Catholic News

• Religious have 'special role' in the Church: Pope's message for World Day of Consecrated Life (CNA)
  February 2, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, was also the 27th World Day for Consecrated Life, a commemoration instituted by Pope St. John Paul II in 1997.
• Pope arrives in South Sudan, beginning 2nd leg of African voyage (Vatican News)
  Pope Francis arrived in South Sudan in the mid-afternoon (local time) of February 3, beginning a long-awaited 3-day visit to the war-torn young nation. The Pope had long hoped to visit South Sudan, to make an appeal for peace in a country that has been torn by fighting between rival factions since shortly after it won independence in 2011. In 2019 he had invited the political and religious leaders of the country to Rome for a spiritual retreat. Thousands of people lined the streets from the airport to the capital city of Juba as the Pope’s motorcade passed.
• Be prophets of hope, Pope asks Congo's bishops (Vatican Press Office)
  Meeting with the country’s Catholic bishops before his February 3 departure from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pope Francis called upon them to be “prophets of hope for the people.” In his remarks before leaving for South Sudan, the Pope said that the rich resources of the Congo “remind us that we are called to protect the beauty of creation.” At the same time, he said, the struggles of the impoverished nation have left a “people crucified and oppressed, devastated by ruthless violence, marred by innocent suffering, forced to live with the tainted waters of corruption and injustice.” He urged the bishops to remain close to their people, avoiding the temptations of worldliness.
• European Court: Russia violates human rights by not permitting same-sex marriage (Religion Clause)
  The European Court of Human Rights, citing the European Convention on Human Rights (1950), ruled against Russia in a same-sex marriage case. Last year, Russia, by a decision of the Council of Europe, ceased to be a party to the convention following the invasion of Ukraine; the plaintiffs filed suit when Russia was party to the human rights treaty.
• Top Vatican diplomat: reform UN to improve peacemaking power (Vatican Press Office)
  At a February 2 conference on Vatican diplomacy, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States, called for a reorganization of the United Nations, to strengthen its peace-making capability. The top Vatican diplomat observed that it is wrong that a permanent member of the UN Security Council—Russia—could be the aggressive party in a major European war.
• Pope pleads for peace at Mass in Congo (Vatican News)
  Celebrating Mass for an estimated 1 million people in Kinshasa on the 2nd day of his visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pope Francis made a plea for peace in the war-torn country. In his homily the Pope encouraged the country’s people to maintain their hope for peace, assuring them that “evil never wins; evil never has the last word.” He reminded them of the bitter sorrow that Christ’s followers felt as they saw Him crucified. Their greatest joy came, he said, after “everything seemed to be over for them, without even a glimmer of peace.” The Pope made a special appeal to “all of you in this country who call yourselves Christians but engage in violence.” To them, he said: “The Lord is telling you: ‘Lay down your arms; embrace mercy.’”
• Catholic leaders applaud Pope's call for 'hands off' Africa (Crux)
  
• Orthodox Church of Ukraine backs government's restrictions on Moscow-allied group (Il Sismografo)
  After an “expert group” established by the Ukrainian government reported that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) remains allied with the Moscow patriarchate, the Synod of the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) issued a statement supporting the government’s efforts to restrict the work of the UOC, “protecting national security in the religious sphere.”
• American tourist desecrates statue of Christ in Catholic church in Jerusalem (CNA)
  The vandalism took place at the Church of the Flagellation. As he was arrested, the tourist reportedly shouted, “You can’t have idols in Jerusalem, this is the Holy City!”
• Catholic priests in police custody in Russian-occupied Ukraine (Forum 18)
  
• Tweet on the middle finger posted, deleted from Pope's Twitter account (Our Sunday Visitor)
  Pope Francis tweeted a series of reflections on the fingers, excerpted from an address in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “The middle finger, which is higher than the others, reminds us of something essential: honesty. To be honest means not getting entangled in the snares of corruption,” he tweeted.
• Over Catholic protests, Minnesota lawmakers enact extreme abortion law (Our Sunday Visitor)
  The new law “is part of the most extreme abortion legislative agenda in Minnesota history, allowing for abortion for any reason and at any time without regulation,” said Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis. “How disturbing that a pre-born child whose heart is beating, who can feel pain and who may even be viable outside the womb is treated with such disdain.”
• Retired Italian bishop: Abortion is not murder before the 4th or 5th month of pregnancy (L'Espresso)
  Bishop Luigi Bettazzi said that a fetus does not become a person until the fourth or fifth month of pregnancy. The 99-year-old prelate was Auxiliary Bishop of Bologna (1963-66) and Bishop of Ivrea (1966-99).
• Cardinal George Pell's funeral, in 6 magnificent dimensions (National Catholic Register)
  “In its 150-plus years, St. Mary’s [Cathedral in Sydney] has never been witness to an event quite like the funeral of the late Cardinal George Pell, a great drama in its own right,” writes Father Raymond de Souza. “It was a sacred pageant which unfolded in six magnificent dimensions — liturgical, musical, spiritual, historical, hagiographical and memorial.”
• USCCB president announces legislative priorities (USCCB)
  In a letter to all members of Congress, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, outlined the USCCB’s legislative priorities, under the headings “Strengthen support for women, children, and families,” “Address the needs of the poor and marginalized at home and abroad,” and “A humane response to newcomers and a commitment to fixing our broken immigration system.” Under the first heading, he discussed abortion, gender ideology, pornography, parental choice in education, human trafficking, and drug abuse, as well as “a strengthened child tax credit, paid family leave, and stronger maternal and child healthcare.”
• President Biden urges unity at National Prayer Breakfast (AP)
  “Every time I’d walk out of my Grandfather Finnegan’s house in Scranton, he’d yell, ‘Joey, keep the faith,’” President Biden said on February 2. “And my grandmother would yell, ‘No, Joey, spread it. Spread it.’”
• Courage leader challenges Father Martin's tweets on same-sex marriage (National Catholic Register)
  According to its mission statement, “Courage members are men and women who experience same-sex attractions and who have made a commitment to strive for chastity. They are inspired by the Gospel call to holiness and the Catholic Church’s beautiful teachings about the goodness and inherent purpose of human sexuality.”
• Testing agency that serves Catholic schools also promotes gender ideology (Daily Signal)
  
• 'Mending the nets' --USCCB education chair Daly on Catholic schools (Pillar)
  “You can’t have a Catholic school if you don’t have it solid in its theology and if you aren’t clear on its mission,” said Bishop Thomas Daly of Spokane, chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on Catholic Education.
• +Metropolitan John Zizioulas, 92 (Orthodox Times)
  Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon, a leading Greek Orthodox theologian, died at the age of 92. In 2015, he spoke at the Vatican press conference for the presentation of Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato si’. The following year, he retired as co-president of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.
• More...