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NEW YORK (AP) -- The teenage actress who voices Nickelodeon's spunky "Dora the Explorer" character was given special treatment after she was caught vaping in a private high school bathroom, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by another student's parents....
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The robots are coming - to help run your life or sell you stuff - at an online texting service near you....
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Islamic State militants recaptured a vital border crossing in northern Syria and shot down a government warplane in the country's west Monday as the U.N.'s special envoy urged the warring parties to respect a fragile cease-fire ahead of peace talks set to resume in Geneva this week....
(Vatican Radio) The trial of five people accused of disseminating confidential documents continued on Monday in the Vatican criminal court. The session lasted from 10:30 AM until 1:20 PM, and was entirely dedicated to the interrogation of one of the accused: Dr. Nicola Maio.The Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, issued a statement saying that four defendants were present: Lucio Ángel Vallejo Balda: Francesca Immaculata Chaouqui; Nicola Maio; and Gianluigi Nuzzi, all represented by counsel. The fifth defendant, Emiliano Fittipaldi, was absent, though his counsel was in the courtroom.The next session is scheduled to take place Wednesday, April 13th, at 10:30 AM Rome Time.
(Vatican Radio) The trial of five people accused of disseminating confidential documents continued on Monday in the Vatican criminal court. The session lasted from 10:30 AM until 1:20 PM, and was entirely dedicated to the interrogation of one of the accused: Dr. Nicola Maio.
The Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi, SJ, issued a statement saying that four defendants were present: Lucio Ángel Vallejo Balda: Francesca Immaculata Chaouqui; Nicola Maio; and Gianluigi Nuzzi, all represented by counsel. The fifth defendant, Emiliano Fittipaldi, was absent, though his counsel was in the courtroom.
The next session is scheduled to take place Wednesday, April 13th, at 10:30 AM Rome Time.
Vatican City, Apr 11, 2016 / 10:38 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Speaking at morning Mass at the Santa Marta residence, Pope Francis decried those who close themselves to God's truth, and condemn repentant sinners and the innocent alike in the name of following the “letter of the law.”“The heart is closed to God's Word, it is closed to truth, and it is closed to God’s messenger who brings the prophecy so that God’s people may go forward,” the Pope said in his April 11 homily, according to Vatican Radio's translation.The Pope centered his reflection on the day's reading from the Acts of the Apostles, which recounts the Sanhedrin arresting St. Stephen – who would later become the first martyr of the Church – for “blasphemous words against Moses and God.”Because their hearts were hardened, they “could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which (Stephen) spoke,” he said, adding they supported their cl...
Vatican City, Apr 11, 2016 / 10:38 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Speaking at morning Mass at the Santa Marta residence, Pope Francis decried those who close themselves to God's truth, and condemn repentant sinners and the innocent alike in the name of following the “letter of the law.”
“The heart is closed to God's Word, it is closed to truth, and it is closed to God’s messenger who brings the prophecy so that God’s people may go forward,” the Pope said in his April 11 homily, according to Vatican Radio's translation.
The Pope centered his reflection on the day's reading from the Acts of the Apostles, which recounts the Sanhedrin arresting St. Stephen – who would later become the first martyr of the Church – for “blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
Because their hearts were hardened, they “could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which (Stephen) spoke,” he said, adding they supported their claims with false witnesses.
“Their hearts, closed to God’s truth, clutch only at the truth of the Law, taking it by ‘the letter’, and do not find outlets other than in lies, false witness and death.”
Francis recalled Gospel accounts of Jesus likening the cynical and hypocritical “doctors of the letter” to their “fathers” who “had killed the prophets” before him.
The Pope observed the unwillingness of these “doctors of the law” to open their hearts to the repentant sinner. He cited in particular the scene in which Judas Iscariot, after having betrayed Jesus, regrets his decision and approaches the Sanhedrin to return the money.
“It hurts when I read that small passage from the Gospel of Matthew, when Judas, who has repented, goes to the priests and says: ‘I have sinned' ... and gives them the coins. ‘Who cares!’ - they say to him: ‘it’s none of our business!’”
“They closed their hearts before this poor, repentant man, who did not know what to do,” he said. “And he went and hanged himself.”
The Pope spoke of their concern with following “the laws, so many words and things they had built,” but not the good of the repentant man.
“And what did they do when Judas hanged himself? They spoke amongst themselves and said: 'Is he a poor man? No! These coins are the price of blood, they must not enter the temple'... and they referred to this rule and to that… The doctors of the letter.”
Instances of innocent people put to death for being wrongly accused of going against the law appears throughout history, Francis said.
“History tells us of many people who were judged and killed, although they were innocent: judged according to the Word of God, against the Word of God,” he said.
“Let’s think of witch hunts or of St. Joan of Arc, and of many others who were burnt to death, condemned because according to the judges they were not in line with the Word of God.”
Noting that Jesus was crucified for his trust and obedience to God's word, Pope Francis recounted resurrected Jesus' words to the disciples on the road to Emmaus: “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke.”
The Pope concluded: “Let us ask the Lord to look to the large and to the small follies of our hearts with the same tenderness, to caress us gently and to say to us: ‘Oh you foolish and slow of heart’ and begin to explain things to us.”
