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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea denied Thursday that its agents masterminded the assassination of the half brother of leader Kim Jong Un, saying a Malaysian investigation into the death of one of its nationals is full of "holes and contradictions."...
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuela is so short on food that tens of thousands are going hungry or even starving. Its murder rate is among the highest in the world. Its economy is so crippled that the average shopper spends 35 hours a month waiting in line - three times more than in 2014....
Vatican City, Feb 22, 2017 / 04:34 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A banker who allegedly used the Vatican Bank and other aspects of Holy See finances to manipulate the market for his bank stock price continues to be under investigation, as Italian authorities froze millions of euros in his personal assets on Tuesday.Giampietro Nattino, the head of Banca Finnat Euramerica SpA, allegedly used Vatican financial institutions as cover for “a complex stock operation which resulted in criminal behavior regarding market manipulation.” Police said he used “misleading and false” methods to “substantially alter” the price of shares in his bank, Reuters reports.The alleged manipulation used the Institute for Religious Works, known informally as the Vatican Bank, and APSA, which oversees Vatican real estate and investments. Vatican investigators suspect that during a stock placement handled by Nattino’s bank, shares were bought through the accounts at APSA before ...
Vatican City, Feb 22, 2017 / 04:34 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A banker who allegedly used the Vatican Bank and other aspects of Holy See finances to manipulate the market for his bank stock price continues to be under investigation, as Italian authorities froze millions of euros in his personal assets on Tuesday.
Giampietro Nattino, the head of Banca Finnat Euramerica SpA, allegedly used Vatican financial institutions as cover for “a complex stock operation which resulted in criminal behavior regarding market manipulation.” Police said he used “misleading and false” methods to “substantially alter” the price of shares in his bank, Reuters reports.
The alleged manipulation used the Institute for Religious Works, known informally as the Vatican Bank, and APSA, which oversees Vatican real estate and investments. Vatican investigators suspect that during a stock placement handled by Nattino’s bank, shares were bought through the accounts at APSA before the shares were allocated to other investors.
Nattino is also accused of providing false information to Italy’s stock regulator, Consob.
Italian magistrates are investigating two people who were managers at APSA in 2011, suspecting they were collaborators with Nattino’s bank.
In a statement, Nattino said that his work had “always been characterized by maximum transparency and correctness.” He said the frozen assets belong to him, not his bank, and he pledged cooperation with investigators.
Efforts to reform Vatican finances have been ongoing. Vatican officials have closed many outside accounts in an effort to block corruption.
In June 2013, a longtime accountant at APSA, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, was arrested and faced charges of conspiracy to smuggle 20 million euros from Switzerland to help friends avoid taxes.
Though he was acquitted on those charges, and denies all charges of wrongdoing, he will face a separate trial for alleged money laundering.
Richmond, Va., Feb 22, 2017 / 04:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The bishops of Virginia's two dioceses on Tuesday decried Governor Terry McAuliffe's veto of a bill which would have redirected state funding away from abortion providers and toward community health centers.“Surrounded by Planned Parenthood supporters at a veto ceremony outside the Governor’s Mansion this morning, Gov. McAuliffe said his actions protected the rights and dignity of Virginia women – when, in fact, his actions harm the dignity of the women deceived by the multi-billion dollar abortion industry as well as the tiniest females, those still in the womb whose lives are brutally eliminated by abortion,” read a Feb. 21 statement of the Virginia Catholic Conference.The conference said it “upholds the timeless truth that every human being, born and unborn, has an equal right to life. The Conference finds Gov. McAuliffe’s pride in protecting an organization that destroys life and...
Richmond, Va., Feb 22, 2017 / 04:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The bishops of Virginia's two dioceses on Tuesday decried Governor Terry McAuliffe's veto of a bill which would have redirected state funding away from abortion providers and toward community health centers.
“Surrounded by Planned Parenthood supporters at a veto ceremony outside the Governor’s Mansion this morning, Gov. McAuliffe said his actions protected the rights and dignity of Virginia women – when, in fact, his actions harm the dignity of the women deceived by the multi-billion dollar abortion industry as well as the tiniest females, those still in the womb whose lives are brutally eliminated by abortion,” read a Feb. 21 statement of the Virginia Catholic Conference.
The conference said it “upholds the timeless truth that every human being, born and unborn, has an equal right to life. The Conference finds Gov. McAuliffe’s pride in protecting an organization that destroys life and harms women and their families deeply offensive. We will continue to fight for the day when Virginia law protects all human life, at every stage of development, from conception until natural death.”
The conference represents the public policy interests of Bishop Francis DiLorenzo of Richmond and Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington.
McAuliffe, a Democrat, had vetoed an identical measure in 2016. The bill, HB 2264, had been introduced to the House of Delegates, the lower house of the Virginia legislature, by Ben Cline (R – Rockbridge). McAuliffe claimed that the bill would disincentivize businesses who wish to invest in Virginia.
It would have barred Virigina's health department from providing funds to any entity that performs abortions not covered by Medicaid, and would have redirected the money to other health clinics which provide more comprehensive health care services.
The bill passed in the House of Delegates Feb. 7 with a 60-33 vote that fell along party lines. A week later, Feb. 14, it passed in the state Senate with a 20-14 margin.
After the veto, Cline expressed his hope that the Virginia General Assembly would override the decision. “This important legislation would have prioritized taxpayer dollars toward providers of more comprehensive health care services, and the governor’s veto undermines those efforts to improve health care in rural and underserved areas,” Cline said in a prepared statement.
