San Francisco, Calif., Mar 7, 2018 / 10:41 am (ACI Prensa).- California missionary St. Junipero Serra will be among the figures removed from a prominent location near San Francisco City Hall after the city’s art commission unanimously voted to re… […]
Vatican City, Mar 7, 2018 / 05:17 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican announced Wednesday that Pope Francis has recognized a second miracle allowing five people on the path to sainthood to be canonized, the most prominent being Bl. Pope Paul VI and Bl. Oscar Romero.
With a second miracle approved, the path has been cleared for a date to be set for the canonization of each of the five candidates, allowing them to officially be declared a saint.
Though no date has yet been announced, both Paul VI and Oscar Romero are expected to be canonized together during the Synod of Bishops in October.
Born as Giovanni Montini in 1897 in the town of Concesio in the Lombardy region of Italy, the future Pope Paul VI was ordained a priest at the age of 22. He served as Archbishop of Milan prior to his election as Bishop of Rome in 1963.
As pope, he oversaw much of the Second Vatican Council, which had been opened by Pope St. John XXIII, and in 1969 promulgated a new Roman Missal. He died in 1978, and was beatified by Pope Francis Oct. 19, 2014.
Pope Francis himself unofficially confirmed the news of Paul VI’s canonization during his annual meeting with the priests of Rome Feb. 17. However, the Vatican’s announcement makes it official.
Apart from his role in the council, Paul VI is most widely know for his landmark encyclical Humanae Vitae, which was published in 1968 and reaffirmed the Church’s teaching against contraception in wake of the sexual revolution. This year marks the 50th anniversary the historic encyclical, making the canonization of the author all the more relevant.
Both miracles attributed to Paul VI’s intercession involve the healing of an unborn child.
Bl. Oscar Romero, who was beatified by Pope Francis May 23, 2015, in El Salvador, was the archbishop of the nation’s capital city of San Salvador. He was shot while celebrating Mass March 24, 1980, during the birth of a civil war between leftist guerrilla forces and the dictatorial government of the right.
An outspoken critic of the violence and injustices being committed at the time, Romero was declared a martyr who was killed in hatred of the faith for his vocal defense of human rights.
The Vatican made the announcement about the acceptance of the miracles March 7, following a meeting between Pope Francis and Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the day before.
During the meeting, Francis advanced a total of 13 saints’ causes, recognizing at least one person as a martyr and allowing one religious sister to be beatified.
In addition to Paul VI and Oscar Romero, the Pope approved a second miracle for three other saints’ causes, allowing for their canonization. The new saints-to-be are: Bl. Francesco Spinelli, a diocesan priest and founder of the Institute of the Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament; Bl. Vincenzo Romano, a diocesan priest from Torre de Greco in Italy; and Bl. Maria Caterina Kasper, a German nun and founder of the Institute of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ.
Pope Francis also recognized a first miracle attributed to Maria Felicia di Gesu Sacramento, a Discalced Carmelite nun from Paraguay who died in 1959, allowing for her to be beatified and receive the title “blessed.”
Additionally, he recognized the martyrdom of Slavic laywoman Anna Kolesárová. Born in Vysoká nad Uhom, Slovakia in 1928, she was killed by a drunken Soviet soldier near the end of the Second World War in 1944 for refusing his sexual advances.
At the time, Soviet troops were passing through Kolesárová’s district, which was then a part of Hungary, and occupied her village on the way. When one soldier entered her home and found the family in hiding, he attempted to sleep with Kolesárová, threatening her with death if she did not.
However, raised in a pious Catholic family, Kolesárová refused, and was shot in front of her family at the age of 16.
In addition to these causes, Pope Francis also recognized the heroic virtue of six people, allowing them to be called “venerable.”
Among these causes are: Polish Fr. Bernardo ?ubie?ski of the Congregation of the Holy Redeemer; Cecilio Maria Cortinovis, an Italian Franciscan religious; Italian Sisters Giustina and Maria Schiapparoli, who founded the order of the Benedictine Sisters of Divine Providence of Voghera; Italian laywoman Antonella Bordoni, founder of the Lay Fraternity of the Little Daughters of the Mother of God; and Italian laywoman Alessandra Sabattini.
Vatican City, Mar 7, 2018 / 03:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis issued a harsh critique of the trend to ask parishioners for a financial contribution in order to have Mass said for a loved one, saying to make a personal offering is fine, but the liturgy should never have a price tag.
