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Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Montana, speaks at a press conference on the debt limit and the Freedom Caucus's plan for spending reduction at the U.S. Capitol on March 28, 2023, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 22, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).Four congressmen in the conservative House Freedom Caucus voiced "strong objections" to a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) plan to expand its coverage of in vitro fertilization (IVF) to unmarried veterans, including those in same-sex relationships.Under the previous rules, the VA only covered IVF treatments for married couples who produce their own eggs and sperm for the fertility treatment. The new policy will allow donor eggs and sperm and cover treatments for unmarried people who require such donations to create an embryo.The lawmakers, led by Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Montana, expressed their dissent in a letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough on March 20. He was joined ...
Pope Francis on March 21, 2024, laicized Bishop Emeritus of Bruges, Belgium, Roger Vangheluwe (center), years after the former prelate admitted to repeatedly sexually abusing his nephew when the latter was a minor. / Credit: Carolus, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsRome Newsroom, Mar 22, 2024 / 09:40 am (CNA).Pope Francis has laicized Bishop Emeritus of Bruges, Belgium, Roger Vangheluwe, years after the former prelate admitted to repeatedly sexually abusing his nephew when the latter was a minor. The apostolic nunciature to Belgium said in a statement on Thursday that "serious new elements" had come to light regarding Vangheluwe, who resigned in 2010 after having admitted to the sexual abuse of his nephew from when the youth was 5 years old.The "new elements" included the recent testimony of a victim that led to a reexamination of the case. On March 8 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith recommended Pope Francis dismiss Vangheluwe from the clergy. Francis "gran...
The European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. / Credit: JLogan via Wikimedia/ Public DomainRome Newsroom, Mar 22, 2024 / 10:45 am (CNA).European bishops this week called on the institutions of the European Union to embrace greater state-church dialogue and on parliamentary candidates to include Christian principles in their political programs ahead of the bloc's elections in June. Stressing the importance of participatory democracy and the involvement of citizens in the decision-making process of European affairs, the statement bemoaned what it saw as the political and institutional marginalization of Christian voices. "We distinctly noticed that a large proportion of citizens, who confidently look at the European future through the prism of Christian values, now feel marginalized, as they do not have the opportunity to express their positions and opinions in an autonomous and distinct way," the bishops said in their March 20 statement."We also notice the exclusion o...
Map of Congo. / ShutterstockACI Africa, Mar 22, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).The decision by the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to lift a 2003 ban on the death penalty is retrogressive, the local ordinary of the country's Kinshasa Archdiocese, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, has said.In a statement issued March 13, DRC's justice minister, Rose Mutombo, announced the lifting of the two-decade-old moratorium on the death penalty in the Central African nation.Mutombo has been quoted as saying that "acts of treachery or espionage have taken a toll on the population and the Republic" and that the restoration of the death penalty is to "rid our country's army of traitors … and curb the upsurge in acts of terrorism and urban banditry resulting in death."In a March 17 interview with the French-language Catholic television channel KTO, Ambongo faulted the justice minister's pronouncements, saying he finds it "abnormal that a government that claims to be responsible could ...
Rosa María Payá coordinates the pro-Cuba democracy platform Cuba Decide. She is the daughter of the revered late Catholic Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá. / Credit: Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty ImagesACI Prensa Staff, Mar 21, 2024 / 17:05 pm (CNA).The Cuba Decides initiative, founded by Catholic opposition activist Rosa María Payá, is calling on the international community to side with the Cuban people and support the country's peaceful transition to democracy, a demand made by protesters in July 2021 as well as last weekend.Payá is the daughter of revered Catholic pro-democracy leader Oswaldo Payá, who was reportedly assassinated by the Castro regime in 2012.In an email sent to ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, the democratic initiative referred to the protests that took place March 18 in cities such as Santiago de Cuba and Bayamo, in which numerous people took to the streets to demand a change in the system due to continuous power outages and food shortages on the isl...
