Ottawa, Canada, Mar 2, 2021 / 06:41 pm (CNA).- The Canadian bishops’ conference announced Thursday that after a review of organizations that receive project funding from their international development agency, it will discontinue 24 partnerships … […]
Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 2, 2021 / 02:33 pm (CNA).- In a statement Tuesday responding to media inquiries about US president Joe Biden’s stated devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, the bishops of Mexico expressed hope that public office holders would be enlightened by her.
“As the Mexican Bishops’ Conference we are proud that the Virgin of Guadalupe is so loved and appreciated everywhere, beyond the bounds of languages, cultures, and traditions. We wish that all those who hold public office allow themselves to be enlightened by Our Mother in their way of living and serving so that they know how to promote the highest values that give life to peoples, such as health and peace, justice, truth, solidarity, care for the earth, defense of the poor, and promotion of the marginalized,” the bishops said in a March 2 press note.
They said their statement was “in response to inquiries from the media about what was expressed by the President of the United States Joe Biden about his devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe.”
Biden had cited Our Lady of Guadalupe and displayed his rosary in a conversation with Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador March 1.
Biden, who is Catholic, claimed a devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe from his previous travels to Mexico as vice president.
“During my visits, I got to know Mexico a little bit and its people, and paid my respects to the Virgin of Guadalupe. As a matter of fact, I still have my rosary beads that my son was wearing when he passed,” Biden said, according to a White House transcript of the event.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is patroness, not only of the Americas, but of unborn children.
Biden is the second Catholic U.S. president, and the U.S. bishops’ conference has noted the unique circumstance of having a Catholic president who is not inconsistent with Church teaching on topics such as immigration and fighting poverty, yet contradicts Church teaching on abortion, marriage, religious freedom, and gender ideology.
Biden has supported taxpayer-funded abortion and has pledged to sign the Equality Act, legislation the USCCB has warned would codify gender ideology in law and would “punish” objecting religious groups.
In a Jan. 20 statement for Biden’s inauguration, Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles offered prayers for the new president and emphasized his own role as bishop in forming consciences, rather than in being a partisan.
Biden, warned the USCCB president, “has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender. Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences.”
Abortion, said Gomez, “remains the ‘preeminent priority’” of the conference, as it “is a direct attack on life that also wounds the woman and undermines the family.”
Although Biden’s staff have referred to him as a “devout Catholic,” the USCCB’s pro-life chair has said they should stop using that term due to his support for abortion.
“The president should stop defining himself as a devout Catholic, and acknowledge that his view on abortion is contrary to Catholic moral teaching,” said Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, in an interview with Catholic World Report published on Feb. 13.
Archbishop Naumann noted that “we bishops have the responsibility to correct him” for using the term. He added that Biden “is usurping the role of the bishops and confusing people” by calling himself a “devout Catholic” while opposing the Church’s teaching on life.
CNA Staff, Mar 2, 2021 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis said in a new book released on Tuesday that the world could face a catastrophe like the Great Flood if human beings fail to address climate change.
The pope made the remark in a new book-length in… […]
Rome Newsroom, Mar 2, 2021 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- The Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Erbil said he hopes that with Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq, the world will see a different, and positive, side of the country, after many years of violence and war.
… […]
CNA Staff, Mar 2, 2021 / 08:00 am (CNA).- A judge on Tuesday found three activists who distributed images depicting Poland’s Black Madonna icon with a rainbow halo not guilty of offending religious feelings.
Three women — Elżbieta Podleśna, Ann… […]
CNA Staff, Mar 2, 2021 / 05:15 am (CNA).- Preaching on the deadliest day of protests since Burma’s military coup, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo said on Sunday that “innocent blood” must not be shed in the country.
In a Feb. 28 homily, the archbishop of Yangon lamented that the streets of Myanmar, as the country is officially known, had seen “so much of pain, suffering, and resistance” since the coup on Feb. 1.
“Slowly hatred seemed to infiltrate the peaceful marches. We pray that no violence happens. Innocent blood may not be spilt on this land,” the cardinal said.
“We are all sons and daughters of the same land, same mother Myanmar and we need to exercise patience and tolerance.”
Bo was speaking on the day that clashes between priests and protesters left at least 18 people dead and more than 30 wounded, according to the UN Human Rights Office.
The UN said that the deaths reportedly resulted from live ammunition fired into crowds in Yangon, Dawei, Mandalay, Myeik, Bago, and Pokokku.
Bo is the first cardinal in the history of Burma, a country with a population of 54 million people bordering China, Laos, Thailand, Bangladesh, and India.
Since his appointment as Archbishop of Yangon, the former capital city, in 2003, he has emerged as a leading advocate for democracy in the country.
In his homily on the Second Sunday of Lent, he called for the transformation of his homeland, focusing on the Gospel reading of the day, which told the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration.
