News
His Holiness, the soccer fan, asks players to be real role models
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With admiration and big smiles all around, the lifelong soccer fan Pope Francis met the star players and coaches of the Argentine and Italian national soccer teams hoping to compete for the World Cup in 2014.
Clergy assignment changes announced
Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia, announces the following appointments effective as noted: ST. CHARLES BORROMEO SEMINARY Reverend Herbert J. Sperger. from Daylesford Abbey, to Director of Spiritual Formation, College Division, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, effective August 16, 2013 PAROCHIAL VICAR Reverend Stephen H. Paolino, from School Minister, Archbishop Wood High […]
Pope to parents: Teach your children to respect, defend human life
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Respect for human life from conception until natural death is something children must be taught, not mainly with words, but by the example of their parents, Pope Francis said.
New State Department office created to engage with faith-based groups
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The creation of the Office for Engagement with Faith-Based Communities at the State Department, announced Aug. 7, follows long-standing criticism that U.S. diplomacy has been too separated from the realities of the importance of religion.
Msgr. Charles J. Schaeflein dies at Villa St. Joseph
Msgr. Charles J. Schaeflein died Aug. 10 at Villa St. Joseph, Darby. Ordained in 1949, Msgr. Schaeflein’s funeral Mass will be 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 16 at St. Francis Country house, Darby. Interment will be at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Philadelphia.
Latin American youth moved to take church to the streets following WYD
SAO PAULO (CNS) -- The nearly 3 million pilgrims who swept across Copacabana beach during the six-day celebration of World Youth Day returned home at the beginning of August with "clear instructions" from the Pope Francis. "Go against the tide," Pope Francis told the crowds on several occasions during the six-day celebration. "I ask you to be revolutionaries. ... Go beyond the church's walls. ... Go onto the streets, to poor communities. Don't be afraid to go and bring Christ into every area of life, to the fringes of society, even to those who seem the farthest away."
Sri Lanka cardinal condemns army shooting of civilians in church
NEW DELHI (CNS) -- Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo, Sri Lanka, expressed "shock and distress" in accusing the military of storming a Catholic church and firing on residents who had sought refuge there. The cardinal condemned the army's action in a strongly worded statement read Aug. 7 during the funeral for one of three people who died in the Aug. 1 incident at St. Anthony Parish in Weliweriya, a village just outside the capital.
Belarus church ‘deeply concerned’ about arrested priest
WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- Church spokesmen in Belarus said Catholics are "uneasy and disquieted" by the lack of information on the status of a parish priest arrested in early June for alleged spying. Father Vladislav Lazar, 46, pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in Borisov in central Belarus, remained in custody Aug. 8, weeks after he was taken into custody by the State Security Committee, or KBG.
Pope expands role, reach of Vatican Financial Intelligence Authority
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As part of the Vatican's ongoing efforts to ensure that all its financial activity complies with international standards, particularly those aimed at preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism, Pope Francis has expanded the role and the reach of the Vatican's Financial Intelligence Authority.
Hold extended on Wisconsin law requiring hospital admitting privileges
MADISON, Wis. (CNS) -- A federal judge in Madison has extended a preliminary injunction blocking part of a new Wisconsin law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of an abortion clinic.