Daughters of the Resurrection walking in Bukavu, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. / Aid to the Church in Need.
Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jul 17, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).
Kidnappers have freed a Catholic nun seized on her way to a market in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a Catholic charity reported on Friday.
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) said on July 16 that the nun, identified only as Sr. Francine, was “traumatized but physically unharmed,” reported ACI Africa, CNA’s African news partner.
ACN said that there were scant details regarding the kidnapping and release of the nun, who belongs to the Daughters of the Resurrection in the Central African country with a population of almost 87 million people.
Sr. Francine was seized on July 8 in Goma, the capital of the eastern North Kivu province, on her way to the market to shop for her community.
ACN said that a short time after the incident, the kidnappers contacted local Church representatives.
North Kivu and the other eastern provinces of the DRC have suffered attacks from rebel militia groups and criminal gangs.
The country’s Catholic bishops appealed in April for an end to the bloodshed.
In an April 8 statement, members of the Standing Committee of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo said: “War is the mother of all miseries, it affects all spheres of society and compromises the future of our children.”
“To those who have taken up arms we say: ‘Stop killing your brothers,’” the bishops said.
Regina Lynch, director of projects at ACN International, said: “We are very pleased that Sr. Francine is back safe and sound with her community.”
“Unfortunately, we are finding that kidnappings, especially of priests and religious, have become a weapon and a means of pressure in numerous African countries.”
She added: “Many priests and religious, such as Gloria Cecilia Narváez in Mali, often go missing for years. Other Church members do not survive the abductions.”
A version of this story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s African news partner, written by Agnes Aineah. It has been adapted by CNA.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Kansas City Chiefs’ kicker Harrison Butker (left) and Kansas City Chiefs’ punter Tommy Townsend watch the ball during Super Bowl LVII between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Feb. 12, 2023. / Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images
Washington D.C., Feb 13, 2023 / 11:07 am (CNA).
The game-winning kick in Super Bowl LVII was made by a Catholic, who later gave credit to his teammates and glory to God.
With the score even at 35-35 and seconds remaining in the game, Harrison Butker kicked a field goal to give the Kansas City Chiefs a victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-35.
The 27-year-old kicker is outspoken about his Catholic faith, and many on social media were quick to point out that during the game he was wearing what appeared to be a brown scapular around his neck.
The scapular, which is made up of two pieces of brown wool and is worn hanging across one’s chest and back, is a sacramental from the Carmelite tradition that anyone can wear as a sign of their consecration to Mary.
As the ball went through the uprights, his teammates embraced him in a joyous celebration. Butker had just helped give the Chiefs their second Super Bowl victory since 2020.
“The offensive line did a great job blocking. Great snap, great hold — and thankfully, that ball went through. All glory to God,” Butker said on Feb. 12, according to Arrowhead Pride.
In an interview with CNA in 2022, Butker opened up about his love for the Traditional Latin Mass, saying: “I think it really entices a lot of young people who are looking for answers. They’re looking for happiness. And for me, I found happiness in embracing the faith offered in the Catholic Church.”
“I felt like I wasn’t able to embrace it until I saw it completely exposed in the light. I knew that I had discovered authentic Catholicism. And I found that at the Traditional Latin Mass, in the traditional sacraments, and I think a lot of young people have found that as well,” Butker said.
Butker’s game-deciding field goal looked effortless, despite his having missed a field goal earlier in the game.
In the first quarter, Butker’s 42-yard field goal attempt ricocheted off of the left goal post, resulting in a missed opportunity to give the Chiefs an early lead.
Speaking about the missed kick after the game, Butker said he just focused on the next opportunity to score a field goal.
“You got to get that out of your mind and just focus on the process and the next opportunity that you get.”
“But I felt like as the game went on, I was hitting a better ball, a better rotation, and yeah, glad that last kick went through,” he said.
Butker became the deciding factor on Super Bowl Sunday, but that’s not the only game he helped clinch for the Chiefs. Just two weeks earlier at the AFC Championship game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Butker hit the game-winning field goal with three seconds left to send the Chiefs to the Super Bowl.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who led his team to victory, also talked about the importance of his Christian faith at a news conference ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl.