He said: “As Christians, our first duty is to bring peace. Hatred has no place in Christ. No hatred wins anything. For the last one month, we have pleaded with everyone: Peace is the only way; peace is possible.”
“Pope Francis has called for resolution of all differences through dialogue. Those who call for confrontation do not wish good for this nation.”
He continued: “Social media, especially Facebook, is a virtual hell where hatred rules supreme; good people become violent in that virtual hell, destroying others. Humanity is disfigured in Facebook.”
“On this day when we contemplate transfiguration, we need to be extremely cautious about virtual reality and our mental health. Transfiguration was a virtual reality. It deeply impacted the disciples who were participants in it. They went back to announce the Good News.”
“On this day we also pray for the transfiguration of this nation. For the last 70 years [since Burma’s independence from Britain in 1948], we are looking for the grace of transfiguration of this nation. Like Jesus, leaders can make supreme sacrifices, like Moses, our leaders can lead this nation to peace and prosperity.”
“Like Elijah, our nation can proclaim a new Kingdom of hope ruled by great men of peace and wisdom. This remains a dream, but like disciples we are not only to be engulfed by the magnificence of the dream, we need to return to hard life of creating hope and peace. Let it start in each one of our hearts.”
Bo, who is also president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, described the coup as “shocking” in an outspoken statement issued after the military detained Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s elected civilian leader, and Burma’s President Win Myint.
The UN reports that more than 1,000 people have been arbitrarily arrested and detained in the last month, with some remaining unaccounted for.
Catholic nuns have reportedly taken part in protests held across the country.
In Myanmar, a nun asking the police not to hurt the people pic.twitter.com/HeFHbzPGk6
— Myanmar Burma (@MyanmarBurma7) February 28, 2021
The Vatican newspaper published an article on March 1 praising the actions of a nun who was photographed kneeling before a line of advancing police officers in Myitkyina, the capital of Burma’s northern Kachin State.
L’Osservatore Romano said that Sister Ann Nu Thawng, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis Xavier, ran out into the street on Feb. 28 as police fired tear gas at protesters.
“On her knees, she raised her hands to God and begged: ‘Don’t shoot, don’t kill innocents. If you want, hit me,’” the newspaper reported, adding that the police halted their advance.
Concluding his homily on Sunday, Bo said: “Let our present suffering be a sign that this nation is in the throes of a new birth. Let all of us enter into a mindset of reconciliation and dialogue. A new nation is possible, let it be born through Love.”
“Like the disciples, let us get down from our own mountains of virtual reality and come down and meet one another as brothers and sisters.”
“Let wars and conflicts become history. Let this nation be transfigured. Let a new nation be born!”
CNA Staff, Mar 2, 2021 / 03:05 am (CNA).- An English cardinal on Monday welcomed a U.S. investigation into alleged labor abuses in the garment-making industry in the city of Leicester.
In a March 1 statement, Cardinal Vincent Nichols said that a repor… […]
CNA Staff, Mar 2, 2021 / 12:43 am (CNA).- 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.
The indulgence applies to sins already forgiven. A plenary indulgence cleanses the soul as if the person had just been baptized.
A plenary indulgence can be obtained during Holy Week for oneself or for a deceased person if one of the following works established by the Church is performed.
Holy Thursday
1. If during the solemn reservation of the Blessed Sacrament (typically on a side altar), which follows the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, you recite or sing the Eucharistic hymn “Tantum Ergo.”
2. If you adore the solemnly reserved Blessed Sacrament for a half hour.
Good Friday
1. If you venerate the Cross in the solemn celebration of the Lord’s Passion.
2. If you piously participate in the Stations of the Cross
Holy Saturday
1. If two or more people pray the Holy Rosary.
2. If you attend the celebration of the Easter Vigil at night and renew your baptismal promises, which is part of the liturgy of that Mass.
Conditions in all cases:
In order to obtain the plenary indulgence, in addition to performing the specific works mentioned above, the following conditions must be fulfilled:
A plenary indulgence requires that the individual be in the state of grace by the completion of the acts, and have complete detachment from sin. The person must also sacramentally confess their sins and receive Communion, up to about 20 days before or after the indulgenced act.
A single sacramental confession is sufficient for several plenary indulgences.
For each plenary indulgence that is sought, however, a separate Holy Communion and a separate prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father are required.
The prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father is left up to the choice of the individual.
Columbus, Ohio, Mar 1, 2021 / 08:01 pm (CNA).- The Diocese of Columbus announced Monday a strategic planning initiative meant to discern the future of the local Church, encouraging evangelization and missionary discipleship.
“This really is our … […]
Baltimore, Md., Mar 1, 2021 / 07:36 pm (CNA).- The Archdiocese of Baltimore has set aside the weekend of March 13-14 as a time to focus on the dangers of pornography and the resources available to avoid and recover from it.March 14 will be observed as … […]
© Catholic World Report