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Pope Francis blesses an unborn baby during the Papal Foundation's annual pilgrimage in Rome on Friday, April 12, 2024. / Credit: Vatican MediaCNA Staff, Apr 12, 2024 / 12:45 pm (CNA).The Papal Foundation, a U.S.-based organization that provides funding for Catholic projects around the world, announced on Friday the distribution of nearly $15 million in grants, scholarships, and charitable aid "to care for those in need and grow the Catholic faith around the world."The group said in a press release that it would be distributing nearly $10 million in 2024 alone to more than 100 projects and recipients in several dozen countries. Among the beneficiaries include efforts at "providing for basic needs such as access to clean water," "constructing schools and renovating classrooms," and "translating Church teachings for evangelization."The money will also go toward "restoring Churches, convents, and seminaries in desperate need of repairs," "providing students in remote areas wit...
Pope Francis meets with a group of 200 children studying catechism and in a relaxed manner answered some of their questions on April 11, 2024, at St. John Mary Vianney Parish in Borghesiana, Italy. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Apr 12, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).Pope Francis made a special "getaway" from the Vatican yesterday afternoon and met with a group of 200 children at a parish in metro Rome.A brief statement released by the Holy See's Press Office said that the Holy Father went to St. John Mary Vianney Parish in Borghesiana, east of the Italian capital.There Pope Francis met with a group of 200 children studying catechism and in a relaxed manner answered some of their questions.Pictures from the meeting posted on social media show the Holy Father happily greeting the children and even giving them playful "high fives." According to the Dicastery for Evangelization, for approximately one hour, the "pope catechized with the children."Responding to their questions...
German police cars (file image) / Mike Baumeister via Unsplah (CC0)CNA Newsroom, Apr 12, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).German authorities have reported the arrest of four suspects allegedly planning terror attacks in Germany. According to Bild newspaper, the group intended to target Christians attending church services and police stations with knives and Molotov cocktails.The Düsseldorf public prosecutor's office revealed that the suspects, who are between 15 and 16 years old, were apprehended over the Easter weekend."The suspects are strongly suspected of having planned an Islamist-motivated terrorist attack and of having agreed to commit it," authorities stated, as reported by CNA Deutsch, CNA's German-language news partner.The arrests were conducted following an investigation by the Public Prosecutor General's Office and the anti-terror unit, ZenTer NRW. North Rhine-Westphalia's interior minister, Herbert Reul, detailed the case at a press conference in Düsseldorf on Thursday, notin...
Bree Solstad, a young woman who previously produced and acted in the pornography industry, is among the adult converts who entered the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil this year on March 30, 2024. / Credit: Miss B Converted in XACI Prensa Staff, Apr 12, 2024 / 14:30 pm (CNA).Bree Solstad, a young woman who previously produced and acted in the pornography industry, is among the adult converts who entered the Catholic Church this Easter, leaving behind her life of "countless sins" and embracing the Catholic faith.Solstad told ChurchPop that prior to her conversion, she led a life full of promiscuity and self-obsession, which spiked when a "recruiter" reached out to her."I was drinking more heavily and started a blog about my hedonistic behavior. The blog caught the attention of a successful sex worker, who reached out to me and essentially recruited me," she said. "She showed me how to get set up and introduced me to some important people in the industry who could help me make...
Jaroslaw Kaczynski (front, center), leader of the Law and Justice political party (PiS) in Poland, takes part in the voting on four draft projects on abortion rights at the Polish Parliament (SEJM) on April 12, 2024, in Warsaw, Poland. / Credit: Omar Marques/Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 12, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).Catholic bishops in Poland are asking the faithful to make Sunday a "day of prayer" for unborn children after the country's lawmakers advanced four pro-abortion bills in the heavily Catholic country on Friday."I warmly encourage you to make the coming Sunday a day of special prayer in defense of the unborn," Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda, the chair of the Polish Episcopal Conference, said in a statement."I ask that in all churches in Poland, at every holy Mass, we pray for this intention," Wojda said.Lawmakers on Friday advanced four pro-abortion bills to be considered by a special committee in the Sejm, which is Poland's lower legislative body. This was t...
