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Father Javier Sánchez, 60, from the Archdiocese of Zaragoza in Spain died April 4, 2024, a victim of burns suffered when his liturgical vestments caught fire from a candle during the Easter Vigil on Saturday, March 30. / Credit: Óscar Cortel/Archbishopric of ZaragozaACI Prensa Staff, Apr 4, 2024 / 14:55 pm (CNA).Father Javier Sánchez of the Archdiocese of Zaragoza in Spain died early this morning from burns he suffered when his liturgical vestments caught fire from a candle during the Easter Vigil on Saturday. According to the Spanish newspaper El Heraldo de Aragón, sources from the archdiocese said the priest "tried to protect the nuns of the convent.""The priest tried to protect the nuns of the convent when embers lit up in the basin that was used [for the fire] and that ultimately caused his death. Apparently a flammable substance had been used to start the fire. [The Easter Vigil] was held inside the convent," said the source cited by the Spanish newspaper.Sánchez, 60, who ...
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I / President.gov.ua / Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 4, 2024 / 10:15 am (CNA).The Eastern Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople has expressed a desire that Christians in the East and the West begin celebrating Easter on a "unified date" rather than adhere to separate Lenten calendars."It is a scandal to celebrate separately the unique event of the one resurrection of the one Lord," Patriarch Bartholomew I, who holds the title "first among equals" in Eastern Orthodoxy, said in a recent homily, according to Orthodox Times.The ecumenical patriarch made the comments during a homily on March 31, which marked Easter on the Western calendar and the second Sunday of Lent on the Eastern calendar."We extend a heartfelt greeting of love to all Christians around the world who celebrate holy Easter today," Bartholomew said during the homily. "We beseech the Lord of Glory that the forthcoming Easter celebration next year will not merel...
A person walks past an area of a damaged building that is cordoned off following a 7.5-magnitude earthquake on April 3, 2024, in Hualien, Taiwan. / Credit: Annabelle Chih/Getty ImagesRome Newsroom, Apr 4, 2024 / 10:45 am (CNA).The Vatican on Thursday sent a telegram to the president of Taiwan's bishops' conference in which Pope Francis expressed his sadness and solidarity after a Wednesday morning earthquake left several dead and more than 1,000 injured. "His Holiness Pope Francis was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and damage caused by the earthquake in Taiwan," read the telegram, which was signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The Holy Father "assures everyone affected by this disaster of his heartfelt solidarity and spiritual closeness," the telegram said."Pope Francis likewise prays for the dead, the injured, and all those displaced as well as for the emergency personnel engaged in recovery efforts and invokes upon all the divi...
Father Artur Bubnevych, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Byzantine Catholic Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico. / Credit: Courtesy of Father Artur BubnevychAnn Arbor, Michigan, Apr 4, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).Father Artur Bubnevych told CNA he is honored and delighted to be among the five priests from the United States selected to attend the upcoming Synod on Synodality meeting of priests in Rome. He said he will aim to share how the liturgy and spirituality of the Byzantine rite is attracting people to the Catholic faith.In an interview, Bubnevych said he was surprised by the appointment, which had been announced by the Eparchy of Phoenix of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church. "I'm excited to bring the voice of our Church to the synod: the experience of living out the mission, and to walk together and listen to each other and to the Holy Spirit and discern the future path," Bubnevych said."I want to bring a unique perspective and our rich spiritual heritage," Bubnevych told C...
As smoke billows from the Ministry of Finance building behind them, people leave the area after hearing gunshots from armed gangs near the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on April 2, 2024. / Credit: CLARENS SIFFROY/AFP via Getty ImagesACI Prensa Staff, Apr 3, 2024 / 18:30 pm (CNA).The Haitian Conference of Religious (CDH) reported that a minor seminary run by the Spiritan Fathers was attacked April 1 by crime gangs amid the wave of violence that has been unleashed in the Caribbean country in recent weeks."It is with indignation that we note how sons and daughters of the country are attacking private and state property without scruple and endanger the lives of other people who seem to have no value in their eyes. Thus, on the evening of April 1, 2024, the St. Martial Minor Seminary School, a historic institution, was in the eye of the raging and devastating cyclone of a category of people who know no limits," the CDH lamented in a statement.The criminals set fire to th...