Pope Francis venerates the Salus Populi Romani icon in the Basilica of St. Mary Major on Dec. 8, 2023. / Vatican MediaRome Newsroom, Mar 21, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).Pope Francis on Wednesday issued new regulations for the administration of the papal Basilica of St. Mary Major, placing new emphasis on spiritual work and pastoral care and appointing a coadjutor archpriest of the West's oldest Marian shrine. In the March 20 chirograph, or papal decree, the Holy Father explained that he sought to "free" the "canons," (members of the group or "chapter" of clergy he designates to serve the basilica) "from all economic and administrative duties, so that they may dedicate themselves, fully and with renewed vigor, to the spiritual and pastoral accompaniment" of pilgrims.In December 2021 Pope Francis appointed Lithuanian-born Archbishop Rolandas Makrickas as the extraordinary commissioner to undertake the commissioning process "for the reorganization of the life of the chapter and the...
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Mississippi, urges the Supreme Court to restore abortion pill restrictions at a Capitol Hill press conference hosted by Reps. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, and August Pfluger, R-Texas, Mar. 21, 2024. / Credit: Peter Pinedo/CNAWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 21, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).With the Supreme Court set to hear arguments in a high-stakes abortion case next week, pro-life House members are urging the court to restore what they believe are necessary restrictions on the abortion drug known as mifepristone.Speaking at a Capitol Hill press conference on Thursday, lawmakers and activists said it was crucial that the court rule in favor of the pro-life groups in the case Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. Food and Drug Administration (AHM v. FDA), which is set to be heard by the Supreme Court on March 26.Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Mississippi, said at the press conference that in loosening restrictions on mifepristone, the Biden administration is "endangerin...
null / Carl Ballou / ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 21, 2024 / 18:30 pm (CNA).A New Hampshire man was charged with the murder of a pregnant woman and her unborn child, which is the first time the state's fetal homicide law has ever been invoked.William Kelly, 38, was charged with second-degree murder on allegations that he recklessly caused the death of 33-year-old Christine Falzone. He also faced another count of second-degree murder on allegations that he recklessly caused the death of her unborn child. The indictment from the Carroll County Grand Jury was announced on March 15. According to the New Hampshire Department of Justice, Falzone was somewhere between 35 and 37 weeks pregnant at the time of her death, which means she was only a few weeks away from giving birth. Authorities have not disclosed a suspected motive for the alleged murder but noted that Falzone and Kelly lived together. The double murder charges present a first-of-its-kind case ...
The St. Mary's mens basketball team wins the West Coast Conference, earning themselves a spot in the NCAA tournament. / Credit: Ryan BarnettCNA Staff, Mar 21, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).The St. Mary's Gaels men's basketball team made history this season by winning the West Coast Conference regular season and tournament titles on March 12, earning them an automatic bid for the NCAA men's tournament.It's the third time in program history that the team has won both titles in the same season. This is their fifth tournament title. Their previous tournament title wins came in 1997, 2010, 2012, and 2019.Since the beginning of the calendar year, the Gaels have only lost one game, winning 17 out of 18 games and ended the regular season 26-7 overall. The Gaels going into the tournament as the No. 5 seed in the West Region. St. Mary's will now face No. 12 Grand Canyon Antelopes in their first-round game at 10:05 p.m. ET on Friday, March 22.St. Mary's College, located in Moraga, Calif...
null / Credit: Billion Photos/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Mar 21, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).Following three years of modest growth, enrollment in Catholic education has remained stable since 2023, according to new data made public Wednesday by the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA). The NCEA, which gathers statistics on Catholic school enrollment in the United States each year, reported that enrollment remained steady with a 0.0% change in enrollment from 2022-2023 to 2023-2024.Following two straight years of notable growth, Catholic school enrollment had again risen slightly nationwide in 2022-2023."Although the national enrollment decline since 2013-2014 school year has been 281,251, a 14.2% loss of the student population, enrollment in more recent years has stabilized," the report read. Of the 5,905 Catholic schools in the U.S., enrollment in the southeast region of the U.S. has experienced the highest enrollment growth since the 2019-2020 school year, a...
