Washington D.C., Jan 21, 2019 / 01:28 pm (CNA).- A wave of media attention engulfed this weekend a group of students who attended last week’s annual March for Life in Washington, DC. The students, most […]
Vatican City, Jan 21, 2019 / 04:45 pm (CNA).- With a motu proprio released Jan. 19, Pope Francis put the Sistine Chapel Choir under the administration of the Office of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, appointing Mons. Guido Marini, who is the master… […]
Panama City, Panama, Jan 21, 2019 / 04:31 pm (CNA).- The 15th international World Youth Day is set to begin Tuesday, Jan. 22 in Panama City, Panama.
The massive gathering of Catholic youth, which takes place every two or three years, this year will be… […]
Tula de Allende, Mexico, Jan 21, 2019 / 03:46 pm (ACI Prensa).- The bishops of Mexico have offered prayers and condolences following Friday’s explosion of a fuel pipeline which killed at least 79 people in Hidalgo state.
The Jan. 18 blast occurred after a pipeline in Tlahuelilpan municipality, about 10 miles northeast of Tula, was punctured by suspected fuel thieves. As many as 800 people were converged around the gushing gasoline to fill containers when the blaze took place.
“We are offering all our prayers and Masses, as well as our solidarity with the families of the victims, the injured and those missing,” the president and secretary general of the Mexican bishops’ conference said in a Jan. 19 statement.
“We appreciate and encourage the the company and consolation” offered by Bishop Juan Pedro Juárez Meléndez of Tula and his priests, “in hospitals and funeral chapels, to the relatives of all those affected by this accident.”
The bishops prayed for the eternal rest of the deceased and the health of those injured or missing.
The scramble to collect the gasoline came amid a shortage at the pumps produced by the government’s fight against the theft and adulteration of fuel, which costs the country around $3 billion a year.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has charged that fuel theft has occurred with complicity within the government and Pemex, the state-owned oil company.
He recently began shutting down pipelines, using trucks and trains to transport fuel instead.
The Tula-Tuxpan pipeline which exploded in Tlahuelilpan had been closed since late December, and was reopened Jan. 16.
Both López Obrador and the governor of Hidalgo have urged citizens not to engage in fuel theft.
“Besides being illegal, it puts at risk your life and those of your families. What happened today in Tlahuelilpan should not be repeated,” governor Omar Fayad said on Twitter.
Washington D.C., Jan 21, 2019 / 02:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston has called civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. an exemplar of the “artisans of peace” called for by the pope.
King “was a messenger and true witness to the power of the gospel lived in action through public life,” read the statement from the president of the USCCB to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
“We are thankful for the path forged by Dr. King and the countless others who worked tirelessly and suffered greatly in the fight for racial equality and justice. As a nation and as a society, we face great challenges as well as tremendous opportunities ahead.”
King is remembered as a Baptist minister and the most visible leader of the civil rights movement, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, and as the founding president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He was assassinated in 1968 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
Cardinal DiNardo noted the US bishops’ recent pastoral letter on racism, which aims to “name and call attention to a great affliction and evil that persists in this nation, and to offer a hope-filled Christian response to this perennial sickness. Racism is a national wound from which we continually struggle to heal.”
“Today, remembering how Dr. King contended with policies and institutional barriers of his time, many which persist today, we renew our pledge to fight for the end of racism in the Church and in the United States. We pledge our commitment to build a culture of life, where all people are valued for their intrinsic dignity as daughters and sons of God,” the cardinal wrote.
“We encourage Catholics and all people of good will to study the pastoral letter, and to study and reflect upon Dr. King’s witness against the destructive effects of racism, poverty and continuous war.”
Cardinal DiNardo also called “on everyone to embrace our ongoing need for healing in all areas of our lives where we are wounded, but particularly where our hearts are not truly open to the idea and the truth that we are all made in the image and likeness of God.”
He concluded quoting King’s words that “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
Are those with profound cognitive impairments still human persons? The question is surprisingly contentious. The controversial Professor of Bioethics at Princeton, Peter Singer, for example, answers “No” in his book Practical Ethics: There are many beings […]
Washington D.C., Jan 21, 2019 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has responded cautiously to President Donald Trump’s proposal to extend protections for those eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and for … […]
Denver, Colo., Jan 20, 2019 / 04:11 pm (CNA).- “Does it spark joy?”
That question has become a rallying cry for fans of Japanese cleaning guru Marie Kondo, whose 2012 book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” has become a Ne… […]
Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jan 20, 2019 / 12:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In an exclusive report from the Associated Press, the former vicar to Argentine Bishop Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta said that the Vatican had had information […]
Pope Francis issued a pair of Apostolic Letters given motu proprio on Saturday. One motu proprio suppressed the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei and entrusted its responsibilities to a newly created “Special Section” of the Congregation […]
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