Apartment building donated to house homeless, pregnant mothers in Alberta

Cochabamba, Bolivia, Mar 8, 2017 / 11:12 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The newest member of St. Francis Monastery in Cochabamba, Bolivia, is furry and has four legs.

His name is Friar Carmelo, but they’ve nicknamed him Friar Bigotón (Spanish for mustache).

The friars found the stray schnauzer on the streets and decided to adopt him as one of their own, even going so far as to outfit the pup with his own Franciscan habit.

“Sometimes we brothers have a laugh among ourselves and there is a brother here that is also called Carmelo, who has a moustache, so that was sort of the inspiration [behind his name],” one of the friars told local television channel ATB.

In Facebook photos posted by Franciscan friar Kasper Mariusz Kapron which have been shared hundreds of times, Friar Carmelo can be seen running and playing throughout the monastery grounds, and even “preaching to the fish” in the monastery pond.
“His life is all about playing and running,” friar Jorge Fernandez told The Dodo. “Here, all of the brothers love him very much. He is a creature of God.”

The adoption was made possible by animal rescue group Proyecto Narices Frías (Cold Nose Project). The animal group stated in a post on Facebook that they hoped more religious groups would be inspired by the story to adopt animals in need.

“If only all the churches of our country adopt a dog and care for him like Friar Bigotón,” the group wrote in a post on Facebook, “we are sure that the parishioners would follow his example.”

The friars told local media that the dog has a bit of a naughty side, and has been known to chew things or hide them in the monastery garden. Still, he remains a beloved part of monastery life.

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Caracas, Venezuela, Aug 10, 2017 / 10:57 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino of Caracas expressed Tuesday his “astonishment and rejection” of a series of measures that violate the “will of the sovereign people” in Venezuela.

In an Aug. 8 statement, the cardinal denounced the eviction of the country’s legislature, the National Assembly, from the Federal Legislative Palace. The action was taken so that the constituent assembly, tasked with rewriting the constitution, could meet in the building.

“This is a measure astonishing for its violence and arbitrariness,” Cardinal Urosa said, adding that it “violates the will of the people who sovereignly elected the National Assembly in the December 2015 elections.”

The National Assembly is controlled by the opposition, while the constituent assembly was elected July 30 in a process that has been denounced as fraudulent by bishops, much of the international community, and the company in charge of the election’s electronic voting system. Pope Francis had spoken against the constituent assembly’s inauguration.

“In addition to being an invalidly constituted body, since it was not convened by the people, and whose election is suspected of fraud, the constituent assembly doesn’t have the right to appropriate the seat of the National Assembly. That is arbitrary and violent, and, therefore, unacceptable.”

The Archbishop of Caracas also denounced that “in recent weeks, we have seen how the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice has levied very severe sanctions against several opposition mayors. Yesterday, the removal from office, imprisonment, and disqualification for the mayor of Chacao, Ramon Muchacho. And the mayor of El Hatillo, David Smolansky is summoned for tomorrow. Both, as well as the mayor of Lecheria, have been charged with contempt by the court.”

“Those sanctions go against the rights of those mayors and the will of the people who elected them to govern their towns,” he stated.

“The search for peace and understanding that President Maduro preaches is impeded by those measures. We ask that these actions be stopped and that an atmosphere of calm be created which will allow for finding solutions to the country’s current political, economic and social crisis,” the cardinal concluded.

The constituent assembly approved a decree Aug. 8 that it will control all the branches of the Venezuelan government.

The decree was issued a day after the National Assembly said it will ignore the decisions of the constituent assembly, and two days after a small group of soldiers and civilians from Carabobo state declared themselves in rebellion against Maduro’s government, seeking “to restore constitutional order” in the country.

Since April 1, more than 120 people have been killed in protest’s against Maduro’s government.

The countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for Latin America – which includes Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba, and Nicaragua – met in Caracas recently to express their support for the constituent assembly, while another 17 nations of the Americas met in Peru to state that Maduro’s government is a dictatorship.

Among the signers of the ‘Lima Declaration’ are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Paraguay, Canada, and Uruguay.

The declaration states that its signatories do not recognize the constituent assembly; it fully supports the democratically elected National Assembly, only recognizing the acts that this body approves and validates; and it condemns the violation of human rights, the violence, and the repression occurring in Venezuela.

[…]

Matamoros, Mexico, Dec 20, 2019 / 12:57 am (CNA).- Three bishops from along the U.S.-Mexico border joined migrants last week in celebrating Las Posadas, a Latin American Christmas tradition that reenacts Mary and Joseph’s search for an inn in Bet… […]