“If I have someone who is in need, relatives and friends, I can name them in that moment, internally in silence,” he said, referring to the moments of silence during the Eucharistic Prayer recited in Mass.
However, alluding to the fact that it’s common in many parishes for faithful to pay, usually somewhere around 10 dollars, for a Mass to be offered for a specific person, Francis asked, “how much should I pay to have my name written there, [in Mass]?”
“The Mass,” he said, “is not paid for, redemption is free. If you want to make an offering okay, but the Mass cannot be paid for.”
Francis spoke off-the-cuff during his March 7 general audience, which this week centered on the Eucharistic Prayer as part of his ongoing catechesis on Mass and the Eucharist.
In his address, the Pope said the Eucharistic Prayer is “the central moment” of the Mass, anticipating the reception of communion.
During this prayer, he said, the Church “expresses what she does when she celebrates the Eucharist and the reason why she celebrates it, which is to make communion with Christ truly present in the consecrated bread and wine.”
After inviting Mass-goers to lift their hearts up to the Lord and to give thanks, the priest recites the Eucharistic Prayer, directing it to God on behalf of everyone present, Francis said. The meaning of this prayer, he added, is that “the entire assembly of faithful unites with Christ to magnify the great works of God in offering the sacrifice.”
To have this unity, “its necessary to understand,” he said in an off-the-cuff comment, explaining that this is the reason that the Church during the Second Vatican Council wanted to translate the liturgy into different languages that “everyone understood.”
Francis then pointed to the different parts of the Eucharistic Prayer, including the Preface, which he said is an “action of grace” for the gifts of God, which concludes with the acclamation of the “Sanctus,” or the “Holy, Holy, Holy.”
This acclamation, which is usually sung, is a time when “the entire assembly unites their own voice to that of the angels and saints to praise and glorify God,” he said, adding that “it’s beautiful when this [is] sung, it’s beautiful.”
During the consecration of the bread and wine, both the action of the Holy Spirit and the recitation of Jesus’ words during the Last Supper make Christ’s body and blood truly present, he said, adding that this is the “mystery of faith” that is celebrated during the liturgy.
The Eucharistic Prayer also asks God to gather all of his children together in “the perfection of love,” and in union with the Pope and the local bishop, who is mentioned by name as a sign that “we celebrate in communion with the universal Church and with the particular Church,” Francis said.
A plea is then made by the priest for all members of the Church, both living and dead, the Pope said, explaining that “no one and nothing is forgotten in the Eucharistic Prayer, as the doxology which concludes it recalls.”
While this “codified formula” can seem a bit “distant,” if the meaning is well understood then “surely we will participate better,” he said, adding that the Eucharistic Prayer not only expresses everything that is done during Mass, but it also cultivates the “three attitudes that should never be lacking in the disciples of Jesus.”
These attitudes, he said, are to give thanks “always and everywhere, not just on certain occasions when everything is going well”; to make our lives a “gift of love”; and to build a concrete communion “in the Church and with everyone.”
The Eucharistic Prayer, then, which is the center of the Mass, teaches faithful “little by little to make our whole lives a ‘eucharist,’” which is an “act of thanksgiving,” he said.
After his address, Pope Francis made an appeal for parishes around the world to join him in participating in this week’s “24 Hours for the Lord” event, which will take place March 9 and is a worldwide initiative launched in 2014 to highlight confession as a primary way to experience God’s mercy.
He also gave a shout-out to the March 9 opening of the Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, where the ordinary Winter Olympics recently took place.
Having brought together delegations from both North and South Korea despite their ongoing conflict, the games, Francis said, are an example of how “sport can draw bridges between countries in conflict and give a valid contribution to perspectives of peace between people.”
“Sports thus appear as a school of inclusion, but also of inspiration for one’s own life and of commitment to transforming society,” he said, and offered a personal greeting to the International Paralympic Committee and the athletes who will participate in the games.
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London, England, Mar 6, 2018 / 03:43 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On Tuesday, London’s Court of Appeal upheld a lower court’s decision to end life support for an ill 21-month-old boy, despite the parent’s wishes to continue treatment.
Justice Anthony Hayden of the High Court ordered two weeks ago that life support could be removed from Alfie Evans, who is stationed at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. Hayden said that “continued ventilatory support is no longer in Alfie’s interests.”
