Catholic News

• Pope Francis emphasizes importance of subsidiarity (Vatican Press Office)
  On August 5, Pope Francis began a series of Wednesday general audiences on the theme of healing the world. During his September 23 audience (video), the Pope said that a “lack of respect of the principle of subsidiarity has spread like a virus.”
• Vatican Secretary of State pays tribute to UN on 75th anniversary (Holy See Mission)
  “The United Nations is not perfect and it has not always lived up to its name and ideals, and it has harmed itself whenever particular interests have triumphed over the common good,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin cautioned during the September 21 UN virtual meeting. Nonetheless, “the United Nations Organization, where the peoples of the world unite in dialogue and common action, is needed as much today as ever to respond to the undiminished hopes of the peoples of the world.”
• 2 Catholic women judges top short list as possible Supreme Court nominees (CNS)
  The two are Amy Coney Barrett (7th Circuit Court Court of Appeals, Chicago) and Barbara Lagoa (11th Circuit Court Court of Appeals, Atlanta). In 2017, pro-lifers applauded Barrett’s confirmation; during the hearings, Senators Durbin and Feinstein criticized Barrett for her faith.
• Vatican issues statement on end-of-life care, condemns euthanasia (CWN)
  The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has issued a statement strongly reaffirming the Church’s ban on euthanasia as “intrinsically evil.”
• Catholic schools stay open in Wisconsin; court date set over Covid closure order (Catholic World Report)
  The Wisconsin Supreme Court has issued an injunction that temporarily prevents a county health department from closing in-person schools.
• Nigeria: 'We have been left to perish because of our faith' (Aid to the Church in Need)
  Aid to the Church in Need interviews Father Sam Ebute, SMA, who recently buried 21 parishioners slain in an attack.
• Pelosi 'misspoke' about San Francisco Mass attendance, spokesman claims (CNA)
  The Speaker of the House had said that she attended Mass in a San Francisco church despite a city health order.
• Holy See calls on Belarus government, protestors to reject violence (Holy See Mission)
  Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva, addressed the UN Human Rights Council’s urgent debate on the situation of human rights in Belarus (map).
• Irish monastery receives canonical visitation; founder resigns (National Catholic Reporter)
  The visitors to Silverstream Priory said they were “very concerned about your current financial situation and the economic viability of the monastery”; the Irish bishops’ spokesman described the visitation as routine. According to the report, the founder, Prior Mark Daniel Kirby, has denied a sexual misconduct complaint made by a former monk and has resigned from his office for reasons of health. The visitation’s leader, Benedictine Abbot Brendan Coffey of Glenstal Abbey, is now the priory’s administrator.
• Quebec places tight new restrictions on churches (Catholic Herald)
  The government of Quebec has imposed strict new limits on churches, allowing for only 50 people to attend services—or 25 people in areas designated for special concern. Cardinal Gerald Lacroix said that he was “very surprised” by the new rules, and hoped they would be reconsidered. “It’s not fair,” he said.
• In Austria, tougher restrictions at Mass due to rise in Covid infections (SIR)
  “The faithful must wear protective masks covering their mouths and noses at all indoor Catholic services in all the dioceses of Austria,” according to the report. “When Holy Communion is dispensed, the rules also provide that both the faithful and the ministers should wear face masks covering their mouths and noses.”
• 'Forge new paths,' leading Italian prelate urges (SIR)
  In light of the pandemic, “far from being nostalgic, lamentable or withdrawn into implausible shortcuts, we feel the responsibility to forge new paths where we can reshape the image of our ecclesial presence,” Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia-Città della Pieve, the president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, said at a meeting of the conference’s leaders.
• Poll shows Biden with 53%-41% lead among Catholics (ETWN News)
  The EWTN News/RealClear Opinion Research poll found that Trump led Biden by 61%-37% among those who attend Mass more than once a week. In addition, “while Hispanics who identify as Catholics overall support Biden by a margin of more than two to one (63% to 31%), among those who go to Mass at least weekly, more than four in 10 support Trump (43%), while Biden gets support from 54%.”
• Pontifical council, World Council of Churches publish 'Serving a Wounded World in Interreligious Solidarity' (Vatican Press Office)
  The 20-page document, dated August 27, begins, “What does it mean for Christians to love and serve our fellow human beings in a world in which the COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted widespread suffering? At a time such as this, the World Council of Churches and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue call upon the followers of Jesus Christ to love and serve our neighbors. We focus on the importance of doing so in solidarity also with those who profess and practice religions that are different from our own or consider themselves unaffiliated to any particular faith tradition.”
• House passes Global Child Thrive Act (Catholic Relief Services)
  The US Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services lent their support to the bill in February and in August.
• National shrine basilica celebrates 100th anniversary (Catholic Standard)
  The foundation stone of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington was laid in 1920; the church was dedicated in 1959. Archbishop Wilton Gregory celebrated the centennial Mass (video).
• Judge killed by mafia 30 years ago is a candidate for sainthood (CNA)
  Judge Rosario Livatino, 37, was brutally murdered in Sicily in 1990
• Fort Worth bishop issues pastoral letter on possible invalid baptisms (St. Catherine of Siena Church)
  Bishop Michael Olsen of Fort Worth has made public the name of the deacon who, in 1992, invalidly baptized a future Oklahoma City priest. “Anyone baptized by Deacon [Philip] Webb should be conditionally baptized and confirmed unless there is evidence that he validly baptized on a specific occasion,” Bishop Olsen said.
• Pope invites children with autism to thank God, intercede for others (Vatican Press Office)
  On September 21, Pope Francis received children from the Sonnenschein Center for Autism in St. Pölten, Austria (German-language website).
• USCCB warns against rising chemical abortions, calls for support for Save Moms and Babies Act (USCCB)
  “A rising threat to the lives of unborn babies is the chemical abortion pill,” the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said in an action alert. “The number of chemical abortions in the US has gone up dramatically, while the overall number of abortions has decreased. COVID-19 is expected to only make the problem worse, with more women (and teen girls) seeking chemical abortions at home—even illegally, by mail and without a doctor’s prescription.”
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