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The State Supreme Court building in Phoenix. / Credit: ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 9, 2024 / 15:45 pm (CNA).The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that a law protecting unborn life from abortion beginning at conception can soon take effect. The court ruled that state law does not guarantee a right to an abortion and that an 1864 law prohibiting all abortions can take effect in 14 days, pending any further constitutional challenges.The 1864 law allows for exceptions in cases in which the mother's life is in danger but does not grant exceptions for cases of rape or incest. The 4-2 decision issued Tuesday found that the Arizona Constitution "does not create a right to, or otherwise provide independent statutory authority" for abortion and that any guarantees to a right to abortion in the state were predicated on the now overturned Roe v. Wade precedent."To date, our Legislature has never affirmatively created a right to, or independently a...
The official portrait of Servant of God Niña Ruíz-Abad was presented to the public during the opening session of the diocesan phase of her cause for beatification and canonization at the Cathedral Church of St. William the Hermit in Laoag City on Sunday, April 7, 2024. / Credit: Portrait of Catholic Saints, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsACI Prensa Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).The official portrait of Servant of God Niña Ruíz-Abad was presented April 7 during the opening of the diocesan phase of her cause for canonization at St. William Cathedral in the town of Laoag located in the Ilocos Norte region of the Philippines.If canonized, the young Filipina, who died in 1993 at age 13, could become one of the youngest saints in history.The proceedings, including the Mass celebrated by Renato Mayugba, the bishop of Laoag, were posted on Facebook. The ceremony began with a procession of members of the Diocese of Laoag followed by the reading of Ruíz-Abad's biography and th...
Penn University transgender swimmer Lia Thomas celebrates taking first place in the 500-yard freestyle race with a time of 4.37.32 during the championship final race in heat three during the Women's Ivy League Swimming & Diving Championships at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Feb. 17, 2022. / Credit: JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) approved a policy on Monday that stated that biological men cannot compete in women's sports in NAIA-sponsored college sports. The NAIA includes 249 schools across the U.S. and Canada, most of which are small, private colleges. Catholic colleges such as Benedictine College in Kansas, Ave Maria University in Florida, Loyola University in New Orleans, and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana are members of the league. Texas A&M University-San Antonio is also a member. The decision, in a 20-0 vote,...
A plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. / Credit: MichalPL via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).Catholic bishops in the European Union on Tuesday reiterated that a right to abortion can never be a "fundamental" right ahead of a Thursday vote related to the insertion of a "right to abortion" in the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights. A draft resolution set to be voted on April 11 would amend the EU's charter, which first came into force in 2009, to include the assertion that "everyone has the right to bodily autonomy, to free, informed, full, and universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, and to all related health care services without discrimination, including access to safe and legal abortion."The Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), based in Brussels and made up of bishops delegated by the bishops' conferences of the more than two dozen member state...
null / orgarashu / Shutterstock.CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).Baltimore Archbishop William Lori on Monday attended a hearing at a U.S. bankruptcy court in which several witnesses testified on the abuse they endured at the hands of Church officials. The archdiocese said in a release on Monday that the archbishop "attended [the hearing] in which victim-survivors of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church offered statements as part of the proceedings associated with the archdiocese's filing for Chapter 11 reorganization." The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in September of last year in response to a looming wave of sex-abuse-related lawsuits. Lori at the time said filing for bankruptcy ensured that "victim-survivors will be equitably compensated" and the Church would be able to "continue its mission and ministries."After the sealed hearing on Monday at U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland, Lori said he was "deeply grateful t...
President's Hall, Seton Hall University. / Credit: Wikimedia/cc by sa 3.0CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).A Catholic university in New Jersey returned to its historic tradition of naming a "priest-president" following the previous president's abrupt resignation and lawsuit against the school. Seton Hall University, one of the oldest diocesan-run universities in the nation, on April 2 announced Monsignor Joseph Reilly as the 22nd president of the university. Reilly is an alumnus of the university and the current vice provost of academics and Catholic identity.The 168-year-old university had a "priest-president" for 146 years of its history, and Reilly's appointment marks a "return" to the tradition, the university press release noted.Reilly will take over from interim president Katia Passerini, who took up the role after former Seton Hall president Joseph Nyre's resignation in July 2023.Nyre and his wife, Kelli, filed a lawsuit alleging that the former...
The Department of Justice announced the arrest of Alexander Scott Mercurio, 18, after he allegedly plotted to kill Christians and burn down churches in his town to further the mission of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). / Credit: U.S. Department of JusticeWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 9, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).The Department of Justice (DOJ) arrested an 18-year-old man from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, who allegedly planned to kill Christians and burn down churches in his town to further the mission of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).The DOJ's criminal complaint alleges that Alexander Scott Mercurio intended to kill Christians in the nearest church, burn the building to the ground, then hijack a car and do the same at other nearby churches. He planned to handcuff his father and tape his father's mouth shut so he could steal his guns to commit the attacks, according to the DOJ allegations.According to the DOJ, Mercurio landed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation...
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signs a bill in 2020. / Credit: Office of Missouri Governor/Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0St. Louis, Mo., Apr 9, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).Republican Gov. Mike Parson of Missouri on Monday denied a request for clemency brought by convicted murderer Brian Dorsey, who is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection the evening of April 9 in the state's first execution of 2024.Dorsey, 52, was arrested in 2006 and later convicted of shooting and killing his cousin Sarah Bonnie and her husband Ben. Dorsey's lawyers argued that he was in a drug-induced psychosis, as he was suffering from chronic depression and addicted to crack cocaine at the time of the killings. The Catholic bishops of Missouri had strongly urged the faithful to contact Parson and ask him to stay Dorsey's execution, citing Catholic teaching on the inadmissability of the death penalty. Had Parson granted Dorsey clemency, it would have been his first time granting clemency to a death ro...
Father Marko Rupnik. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of RomeACI Prensa Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).Five new complaints of alleged abuse committed by Father Marko Rupnik have been presented to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, where an investigation into the case is being carried out after Pope Francis decided to lift the statute of limitations.The new cases mark the latest development in the case of Rupnik, a Jesuit accused of having committed serious sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse against at least 20 women over a period of decades.As reported by the Italian news agency Ansa, the testimonies of five alleged victims were presented at the Vatican dicastery by Italian lawyer Laura Sgrò on April 3.The complainants include two women who shared their testimony at a press conference in February, while the other three are heretofore unknown cases.On Feb. 21, Mirjam Kovac (who said she suffered spiritual and psychological abuse but not sexu...
Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Diocese of Charlotte Bishop Joseph Jugis (left) and appointed Monsignor Michael Martin, OFM Conv, to take his place, the Vatican announced April 9, 2024. / Credit: Diocese of CharlotteCNA Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 10:40 am (CNA).Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, Bishop Joseph Jugis and appointed a new prelate to take his place, the Vatican announced on Tuesday.The Holy Father "has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Charlotte, United States of America, presented by Bishop Peter Joseph Jugis," the Holy See Press Office said in an announcement.Jugis, 67, had served as the bishop there since 2003. The Charlotte bishopric encompasses about 20,000 square miles and includes more than 500,000 Catholics.The Vatican said 63-year-old Monsignor Michael Martin, OFM Conv, had been appointed to replace Jugis as the leader of the southern U.S. diocese. Martin, a Baltimore native,...