Alfie is in a “semi-vegetable state” due to an unknown neurological degenerative condition. His parents want to transfer him to the Vatican-linked Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital in Rome, to receive further diagnosis and treatment.
However, the Liverpool hospital where Alfie is currently said it considered further treatment to be “futile.”
“Our aim is always to try and reach an agreement with parents about the most appropriate care plan for their child. Unfortunately there are sometimes rare situations such as this where agreement cannot be reached and the treating team believe that continued active treatment is not in a child’s best interests,” said the hospital.
Justice Eleanor King was one of the three judges who denied the appeal on March 6 and agreed with the High Court’s previous decision.
Justice Hayden “could not have done more to ensure the father and mother had every opportunity to express their views and have them taken into consideration,” she said, according to BBC.
She said the evidence showed that the child was “deeply comatose” and “to all intents and purposes unaware of his surroundings.”
Justice King applauded Tom Evans’ passionate “fight on with Alfie’s army,” but said the father had “no clear plan.”
Evans said afterward that he would challenge the case before the Supreme Court.
“At this moment, Alfie’s not ready so we’re not ready to let go,” he said, according to the BBC.
Head of Alfie’s parents’ legal team, Barrister Stephen Knafler QC, said the state’s decision wrongly hinders “parental choice.”
The court ruling echoes a similar case last year, when England’s courts ordered Charlie Gard to be taken off life support.
At 11 months old, Gard died in July 2017 after a months-long debate regarding his parents’ right to pursue further treatment. The parents had fundraised over $1.6 million to seek experimental treatments and had received offers from European and U.S. hospitals. However, courts rejected the request to transfer him for experimental therapy.
The case drew widespread attention and outcry. Dr. Melissa Moschella, a Catholic University of America philosophy professor, disagreed with the court’s decision, telling CNA that the United Nations “clearly indicates that the parents, not the state will have primarily responsibility.”
“It seems to me completely wrongheaded that the state should be stepping in here when the decision that the parents are making is really aimed at the best interests of the child,” Moschella said in 2017.
“It’s not crazy, it’s not abusive, it’s not neglectful. It’s the decision of parents who want to, however they can, to give their very sick child a chance for life.”
Washington D.C., Mar 6, 2018 / 03:23 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a statement asking people to pray, call, and write to their Congressional representatives to urge the inclusion of the Conscience Protection Act in the government’s upcoming funding bill.
The statement, issued by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, chair of the conference’s pro-life committee, and Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, chair of the religious liberty committee, urges Catholics to “flood” their members of Congress in support of the act.
“Increasing and fierce attacks on conscience rights regarding abortion cry out for an immediate remedy,” said the archbishops. “Nurses and other health care providers and institutions are being forced to choose between participating in abortions or leaving health care altogether.”
While the bishops’ conference is encouraging action each day until the bill is enacted, they are especially focusing on Monday, March 12 as a day of action. The funding deadline is March 23.
The Conscience Protection Act would protect physicians and nurses from being forced to engage in procedures that violate their conscience, such as abortion or sterilization.
It would also prevent employers from being forced to cover abortions in their health care plans if the procedure violates their conscience beliefs. Currently, three states–California, Oregon, and New York–require most or all insurance plans to cover abortion.
“Opponents and supporters of abortion should be able to agree that no one should be forced to participate in abortion,” reads the bishops’ statement. “Congress must remedy this problem by enacting the Conscience Protection Act now as part of the FY 2018 funding bill.”
Failure to pass this legislation could result in prejudice against pro-life or religious employees, said Dr. Michael Parker of the Catholic Medical Association.
“If it’s not enacted, it could lead to discrimination against these people – failure to work for certain employers or given access to certain programs,” he told CNA.
“For example, Vanderbilt University made all their nurse practitioners in their programs agree to participate in abortion procedures in order to be accepted into their program,” Parker said. There have also been several cases where nurses have faced the threat of losing their job if they would not assist in an abortion.
Parker warned that forcing someone to violate their conscience in this manner could result in additional issues later in life. Mandating someone who is against abortion to perform or assist with one could “cause them to have significant remorse,” or could possibly trigger psychological problems.
“[The Catholic Medical Association] has always been for a conscience protection law that protects the conscience rights of physicians, especially in performing elective procedures such as abortions, sterilizations, physician-assisted suicide – or even genital mutilation,” said Parker.
The U.S. bishops’ conference has also released a video as part of the promotional effort for next week’s advocacy:
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