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FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) -- If the federal government refuses to make changes to an agreement to reform Ferguson's police and court systems, city leaders are willing to confront the matter in court, the mayor said Wednesday....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate leaders pledged on Wednesday to take swift action on legislation imposing more stringent sanctions on North Korea for willfully violating international law by pushing ahead with its nuclear weapons program....
DETROIT (AP) -- Computers that control cars of the future can be considered drivers just like humans, the federal government's highway safety agency has found....
EMBU, Kenya (AP) -- Two Kenyan athletes serving four-year bans for doping at the 2015 world championships say the chief executive of Athletics Kenya, the country's governing body for track and field, asked them each for a $24,000 bribe to reduce their suspensions....
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- Now officially a winner after clinching New Hampshire, Donald Trump faced a fresh test for his once-improbable campaign as the Republican presidential race careened into more conservative territory in South Carolina....
WASHINGTON-Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York called on everyone "concerned about the tragedy of abortion" to recommit to a "vision of life and love, a vision that excludes no one" on January 14. His statement marks the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Cardinal Dolan chairs the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops."Most Americans oppose a policy allowing legal abortion for virtually any reason - though many still do not realize that this is what the Supreme Court gave us," wrote Cardinal Dolan. "Most want to protect unborn children at later stages of pregnancy, to regulate or limit the practice of abortion, and to stop the use of taxpayer dollars for the destruction of unborn children. Yet many who support important goals of the pro-life movement do not identify as 'pro-life,' a fact which should lead us to examine how we present our pro-life vision to others.""Even as Americans rema...
WASHINGTON-Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York called on everyone "concerned about the tragedy of abortion" to recommit to a "vision of life and love, a vision that excludes no one" on January 14. His statement marks the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Cardinal Dolan chairs the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
"Most Americans oppose a policy allowing legal abortion for virtually any reason - though many still do not realize that this is what the Supreme Court gave us," wrote Cardinal Dolan. "Most want to protect unborn children at later stages of pregnancy, to regulate or limit the practice of abortion, and to stop the use of taxpayer dollars for the destruction of unborn children. Yet many who support important goals of the pro-life movement do not identify as 'pro-life,' a fact which should lead us to examine how we present our pro-life vision to others."
"Even as Americans remain troubled by abortion," wrote Cardinal Dolan, a powerful and well-funded lobby holds "that abortion must be celebrated as a positive good for women and society, and those who cannot in conscience provide it are to be condemned for practicing substandard medicine and waging a 'war on women'." He said this trend was seen recently when President Obama and other Democratic leaders prevented passage of the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act, "a modest measure to provide for effective enforcement" of conscience laws.
"While this is disturbing," said Cardinal Dolan, "it is also an opportunity." Pro-life Americans should reach out to "the great majority of Americans" who are "open to hearing a message of reverence for life." He added that "we who present the pro-life message must always strive to be better messengers. A cause that teaches the inexpressibly great value of each and every human being cannot show disdain or disrespect for any fellow human being." He encouraged Catholics to take part, through prayer and action, in the upcoming "9 Days for Life" campaign, January 16-24. More information on the campaign is available online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxJwfcefUiU
He also cited the Year of Mercy called by Pope Francis as a time for women and men to find healing through the Church's Project Rachel post-abortion ministry.
The full text of Cardinal Dolan's message is available online.
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Keywords: Roe v. Wade, anniversary, Pro-Life, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, 9 Days for Life, USCCB, U.S. bishops, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Year of Mercy, Project Rachel, Pope Francis
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MEDIA CONTACT
Don Clemmer
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WASHINGTON-The Office of General Counsel of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, February 1, on behalf of USCCB, the Texas Catholic Conference and several Christian partners in support of a Texas law mandating health and safety standards protecting women who undergo abortions. Other groups joining the brief include the National Association of Evangelicals, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. The case is Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, currently before the U.S. Supreme Court."There is ample evidence in this case that hospital admitting privileges and ambulatory surgical center requirements protect women's lives and health," said the brief. "When such requirements are not enforced, abuses detrimental to women's lives and health arise."The brief noted that some abortion clinics have decla...
"There is ample evidence in this case that hospital admitting privileges and ambulatory surgical center requirements protect women's lives and health," said the brief. "When such requirements are not enforced, abuses detrimental to women's lives and health arise."
The brief noted that some abortion clinics have declared the standards too strict, although the standards are similar to those issued by the abortion industry. It added that abortion providers "should not be allowed to rely upon their own failure to comply with health and safety laws" as a reason to strike such laws down. The brief said the providers' resistance to such regulations is not in the best interests of women's health and safety. It also noted that over 40 years of precedent, including the Court's 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, reaffirms that states may regulate abortion to protect maternal life and health.