The Virginia bill and McAuliffe's veto come on the heels of the national legislature’s moves to block funding to Planned Parenthood on both the state and the national levels. Last week, the House of Representatives rolled back Obama Administration regulations blocking individual states from defunding Planned Parenthood. Furthermore, both the House and the Senate have set in place measures that could lead to the eventual blockage of Planned Parenthood receiving federal funds.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R- Wisc.) has repeatedly advocated using funds earmarked for Planned Parenthood on community health centers and other forms of health access for low-income citizens.
By Carol ZimmermannWASHINGTON(CNS) -- Ash Wednesday seems to offer contradictory messages. The Gospelreading for the day is about not doing public acts of piety but the very act ofgetting ashes -- and walking around with them -- is pretty public.This becomes even less of aprivate moment when people post pictures of themselves online with their ashes followingthe #ashtag trend of recent years.The online posting of one'sashes, often marked in the form of a cross on the forehead, thrills some peopleand disappoints others. Some say it diminishes the significance and penitentsymbol of the ashes with their somber reminder that humans are made from dustand one day will return to dust.Others say that sharing the AshWednesday experience with the broader, virtual public makes it more communal and alsois a way to evangelize. Those who aren't on either side of the argumentsay it all comes down to why it's done, if the ashes selfies are posted for personalattention or to highlight the day's mes...
By Carol Zimmermann
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Ash Wednesday seems to offer contradictory messages. The Gospel reading for the day is about not doing public acts of piety but the very act of getting ashes -- and walking around with them -- is pretty public.
This becomes even less of a private moment when people post pictures of themselves online with their ashes following the #ashtag trend of recent years.
The online posting of one's ashes, often marked in the form of a cross on the forehead, thrills some people and disappoints others. Some say it diminishes the significance and penitent symbol of the ashes with their somber reminder that humans are made from dust and one day will return to dust.
Others say that sharing the Ash Wednesday experience with the broader, virtual public makes it more communal and also is a way to evangelize. Those who aren't on either side of the argument say it all comes down to why it's done, if the ashes selfies are posted for personal attention or to highlight the day's message.
A few years ago when this trend was just getting started, Jesuit Father James Martin, now editor-at-large at the Catholic weekly magazine America, said only the person posting knows if it is being done for the right reasons. "As with most things in life, you need a sense of moderation and only a person's conscience can tell them why they're posting these things," he told The Wall Street Journal.
Julianne Stanz, director of new evangelization for the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin, similarly said people should pause and pray before posting ashes selfies, but then go ahead and do it.
She noted that this goes against the notion that Catholics should practice their faith quietly and in private.
"But make no mistake about it: Faith, while personal, is not solely meant to be a private affair," she wrote in a column for The Compass, Green Bay's diocesan newspaper, last Lent. "Ash Wednesday is a day when we literally wear our faith on our forehead."
"We become, on this day, a visual extension of the love of Christ -- a love which transcends time and distance, whether in the real world or the virtual world," she added.
Stanz also pointed out that for millennials -- the group most likely to observe Lenten practices, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University -- "the digital space is an extension of their world and so posting an image after receiving ashes seems natural."
"Life doesn't stop after we receive ashes. We go about our daily lives -- we wear our ashes at the grocery store, when picking up our children from school and at home gathered around the family table. Wearing ashes in the real and virtual world is about harmonizing who we are as people of faith. If we wear them in the 'real' world, then we should also wear them in cyberspace," she said.
Stanz told Catholic News Service in a Feb. 22 email that her column "To ashtag or not to ashtag" was one of the most popular ones she has written, and it generated a lot of dialogue on social media and with people who got in touch with her to share their story.
A number of Catholic groups, and even the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has urged people to post their Ash Wednesday photos online.
A leader at Life Teen, a ministry to Catholic teenagers, which also has highlighted the #ashtag trend, said receiving ashes and posting pictures of them is a way to recognize
and share our need for God.
"By receiving ashes, we're claiming our own sinfulness, brokenness, and need for God, with an outward sign," said Leah Murphy, coordinator of digital evangelization and outreach at Life Teen in Mesa, Arizona.
In an email to CNS, she said posting Ash Wednesday photos on social media, where so many people connect, is a way to "invite the secular culture to see the church as she is -- a broken community in need of a God that can heal and save."
"Making use of the digital medium simply makes it possible to broaden the reach of the Gospel message," she said.
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Follow Zimmermann on Twitter:
@carolmaczim.
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EULESS, Texas (AP) -- A 17-year-old transgender wrestler who qualified for the girls state tournament while transitioning from female to male has become a high-profile test of a year-old Texas policy now being criticized by the attorney who tried to keep the athlete from competing....
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- If the Oscars had doubled down on nominating films with actors named Ryan, the ceremony's chances for a ratings bounce might be as likely as host Jimmy Kimmel's Trump jokes....
DELPHI, Ind. (AP) -- One of two teenage girls killed along a northern Indiana hiking trail last week used her cellphone beforehand to capture video of a man police now consider the main suspect and recorded a male voice saying "down the hill," authorities said Wednesday....
MANAUS, Brazil (AP) -- Shortly after midnight on New Year's Eve, hundreds of inmates watched from a Manaus prison yard as the sky lit up with fireworks, paid for by the gangs that dominate the jail system....
In Orange County, California, dozens of immigrant parents have signed legal documents authorizing friends and relatives to pick up their children from school and access their bank accounts to pay their bills in the event they are arrested by immigration agents....
