Catholic News

• Top Italian prelate tells new government that Church will not be silent (Crux)
  The Church in Italy “will continue to indicate, with severity, if necessary, the common good and not personal interests; the defense of the inviolable rights of the person and the community,” Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, said following the election of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The election of the populist leader is seen as posing new challenges to Pope Francis.
• Papal preface to book on Jesus' life (Vatican News)
  Andrea Tornielli’s Vita di Gesù [Life of Jesus] “can help us enter into contact with him so that he does not remain only a great figure, a historical protagonist, a religious leader, or a teacher of morals, but that he might become each person’s Lord each day,” writes Pope Francis. Tornielli is the editorial director of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication.
• Cardinals Cupich and Dolan criticize Biden administration's proposed transgender mandate (America)
  Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago and Timothy Dolan of New York criticized the proposed HHS transgender mandate. “Under this new proposed rule, it would be considered discrimination for a health care facility or worker to object to performing gender transition procedures, regardless of whether that objection is a matter of sincerely held religious belief or clinical judgment,” the prelates wrote. “This is government coercion that intrudes on the religious freedom of faith-based health care facilities.” “Such a mandate threatens the conscience rights of all health care providers and workers who have discerned that participating in, or facilitating, gender transition procedures is contrary to their own beliefs,” they added.
• Jerusalem Patriarch condemns settler action at Al-Aqsa Mosque (Middle East Monitor)
  Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem since 2005, lamented the entry of over 250 Jews into Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Some Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem have called for the destruction of the mosque and the construction of a temple on the site. The Patriarch said that “the practices of extremist Zionist groups against Islamic and Christian holy sites are a clear violation of Muslims and Christians’ right to exercise freedom of worship,” according to a paraphrase of his remarks.
• Iranian Christians demand truth and justice for Mahsa Amini (AsiaNews)
  Mahsa Amini, 22, was killed while in Iranian police custody. Her death has sparked protests across the nation.
• Northern Ireland's bishops call for solidarity in face of economic crisis (Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference)
  On September 27, the memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, the bishops of Northern Ireland issued a statement on the economic crisis there. As “multiple economic pressures converge to create life threatening levels of deprivation and fear for individuals and businesses,” the bishops called “on everyone, from public representatives to parishioners in our parishes, to come together in a spirit of solidarity and active concern for those who are in need among us at this time.”
• Russian priest says Catholics, including clerics, fear conscription (CNS)
  “People are certainly frightened here, particularly since Catholic parishioners and clergy could now be called up, beginning with those who’ve done military service,” a priest said following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mobilization order. “The mass mobilization will very much affect Church life here, particularly since many Catholics are strongly against the war and won’t want to take part.”
• Is new Vatican prosecutor a bull in a china shop, or relentlessly effective? (Pillar)
  The Pillar analyzes the work of Alessandro Diddi, who became the Vatican’s top prosecutor following the resignation of Gian Piero Milano.
• Latin Mass Society leader optimistic about future of extraordinary form (Catholic World Report)
  “The experience of our members is that hostility to the old Mass is found above all in the older generation age of bishops and senior clergy,” said Joseph Shaw, who leads the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce (FIUV) and the UK-based Latin Mass Society. “While there are exceptions to this principle, it is clear that in ten years’ time the typical bishop and senior cleric will be much more open-minded about the ancient Mass than he is today, just as he is today much more open-minded than his predecessors of ten years ago,” he added.
• Seek silence amid noisy world, Pope tells Capuchin sisters (CNS)
  On September 26, Pope Francis received participants in the general chapter of the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family, a community founded in 1885 by Father Luis Amigó, OFM Cap. “Dear sisters, be prophets of listening, first of all listening to the voice of God, who calls to you to love all without distinction, to love creation as a gift, to see its greatness in all, as Saint Francis teaches us in his Canticle of the creatures,” Pope Francis said in his address. “It is precisely from this silence, from this silent listening to God, this silence in which man encounters God, that we can pass from cacophony to symphony.”
• The young French Catholics sharing a roof with the homeless (Pillar)
  This article offers an overview of Association Lazare (the Lazarus Association), whose work Pope Francis offered encouraged in 2020. Last year, the Pope addressed members of the association, and in a recent book, the Pope responded to 100 questions posed by members.
• Vatican calls for 'sustainable' tourism (Fides)
  In a message for World Tourism Day, September 27, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Integral Human Development said that tourism “must be carried out according to principles of equity and social transformation.” The message—signed by Cardinal Michael Czerny, the prefect of the dicastery—said that the tourism industry should encourage respect for the environment as well as for the people involved, promoting social justice and development. Thus “tourism is also called to embrace the perspective of integral ecology.” The message began with an acknowledgment that tourism has set back severely by the covid crisis—which, the Vatican document said, is not over. However, “it can now become one of the engines of the reconstruction of a more just, sustainable, and integral world.”
• Vatican foreign minister lauds work of IAEA (Vatican Press Office)
  At an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, said that “the Holy See reiterates its sincere gratitude and affirms its unwavering support for the IAEA’s many contributions to nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, as well as to the safe, secure, and peaceful use of nuclear technology.”
• Cardinal Arinze criticizes Belgian bishops' liturgical service for same-sex unions (CNA)
  “Human beings have no power to change the order established by God the Creator,” Cardinal Francis Arinze said after the bishops published a liturgical service for same-sex unions. “Even if the aim is to be pastorally helpful to homosexual couples, this is an error on the part of the bishops.” The prelate, now 89, was Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 2002 to 2008.
• Vatican opens canonical investigation of retired Australian bishop (Catholic Leader (Brisbane))
  A year after the resignation of Bishop Christopher Saunders of Broome, Australia, the Vatican has begun a canonical investigation and ordered him to live outside his former diocese. The prelate has been accused accused of sexual misconduct. A police investigation recently concluded with a decision not to file charges.
• Catholic charities ousted from Algeria (Fides)
  Caritas Algeria has announced the “complete and definitive” closing of its operations in Algeria, in response to a government directive. The Caritas announcement did not elaborate on the reasons for the shutdown, but said the Church “remains true to its charitable mission at the service of brotherhood.” Local Church sources told the Fides new agency that the government’s move was not aimed specifically at Catholic charities, but part of a general policy of restricting all foreign relief organizations. Caritas Algeria had been providing humanitarian aid to the poor and to migrants, in a country that is 97% Muslim.
• Pro-life Catholic clinic in Denver area vandalized, suspect quickly arrested (CNA)
  Since May 2020, there have been at least 164 acts of vandalism, arson, and other destruction at parishes and other Catholic sites in the United States.
• President Biden issues Rosh Hashanah greetings (White House)
  “With the piercing sound of the shofar and the sweetness of apples dipped in honey, the Jewish New Year ushers in a sacred time of reflection, repentance, and renewal,” said President Joe Biden. “During these Days of Awe, we have the opportunity to ask what kind of person we want to be and how we have measured up.”
• Canadian bishops' president issues annual report (CCCB)
  Bishop Raymond Poisson’s annual report emphasized “walking together with the indigenous peoples in Canada”; other highlights included “family and life” and an update on the synodal process.
• Cuba approves same-sex marriage in unusual referendum (AP)
  In a rare referendum, voters in Cuba approved a government-backed proposal to approve same-sex marriage. 67% of voters approved the measure, according to the official results announced by the Communist regime.
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