Full text of the brief is available online: www.usccb.org/about/general-counsel/amicus-briefs/upload/Whole-Woman-s-Health-v-Hellerstedt.pdf
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Keywords: General Counsel, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Texas law abortion, amicus curia, National Association of Evangelicals, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, U.S. Supreme Court
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(Vatican Radio) Before the General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis met with the Prime Minister of Iraq, Haydar al-Abadi. The meeting took place in the studio of the Paul VI Audience Hall. Afterwards, the Prime Minister met with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was accompanied by the Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.A statement from the Holy See Press Office called the talks “cordial,” adding that reference was made to the good state of bilateral relations between Iraq and the Holy See, the life of the Church in the country, as well as the situation of Christians and ethnic and religious minorities living in Iraq, with particular reference to the importance of their presence and the need to protect their rights.The statement also said they discussed the role of interreligious dialogue and the responsibility of religious communities to promote tolerance and peace.In this context, they focused on the importance...
(Vatican Radio) Before the General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis met with the Prime Minister of Iraq, Haydar al-Abadi. The meeting took place in the studio of the Paul VI Audience Hall. Afterwards, the Prime Minister met with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was accompanied by the Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.
A statement from the Holy See Press Office called the talks “cordial,” adding that reference was made to the good state of bilateral relations between Iraq and the Holy See, the life of the Church in the country, as well as the situation of Christians and ethnic and religious minorities living in Iraq, with particular reference to the importance of their presence and the need to protect their rights.
The statement also said they discussed the role of interreligious dialogue and the responsibility of religious communities to promote tolerance and peace.
In this context, they focused on the importance of the ongoing reconciliation process between various social components of the country, and also the national and regional humanitarian situation.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has asked for prayers for his forthcoming meeting with his “dear brother”, the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, Head of the Russian Orthodox Church.That meeting is scheduled to take place on Friday, February 12 at Cuba’s international airport as the Pope travels to Mexico for an apostolic journey.The Pope’s appeal came at the end of his General Audience in St Peter’s Square. He also asked for prayers for his six-day journey which will take him from South to North of the Latin American Nation. And during his catechesis, Pope Francis spoke of the significance of a Jubilee Year, an ancient institution that calls on us to practice pardon, combat poverty and inequality, promote an equitable distribution of the earth’s goods for all.Recalling that according to the Book of Leviticus, a Jubilee Year is a heightened moment of religious and social life, a time of “general pardon” for all people to return to...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has asked for prayers for his forthcoming meeting with his “dear brother”, the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, Head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
That meeting is scheduled to take place on Friday, February 12 at Cuba’s international airport as the Pope travels to Mexico for an apostolic journey.
The Pope’s appeal came at the end of his General Audience in St Peter’s Square. He also asked for prayers for his six-day journey which will take him from South to North of the Latin American Nation.
And during his catechesis, Pope Francis spoke of the significance of a Jubilee Year, an ancient institution that calls on us to practice pardon, combat poverty and inequality, promote an equitable distribution of the earth’s goods for all.
Recalling that according to the Book of Leviticus, a Jubilee Year is a heightened moment of religious and social life, a time of “general pardon” for all people to return to their original state – the freedom proper to the holy people of God – the Pope pointed out that the earth belongs to God and has been entrusted to us.
He said that as stewards of the Lord we are called to render the world we have received human and habitable, and that “no one should claim exclusive possession creating situations of inequality".
“May each of us look into our hearts and ask himself whether he has too many things. Why not give some to those who have none? Ten percent, fifty percent… may the Holy Spirit inspire each of you” he said.
And recalling having recently heard that some eighty percent of the world’s wealth is in the hands of only twenty percent of the world’s population, Pope Francis said “if the Jubilee does not come out of your pockets it’s not a true Jubilee”.
“This in the Bible. It’s not this Pope inventing it. In the Bible the scope of a Jubilee was to create a society based on equality and solidarity, where freedom, land and money would benefit all and not just a few” he said.
We can say – he continued – that the Biblical Jubilee was a “Jubilee of Mercy” because it was to be lived for the good of our needy brothers and sisters.
So, appealing to all believers to live the Jubilee Year in that spirit, Pope Francis also mentioned the phenomenon of loansharking and of how so many desperate people have ended up taking their own lives because they don’t find a helping hand, but only the hand that demands the payment of interests.
