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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With song, cake and circus performers, Pope Francis celebrated his 87th birthday in festive style at the Vatican. As in previous years, the pope spent his birthday Dec. 17 in the Paul VI Audience Hall with the children of those assisted by the Vatican's "Santa Marta" pediatric dispensary, which gives medical supplies to families in need. As soon as Pope Francis entered the room, one girl couldn't help but stand up and give the pope a hug. The children held up signs wishing Pope Francis happy birthday in Italian, sang to him and watched performers pull off acrobatic stunts, twirl plates and do tricks with hula hoops as the pope watched along laughing and applauding. Seated alongside him for the show was Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner."For being able to see you, so many girls and boys, everyone here, thank you," the pope said to the children. "We have to prepare for a big party which will be next week: Christmas, the party in which we think of and r...
WASHINGTON - In response to the Declaration "Fiducia supplicans" issued by the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith today, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) offered the following statement from its spokesperson, Chieko Noguchi, executive director of public affairs."The Declaration issued today by the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) articulated a distinction between liturgical (sacramental) blessings, and pastoral blessings, which may be given to persons who desire God's loving grace in their lives. The Church's teaching on marriage has not changed, and this declaration affirms that, while also making an effort to accompany people through the imparting of pastoral blessings because each of us needs God's healing love and mercy in our lives."###
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When St. Francis of Assisi staged the first Nativity scene 800 years ago, he did so to remind people of the powerful, awe-inspiring truth that God became human in Jesus, Pope Francis said.Nativity scenes are not simply works of art or folk art, the pope told hundreds of people involved in staging a live Nativity scene at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome Dec. 16.Dressed as angels, shepherds, the Holy Family and the townspeople of Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, the amateur actors met Pope Francis in the Vatican audience hall just a few hours before their performance began.When St. Francis staged a similar living Nativity in 1223, the pope said, he wanted "to represent in life the birth of Jesus to inspire in friars and in the people emotion and tenderness toward the mystery of God born of Mary in a stable and laid in a manger."The live setting, he said, was designed "to give substance to the representation -- not a painting, not statues, but people in flesh and...
St. Macartan's Cathedral in the Diocese of Clogher, in Northern Ireland. Laypeople will soon preside over funerals in 12 parishes in the diocese due to a shortage of priests. / Credit: JohnArmagh|Wikipedia|CC BY-SA 3.0CNA Staff, Dec 19, 2023 / 13:30 pm (CNA).More than 40 laymen and laywomen in the Diocese of Clogher in the north of Ireland will soon begin presiding over funeral liturgies amid a shortage of priests.A major vocation crisis could result in fewer than 10 active priests in the diocese in less than 20 years, according to the local ordinary, Bishop Larry Duffy."Over the past few months, over 40 people from 12 parishes across the diocese have taken part in a formation course to enable them to accompany people and families at the time of bereavement," Duffy, bishop of Clogher, announced in a Christmas pastoral letter Dec. 16.Other parishes have indicated a "willingness" to nominate people for a similar course in the spring, he wrote. In the letter, h...
Cardinal Seán O'Malley, Bishop Andrew Cozzens, and Cardinal Blase Cupich. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA and Diocese of CrookstonWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 19, 2023 / 15:30 pm (CNA).Several American Catholic dioceses have already issued statements on how they intend to implement new Vatican guidelines that permit nonliturgical pastoral blessings of homosexual couples, but it's still unclear what this will look like in most of the country.The Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a declaration on Monday titled Fiducia Supplicans, which allows "spontaneous" pastoral blessings for "same-sex couples" and other couples in "irregular situations."According to the document, nonliturgical blessings are "meant for everyone" and are available for those who "do not claim a legitimation of their own status but who beg that all that is true, good, and humanly valid in their lives and their relationships be enriched, healed, and elevated by the presence of the Holy Spirit....
Father Paul Sullins, PhD, is a senior research associate at the Ruth Institute and a retired professor of sociology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. / Credit: The Ruth InstituteCNA Staff, Dec 19, 2023 / 08:00 am (CNA).A widely-cited study purporting to show a link between the controversial practice of "conversion therapy" and increased suicidal ideation is seriously flawed from a scientific perspective, according to an analysis from a Catholic priest and researcher. Father Paul Sullins, a married priest who holds a doctorate in sociology and who previously taught at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., highlighted his findings in a press conference organized by the Ruth Institute, a Catholic organization that advocates for the freedom of counselors to engage in "client-chosen, client-directed talk therapy." At issue is a 2020 study often referred to as "Blosnich et al" (after the name of its lead researcher), which purports ...
John Kirby, coordinator of the National Security Council for Strategic Communications at the White House. / Credit: "EWTN News Nightly"Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 19, 2023 / 09:41 am (CNA).White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday that though the administration "raised specific concerns" about the reported killing of two Christian civilian women at Gaza's only Catholic church, the White House is confident that the Israelis "are not making the slaughter, torture, and rape of civilians in Gaza a war aim." The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said on Saturday that "around noon" on Dec. 16, a sniper of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) "murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza, where the majority of Christian families has taken refuge since the start of the war." Kirby said that the White House "raised that specific incident" with Israeli authorities and urged them to "be as careful, deliberate, surgical,...
Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu. / Credit: Alan Holdren/CNAACI Prensa Staff, Dec 19, 2023 / 10:15 am (CNA).The trial of Cardinal Angelo Becciu ended Dec. 16 with the prelate being convicted of embezzlement and sentenced by the Vatican court to more than five years in prison.The sentence states that he has also been permanently barred from holding public office and must pay a fine of 8,000 euros.Becciu, 75, who for more than seven years held the third-highest position in the Holy See, is the first cardinal to be sentenced by a Vatican court since its creation as a city-state in 1929.Here are six key facts about the cardinal and his trial:Veteran diplomatBecciu was born June 2, 1948, in the province of Sassari on the Italian island of Sardinia. At the age of 24 he was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Ozieri, which later figured in the financial scandal trial.With a degree in canon law, Becciu entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on May 1, 1984, and served in pon...
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the media on the opening day of the winter session of the Parliament, at Parliament House, New Delhi, India, Dec. 4, 2023. / Credit: ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 19, 2023 / 10:45 am (CNA).A religious freedom watchdog is urging the Biden administration to add the government of India to a list of the world's worst violators of religious freedom.The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said this month in a press release that it was "alarmed by India's increased transnational targeting of religious minorities and those advocating on their behalf.""Recent efforts by the Indian government to silence activists, journalists, and lawyers abroad pose a serious threat to religious freedom," the group said. USCIRF was created by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). The commission "monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad," makes "policy recommendation...
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops meets for its fall plenary assembly meeting Nov. 14, 2023, in Baltimore. / Credit: Joe Bukuras/CNAWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 18, 2023 / 18:20 pm (CNA).A Vatican-issued declaration on blessing "same-sex couples" and couples in other "irregular situations" does not change the Catholic Church's teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman, according to a statement issued by the United States bishops.The Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith issued a declaration on Monday titled Fiducia Supplicans, which opened the door for priests to pastorally bless same-sex couples. However, the declaration also makes clear that such blessings cannot be performed in a way to resemble marriage and conveyed a distinction between a pastoral blessing and a sacramental blessing."The [declaration] articulated a distinction between liturgical (sacramental) blessings and pastoral blessings, which may be given to persons who desire God's loving gr...
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