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Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento, California. / Credit: Randy Miramontez/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Apr 2, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).Following more than 250 lawsuits alleging abuse against the Diocese of Sacramento, Bishop Jaime Soto announced on Monday that the diocese will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.California's Child Victims Act, signed in 2019 and enacted at the beginning of 2021, extended the statute of limitations on clergy sexual abuse. Since then, survivors of abuse have brought forward more than 250 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of minors by clergy and other employees going back to the 1950s."There are many victim-survivors who have long suffered from the reprehensible sins committed against them," Soto said in an April 1 statement. "This reorganization process will allow me to respond to them as equitably as possible."Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy will enable a court to oversee the distribution of the diocese's available assets to satisfy the clai...
Critics of the Hate Speech bill worry that it could criminalize the speech of people such as author J.K. Rowling, who has said that "transgender women" are not actually women. / Daniel Ogren |Wikipedia|CC BY 2.0Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 2, 2024 / 14:45 pm (CNA).A new hate speech law that went into effect in Scotland on Monday could prompt investigations into those, such as author J.K. Rowling, who refer to transgender individuals by their biological sex, rather than their self-proclaimed gender identity, a Scottish minister said.Under the new law, which went into effect on April 1, 2024, a person will face up to seven years in prison for stirring up hatred against a person based on his or her "transgender identity." The law expanded existing hate speech laws that already banned people from stirring up hatred based on a person's race.The law does not explicitly prohibit so-called "misgendering," which is when someone refers to a transgender person by his or her bi...
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, pictured here in 2014, took up his new post as prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in September 2023. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 2, 2024 / 15:15 pm (CNA).The Vatican's top doctrinal office next week will unveil a new declaration on the theme of human dignity, one that is expected to address a range of contemporary moral issues including gender ideology and surrogacy. The Holy See Press Office announced on Tuesday that the new document, titled Dignitas Infinita ("Infinite Dignity") (On Human Dignity), will be debuted at a press conference held in Rome on April 8.The conference will include presentations by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF); Monsignor Armando Matteo, secretary for the doctrinal section of the DDF; and Professor Paola Scarcella of Rome's Tor Vergata and LUMSA universities. In an interview with the National Catholi...
Jean's journey into the Catholic Church was propelled by an earnest desire to align himself with the apostolic tradition, a lineage he felt was absent in his previous religious experiences. / Credit: Screenshot/Pillar and FoundationCNA Newsroom, Apr 2, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).A YouTuber disillusioned with his experience in an Austrian evangelical Protestant environment has found a spiritual family and home in the Catholic Church, embracing rich tradition and liturgical beauty. In the process of sharing his conversion story, the channel of the YouTuber, who goes by "Pillar and Foundation" ("Säule und Fundament"), has grown to almost 14,000 subscribers. For a Vienna-based channel in German, this is a considerable audience, and Jean, the 26-year-old married convert behind the project, recently shared his journey from being a member of a Protestant Free Church to Catholicism with CNA Deutsch, CNA's German-language news partner. Apostolic connection and liturgical beaut...
Protesters disrupt the Easter Vigil Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City on March 30, 2024. / Credit: XR NYC Palestine SolidarityWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 1, 2024 / 16:20 pm (CNA).Three pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested after disrupting the Saturday evening Easter Vigil Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City as the faithful were celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.Protesters entered the cathedral about 45 minutes into the 8 p.m. Vigil Mass, which was celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, and stood in front of the altar with a large flag that read "silence = death." Security quickly tried to wrestle the flag from the protesters and eventually forced them away from the altar and toward the exit of the church before police came to arrest them.As the protesters were being forced out of the cathedral, more protesters who were standing in the pews shouted "free, free Palestine." Security also forced those protesters out of the church.&n...