“The Lord – he said – blesses he who opens his hand with generosity. He will give you twice as much back, perhaps not in money, but in other things”.
And telling those present that if they want to receive mercy from God, they must begin by being merciful to those close to them and thus – the Pope said - contribute to building a society based on solidarity, fraternity and justice.
Pope Francis concluded his audience recalling the fact that Thursday 11 marks the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the 24th World Day of the Sick and he asked for prayers for the sick and appealed to the faithful to make their love felt to them.
Vatican City, Feb 10, 2016 / 06:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- For Pope Francis, mercy isn’t just spiritual, but is something that ought to be expressed in concrete acts, such as service and sharing one’s goods with the poor, which was a key tradition during jubilee years throughout scripture.Referring to the current Holy Year of Mercy, the Pope explained that the Jubilee is time “for conversion, so that our heart can become bigger, more generous, more like a child of God, with more love.”“But I tell you that if the Jubilee doesn't arrive to the pockets, it's not a true Jubilee,” he said, adding that “this is in the Bible, it's not the Pope who invented this.”Francis spoke to pilgrims present in St. Peter’s Square for his general audience on Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the Church’s Lenten season.In his continued catechesis on mercy as seen in scripture, the Pope noted how the jubilee year is an “a...
Vatican City, Feb 10, 2016 / 06:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- For Pope Francis, mercy isn’t just spiritual, but is something that ought to be expressed in concrete acts, such as service and sharing one’s goods with the poor, which was a key tradition during jubilee years throughout scripture.
Referring to the current Holy Year of Mercy, the Pope explained that the Jubilee is time “for conversion, so that our heart can become bigger, more generous, more like a child of God, with more love.”
“But I tell you that if the Jubilee doesn't arrive to the pockets, it's not a true Jubilee,” he said, adding that “this is in the Bible, it's not the Pope who invented this.”
Francis spoke to pilgrims present in St. Peter’s Square for his general audience on Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the Church’s Lenten season.
In his continued catechesis on mercy as seen in scripture, the Pope noted how the jubilee year is an “ancient institution.”
He took his cue from the biblical passage in the book of Leviticus in which the Jubilee was instituted among the Jews. According to the rules of the jubilee, the year served as a “kind of general amnesty” in which a person who had been forced to sell their goods or property could regain possession of them, he noted.
In that time, “requirements such as the Jubilee were used to combat poverty and inequality, guaranteeing a life of dignity for all and an equal distribution of the land on which to live and from which to draw sustenance,” the Pope observed.
Because the land originally belonged to God, who then entrusted it to man, no one can claim exclusive possession of it or use ownership to create situations of inequality, he said.
“With the Jubilee whoever had become poor returned to have what was necessary in order to live, and whoever had become rich restored to the poor what they had taken from them.”
The result “was a society based on equality and solidarity where freedom, land and money would become again a good for everyone,” Francis explained.
In off-the-cuff- remarks, he noted that roughly 80 percent of the world’s wealth rests in the hands of around 20 percent of the people, and encouraged faithful to be generous with what they have both during Lent, and the jubilee.
“Each person can think in their hearts: if I have too many things, why not leave 10 percent, 50 percent, to those who have nothing?” he asked, assuring those present that if they take the matter to prayer, the Holy Spirit would inspire them about what is reasonable for them to do.
Francis then turned to the biblical law that required the payment of tithes, which would be used to assist the poor, people without land, orphans and widows.
He said that tithes such as this arrive daily to the Office of the Papal Almoner, which oversees the Pope’s charity funds.
When the letters come in, they frequently contain “a little bit of money: something small or not so small, which is part of a person's salary to help others,” the Pope said, explaining that “it’s beautiful” to help others, whether it be people, charitable institutions, hospitals, retirement homes or foreigners.
Pope Francis then issued a sharp condemnation of the practice of usury, and lamented how many families have been forced to live on the streets due to the corruption of those who want to line their own pockets.
“Usury is a grave sin before God,” he said, and noted that many times, people in desperation “end up committing suicide because they can't do it and they don't have hope.”
These people “don't have an outstretched hand to help them, only the hand that makes them pay for personal interests,” he said, and prayed that the Lord would use the Jubilee of Mercy as a time to remove the desire of usury from all hearts, making them bigger and more generous instead.
Francis pointed to God’s promise to bring blessings to those who lend a hand and who give generously, adding that when we are generous, the Lord “will give you double...maybe not in money, but the Lord always gives double.”
He closed his address by encouraging those present to have the courage to share what they have with others. This, he said, “is called mercy, and if we want the mercy of God, let's begin to do it ourselves.”
