Vatican City, May 17, 2017 / 10:29 am (Vatican Insider / La Stampa).- Thirteen votes in favor of recognizing the supernatural nature of the first seven appearances in Medjugorje, one vote against and one “suspensive” ballot, which will give… […]
“Life is very complicated, and only God knows.” With these words, the hero of José Luis Olaizola’s General Escobar’s War might well be summing up his own unusual life and career. For life is complicated […]
Last fall, four Cardinals submitted to Pope Francis their dubia on the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia. This past month, six lay scholars from five continents joined the debate one year after the publication of […]
First Things has published an essay, written by Benedict XVI, that will be an afterword in future printings of Robert Cardinal Sarah’s recently published book The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise (Ignatius […]
Mexico City, Mexico, May 17, 2017 / 06:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A Mexican priest is in “delicate but stable” condition after being stabbed in the neck Monday evening at Mexico City’s cathedral, according to government and church authorities.
Father José Miguel Machorro Alcalá, 55, was stabbed in the neck and torso May 15 at the conclusion of saying Mass at the cathedral.
Witnesses reported that it appeared the attacker’s intention was to slit the priest’s throat.
Authorities detained a suspect at the scene who had reportedly attempted to flee the cathedral. The suspect has been identified as John Rock Schild, who identified himself as an artist from the United States. He is believed to be about 30 years of age.
Afortunadamente la policía detuvo al agresor! pic.twitter.com/ehHNRhK19w
— Padre José Aguilar (@PadreJosedejesu) May 16, 2017
At a news conference, the lawyer of the Archdiocese of Mexico, Armando Martínez, asked for prayers for the priest and said the motive for the attack was still unclear.
“We cannot talk about terrorism, we cannot talk about motives, because we obviously have no significant facts,” he said.
In a radio interview Tuesday morning, archdiocesan spokesman Hugo Valdelomar said the attack occurred as Fr. Machorro was blessing the congregation with holy water. He said the priest suffered severe injuries to his neck and near his lung.
Fr. Machorro was transferred by helicopter to a private hospital. He was operated on, and is now stable but in intensive care, according to the Mexico City archdiocese.
Masses at the cathedral are continuing at regularly scheduled hours.
The attack is one of many recent attacks against priests in Mexico. Drug trafficking has led to increased murder and kidnapping in the country. In recent years, 17 priests have been murdered and many others have been kidnapped or assaulted.
Vatican City, May 17, 2017 / 03:36 am (CNA/EWTN News).- By calling Mary Magdalene by name after his resurrection, Jesus shows us just how personal his relationship with mankind is, Pope Francis said Wednesday, adding that after this intimate encounter,… […]
Denver, Colo., May 17, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- “There will be saints among the children.”
So said Pope Pius X, when he lowered the age that children could receive their First Holy Communion. Previously, children had to be 10 or 1… […]
Aleppo, Syria, May 17, 2017 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Still reeling from the Syrian civil war, the city of Aleppo saw a ray of hope this weekend with a consecration to Our Lady of Fatima on May 13.
The Mass of Consecration took place in Saint Francis of Assisi Roman Rite Cathedral, which is also known as the Latin Church of the Franciscans. It was presided over by the pastor, Fr. Ibrahim Alsabagh, and concelebrated by the bishops and priests of the city.
The consecration of Aleppo took place on the 100th anniversary of the first Marian apparition at Fatima, the same day that Pope Francis celebrated the Mass of canonization of the shepherd children Francisco and Jacinta Marto at the Fatima Shrine in Portugal.
Present at the Mass of Consecration, according to the Facebook page for the Cathedral of Saint Francis of Assisi, was a statue of Our Lady of Fatima that was sent directly from the shrine in Portugal.
After the Eucharist, the statue was carried in procession through the Christian al-Azizieh neighborhood, which has suffered numerous attacks in recent years.
On their Facebook account, SOS Christians in Syria said that the church was full of the faithful and that a number of them were joyful and were moved to tears because for many years, a procession with the statue of Our Lady of Fatima had not been held.
“Let us give thanks to God for this heavenly day that was ours to experience, and let us entrust the Christians of Aleppo to our Blessed Mother. May she, the Queen of Peace, since she gave to the world the Prince of Peace, grant to us the much longed for peace in the Middle East and the entire world,” they said.
The consecration of Aleppo was part of a program of activities organized by the Latin Cathedral of Saint Francis of Assisi on the occasion of the centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima.
The cathedral stated on its Facebook page that the celebrations began on May 11 with a community prayer and a procession with the statue of the Virgin sent from Fatima.
“Many of us cried because after six years we’re able to again organize the procession through the streets of Aleppo without the fear of missiles. With emotion we welcome the Virgin of Fatima to Aleppo and with the hope that the Virgin Mary will pray for peace for all of Syria,” they said.
On October 13, 2016, at the close of the last international pilgrimage of the year at the Fatima Shrine, the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, Antonio Marto, blessed a statue that would be sent to the “martyr diocese” of Aleppo.
Currently living conditions in the city are still very hard because there is a shortage of food, medicine, and other supplies, and because electric and water services have not yet been restored.
Moscow, Russia, May 16, 2017 / 04:17 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After malware hacked as many as 200,000 computers throughout the world, the Russians have an idea: blessing the computers with holy water.
The most recent attacks have been through a form of ransomware called “WannaCry”, which is malicious software that locks up a person’s data and demands, either through a pop-up window or e-mail, that a ransom be paid or else the data will be destroyed.
The cyberattacks have largely targeted hospitals, academic institutions and large businesses like blue chip companies or movie theaters in more than 150 countries throughout the world, including in China, Japan, India and the U.K.
Russia was among one of the worst-hit countries in the attack.
Part of their solution? Invite Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church to bless computers and servers with holy water.
In a photo shared by @EnglishRussia1 on Twitter, Patriarch Kirill can be seen blessing the computers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in hopes to protect them from the WannaCry virus. The Russian Orthodox Church has close political ties with the Russian government, making Patriarch Kirill as strong a political figurehead as a religious one in the country.
Like the Catholic Church, the Russian Orthodox Church has a blessing for just about anything, including horses, spaceships and swimming pools.
The Catholic Book of Blessings includes the Order for the Blessing of Technical Installations or Equipment, or the Order for the Blessing of Tools or Other Equipment for Work. Either could be used as a blessing for a computer.
St. Isidore of Seville is often invoked in the Catholic Church as the patron saint of computers, computer users and the internet, because during his life he created the ‘Etymologies’ (a type of dictionary), and gave his work a structure similar to that of the database.
Aside from prayer and holy water, tech experts recommend avoiding cyberattacks by keeping computer software up to date, installing anti-virus software, and avoiding suspicious e-mails or pop-ups.
Patriarch of Russian Orthodox church making sure that the Ministry of Internal Affairs computers won’t get affected by WannaCry virus attack pic.twitter.com/m2S7rP2iHU
— English Russia (@EnglishRussia1) May 15, 2017
This past week, we celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady to a group of shepherd children near the Portuguese town of Fatima. The series of Fatima appearances—lasting from May […]
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