Catholic News

• Pope Francis names Manila's Cardinal Tagle 'red pope' (Vatican News)
  Pope Francis named Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, 62, as prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which is responsible for the appointment of bishops in mission territories. Cardinal Tagle succeeds Cardinal Fernando Filoni, 73, the congregation’s prefect since 2011. Cardinal Filoni, in turn, was appointed the new Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, succeeding Cardinal Edwin O’Brien, 80.
• Pope entrusts sinners to Immaculate Mary (Vatican News)
  Following a custom that dates back several decades, Pope Francis left the Vatican on December 8 and traveled to the Piazza di Spagna in Rome, where he offered an act of veneration to the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Column of the Immaculate Conception (video).
• Cardinal Zen says Secretary of State shut critics out of China discussion (Washington Post)
  In an op-ed published in the Washington Post, Cardinal Joseph Zen has stepped up his criticism of the Vatican’s Secretary of State, charged that Cardinal Pietro Parolin shut out critics of his approach to Beijing. “For the sake of dialogue with China, he eliminated the internal dialogue among ourselves,” Cardinal Zen complained.
• Vatican investments linked to global money laundering investigations (CNA)
  The Secretariat of State has invested tens of millions of euros in the Centurion Global Fund, which in turn has invested in two Swiss banks that are implicated in money-laundering scandals.
• May the Immaculate Conception 'help us to make our whole life a yes to God,' Pope tells pilgrims (Zenit)
  In his December 8 Sunday Angelus address (video), Pope Francis reflected on the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), the Gospel reading of Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
• US Supreme Court blocks resumption of federal executions (Wall Street Journal)
  The US Supreme Court has blocked plans by the Trump administration to resume the use of the death penalty. The high court ruled that condemned federal prisoners should have an opportunity to challenge new policies for executions.
• In address to Catholic organizations, Pope emphasizes formation, necessary means, teamwork (Vatican Press Office)
  On December 7, Pope Francis received participants in the Forum of Catholic Inspired NGOs (non-governmental organizations).
• Communion, creativity, vision: Pope encourages Italian Catholic filmmakers (Vatican Press Office)
  Pope Francis addressed members of the Associazione Cattolica Esercenti Cinema —Sale della Comunità [Catholic Association of Cinema Operators – Community Theaters] on the 70th anniversary of its founding.
• Supreme Court rejects appeal of Kentucky law requiring ultrasound before abortion (NBC)
  The US Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by the ACLU, challenging a Kentucky law that requires ultrasound tests of a pregnant woman before an abortion. By refusing to take the case, the high court upheld an appeals court decision that allows the law, passed in 2017, to take effect.
• Peoria official decries Rochester diocese's actions in Sheen beatification (Sheen Foundation)
  “Constantly the Diocese of Rochester calls for greater caution, but it is hard not to think that they simply act to sabotage the Cause,” said Msgr. James Kruse, the Diocese of Peoria’s director of canonical affairs and former vicar general, as he discussed conversations he has had with Rochester diocesan officials in recent months. On December 3, the Diocese of Peoria announced that the Vatican was postponing Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s beatification.
• Majority of Belgium's parish priests are over 75 (SIR)
  According to the report, “the number of lay people in Belgium who have received a mandate from the bishops to serve parishes has exceeded the number of serving priests: 2,038 lay people compared to 1,940 diocesan priests (of whom 51% are over 75).”
• Justice and charity: Pope pays tribute to importance of notaries (Vatican Press Office)
  “The notary, in order to be consistent with his profession, will strive to nurture a sincere sensitivity to the dignity and rights of the people who turn to him; he will not fail to defend as indispensable principles all that is right and all that is true, without forgetting charity, the principal virtue necessary in interpersonal relationships,” the Pope said to the members of Italy’s Cassa Nazionale del Notariato [National Notarial Fund] on the 100th anniversary of its foundation.
• Ignoring appeal to cancel meeting, Pope receives Malta's prime minister (Reuters)
  “The political stability of the tiny Mediterranean island has been rocked in recent weeks by the fallout from the 2017 murder of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was blown up by a car bomb,” Reuters reported.
• Egypt's president says he appreciates Pope's efforts to promote tolerance, counter extremism (Asharq Al-Awsat)
  On December 7, Pope Francis received Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign minister.
• Wisconsin-born Christian Brother beatified in Guatemala (CNS)
  Blessed James Miller (1944-1982) was martyred in Huehuetenango, Guatemala.
• Slovak premier meets with Pontiff (Vatican Press Office)
  Pope Francis met on December 9 with Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini of Slovakia. Their conversation centered on Church-state relations, the treatment of religious and ethnic minorities, and European affairs generally, with a special focus on Ukraine.
• Pope appeals for prayer for peace in Ukraine (Vatican News)
  Since 2014, over 10,000 people have been killed in the War in Donbass; 1.4 million Ukrainians have been internally displaced, and 925,000 have left the country. Russia and Ukraine are holding peace talks in Paris.
• New massacres in Democratic Republic of Congo (Fides)
  At least 24 people were killed, and others wounded, in new massacres in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• Pope, Grand Imam ask UN to declare World Day of Human Fraternity (Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue)
  The Pontiff and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar have asked the United Nations to declare February 4, the anniversary of their Document on Human Fraternity, to be the World Day of Human Fraternity. The UN has declared or recognized numerous international days, and February 4 is currently World Cancer Day.
• Theme of papal preacher's 1st Advent sermon: Mary at the Annunciation (Cantalamessa.org)
  On December 6, Capuchin Franciscan Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the preacher of the papal household since 1980, preached the first of three Advent sermons in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel of the Apostolic Palace.
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