“I know that I’m blessed to be in this position … and so to have a faith backing, I know why I’m here — and it’s not about winning football games. It is about glorifying him,” Mahomes said.
“I have no pressure when I step on that football field, because I know why I’m here.”
A dedication ceremony for the ultrasound machine donated by the Knights of Columbus to the First Choice Women’s Resource Center in New Brunswick, N.J. / Credit: Knights of Columbus
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 15, 2024 / 15:26 pm (CNA).
The Supreme Court has denied a New Jersey pro-life pregnancy center’s appeal to keep its donor list and other correspondence private.
This comes after New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, a Democrat, subpoenaed First Choice Women’s Resource Centers in November 2023 for “possible violations” against the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act relating to the group’s handling of patient data and statements about abortion pill reversal.
Through the subpoena, Platkin ordered First Choice to turn over much of its internal communications as well as communications with patients and donors, some of which would reveal donors’ private information.
Shortly before issuing the subpoena, Platkin signed onto a letter in which he and 15 other attorneys general accused pro-life pregnancy centers of spreading “harmful” misinformation about reproductive health care. The letter also accused pregnancy centers of using “deceptive tactics to lure in patients.”
First Choice is a Christian ministry that operates five pregnancy resource centers in New Jersey that offer pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, venereal disease screenings and treatment, and counseling.
Represented by the law firm Alliance Defending Freedom, First Choice countersued in December 2023 to block Platkin’s subpoena. The ministry claimed that the subpoena violates its rights under the First and 14th Amendments and that it was being “selectively and unlawfully” targeted because of its pro-life views.
“AG Platkin never cited any complaint or other substantive evidence of wrongdoing to justify his demands but has launched an exploratory probe into the lawful activities, constitutionally protected speech, religious observance, constitutionally protected associations, and nonpublic internal communications and records of a nonprofit organization that holds a view with which he disagrees as a matter of public policy,” First Choice wrote in its countersuit.
First Choice’s request to block the subpoena has since been dismissed by a New Jersey circuit judge, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and now the Supreme Court.
Pope Francis opens the Holy Door in L’Aquila, Italy on Aug. 28, 2022. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Aug 28, 2022 / 04:15 am (CNA).
Pope Francis became the first pope in 728 years to open the Holy Door of a 13th-century basilica in L’Aquila, Italy on Sunday.
During a visit to the Italian city located about 70 miles northeast of Rome on Aug. 28, the pope participated in a centuries-old tradition, the Celestinian Forgiveness, known in Italian as the Perdonanza Celestiniana.
The opening of the Holy Door marked a key moment in the annual celebration established by Pope Celestine V in 1294.
“For centuries L’Aquila has kept alive the gift that Pope Celestine V left it. It is the privilege of reminding everyone that with mercy, and only with it, the life of every man and woman can be lived with joy,” Pope Francis said in his homily during Mass at L’Aquila’s Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio.
“To be forgiven is to experience here and now what comes closest to the resurrection. Forgiveness is passing from death to life, from the experience of anguish and guilt to that of freedom and joy. May this church always be a place where we can be reconciled, and experience that grace that puts us back on our feet and gives us another chance,” he said.
Pope Francis began the day trip at 7:50 a.m. traveling by helicopter from the Vatican to L’Aquila. He visited the city’s cathedral, which is still being rebuilt after it was badly damaged during a 2019 earthquake in which more than 300 people died.
The pope wore a hard hat while touring the reconstruction area of the damaged church. He spoke to family members of earthquake victims in the town square in front of the cathedral, where local prisoners were also present in the crowd. People cheered and waved Vatican flags as Pope Francis greeted them from a wheelchair.
Pope Francis wore a hard hat while visiting the L’Aquila cathedral, which was damaged by a 2019 earthquake. Vatican Media
Pope Francis said: “First of all I thank you for your witness of faith: despite the pain and loss, which belong to our faith as pilgrims, you have fixed your gaze on Christ, crucified and risen, who with his love redeemed the nonsense of pain and death.”