IMAGE: CNS photo/Karen Callaway, Catholic New WorldBy Michelle MartinCHICAGO(CNS) -- Archbishop Blase J. Cupich of Chicago welcomed the release of PopeFrancis' apostolic exhortation "Amoris Laetitia" ("The Joy ofLove"), saying the document might be surprising to some for its insistenceon the need for mercy and compassion and its emphasis on the role ofconscience.Thedocument is the pope's reflection on the 2014 and 2015 meetings of the Synod ofBishops on the family, which addressed all aspects of family life and includedcontentious discussions about under what circumstances divorced and remarriedCatholics could receive Communion.Itdoes not offer any new rules or norms. Rather, Pope Francis urges carefulreflection on ministry to families and, especially, greater consideration inthe language and attitude used when working with those who do not fully livechurch teaching."Ithink that by and large, the average Catholic is going to find that what thepope is saying here is very arresting an...
IMAGE: CNS photo/Karen Callaway, Catholic New World
By Michelle Martin
CHICAGO (CNS) -- Archbishop Blase J. Cupich of Chicago welcomed the release of Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation "Amoris Laetitia" ("The Joy of Love"), saying the document might be surprising to some for its insistence on the need for mercy and compassion and its emphasis on the role of conscience.
The document is the pope's reflection on the 2014 and 2015 meetings of the Synod of Bishops on the family, which addressed all aspects of family life and included contentious discussions about under what circumstances divorced and remarried Catholics could receive Communion.
It does not offer any new rules or norms. Rather, Pope Francis urges careful reflection on ministry to families and, especially, greater consideration in the language and attitude used when working with those who do not fully live church teaching.
"I think that by and large, the average Catholic is going to find that what the pope is saying here is very arresting and new and creative and imaginative," Archbishop Cupich said at a news conference April 8, the day the document was released at the Vatican. "He is saying things they haven't heard before with regard to the church. For instance, individuals in shaping their conscience take responsibility and nobody can come in and in some way try to replace that conscience.
"He talks about the need for families to be tolerant with each other in situations where people's lives are not perfect so that we don't separate ourselves and judge. ' This is not about a reform of rules. This is about a reform of church," the archbishop added.
Archbishop Cupich said that he intends to study the document with lay and ordained advisers, and the Chicago Archdiocese will look at the ways it ministers to families, perhaps by extending marriage preparation into the first year of marriage or finding new ways to support parents as they welcome children.
Whatever the church does must be done with mercy, he said.
"The doctrine of the church has always been one of mercy and compassion and the pope is recovering that in a much stronger and forceful way. It is a part of the doctrine of the church to reach out with compassion to people," he said.
The archbishop acknowledged that some might rather have a clear set of rules to follow, something Pope Francis addressed as well.
"He knows that this call for a more compassionate pastoral outreach of accompaniment, discernment and integration, one marked by tenderness, will leave some perplexed," the archbishop said, then quoted the document:
Archbishop Cupich rejected the idea that meeting people in the midst of the complexities of their lives means a "slippery slope" to a change in church teaching.
"It is not a slippery slope but a path forward for people who find themselves stuck," he said.
The document calls on pastors to help people who can't find that way now, he said.
"A healthy dose of criticism is in order for us pastors, in the way that we treat people and the way that we present the church's teaching," the archbishop told members of the media. "Too often, he says, we speak in a way that is far too abstract, presenting an almost artificial theological ideal of marriage far removed from the concrete situations and the practical possibilities of real families."
Archbishop Cupich said the document calls on the church and its pastors to walk with people as they discern the best way forward and to seek to integrate them into the church, and he added that Pope Francis reminds pastors that "we have been called ... to form consciences, not to replace them."
Priests must help people understand the teaching of the church and the guidelines of the bishops when it comes to divorce and remarriage, he said.
"It can no longer be said, according to Pope Francis, that all those living in an 'irregular situation' are living in a state of mortal sin and are deprived of sanctifying grace," Archbishop Cupich said.
"'No one can be condemned forever, because that is not the logic of the Gospel!' the pope insists," he said. "The goal of accompanying people is to help each person find 'his or her proper way of participating in the ecclesial community and thus to experience being touched by an 'unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous' mercy.' He is not speaking here only of 'the divorced and remarried, but of everyone, in whatever situation they find themselves.'"
Asked in what specific situations he would allow a divorced and remarried person to receive Communion, Archbishop Cupich refused to rule anyone out.
"I wouldn't exclude anyone," he said. "I would like our pastors to have discussion in all of those folks who are in these kinds of situations. ' I know in my experience as a pastor, if you've seen a marriage then you've seen one marriage. There is no instance that can be replicated. Every situation has its variables that are part of it."
The archbishop said he was impressed with the pope's crisp, accessible writing style, and the way he draws on varied literary and cultural sources to connect with his audience.
"He's got an intuition about where people live their actual lives," the archbishop said "He's not living in a bubble."
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Martin
is a staff writer at the Catholic New World, newspaper of the Archdiocese of
Chicago.
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