Catholic News
- Renew consecration to the Immaculate Heart, Pope recommends (Vatican Press Office)
Pope Francis has encouraged a renewal of the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25, the feast of the Annunciation, every year. At his Wednesday audience on March 22, the Pope recalled the feast day last year, “when in union with all the bishops of the world, the Church and humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine, were consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” He suggested an annual renewal of the consecration by “every believer and community, especially prayer groups.” - Evangelization requires witness, not just instruction, Pope says (Vatican Press Office)
Continuing his series of weekly talks on evangelization, Pope Francis told his March 22 public audience that “evangelization is more than just simple doctrinal and moral transmission.” It is, he said, “first and foremost the witness of the personal encounter with Jesus Christ.” The Pope encouraged his audience to become acquainted with the apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, by Pope Paul VI, which he characterized as the Magna Carta of evangelization. - Pope Benedict ordered Archbishop Gänswein to destroy his personal correspondence (CNS)
Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the late Pope’s personal secretary and executor of his will, says that he complied with the order. “A pity? I thought so too,” he said, “but he gave this direction and there was no way out.” Archbishop Gänswein also said that he was searching for three cousins of the late Pontiff; the cousins may be eligible for an inheritance. - Bishop rips Notre Dame for 'reproductive justice series (Today's Catholic)
Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne—South Bend, Indiana, has blasted the Gender Studies Program at the University of Notre Dame for hosting a lecture series on “reproductive justice” that the bishops described as “activist propaganda.” In a column for the diocesan newspaper, Today’s Catholic, Bishop Rhoades observed that the speakers in the series “consider abortion itself to be an essential tool for pursuing justice, equality, and fighting discrimination.” He was particularly critical of a talk by an “abortion doula,” who, he noted was “not a scholar or even a prominent public intellectual,” and was given “a platform for unanswered pro-abortion activisim.” The series, Bishop Rhoades said, was clearly “meant to persuade and form hearts and minds” to support abortion. The bishop said that the series “appears to be an explicit act of dissent from Notre Dame’s admirable institutional commitment to promoting a culture of life.” - Archbishop admits spying on other Vatican officials [News analysis] (CWN)
Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, the sostituto or deputy secretary of state, has admitted that he authorized electronic surveillance of the director of the Vatican bank, without legal authorization. - Disney documentary features Pope Francis's talk with Gen Z on LGBTQ issues, abortion, and more (CNA)
The documentary, entitled “The Pope: Answers,” will air on Hulu on Wednesday of Holy Week (April 5). - Wisconsin bishop criticizes Germany's Synodal Way (Catholic Herald (Madison))
The Synodal Way’s “shocking conclusion is an absolute first in the history of the modern Church — a national conference of bishops essentially rejecting fundamental aspects of Church teaching and practice,” writes Bishop Donald Hying of Madison. “No one has the authority to change Church teaching, as if the truth given is malleable and adaptive to changing cultural norms,” he continued. “When people express their dismay to me about the turbulence in the Church and the many conflicting opinions about doctrine and morality, I simply reaffirm that the Faith does not change. We have the Scriptures, the Tradition, and the Catechism.” - Priest denies that Cardinal Zen is near death (South China Morning Post)
Cardinal Joseph Zen, 91, received hospital treatment in January for breathing problems but is not near death, according to a Hong Kong newspaper report. “He can walk and is just like before he was admitted to hospital,” said Father Carlos Cheung, who (like Cardinal Zen) is a Salesian. “Some people were spreading rumors or fake news saying he is reaching the end of his life. That is absolutely not true.” - US bishops' doctrine committee: Catholic health care services must not perform transgender procedures (CWN)
The US bishops’ Committee on Doctrine has issued a 14-page Doctrinal Note on the Moral Limits to Technological Manipulation of the Human Body. - New Ways Ministry: US bishops' doctrinal note on transgender interventions 'harms people' (CWN)
New Ways Ministry has offered sharp criticism of the US bishops’ new Doctrinal Note on the Moral Limits to Technological Manipulation of the Human Body. - Bishop Wilmer calls for 'significant changes in sexual morality in the Catholic Church' (Catholic World Report)