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is a country in Southeast Asia. / Credit: ShutterstockCNA Staff, Apr 12, 2024 / 15:30 pm (CNA).A Myanmar priest was shot this week while celebrating Mass in the state of Kachin, according to media reports, with the assault coming amid ongoing violent conflict between the military junta and resistance forces in the region. Masked assailants shot Father Paul Khwi Shane Aung as he celebrated Mass at St. Patrick's Church in the town of Mohnyin in the northern region of Myanmar.The priest "was rushed to a hospital in Mohnyin and was later moved to a hospital in Myitkyina," according to UCA News.The reason for the attack is unknown and the shooters are reportedly still at large. Aung is listed on the Myitkyina Catholic Diocese's website as a priest in the Mohnyin Zone. He was ordained in 2013. In February, the aid group Christian Solidarity International warned of a rise in violence against the persecuted Christian mino...
Bishop Mark Seitz of the Diocese of El Paso speaks at the "Responding to Changing Realities at the U.S. Border and Beyond" conference, hosted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic University of America on April 11, 2024. / Credit: Photo courtesy of The Catholic University of AmericaWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 12, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).Bishop Mark Seitz of the Diocese of El Paso criticized a Texas law that increases the state's role in deterring illegal immigration to the United States and denounced "anti-immigrant" rhetoric that he said is rising in the country's two major political parties.Seitz, who chairs the Committee on Migration of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), commented on the Lone Star State's new law during an immigration conference jointly hosted by the Catholic University of America and the USCCB. The April 11 event was titled "Responding to Changing Realities at the U.S. Border and Beyond." SB 4...
A Palestinian woman assists a child playing on the ruinas of a building destroyed by earlier Israeli bombardment in Gaza City on April 8, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. / Credit: AFP via Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Apr 11, 2024 / 11:45 am (CNA).Global aid organization Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is calling for an "immediate end" to violence in Gaza as workers struggle to bring critical aid to the population six months into the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.CRS is the official international Catholic relief and development agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.The aid agency has been a major presence in Gaza since the outset of the war in October 2023, when Hamas invaded Israel, killing 1,200 and kidnapping hundreds of hostages. Israel responded with a major invasion of Gaza. The conflict has reportedly claimed over 33,000 lives in Gaza. In a press release this week, the group said it was reiss...
Exposition of the official portrait of Servant of God Niña Ruíz-Abad on April 7, 2024, at the Cathedral of St. William the Hermit in Laoag City, Philippines. / Credit: Courtesy of the Cenacle of the Most Precious Blood of JesusNational Catholic Register, Apr 11, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).On April 7, the cause for canonization of 13-year-old Filipina Niña Ruíz-Abad was officially opened at the Cathedral of St. William the Hermit in Laoag City, Philippines, coinciding with Divine Mercy Sunday.The event marked the first step of a lengthy process of making Ruíz-Abad one of the youngest saints in history. Bishop Renato Mayugba of Laoag City headed the tribunal to hear witnesses testify to the life and holiness of the Servant of God, who has been described as "an inspiration of piety, mercy, evangelization, and fortitude to others.""We are starting our investigation on the life of Niña to discern if indeed God has blessed us with a Servant of God who can be elevated to sainthood. … ...
A Mayo Clinic study published in late March 2024 found that boys who take puberty blockers may suffer "irreversible" harm. / Credit: Nephron|Wikimedia|CC BY-SA 3.0CNA Staff, Apr 11, 2024 / 13:35 pm (CNA).When parents seek medical help for their gender-confused children, they are assured that puberty blockers are "reversible" treatment that pauses puberty, offering the "chance to explore gender identity." But a Mayo Clinic study published in late March found that boys who take puberty blockers may suffer "irreversible" harm.The study, published on a website hosted by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Minnesota, found that adolescent boys who take puberty blockers may experience fertility problems and atrophied testes.Eleven Mayo Clinic scientists based in Rochester, Minnesota, studied the effect of puberty blockers on testicular cells. The researchers discovered "unprecedented" evidence "revealing detrimental pediatric testicular sex gland responses to [puberty...