Pope Francis waves to pilgrims in St. Peter's Square gathered for his weekly general audience on April 3, 2024. / Credit: Vatican MediaVatican City, Apr 3, 2024 / 09:05 am (CNA).Pope Francis during his general audience on Wednesday deplored the recent killing of humanitarian workers in the Gaza Strip, with the Holy Father renewing his appeal for an immediate cease-fire amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The pope buttressed his plea with a catechesis focused on the virtue of justice, noting that it is the building block for a well-ordered society premised upon the rule of law. "I express deep regret for the volunteers killed while distributing food aid in Gaza," the pope said to the 25,000 gathered in St. Peter's Square on an overcast Wednesday morning. Pope Francis greets a young girl in St. Peter's Square during his general audience on April 3, 2024. Credit: Vatican MediaSeven volunteers from the nonprofit World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli str...
Crédit: Jcomp vía FreepikACI Prensa Staff, Apr 3, 2024 / 10:00 am (CNA)."We are destroying ourselves little by little," the Primatial Archdiocese of Mexico said in condemnation of the recent kidnapping and murder of an 8-year-old girl, Camila, which was followed by a vigilante reprisal against the alleged perpetrators.In an editorial in its weekly publication "Desde la Fe" ("From a Faith Perspective"), the Archdiocese of Mexico questioned: "How many more dead girls? How many more lynchings [mob justice]? How many more injustices? When will we understand that violence only generates more violence?"Faced with this tragedy, which is evidence of "a number of the problems that have torn the social fabric," the archdiocese urged the people to resist the feelings of "selfishness, fear, and bitterness, suffering and death, which close off the way to joy and hope."In the context of the celebration of Easter Sunday, the editorial reminded readers that "Jesus is alive, as is his message,"...
Original painting of the Divine Mercy by Eugeniusz Kazimirowski in 1934. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons 4.0Boston, Mass., Apr 3, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).What do St. John Paul II and St. Maria Faustina Kowalska have in common? They both became saints and were instrumental in the institution of Divine Mercy Sunday, which offers many graces to the faithful. When Divine Mercy Sunday rolls around again this year, the faithful have the opportunity to take refuge in the depths of Christ's mercy by receiving either a plenary or partial indulgence.Here are some facts about Divine Mercy Sunday, including the Church's guidance on how to receive indulgences on the day:What is Divine Mercy Sunday?Divine Mercy Sunday is the Sunday after Easter each year. Divine Mercy Sunday was first announced in an April 2000 homily given by Pope John Paul II for the Mass celebrating the canonization of Maria Faustina Kowalska.St. Faustina Kowalska was a Polish nun who received prophetic messages from Chris...
Bishop Xavier Novell Gomà, Bishop Emeritus of Solsona. / Credit: Conferencia Episcopal Española via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 3, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).After obtaining a dispensation from Pope Francis, the bishop emeritus of Solsona in Spain, Xavier Novell, has entered into a canonical marriage with psychologist and author Silvia Caballol.Caballol announced the marriage on Instagram this week, saying: "Xavier and I have finally been able to get married in the Church, thanks to the mercy of the Holy Father who has granted him laicization.""It has been a long road, but we have been able to regularize our canonical situation: to get married as we wanted to and be able to receive Communion again," Caballol announced."I don't think our love nor the Church deserves to be hidden. Nor do I believe that the cover-up that accompanied my husband's resignation [as diocesan bishop] two and a half years ago was entirely correct," she added."Sorry to all of you who think it wo...
null / Credit: ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 2, 2024 / 17:05 pm (CNA).Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, signed a bill that legalizes and regulates paid surrogacy in the state.Michigan will join the large majority of states in the country that permit paid surrogacy. The only remaining states to not permit paid surrogacy are Nebraska and Louisiana.The law reverses a 36-year-old prohibition on paid surrogacy in Michigan. The Legislature initially banned the market through the Michigan Surrogate Parenting Act in 1988, which made all compensatory surrogacy contracts unenforceable and the creation of such contracts punishable by fines and up to a year in prison.To procreate through surrogacy, doctors typically create several embryos through IVF by fertilizing a woman's egg with a man's sperm in a lab and then implant one of the embryos in another woman, called the surrogate mother, who has no biological ties to the preborn child. In the IVF process, doctors rou...
