WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In a politically charged election year, Catholic parishes aren't immune to the animus in the air. But it's important to remind people in Catholic communities of their faith, the shared belief in a loving Christ, and that is more important than any political party they may belong to, said church workers sharing best practices for building bridges in faith communities.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic Charities USA and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, known as CLINIC, expressed disappointment with the Supreme Court's Jan. 27 order allowing the Trump administration to go forward with a new rule meant to limit immigrants' use of government benefit programs.
Read moreBONN, Germany (CNS) -- German bishops urged patience toward their efforts to deal with the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church in Germany. The German Catholic news agency KNA reported the bishops, meeting in Wurzburg, said the plans that resulted from the latest investigations needed time. Their appeal came 10 years since the first revelations of the abuse emerged.
Read moreHONG KONG (CNS) -- The Chinese respiratory coronavirus has spread to almost every province in mainland China, which extended its Spring Festival holiday by three days to delay travel by up to 500 million people.
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SOUTH BEND, Ind. (CNS) -- A lawsuit to force the University of Notre Dame to provide free contraceptives and abortifacient drugs in its health plans will proceed after receiving a green light from a federal district court in South Bend.
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People who cross international borders to work often face appalling exploitation, yet this is mostly shrugged off by citizens in host countries, said a U.S. bishops' conference participant at a global migration meeting in Quito, Ecuador.
Read moreCALABASAS, Calif. (CNS) -- As the world mourned the loss of basketball great Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others killed in a tragic helicopter crash Jan. 26, many recalled how Bryant gave much credit to his Catholic faith for seeing him through the bad times and strengthening his marriage and family.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis said remembering the millions of men, women and children who perished in the Holocaust is a call for the world today to reflect and commit to not repeating the atrocities of the past.
Read moreVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis has approved the election of Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re as dean of the College of Cardinals and of Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri as the subdean. The Vatican announced the elections Jan. 25, about a month after Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, 92, stepped down as dean and Pope Francis announced he was changing church law to limit the dean's service to a five-year term, which is renewable once.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- What you don't comprehend about the marching portion of the March for Life until you're in it is, even though it appears somewhat unorganized at the start, is that it's an intensely polite and orderly experience despite its immense size.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Trump administration announced Jan. 24 it is taking steps to enforce the Weldon Amendment, a federal law that prohibits discrimination by states against health insurance plans that do not cover abortion.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When Hannah Miller thinks of what it means to be a pro-life woman, the iconic image of the kerchief-clad Rosie the Riveter flexing her muscles immediately comes to mind. "It's like 'Yes, We Can.' Yes, we can be a mother, get a college degree and have a career," the 23-year-old Miller, a parishioner at Ss. Phillips and James Church in Baltimore, said as she attended the National March for Life Jan. 24. "I think that those are things that women are capable of doing. What's more empowering than that?"
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- President Donald Trump credited attendees at the 47th annual March for Life for their commitment to protect the life of unborn and born children. "Together we are the voice for the voiceless," Trump told tens of thousands of people gathered at a noontime rally Jan. 24 on the National Mall.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catalina Galinanes, this year's student speaker at the March for Life rally on the National Mall, has been to almost as many marches as Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund.
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After Pope Francis and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met privately for nearly an hour at the Vatican, Pence told the pope that his Roman Catholic mother will be pleased with the visit.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Taking part in the March for Life is "an authentic act of patriotism," Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, told 5,000 worshippers Jan. 24 in his homily for the closing Mass of the National Vigil for Life.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Francis "has our backs" in the pro-life cause, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, said to applause in his Jan. 23 homily at the opening Mass of the National Vigil for Life.
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Each year, the members of the Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle meets at the society's Center House in Lima, Peru. The meeting serves as a combination of a retreat and reunion, and this year, the occasion for the presentation of mission crosses to two new members of the society.
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WEST ROXBURY -- Holy Name Parish School adopted a new tradition in Advent 2019: having students decorate Christmas trees, called "Trees of Hope and Peace," and displaying them outside the school throughout the liturgical season.
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BRAINTREE -- Father Michael Nolan got the idea for Seven Miles From Jerusalem while returning home from a pilgrimage he had led in the Holy Land. The pilgrims were mostly retired people who, though they were already strong in their faith, said they learned a great deal from the trip.
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On Friday, I went to Regina Cleri to visit Father John Doyle, whose health was failing. His niece was there with us and we had an opportunity to pray together. Sadly, just a couple of days later, on Sunday, he passed away.
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PHILADELPHIA (CNS) -- Proclaiming his successor as "exactly the man our church needs," Archbishop Charles J. Chaput introduced Bishop Nelson J. Perez, whom Pope Francis named as the next archbishop of Philadelphia, at a Jan. 23 news conference in Philadelphia.
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WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- A Polish researcher has published the first study of religious practices among Christian prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau, as the 75th anniversary of the Nazi-run death camp's liberation was marked in Israel and Poland.
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HONG KONG (CNS) -- Some churches in China have suspended community activities, including Mass, over fears of the deadly coronavirus virus that has already killed six people and continues to spread, reported ucanews.org.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pro-life supporters are "deeply honored to welcome" President Donald Trump to the 47th annual March for Life Jan. 24 rally in person, said Jeanne Mancini, March for Life president, in a statement late Jan. 22.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia and has appointed Bishop Nelson J. Perez of Cleveland as his successor. Archbishop Chaput, who has headed the Philadelphia Archdiocese since 2011, turned 75 last September, the age at which canon law requires bishops to turn in their resignation to the pope. Archbishop Perez, 58, was installed as the 11th bishop of Cleveland Sept. 5, 2017.
Read moreVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican announced that a suspension imposed on its financial oversight office by a prominent financial watchdog network has been lifted. In a statement released Jan. 23, Carmelo Barbagallo, head of the Vatican Financial Information Authority, said that Mariano Federici, president of the Egmont Group, "decided to revoke the decision taken on Nov. 13, 2019, to suspend the Financial Information Authority from the international information circuit, Egmont Secure Web."
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The controversy surrounding retired Pope Benedict XVI's contribution to a new book on priestly celibacy demonstrates just how much both substance and appearances matter. And, as far as substance goes, the book paid scant attention to the uninterrupted presence of married priests in all but two of the Eastern Catholic churches.
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