News
In Timbuktu, majority Muslims, minority Christians reject extremists
TIMBUKTU, Mali (CNS) -- In this ancient city that has become synonymous with the ends of the earth, the recent terrorism of Islamist extremists belies long years of peaceful Muslim-Christian coexistence. "This city is 99 percent Muslim, but all of us are tolerant. We preach tolerance. Islam teaches us to respect all religions," Abdrahamane Ben Essayouti, the chief imam of the fabled desert city, told Catholic News Service.
Educators say interest hike puts college out of reach for more students
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Lawmakers in Congress failed to reach a consensus on federal student loan rates before a July 1 deadline, resulting in the interest rate doubling from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. "Shame on Congress for imposing its dysfunction on some of the most vulnerable people in America, low-income college students -- many of whom are single parents trying to get an education to improve the lives of their children and families," said Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University. "This is not the way to run a country."
In new Wisconsin law, judge freezes mandate that abortion doctors have hospital privileges
MADISON, Wis. (CNS) -- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker July 5 signed into law a bill that requires women who want an abortion to get an ultrasound of their unborn child and doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of an abortion clinic.
Drawn to inner-city ministry, priest becomes Archdiocese’s youngest pastor at 32
In late May Father Dan Kredensor, a theology teacher at Archbishop Carroll High School in Radnor for the past two years, started planning activities with students on the ministry team for the upcoming school year. It’s been said that when you make plans, God laughs. This certainly seems to have happened with Father Kredensor, 32, who is now the youngest priest to be named a pastor in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. On July 1 he began serving as pastor of the recently merged St. Ignatius and Our Mother of Sorrows Parishes in West Philadelphia.
Doylestown shrine hosts 1,300 for national Bible conference
More than 1,300 people learned about the word of God during the National Catholic Bible Conference held June 21-22 at the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown. It was the second consecutive year the conference was held in the Philadelphia region. Renowned speakers Jeff Cavins and Scott Hahn (shown at right) joined nine […]
News of canonizations has ‘gladdened hearts’ of faithful, cardinal says
WASHINGTON (CNS) — The two popes whose canonizations received final clearance July 5 “each had a profound impact on the church and the world,” as New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan put it. Pope Francis signed a decree clearing the way for Blessed John Paul II and Blessed John XXIII to be canonized, possibly later […]
Egypt’s Catholic leaders welcome Morsi’s ouster, hope for democracy
OXFORD, England (CNS) -- Egypt's Catholic leaders welcomed the military overthrow of the country's Islamist president and voiced confidence that Christians and Muslims can work together to build a "real democracy."
U.S. nun’s killer to serve rest of time under house arrest in Brazil
SAO PAULO (CNS) -- The man who confessed to killing a U.S.-born nun in 2005 in Brazil's Amazon has been released from prison. Rayfran das Neves Sales, who served a little less than eight years of a 27-year sentence for shooting Sister Dorothy Stang, a member of the Notre Dame de Namur Sisters, will carry out the rest of his sentence under house arrest.
Pope to set up ‘study group’ to look into Vatican audits, cardinal says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis will be forming a new committee to investigate the findings and concerns expressed in an external audit of the internal budgets of Vatican offices. The pope told the Council of Cardinals for the Study of the Organizational and Economic Problems of the Holy See that he was thinking of forming "a study group" that would look at issues such as transparency and accountability, South African Cardinal Wilfred F. Napier of Durban told Catholic News Service.
Seven encyclicals that shook the church
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis' first encyclical, "Lumen Fidei" ("The Light of Faith"), released July 5, is the latest installment in a centuries' old papal tradition. An encyclical is considered the most authoritative form of papal writing, and though many examples are now remembered only by scholars, the messages of others have continued to resonate within the church and beyond.