NYPD officers stand in line at the funeral of NYPD officer Jonathan Diller at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church on March 30, 2024, in Massapequa, New York. Officer Diller was killed on March 25 when he was shot in Queens after approaching an illegally parked vehicle. / Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesLong Island, New York, Apr 1, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).Thousands of mourners lined the streets of the New York suburb of Massapequa on Long Island on Holy Saturday for the Catholic funeral of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller, who was killed while on duty during a traffic stop last Monday. The 31-year-old officer left behind his wife, Stephanie, and 1-year-old son, Ryan."The city is mourning a cop. The tens of thousands of police officers outside are mourning a brother in arms. But Stephanie and Ryan are mourning their everything," said Father Michael Duffy, who presided over the marriage of the Dillers in 2019, in his homily for the funeral service, held at St. Rose of Lima Ca...
null / ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 1, 2024 / 18:05 pm (CNA).The Florida Supreme Court ruled to allow the state's 15-week abortion ban to take effect while also allowing a broad abortion amendment to be added to the November ballot. The separate rulings uphold Florida's 15-week abortion ban while also clearing the path for a proposal that opponents say could invalidate almost all the state's pro-life laws and enshrine abortion up till the moment of birth in the state.One of the rulings upholds Florida's 15-week pro-life law, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022. In this decision, the court ruled 6-1 that abortion is not covered in the state's right to privacy clause. This clears the path for the state's six-week Heartbeat Protection Act, which is currently blocked, to also take effect in 30 days. At the same time, a separate 4-3 decision found that the Limiting Government Interference with Abortion Amendment proposal meets th...
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger celebrates the special "pro eligendo summo pontifice" (to elect Supreme Pontiff) Mass at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City on April 18, 2005. / Credit: MARCO LONGARI/AFP via Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Apr 1, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).Pope Francis said he was "used" in the 2005 conclave in an effort to block the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, though he supported the candidacy of the man who soon became Pope Benedict XVI. "He was my candidate," Francis said of his predecessor in excerpts from the forthcoming book "The Successor," published by the Spanish newspaper ABC on Easter Sunday. In the book, Pope Francis told Spanish journalist Javier Martínez-Brocal that his name, then-Cardinal Jose Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, was put forward as part of a "complete maneuver" by an unnamed group of cardinals to manipulate the conclave's outcome. "The idea was to block the election of [Ratzinger]," he explained. "They ...
Psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson speaks to EWTN News In Depth's Colm Flynn as Peterson's wife, Tammy, joins the Catholic Church. / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN News in DepthCNA Staff, Apr 1, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).Psychologist and author Jordan Peterson spoke about Easter as the "core story of humanity" in an interview with "EWTN News In Depth" hours before his wife, Tammy, joined the Catholic Church this Easter at Holy Rosary Church in Toronto.Tammy Peterson's faith was formed through praying the rosary while she struggled against a rare form of cancer. Peterson is known for his biblical lectures on Genesis and Exodus in particular, which often appeal to both Christian and secular listeners. When asked by EWTN News correspondent Colm Flynn about what he thought about the Christian Easter message, Peterson said that it's "the core story of humanity." "I'll speak psychologically about it and speak in terms of its literary echoes," he said. "It's a v...
Christ's Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection. / Credit: Alexander IvanovACI Prensa Staff, Apr 1, 2024 / 05:00 am (CNA).On Easter Monday, the Catholic Church celebrates what's called "Monday of the Angel." In many countries in Europe and South America, this day, also known as "Little Easter," is a national holiday.In a Vatican Radio recording in 1994, Pope John Paul II gave an explanation for Monday of the Angel:"Why is it called that?" the pope asked, highlighting the need for an angel to call out from the depths of the grave: "He is risen."These words "were very difficult to proclaim, to express, for a person," John Paul II said. "Also, the women that were at the tomb encountered it empty but couldn't tell 'he had risen'; they only affirmed that the tomb was empty. The angel said more: 'He is not here, he has risen.'"The Gospel of St. Matthew puts it this way: "Then the angel said to the women in reply, 'Do not be afraid! I know that you are seek...
