Catholic News

• Formula for Baptism cannot be altered, Vatican says (Vatican News)
  The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has said that a newly popular form of Baptism is invalid, and those people baptized with this formula must be baptized again. The CDF ruled that saying “we baptize you,” rather than “I baptize you,” is improper and invalid, explaining that “when one baptizes it is really Christ Himself who baptizes.” The CDF cautioned against changing the formula for a sacrament, saying that doing so is a liturgical abuse and a “wound inflicted upon the ecclesial communion.”
• Six lay women named to Vatican Council for Economy (Vatican News)
  Pope Francis has appointed seven lay members—six of them women—to the Council for the Economy, which supervises the work of the Secretariat for the Economy. The Pontiff has also replaced six of the eight prelates who serve on the Council. Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who heads the group, remains in place. Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark is the only American member of the Council.
• In China, houses of worship forced to donate to the state or stay shut (Bitter Winter)
  “Some elderly congregation members live alone and have no sources of income, but are also forced to give money,” said a local leader of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the nation’s official Protestant body.
• Democrats 'want to put the churches out of business,' President Trump tells EWTN (CNA)
  Asked “if there was one message you wanted to say to our viewers,” President Trump responded: “Well, I think anybody having to do with, frankly, religion, but certainly the Catholic Church, you have to be with President Trump when it comes to pro-life, when it comes to all of the things, these people are going to take all of your rights away, including Second Amendment, because, you know, Catholics like their Second Amendment.”
• Pope begins new series of talks on issues raised by pandemic (Vatican News)
  At his public audience on Wednesday, August 5, Pope Francis announced that he was beginning a new series of weekly talks on the social issues that have been highlighted by the Covid pandemic. The Pope—who was resuming his weekly audiences after a July break—said that the Church has no expertise on the medical aspects of the pandemic, but can offer a moral perspective on the social and political issues that have come to the fore.
• Managua cathedral fire was no accident, Nicaraguan cardinal says (AP)
  Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes of Managua has rejected the claim by Nicaraguan police that a fire in the city’s cathedral was accidental. Government officials had floated the theory that fumes from disinfectant had ignited, starting the fire. The cardinal insisted, to the contrary, that it was a “savage and terrorist” arson attack.
• Brazil bishops rap president's leadership (Fides)
  More than 150 Brazilian Catholic bishops have signed a statement criticizing President Jair Bolsonaro for his handling of the covid pandemic and of the nation’s economic crisis. The bishops charge that ‘the current government system does not focus on the human person and the good of all, but on the uncompromising defense of the interests of an economy that kills.” They also charged that the government is cultivating unhealthy ties with fundamentalist groups.
• Pope sends message of solidarity to Hiroshima on anniversary of bombing (Vatican News)
  Pope Francis has sent a message to the government of Hiroshima, on the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing there, saying that peace is “the longing of the peoples of our time,” particularly young people. The Pone repeated his insistence that the use and even the possession of nuclear weapons is morally unjustifiable.
• India's Supreme Court rejects rape-accused bishop's petition (UCANews)
  Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jullundur had appealed to India’s highest court to dismiss a rape charge against him.
• 'Beirut is a devastated city,' Lebanese cardinal says following blast (CNA)
  At least 135 died following explosions in Beirut on August 4.
• Birmingham Oratory reluctantly complies with bishop's Communion-in-hand order (Catholic Herald)
  Priests in England’s Birmingham Oratory have said that they will comply with an order from Archbishop Bernard Longley forbidding the distribution of Communion on the tongue, but “are praying and hoping that this instruction will be rescinded as soon as possible.” The Oratory explained that in the Extraordinary Form, which they celebrate regularly, Communion in the hand is not allowed.
• Philippine democracy in peril, bishop warns (CBCP News)
  “We have been through the dark, cruel days of tyranny,” said Bishop Patricio Buzon of Bacolod. “If we stand and speak up now, our children do not have to go through it.”
• Citing pandemic, New York extends window for abuse lawsuits (National Catholic Register)
  “The Child Victims Act has allowed more than 3,000 brave survivors to come forward to seek justice,” said State Sen. Brad Hoylman. “Yet it’s clear many New Yorkers who survived child sexual abuse haven’t come forward — especially during the COVID-19 crisis which has upended our courts and economy.”
• International community is ignoring jihadist attacks in Mozambique, EU lawmaker charges (Aid to the Church in Need)
  The Southeast African nation of 27.9 million (map) is 30% Protestant, 24% Catholic, 17% Muslim, and 28% ethnic religionist. An Islamist insurgency began in 2017, and Pope Francis made an apostolic journey there in September 2019.
• Congressman calls for DOJ investigation into anti-Catholic vandalism (Washington Examiner)
  “I find these attacks to be a disturbing trend, happening in multiple areas across the nation, including within my own congressional district,” said Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), who is Catholic.
• Australian bishops issue statement on mental health (Catholic Outlook)
  “We want to say clearly that mental ill-health is not a moral failure, the result of a lack of faith, or of weak will,” Archbishop Mark Coleridge said in the foreword to the statement. “Jesus himself was labelled mad (Mark 3:21; John 10:19) and, like us, he suffered psychological distress (Luke 22:44; Matt 26:37; Mark 14:33; John 12:27).”
• Catholic Charities pandemic assistance provides nearly $400M in aid, services (CNS)
  The CEO of Catholic Charities USA spoke of a “50% to 70% increase in the number of clients,” a number of whom “are people from middle-class families who lost their jobs as the pandemic surged.”
• Missouri bishops welcome Medicaid expansion (Missouri Catholic Conference)
  By a 53%-47% margin, Missouri voters approved Medicaid expansion.
• Priest defends housing project stance following Los Angeles Times editorial (Los Angeles Times)
  Father Albert van der Woerd responded to an editorial that took aim at his parish’s opposition to a housing project for the homeless next to the parish school.
• Philadelphia archbishop, Argentine rabbi see progress in Jewish-Catholic relations (CNS)
  Rabbi Abraham Skorka, rector of the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary, coauthored a 2010 book with Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio.
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