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President's Hall, Seton Hall University. / Credit: Wikimedia/cc by sa 3.0CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).A Catholic university in New Jersey returned to its historic tradition of naming a "priest-president" following the previous president's abrupt resignation and lawsuit against the school. Seton Hall University, one of the oldest diocesan-run universities in the nation, on April 2 announced Monsignor Joseph Reilly as the 22nd president of the university. Reilly is an alumnus of the university and the current vice provost of academics and Catholic identity.The 168-year-old university had a "priest-president" for 146 years of its history, and Reilly's appointment marks a "return" to the tradition, the university press release noted.Reilly will take over from interim president Katia Passerini, who took up the role after former Seton Hall president Joseph Nyre's resignation in July 2023.Nyre and his wife, Kelli, filed a lawsuit alleging that the former...
The Department of Justice announced the arrest of Alexander Scott Mercurio, 18, after he allegedly plotted to kill Christians and burn down churches in his town to further the mission of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). / Credit: U.S. Department of JusticeWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 9, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).The Department of Justice (DOJ) arrested an 18-year-old man from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, who allegedly planned to kill Christians and burn down churches in his town to further the mission of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).The DOJ's criminal complaint alleges that Alexander Scott Mercurio intended to kill Christians in the nearest church, burn the building to the ground, then hijack a car and do the same at other nearby churches. He planned to handcuff his father and tape his father's mouth shut so he could steal his guns to commit the attacks, according to the DOJ allegations.According to the DOJ, Mercurio landed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation...
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signs a bill in 2020. / Credit: Office of Missouri Governor/Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0St. Louis, Mo., Apr 9, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).Republican Gov. Mike Parson of Missouri on Monday denied a request for clemency brought by convicted murderer Brian Dorsey, who is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection the evening of April 9 in the state's first execution of 2024.Dorsey, 52, was arrested in 2006 and later convicted of shooting and killing his cousin Sarah Bonnie and her husband Ben. Dorsey's lawyers argued that he was in a drug-induced psychosis, as he was suffering from chronic depression and addicted to crack cocaine at the time of the killings. The Catholic bishops of Missouri had strongly urged the faithful to contact Parson and ask him to stay Dorsey's execution, citing Catholic teaching on the inadmissability of the death penalty. Had Parson granted Dorsey clemency, it would have been his first time granting clemency to a death ro...
Father Marko Rupnik. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Diocese of RomeACI Prensa Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).Five new complaints of alleged abuse committed by Father Marko Rupnik have been presented to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, where an investigation into the case is being carried out after Pope Francis decided to lift the statute of limitations.The new cases mark the latest development in the case of Rupnik, a Jesuit accused of having committed serious sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse against at least 20 women over a period of decades.As reported by the Italian news agency Ansa, the testimonies of five alleged victims were presented at the Vatican dicastery by Italian lawyer Laura Sgrò on April 3.The complainants include two women who shared their testimony at a press conference in February, while the other three are heretofore unknown cases.On Feb. 21, Mirjam Kovac (who said she suffered spiritual and psychological abuse but not sexu...
Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Diocese of Charlotte Bishop Joseph Jugis (left) and appointed Monsignor Michael Martin, OFM Conv, to take his place, the Vatican announced April 9, 2024. / Credit: Diocese of CharlotteCNA Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 10:40 am (CNA).Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, Bishop Joseph Jugis and appointed a new prelate to take his place, the Vatican announced on Tuesday.The Holy Father "has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Charlotte, United States of America, presented by Bishop Peter Joseph Jugis," the Holy See Press Office said in an announcement.Jugis, 67, had served as the bishop there since 2003. The Charlotte bishopric encompasses about 20,000 square miles and includes more than 500,000 Catholics.The Vatican said 63-year-old Monsignor Michael Martin, OFM Conv, had been appointed to replace Jugis as the leader of the southern U.S. diocese. Martin, a Baltimore native,...
