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WASHINGTON - Each person's life is a unique gift and has immeasurable value from the moment of conception, said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, and it is for that precise reason that the Catholic Church cannot condone procedures such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) that result in a loss of life at a massive scale. In response to the growing attention to assisted reproductive technologies, Bishop Burbidge, as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, spoke about the gift of life. Recognizing the desire to have children is good and given the challenges many couples face, Bishop Burbidge called for greater focus on ethical treatments addressing the root causes of infertility. Additionally, other approaches that may be sought by some couples seeking to expand their families, such as foster care and adoption, should be offered more support. The chairman's full statement follows:  "The national conversation in the news about laws relat...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Encouraging negotiations to end Russia's war on Ukraine, Pope Francis called for the warring sides to have the "courage of the white flag," a term usually associated with surrender.Asked in an interview whether Ukraine should surrender and if doing so would legitimize the actions of the stronger power, the pope said that "the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates."The interview, with Italian-language Swiss broadcaster RSI, was recorded Feb. 2, but segments were released March 9 ahead of its full release scheduled for March 20.Several Italian media outlets quickly began circulating stories on the interview March 9 that incorrectly quoted the pope as saying that "Ukraine should have the courage to raise the white flag."Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, told reporters March 9 that the image of the white flag -- a term used by the interviewer in posing the...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christians should pray for the grace to look at others with the same mercy and care with which Jesus looks at them, Pope Francis said."No one is perfect. We are all sinners, we all make mistakes, and if the Lord were to use his knowledge of our weaknesses to condemn us, no one could be saved," the pope said March 10 before reciting the Angelus prayer with visitors gathered in St. Peter's Square.Commenting on the day's Gospel reading, Jn 3:14-21, Pope Francis focused on the line: "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him."When Jesus encounters people in the Gospel, the pope said, he sees all that they are. "There are no secrets before him. He reads their hearts."Then and now, Jesus sees the whole person, not "to point the finger at us, but to embrace our life, to free us from sins and to save us," he said. "Jesus is not interested in putting us on trial or subjecting us to judgment. He wants ...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis was not asking Ukraine to consider surrendering to Russia when he called for negotiations to end the war, but he was calling for both Russia and Ukraine to cease hostilities and engage in peace talks, the Vatican's top diplomat said.It's "obvious" that creating the conditions for a diplomatic resolution to the war in Ukraine "is not only up to one side, but to both sides," Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published March 12. The first step toward reaching peace, he added, is "to put an end to the aggression."The responsibility for ceasing hostilities in Ukraine falls "first and foremost to the aggressor," he said without explicitly naming Russia. Only then, he said, can negotiations begin."The Holy Father explains that to negotiate is not weakness, but strength. It is not surrender, but courage," he said.The cardinal's comments came after the release March 9 of port...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The saints are not unreachable "exceptions of humanity" but ordinary people who worked diligently to grow in virtue, Pope Francis said.It is wrong to think of the saints as "a kind of small circle of champions who live beyond the limits of our species," the pope wrote in the catechesis for his general audience March 13 in St. Peter's Square. Instead, they are "those who fully become themselves, who realize the vocation of every person." Pope Francis rides in the popemobile after his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican March 13, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)"How happy would be a world in which justice, respect, mutual respect, the breadth of the spirit (and) hope were the shared norm and not a rare anomaly," he wrote.Just like at his general audience March 6, Pope Francis told visitors in the square that due to a mild cold an aide, Msgr. Pierluigi Giroli, would read his speech. However the pope had seemed recovered when he read the entir...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis has advanced the sainthood cause of U.S. Sister Rose Hawthorne, the daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and he recognized the martyrdom of a German priest executed by the Nazis and a German nun and her 14 companions who were raped and murdered by Russian soldiers during World War II.After Pope Francis met March 14 with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the Vatican published the list of decrees the pope approved in 12 sainthood causes.The pope recognized the heroic virtues of Sister Hawthorne, who, born in 1851 in Lenox, Massachusetts, was the third and last child of novelist and short-story writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne. She and her husband, George Lathrop, converted to Catholicism, but they eventually separated after his alcoholism led to extremely violent behavior.  Rose Hawthorne is shown in this file photo taken before her work with cancer patients began. (CNS photo/courtesy Dominican Sisters of Hawthorn...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis has decided that some of the most controversial issues raised at the first assembly of the Synod of Bishops on synodality will be examined by study groups that will work beyond the synod's final assembly in October.The possible revision of guidelines for the training of priests and deacons, "the role of women in the church and their participation in decision-making/taking processes and community leadership," a possible revision of the way bishops are chosen and a revision of norms for the relationship between bishops and the religious orders working in their dioceses all will be the subject of study groups.That Pope Francis did not wait until the end of the second assembly to convoke the study groups, "shows that he has a heart that listens; he listened and is acting," Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary-general of the synod, told reporters March 14.Pope Francis approved the 10 groups and their topics; he asked the groups, coordinated by different offi...
WASHINGTON - On March 26, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral arguments in a case that has the potential to make a major impact in the widespread accessibility of chemical abortion (abortion pills). Chemical abortions are now the most common form of abortion in the United States. Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, chairman of the USCCB's Committee on Pro-Life Activities have announced a nationwide invitation to prayer beginning on March 25 (the eve of the oral arguments), through June 2024, when the court's decision is expected. Invitation may be viewed here: https://www.usccb.org/resources/nationwide-invitation-to-prayer.pdf.Background information may be found here: https://www.usccb.org/prolife/nationwide-invitation-prayer.###
Dominican Sister Lucía Caram on the television program "Cuentos Chinos" ("Tall Tales") in Spain. / Credit: MediasetACI Prensa Staff, Mar 14, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).Yesterday Pope Francis received the controversial nun Sister Lucía Caram and team members of the Spanish-language news portal Religión Digital, which regularly publishes content contrary to Catholic doctrine.The pope's March 13 audience with Caram and the Religión Digital journalists went unmentioned in the Vatican Press Office's daily news brief.In an article, Religión Digital, now in its 25th year, stated that the Holy Father met with its members for half an hour and reportedly encouraged the team: "Do not lose hope. Continue fighting for this living Church and making it known."The article noted that the pontiff met with the visitors in "the back room of the Paul VI Hall, (la auletta)," which is "the same office where he received [Volodymyr] Zelensky, [Nicolás] Maduro, and Raúl Castro," presidents of Ukraine, Venezu...
null / Credit: Ulf Wittrock/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Mar 14, 2024 / 12:45 pm (CNA).A priest in Indiana is suing his diocese for fraud and defamation after he was suspended over what the clergyman claims were false allegations of sexually abusing a minor. Father James DeOreo in a filing at Boone County Circuit Court earlier this month alleged that the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana, along with its vicar general, Father Theodore Dudzinski, committed both defamation and fraud, respectively, against DeOreo in a yearslong conflict over accusations against the priest. The filing alleges that in January 2021, a parishioner alleged that DeOreo "abused the [parishioner] by encouraging him to fast and engage in other spiritual and ascetic practices," which eventually led the individual to "suffer an eating disorder."A subsequent investigation found that "no abuse had occurred." The diocese, however, "agreed to pay for the Complainer's psychotherapy" in order to help hi...
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