News - November 2020 RSS Feed

WASHINGTON -- To Father Robert Boxie III, the Catholic chaplain at Howard University in Washington, the naming of Washington's archbishop "as a cardinal is huge, it's historic."

Advent is the season of waiting. And, yes, at the deepest level of my being, I wait for a new celebration of Jesus’s birth in Nazareth so many years ago and for an ever-deepening consciousness of the presence of the Cosmic Christ in our hearts and in our universe (John1:1- 8).

The government is demoting worship to the same status as watching a movie: “non-essential.”  But worship is both a natural and a constitutional right, Archbishop Cordileone states.

MANCHESTER, England -- Priests must never "friend" children or vulnerable adults on Facebook or other forms of social media, the bishops of England and Wales said.

CHALATENANGO, El Salvador -- Among the projects approved during an early November meeting of U.S. bishops was aid to a seminary in El Salvador whose rector was killed execution style in August on the side of a road as he headed to his home diocese to celebrate Mass.  

SALEM, Ore. -- More than 400 flag-waving, rosary-toting demonstrators huddled outside the Oregon Capitol Nov. 28 to press against state coronavirus limits on church attendance.

Stressed local Catholics can now find emotional support in the palm of their hand with the launch of text-based tool called Sister Hope.  

VATICAN CITY -- For Christians, memory involves remembering God's promises for the future; it's not about "nostalgia, which is a real spiritual pathology," Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY -- Conflict and violence in the world will never end if people do not fully understand their responsibility to each other as members of one human family, Pope Francis said in a written message.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis renewed his call for peace in Ethiopia after a violent conflict in the country's northern Tigray region left hundreds dead and forced thousands more to flee.

"The canonization of these four women is an idea whose time has come," said Carlos X. Colorado, a Salvadoran-born attorney who wrote and curated the prominent "Super Martyrio" blog that followed for years the canonization cause of El Salvador's human rights icon St. Oscar Romero.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York State Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit Nov. 23 against the Diocese of Buffalo and Bishop Richard J. Malone, who headed the diocese from 2012 to 2019, and newly retired Auxiliary Bishop Edward M. Grosz.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis said he was dismayed by Catholic communities and groups that claim to be working to improve church life, but attempt to do so without prayer, the Eucharist and unity with the rest of the church.

VATICAN CITY -- One by one 11 senior churchmen, including two U.S. citizens -- Cardinals Wilton D. Gregory of Washington and Silvano M. Tomasi, a former Vatican diplomat -- knelt before Pope Francis to receive their red hats, a cardinal's ring and a scroll formally declaring their new status and assigning them a "titular" church in Rome.

WASHINGTON -- In a 5-4 decision issued just before midnight Nov. 25, the Supreme Court lifted the pandemic restrictions on congregation sizes at houses of worship imposed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

VATICAN CITY -- One present young people should ask for this Christmas is words of wisdom from older people they know, a Vatican dicastery said.

VATICAN CITY -- Concelebrating Mass with newly created cardinals, Pope Francis said Advent is a time to be vigilant, hopeful and helpful.

Clergy and laity in the Archdiocese of San Francisco paid tribute to the ministry of retired priests at a virtual luncheon held on Zoom Nov. 19. 

CLEVELAND -- The global pandemic and new limits on daily activities present a special time for a renewal of faith and the opportunity to deepen appreciation for Jesus in daily life, bishops across the country said in messages for the Advent season.

VATICAN CITY -- As Washington's new cardinal and with a Catholic soon to be living in the White House, Cardinal-designate Wilton D. Gregory said he hopes to collaborate where possible while respectfully pointing out where President-elect Joe Biden's policies diverge from Catholic teaching