Bishop Joseph Khawam is apostolic exarch for the Melkite Church in Venezuela and apostolic administrator of the Melkite Eparchy in Mexico. / Credit: Facebook screenshot/Bishop Joseph KhawamACI Prensa Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).A bishop of the Melkite rite, one of the more than 20 Eastern rites of the Catholic Church that are in communion with Rome, protested the mistreatment he says he received and his subsequent deportation after arriving at Mexico City International Airport.Bishop Joseph Khawam, apostolic exarch for the Melkite Church in Venezuela and apostolic administrator of the Melkite Eparchy in Mexico, denounced that Mexican immigration authorities detained him for hours with illegal immigrants, confiscated his Vatican passport and his personal phone, and deported him to Venezuela from where he had flown to Mexico.In a statement posted April 6 on Facebook and Instagram, the prelate of Syrian origin said he "deplores and denounces" what reportedly happened on th...
Luis Argüello, archbishop of Valladolid and general secretary of the Spanish Episcopal Conference. / Credit: CEEACI Prensa Staff, Apr 8, 2024 / 16:25 pm (CNA).The president of the Spanish Bishops' Conference and archbishop of Valladolid, Luis Argüello, is encouraging reflection on the issue of migration in view of the upcoming debate in the country's Congress of Deputies (lower house) on a citizen initiative to grant legal residency to an estimated 390,00 to 470,000 illegal immigrants with residence in Spain prior to November 2021.In a post on X, the prelate shared the issues that in his view are on the table as lawmakers take into consideration a People's Legislative Initiative (ILP, by its Spanish acronym) on the migration issue, which has garnered more than 700,000 signatures.Promoted since 2021 by institutions inside and outside the Catholic Church, the ILP was admitted for possible consideration by the Congress of Deputies last December. Now the legislators must decid...
President Joe Biden speaks at Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin, April 8, 2024. / Credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 8, 2024 / 16:50 pm (CNA).President Joe Biden's reelection campaign accused the presumptive Republican nominee and former president Donald Trump of "scrambling" on the issue of abortion after Trump announced that he supports states making their own abortion laws."Trump is scrambling," Biden said, according to the campaign statement. "He's worried that since he's the one responsible for overturning Roe, the voters will hold him accountable in 2024.""Well, I have news for Donald: They will," the statement continued. "America was built on personal freedom and liberty. So, there is nothing more un-American than having our personal freedoms taken away. And that is what Donald Trump has done."These comments from the Biden campaign came shortly after Trump posted a video on Truth Soc...
null / ShutterstockCNA Staff, Apr 8, 2024 / 15:45 pm (CNA).Religious broadcasters, with the support of Catholic media groups, are asking the Supreme Court to rule whether government officials charged them unfairly high rates in violation of their constitutional rights.The Catholic Radio Association (CRA) and CatholicVote.org Education Fund have both filed amicus briefs in the case National Religious Broadcasters Noncommercial Music License Committee v. Copyright Royalty Board.The committee is arguing that the Copyright Royalty Board is subjecting religious broadcasters to a discriminatory royalty fee that violates U.S. religious freedom law. The Copyright Royalty Board consists of three judges who "oversee the copyright law's statutory licenses," according to the board's website. Those licenses "permit qualified parties to use multiple copyrighted works without obtaining separate licenses from each copyright owner."The legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF),...
Dome of St. Peter's basilica, Vatican City. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNAWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 8, 2024 / 09:15 am (CNA).The Vatican's top doctrinal office issued a declaration on the theme of human dignity on Monday that addresses growing concerns such as gender theory, sex changes, surrogacy, and euthanasia in addition to abortion, poverty, human trafficking, and war."In the face of so many violations of human dignity that seriously threaten the future of the human family, the Church encourages the promotion of the dignity of every human person, regardless of their physical, mental, cultural, social, and religious characteristics," reads the Vatican declaration issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The declaration, titled Dignitas Infinita, which means "infinite dignity," states that the Church highlights these concerns "with hope, confident of the power that flows from the risen Christ, who has fully revealed the integral dignity of every man an...