In December, it was rumored that Pope Francis would appoint Bishop Heiner Wilmer of Hildesheim (Germany) as Prefect for the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith. George Weigel writes that the appointment “remains a live option, according to Vatican sources.” At the recent meeting of Germany’s Synodal Way, Bishop Wilmer voted in favor of documents that called for same-sex blessings, the ordination of transgendered persons, and the ordination of women to the diaconate. “It has become clear that we need significant changes in sexual morality in the Catholic Church,” he wrote in a March 13 letter to the faithful of his diocese. - Argentine archdiocese condemn destruction of blasphemous art exhibit (CNA)
After a group of outraged Christians destroyed a blasphemous art exhibit at the National University of Cuyo, the Archdiocese of Mendoza issued a statement denouncing “this act of physical violence,” and expressing sympathy for “the artists who saw the fruit of their work and effort damaged.” However, the archdiocese also remarked that the exhibit—which featured obscene representations of Jesus and the Virgin Mary—“seriously offends” religious believers. “We call again for harmony and peace that is lost in extremes,” the archdiocesan statement said. - Future Pope John Paul II wrote 'rule' for married couples (Our Sunday Visitor)
The founders of the Wojtyla Community & Institute have discovered a “rule” that Cardinal Karol Wojtyla wrote for married couples in 1968 or 1969; it is now available in an English translation. - After two years, French bishop allows traditional Latin Mass indoors (Pillar)
Bishop Luc Crepy of Marseilles has authorized the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass in a chapel in suburban Paris, ending a two-year stalemate during which the Mass was celebrated outdoors on the chapel’s steps. Traditionalist Catholics had organized the Mass at the front steps of the Saint-Germain hospital chapel in 2020 after they were told that no church would be available for them. The diocese has now announced that the Mass will be celebrated inside the chapel on Sundays and feast days, as “a way of pacification to put an end to a long-standing and painful situation on both sides.” - Clarity emerges on Cardinal Tagle's role at the Vatican (Pillar)
In 2019, Pope Francis appointed Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle as Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. With the 2022 Curial reform, which went into effect in June, Pope Francis assumed the title of Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization. It was assumed that Cardinal Tagle was now the Pro-Prefect of Dicastery’s Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches—yet the Vatican press office did not refer to him as such until this year. - New study highlights abortion-breast cancer link (Catholic Herald)
A new Oxford study has found that all hormonal contraceptives significantly increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer. The study confirmed that new contraceptive pills show the same elevated risk as an earlier generation of estrogen-based pills. The incidence of breast cancer has soared in recent decades. - 'Healed by the Eucharist': Minnesota ministry aims to bring Holy Communion to clerical abuse survivors (Pillar)
Paula Kaempffer, a clerical abuse survivor who serves as Outreach Coordinator for Restorative Justice and Abuse Prevention for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, said that many abuse survivors “have expressed to me their hunger for Eucharist, except for who dispenses it. And they can’t go into a church and have a priest give them Communion. They just can’t. It’s just too much for them. There’s too much trauma there.” The new ministry trains abuse survivors to be extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, so that they may administer Holy Communion to other abuse survivors in their homes. - Vatican newspaper: Climate change report is 'cry of alarm for the future of the planet' (CWN)
L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, devoted its most prominent front-page article on March 21 to UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s remarks on the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s synthesis report. - Pope notes World Water Day (Vatican News)
At the conclusion of his regular weekly audience on March 22, Pope Francis called attention to World Water Day, and offered a prayer for the success of the UN’s Water Conference, taking place in New York this week. “Water cannot be wasted and abused or a cause for war, but must be preserved for our benefit and that of future generations,” the Pope said. - 'The Church never abandoned its people,' former nuncio recalls on 20th anniversary of Iraq war (Vatican News)
Cardinal Fernando Filoni was apostolic nuncio to Iraq during the American invasion in 2003; he refused to leave Baghdad as the bombs fell. In this interview, he reflects on the Iraq War and its legacy. - More...