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President Joe Biden speaks at Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin, April 8, 2024. / Credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 8, 2024 / 16:50 pm (CNA).President Joe Biden's reelection campaign accused the presumptive Republican nominee and former president Donald Trump of "scrambling" on the issue of abortion after Trump announced that he supports states making their own abortion laws."Trump is scrambling," Biden said, according to the campaign statement. "He's worried that since he's the one responsible for overturning Roe, the voters will hold him accountable in 2024.""Well, I have news for Donald: They will," the statement continued. "America was built on personal freedom and liberty. So, there is nothing more un-American than having our personal freedoms taken away. And that is what Donald Trump has done."These comments from the Biden campaign came shortly after Trump posted a video on Truth Soc...
null / ShutterstockCNA Staff, Apr 8, 2024 / 15:45 pm (CNA).Religious broadcasters, with the support of Catholic media groups, are asking the Supreme Court to rule whether government officials charged them unfairly high rates in violation of their constitutional rights.The Catholic Radio Association (CRA) and CatholicVote.org Education Fund have both filed amicus briefs in the case National Religious Broadcasters Noncommercial Music License Committee v. Copyright Royalty Board.The committee is arguing that the Copyright Royalty Board is subjecting religious broadcasters to a discriminatory royalty fee that violates U.S. religious freedom law. The Copyright Royalty Board consists of three judges who "oversee the copyright law's statutory licenses," according to the board's website. Those licenses "permit qualified parties to use multiple copyrighted works without obtaining separate licenses from each copyright owner."The legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF),...
Father Jude Nwachukwu (left) and Father Kenneth Kanwa were kidnapped from their parish rectory in the Diocese of Pankshin in Nigeria on Feb. 1, 2024. / Credit: Ahiara DioceseCNA Staff, Apr 5, 2024 / 11:15 am (CNA).A prominent Catholic bishop urged U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an April 2 letter to engage in a "partnership" with Nigeria to help the nation "withstand the forces of violence and extremism." Bishop Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace, called on Blinken to "support the concerns of my brother bishops in Nigeria" following the Nigerian bishops' recent declaration urging their government to address internal corruption, security, and economic issues.One Nigerian bishop has described the situation in Nigeria as a Christian "genocide." There have been recent kidnappings and in some cases, murder, of Nigerian Catholic priests as well as a seri...
Credit: ShutterstockCNA Staff, Apr 5, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).The U.S. Catholic bishops announced on Wednesday that April 27-28 will be this year's annual Catholic Home Missions Appeal, which supports vital ministries for more than 75 U.S. dioceses in need. Every year, Catholic parishes throughout the U.S. take up this appeal to help support remote, impoverished, or small parishes. (Some dioceses can opt to have the collection during a different weekend.) Bishop Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, Missouri, who heads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Subcommittee on Catholic Home Missions, shared his appreciation for the support of the faithful who "help the Church maintain its presence" in these dioceses. "There are places where ministry is marked by the deep commitment of parishioners and the clergy who serve them, who often travel many miles through mountains, deserts, or arctic terrain to attend Mass and serve each other and their communities," McKnight...
Nebraska state Sen. Mike McDonnell, who had been a registered Democrat for 40 years before this week, said that his party change was caused by the Democratic Party's refusal to respect his pro-life views, which he said is grounded in his Catholic faith. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Nebraska LegislatureWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 4, 2024 / 16:40 pm (CNA).A pro-life Catholic lawmaker in the Nebraska Legislature is switching his party registration from Democrat to Republican because of the Democratic Party's staunch support of abortion. Sen. Mike McDonnell, who had been a registered Democrat for 40 years before this week, said in a news conference that his party change was caused by the Democratic Party's refusal to respect his pro-life views, which he said is grounded in his Catholic faith. He was first elected in 2016."Today, I am announcing I am now going to be a registered Republican in the state of Nebraska," McDonnell said.While serving in the Legislature, McDonn...
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 ...
Rosa María Payá coordinates the pro-Cuba democracy platform Cuba Decide. She is the daughter of the revered late Catholic Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá. / Credit: Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty ImagesACI Prensa Staff, Mar 21, 2024 / 17:05 pm (CNA).The Cuba Decides initiative, founded by Catholic opposition activist Rosa María Payá, is calling on the international community to side with the Cuban people and support the country's peaceful transition to democracy, a demand made by protesters in July 2021 as well as last weekend.Payá is the daughter of revered Catholic pro-democracy leader Oswaldo Payá, who was reportedly assassinated by the Castro regime in 2012.In an email sent to ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, the democratic initiative referred to the protests that took place March 18 in cities such as Santiago de Cuba and Bayamo, in which numerous people took to the streets to demand a change in the system due to continuous power outages and food shortages on the isl...
When Biden was a senator (pictured with former Rep. Henry Hyde), he consistently supported and voted for the Hyde Amendment, which banned federal spending on abortion. / Credit: Alex Wong/Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 20, 2024 / 14:45 pm (CNA).President Joe Biden is calling for taxpayer-funded abortion nationwide and more funding for a program that funnels money to Planned Parenthood facilities in his 2025 budget plan unveiled last week.The $7.3 trillion budget would eliminate two safeguards that prevent taxpayer-funded abortion: the Hyde Amendment and the Dornan Amendment. Both amendments have been included in federal budget bills for decades, but the president's proposal leaves them out completely. His plan would also increase funding for the Title X family planning program, which funnels millions of dollars to the abortion provider Planned Parenthood."Since flip-flopping on taxpayer-funded abortion to run for president, Biden has lost any resistance to his party...
Father Jerome "Jerry" Kaywell, a Grammy award-winning musician, had been placed on leave amid claims of sexual misconduct before his accuser apologized and said the accusations were based on a "false memory." / Credit: Jerry Kaywell YouTube pageCNA Staff, Mar 19, 2024 / 14:30 pm (CNA).A Grammy award-winning Florida priest has been cleared of allegations of sexual misconduct after his accuser recanted his claims and said the accusations had been the product of a "false memory."In a letter obtained by CNA, Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida, last week told parishioners of Sacred Heart Parish in Punta Gorda there was "no evidence to support" the allegations that Father Jerome Kaywell had committed sexual misconduct in 2013 and 2014. Dewane had informed parishioners in January that the diocese had "received notification from a law firm of an allegation of sexual misconduct" regarding Kaywell. The incident "allegedly occurred in the winter...
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...