“And Jesus has placed you back in the arms of the Father, who does not let a tear fall in vain, not even one, but gathers them all in his merciful heart,” he added.
After speaking to the families of the victims, Pope Francis traveled in the popemobile to L’Aquila’s Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, where he celebrated an outdoor Mass, recited the Angelus, and opened the Holy Door.
In his brief Angelus message, the pope offered a prayer for the people of Pakistan, where flash floods have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced thousands more.
Pope Francis also asked for the intercession of the Virgin Mary to obtain “forgiveness and peace for the whole world,” mentioning Ukraine and all other places suffering from war.
Pope Francis prayed for peace in his Angelus address following Mass in L’Aquila, Italy. Pope Francis prayed for peace in his Angelus address following Mass in L’Aquila, Italy.
During his visit to L’Aquila, the pope said that he wanted the central Italian city to become a “capital of forgiveness, peace, and reconciliation.”
“This is how peace is built through forgiveness received and given,” he said.
L’Aquila is the burial place of Pope Celestine V, who led the Catholic Church for just five months before his resignation on Dec. 13, 1294. The pope, who was canonized in 1313, is buried in L’Aquila’s Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio.
In the spring, the Vatican’s announcement that Pope Francis would visit L’Aquila prompted unsourced speculation that the trip could be the prelude to the 85-year-old pope’s resignation.
When Benedict XVI became the first pope to resign in almost 600 years in 2013, Vatican-watchers recalled that he had visited the tomb of Celestine V years earlier. During his trip on April 28, 2009, he left his pallium — the white wool vestment given to metropolitan archbishops — on the tomb. In hindsight, commentators suggested that Benedict was indicating his intention to resign.
In his homily in L’Aquila, Pope Francis praised Pope Celestine V for his humility and courage.
Mentioning Dante Alighieri’s description of Celestine as the man of “the great refusal,” Pope Francis underlined that Celestine should not be remembered as a man of “no” — for resigning the papacy — but as a man of “yes.”
Pope Francis said: “Indeed, there is no other way to accomplish God’s will than by assuming the strength of the humble, there is no other way. Precisely because they are so, the humble appear weak and losers in the eyes of men, but in reality they are the true winners, for they are the only ones who trust completely in the Lord and know his will.”
At the end of the Mass, the crowd prayed the Litany of Saints and watched as Pope Francis made history when he opened the basilica’s Holy Door. According to Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi of L’Aquila, Pope Francis is the first pope to open the Holy Door in 728 years.
Visiting cardinals have opened the Holy Door for the Celestinian Forgiveness in past years, after a reading of the bull of forgiveness by the local mayor. Celestine donated the papal bull to L’Aquila, where it is kept in an armored chapel in the tower of the town hall.
The bull of forgiveness drawn up by Celestine V offered a plenary indulgence to all who, having confessed and repented of their sins, go to the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio from Vespers on Aug. 28 to sunset on Aug. 29. A plenary indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary, and all the saints to remove the temporal punishment due to sin.
Celestine’s indulgence was exceptional at the time, given it was available to anyone, regardless of status or wealth, and cost nothing except personal repentance at a time when indulgences were often tied to almsgiving.
Pope Francis prays at the tomb of Pope Celestine V in L’Aquila, Italy. Vatican Media
After opening the Holy Door, Pope Francis was wheeled through the basilica to the tomb of Pope Celestine V, where he spent a moment in silent prayer before the relics of his papal predecessor who was declared a saint in 1313.
“In the spirit of the world, which is dominated by pride, today’s Word of God invites us to be humble and meek. Humility does not consist in the devaluation of self, but rather in that healthy realism that makes us recognize our potential and also our miseries,” Pope Francis said.
“Starting precisely from our miseries, humility causes us to look away from ourselves and turn our gaze to God, the One who can do everything and also obtains for us what we cannot have on our own. ‘Everything is possible for those who believe (Mark 9:23).'”
By 
Leave a Reply