Catholic News

• Pelosi 'pleased' with Vatican statement on Communion and abortion (CNA)
  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters that she is “pleased with what the Vatican put out” on the controversy over the reception of Communion by Catholic politicians who favor legal abortion. Pelosi interpreted a statement by Cardinal Luis Ladaria as saying “don’t be divisive on the subject.” The cardinal actually was clear in saying that pro-abortion politicians should not receive the Eucharist, but Pelosi said she would “use my own judgment on that.”
• Pope urges Italians to welcome life, reverse demographic decline (Vatican News)
  “Children are the hope that makes a people reborn,” Pope Francis said in a May 14 address to a Rome conference on Italy’s demographic crisis. The Pontiff observed that “a society that does not welcome life stops living.” Italy’s declining birth rate—well below the “replacement level”—has commanded the attention of political leaders, and Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi participated in this week’s conference on “the general states of birth.”
• State Dept. releases annual religious freedom report (US Department of State)
  “The report is impressive and thorough,” writes a staff member of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. “Secretary Anthony Blinken gave a stirring defense of the importance of protecting religious freedom for all.”
• Months after Argentina legalizes abortion, nation's president meets with Pontiff (AP)
  “In a break with usual practice, the Vatican communique about Fernandez’s visit omitted any reference to issues discussed between the president and Pope,” the Associated Press reported. “The brief statement provided only a rundown of topics Fernandez discussed with the Vatican secretary of state and foreign minister.”
• Vatican conference features liberal speakers on 'restart' (National Catholic Register)
  The heads of the World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the US Treasury Department took part in a Vatican conference May 14 on “Dreaming of a Better Restart.” Population-control advocate Jeffrey Sachs also spoke at the meeting. It was sponsored by the Pontifical Academies of Science, whose chancellor, Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, has frequently invited Sachs to speak, and has himself said that China is the country that best exemplifies Catholic social teaching.
• Former US ambassador says Vatican should push China on religious freedom (CNA)
  Sam Brownback, who was US ambassador for religious freedom during the Trump administration, has argued that the Vatican should press China harder in demands for religious freedom, noting a new State Department report that lists China as a “country of political concern” regarding religious liberty. Brownback said that the US urged the Vatican not to renew a secret agreement with Beijing on the appointment of bishops, because “this is not a regime we should be negotiating with.”
• Jewish, Catholic, Muslim leaders respond to Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Deseret News)
  “We join with the Holy Father, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and other brethren who have called on the international community to intervene in the promotion of a just peace in the Holy City,” the US bishops’ chairman for international justice and peace said in a statement.
• Following alleged coup plot, Nigerian bishops urge federal government to shun propaganda against religious leaders (Vanguard (Lagos))
  “While we reject any call for the destabilization of Nigeria or military takeover, we nonetheless say to the federal government of Nigeria, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, there is no need to focus your energy, time and resources in any form of propaganda against religious leaders who disagree with your performance,” the bishops said in a statement.
• Ohio bishops end general dispensation from Sunday Mass obligation (Catholic Conference of Ohio)
  “As we move beyond the worst of the coronavirus pandemic and access to the COVID-19 vaccine has become more widespread, the time has arrived for the good of all the faithful when the general dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation is no longer necessary,” the statement begins.
• Australian diocese backs off support for gender ideology in schools (National Catholic Register)
  Lay Catholics in the Diocese of Parramatta, Australia, have persuaded Bishop Vincent Long Van Nguyen to ease his opposition to a bill that would bar the teaching of gender ideology in public schools. The diocese had initially opposed the legislation, saying that the schools should focus on “promoting and respecting the human dignity of all.”
• As Catholic school district promotes Pride flag, Toronto archdiocese says cross the best symbol of inclusion (CNA)
  “Catholic school systems in Ontario are taxpayer-funded and schools are not owned by the dioceses in which they operate,” the report explains. “While bishops set catechetical curricula and ensure sacramental ministry in school contexts, they do not exercise control over elected boards.”
• New Vatican working group aims to excommunicate mafia members (Vatican News)
  The members of the working group, established by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, are Vittorio V. Alberti, Rosy Bindi, Father Luigi Ciotti, Father Marcello Cozzi, Raffaele Grimaldi, Archbishop Michele Pennisi, Giuseppe Pignatone, and Ioan Alexandru Pop.
• Christians suffer in Gaza, Israeli strikes disproportionate, bishop says (Fides)
  Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, the vicar of the Jerusalem patriarchate, reports that Christian home in the Gaza strip, as well as a convent and a parochial school, have been hit by Israeli air strikes this week. Bishop Marcuzzo said that Israel’s response to Hamas missiles has been disproportionate. More than 100 of the casualties in Gaza have been women and children, he said, remarking that “the famous ‘smart bombs’ harm everyone.”
• German foreign minister talks to Pope about child sex abuse (Deutsche Presse-Agentur)
  Pope Francis and German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass also discussed “the latest flare-up in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the coronavirus pandemic, the future of the European Union and Germany’s Latin America policy,” according to the report.
• China shuts down Catholic radio network's social-media account (LICAS.news)
  The Chinese government has shut down the WeChat account of Radio Veritas Asia, saying that the Catholic broadcaster had violated government regulations. Radio Veritas had reported difficulties during Holy Week and Easter, when the government blocked the release of religious videos, saying that they were “sensitive” material.
• ATF rules Philadelphia church fire was arson (WHYY-TV)
  The Archdiocese of Philadelphia closed St. Leo’s Church in 2019.
• Top Vatican official cautions US bishops on denial of Communion (CWN)
  The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has urged the US bishops to be cautious about any national policy regarding the reception of Communion by prominent Catholics who promote abortion and euthanasia.
• Diocese of Pittsburgh churches open to full seating capacity May 31; masks still required (Diocese of Pittsburgh)
  Bishop David Zubik “encourages pastors to consider maintaining an area of pews marked for socially distanced seating to accommodate parishioners who may feel more comfortable attending Mass in that way.”
• Archaeologist wins Pontifical Academies Award (Vatican Press Office)
  The pontifical academies bestowed their 2020 gold medal, postponed because of Covid, on Professor Gyozo Vörös for his work on the Machaerus archaeological excavations. Silver medals were awarded to Dr. Domenico Benoci and Dr. Gabriele Castiglia.
• Catholic climate activists take stock of Laudato Si' Year (National Catholic Reporter)
  The special year devoted to reflection on Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical Laudato si’ comes to a close on May 25.
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