Catholic News

• UK judge rejects bid to take sick toddler Alfie Evans abroad (AP)
  Alfie’s parents gave the severely ill toddler mouth to-mouth resuscitation as they strove to care for him. L’Osservatore Romano continued to devote front-page coverage to the child’s plight.
• Pope reflects on Baptism at general audience (Vatican News)
  On April 11, Pope Francis began a series of weekly audiences devoted to the Sacrament of Baptism. The Pope’s catechesis on April 25 focused on the oil of catechumens.
• 'Nobody expects a substantial political change' in Cuba, says archdiocesan official (Fides)
  María López, who offered the assessment, is spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Santiago.
• Pope Francis renews appeal for Alfie Evans (Vatican News)
  “Moved by the prayers and immense solidarity shown little Alfie Evans, I renew my appeal that the suffering of his parents may be heard and that their desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted,” the Pope tweeted.
• Church to act as mediator as Nicaragua protests continue (AP)
  Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes “called on the government and members of civil society to avoid any violence and damage to public or private property to set the right atmosphere for productive dialogue,” according to the report.”
• Cubans, US exiles connect to help rebuild Cuba's Catholic Church (National Catholic Reporter)
  Since the 1980s, the percentage of Cubans regularly attending Mass in the Communist nation has risen from 2% to 10%, according to the report. “There’s been a revitalization of the Church,” said Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami. “The Church has made progress — it’s small steps. It’s not what it used to be, and it’s not what it should be.”
• Alfie Evans survives night after life-support machine was turned off (Metro)
  “Doctors have been left ‘gobsmacked’ after Alfie Evans’ life-support was withdrawn but he continued to live,” according to the report.
• Daniel Ortega maintains his grip as protests rock Nicaragua (Financial Times)
  L’Osservatore Romano (4/24-4/25 Italian edition) devoted prominent front-page coverage to this story.
• Syria: dozens of bodies reported found in Raqqa mass grave (Voice of America)
  L’Osservatore Romano (4/24-4/25 Italian edition) devoted prominent front-page coverage to this story.
• Alfie Evans granted Italian citizenship (BBC)
  Alfie Evans has reportedly been granted Italian citizenship, paving the way for the child’s transfer to Bambino Gesu Hospital in Rome, where administrators have promised to provide him with care. The Italian foreign ministry issued a statement saying that it hoped for an “immediate transfer” after a British court ruled that care should be suspended in a Liverpool hospital, and the boy allowed to die, despite his parents’ wishes to continue treatment. The surprise move granting Italian citizenship was reported prompted by the intercession of Pope Francis.
• Mexican cardinal deplores murder of priest (Fides)
  “It is time to look honestly at our culture and our society and to ask ourselves: how did we lose respect for life and for the faith?” asked Cardinal José Francisco Robles Ortega of Guadalajara.
• International inspectors enter Douma, site of alleged Syrian chemical attack (Washington Post)
  L’Osservatore Romano (4/22 Italian edition) devoted front-page coverage to this story.
• Pope renews appeal for Alfie Evans and Vincent Lambert, meets with Alfie's father (Vatican News)
  Click here for an interview with Thomas Evans and here for an interview with a bishop who present during the 20-minute audience.
• Sistine Chapel hosts 1st live-streamed Stabat Mater (Vatican News)
  
• Resignations and appointments (4/24) (Vatican Press Office)
  Pope Francis accepted the resignation of an Italian missionary bishop in Peru for reasons of age and appointed a successor. The Pontiff also appointed a bishop in Burkina Faso.
• Pakistan: 1st Christian chapel in a state university opens (Fides)
  “The presence of a church inside the university enclosure will offer a message of love and harmony throughout the country,” said Archbishop Joseph Arshadof Islamabad-Rawalpindi. 96% of Pakistan’s 205 million people are Muslim.
• Chilean abuse witness to meet with Pope this week (AP)
  Juan Carlos Cruz, who wrote to Pope Francis in 2015 testifying about clerical abuse in Chile, is in Rome this week to meet with the Pontiff. Cruz told AP that he wants to know why the Pope did not respond to warnings, saying that “it’s really difficult to understand that this was an unknown.”
• Number of priestly ordinations in US plunges in 2018 (USCCB)
  “The total number of potential ordinands for the class of 2018, 430, is a lower number from 590 in 2017,” according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
• 60,000 Catholic migrants, refugees live in Israel (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
  Half are from the Philippines, according to the parish priest of a new personal parish for Israel’s Catholic migrants and refugees. Thousands of Catholics also have come to Israel from India, Sri Lanka, and Eritrea.
• Papal abuse commission will give top priority to victims (CNA)
  The special papal commission on sexual abuse has indicated that its top priority will be care for abuse victims. The commission is meeting in Rome this week, for its first session with a new group of members.
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