Catholic News

• Islamic State claims responsibility for Sri Lanka Easter bombings (CNA)
  
• Christ's Resurrection is 'most shocking event in human history,' Pope Francis tells pilgrims (Zenit)
  During his Easter Monday Regina Coeli address (video), the Pope reflected on Matthew 28:8-15, the Gospel of the day.
• French foreign minister meets with Vatican Secretary of State (Vatican News)
  On behalf of French President Emmanuel Macron, the foreign minister invited Pope Francis to visit Paris.
• Pope exchanges greetings with the Chief Rabbi of Rome (Vatican News)
  Pope Francis wished Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni a joyous Passover: “May the God of mercy accompany you with his blessing and grant you peace and harmony.” The Chief Rabbi, in turn, offered “cordial wishes for [Easter] joy, serenity and health, for consolidation and beneficial relations of friendship and collaboration. May your prayers for good be heard.”
• Venezuelans return to religion (Washington Post)
  “Buffeted by political and humanitarian crises, one of Latin America’s least religious countries is turning to faith,” according to the report. One parish priest in the nation’s capital said, “All my Masses are full, which has never happened before.”
• At Easter Mass, Paris archbishop honors firefighters who saved Notre-Dame (AP)
  Archbishop Michel Aupetit celebrated Easter Mass at Saint-Eustache Church, which was completed in 1633.
• Pope recalls 70th anniversary of first papal TV appearance (Vatican News)
  Pope Pius XII appeared on television on Easter Sunday in 1949 (video). “Venerable Pius XII spoke to the viewers of French TV, underlining how the gazes of the Successor of Peter and those of the faithful could meet through a new means of communication,” Pope Francis said.
• US envoy: no change on religious liberty since Vatican-Beijing deal (Crux)
  Ambassador Sam Brownback, the US ambassador at large for religious liberty, told the Crux news site that he has not seen changes in China since the regime struck a secret agreement with the Vatican. Brownback remarked that “no one knows what’s in the deal except the Vatican and the Chinese government.”
• In Bangladesh, Easter celebrated as national holiday for first time in 30 years (Vatican News)
  The South Asian nation of 159 million is 89% Muslim and 10% Hindu. Pope Francis made an apostolic journey to Myanmar and Bangladesh in 2017.
• 'The Risen One is still here among us, and everywhere goes before us,' Jerusalem archbishop preaches in Easter homily (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
  Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, was appointed apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in 2016.
• Appeals court sides with House chaplain, rules he may bar atheist invocations (Roll Call)
  “Although the [Supreme] Court has warned against discriminating among religions or tolerating a pattern of prayers that proselytize or disparage certain faiths or beliefs, it has never suggested that legislatures must allow secular as well as religious prayer,” the appeals court ruled in Baker v. Conroy.
• Punjab leader praises Christians' contribution to society as government recognizes Easter Monday as holiday (The Nation (Lahore))
  Punjab (map) is Pakistan’s most populous province.
• United Methodists edge toward breakup over LGBT policies (AP)
  The United Methodist Church is the second-largest Protestant body in the United States (after the Southern Baptist Convention).
• Leading EU prelate reflects on European elections (La Civiltà Cattolica)
  In this wide-ranging article, Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, of Luxembourg, the president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the EU, recalls the process of European integration and reflects on fears, order, migrations, identity, populism, democracy, societies, and the environment.
• Church agency, union leaders on fact-finding trip to Central America (CNS)
  Members of the delegation are traveling to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, which face the prospect of a funding cutoff from the Trump administration.
• India's Supreme Court to consider whether women may pray in mosques (AsiaNews)
  In 2018, India’s high court ruled that a Hindu temple could not bar women of menstruating age from entering. “Patriarchy in religion cannot be permitted to trump over element of pure devotion borne out of faith and the freedom to practice and profess one’s religion,” the chief justice wrote in his ruling.
• Michigan stigmatic begins path toward sainthood (Our Sunday Visitor)
  Bishop John Doerfler of Marquette (Michigan) has begun the diocesan phase of the sainthood cause of Irving C. “Francis” Houle (1925-2009).
• Tensions remain high in Sri Lanka (CNA)
  Christians in Sri Lanka remain tense in the aftermath of the Easter bombings. At one Catholic church, police specialists performed a “controlled explosion” of a suspicious package.
• Pope Francis's Easter Message 'Urbi et Orbi' (To the City and the World): full text, link to video (Vatican Press Office)
  “Dear brothers and sisters, happy Easter!”, Pope Francis said from the loggia of the blessings (central balcony) of St. Peter’s Basilica (video). “Today the Church renews the proclamation made by the first disciples: ‘Jesus is risen!’ And from mouth to mouth, from heart to heart, there resounds a call to praise: ‘Alleluia, Alleluia!’” ...
• Caritas president asks in Easter message: 'Where is love?' (Caritas Internationalis)
  Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila is president of Caritas Internationalis, the Church’s federation of relief and development agencies.
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