviezel was a young actor in Hollywood, trying to make it big. He was having little success and didn’t know what to do. Then while driving down Sunset Boulevard he saw a sign that said “The Family that Prays Together, Stays Together.” Feeling spiritually lost, he knocked on the door to be greeted by an old priest. Caviezel asked to go to confession and the priest urged him to pray the Rosary and go to daily Mass...

 |  Jan. 3, 2020 Over 200 Members of Congress Urge Supreme Court to Reconsider Roe v. Wade The Court, the lawmakers say, should “again take up the issue of whether Roe and Casey should be reconsidered and, if appropriate, overruled.” Matt Hadro/CNA. WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ahead of a Supreme Court hearing, more than 200 members of Congress have signed on to support Louisiana’s abortion regulations, and have asked the Court to address Roe’s “unworkable” finding of a “right to abortion.” 39 senators and 168 members of the House representing 38 states signed on to an amicus brief filed on Thursday by Americans United for Life, in the case of Gee v. June Medical Services, LLC. The brief argues that Louisiana’s safety regulations on abortion clinics are constitutional. ...