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Monstrance for adoration, stock photo. / Zolnierek/ShutterstockCNA Staff, Mar 20, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).Did you know that there are several ways you can gain a plenary indulgence during Lent? There are actually four ways you can receive one. Even though Lent is nearly over, there is still plenty of time for you to complete any, or all, of these. First of all, what is a plenary indulgence?A plenary indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove the temporal punishment due to sin. The indulgence cleanses a person of all temporal punishment due to sin. However, it must always be accompanied by a full detachment from sin. How do we receive one during Lent?The first way is to spend at least 30 minutes in Eucharistic adoration. Visiting the Blessed Sacrament is important all year round. So why not take part in this beautiful practice during Lent and receive some additional graces too? If you've never been to adoration,...
WASHINGTON - Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop William P. Callahan, O.F.M., Conv., 73, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of La Crosse for health reasons, and has appointed Bishop Gerard W. Battersby, auxiliary bishop of Detroit, as his successor. The resignation and appointment were publicized in Washington, D.C. on March 19, 2024, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.The Diocese of La Crosse is comprised of 15,078 square miles in the state of Wisconsin and has a total population of 875,018, of which 135,268 are Catholic.###
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Though the global situation risks plunging people into pessimism, Christians are called to pursue their vocation of becoming "men and women of hope," Pope Francis said."As individuals and as communities, amid the variety of charisms and ministries, all of us are called to embody and communicate the Gospel message of hope in a world marked by epochal challenges," the pope wrote in his message for World Day of Prayer for Vocations April 21.Global challenges such as war, migration, rising poverty rates and climate change, in addition to personal difficulties encountered daily, "risk plunging us into resignation or defeatism," the pope wrote in the message released March 19. He encouraged Christians to instead "cultivate a gaze full of hope and work fruitfully in response to the vocation we have received, in service to God's kingdom of love, justice and peace."To be "pilgrims of hope and builders of peace" means "to base our lives on the rock of Christ's resurrecti...
People use a car to light themselves on a dark street during a blackout in Bauta municipality, Artemisa province, Cuba, on March 18, 2024. / Credit: YAMIL LAGE/AFP via Getty ImagesACI Prensa Staff, Mar 19, 2024 / 16:15 pm (CNA).Prolonged power outages and food shortages triggered protests in Cuba in different cities on March 17. Layman Osvaldo Gallardo and Catholic priest Father Alberto Reyes shared with ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, the causes of this latest crisis in the island nation."In Cuba there have been power outages throughout the history of the Cuban Revolution [since the 1960s], because the system has never had sustained economic development that would have made a suitable grid possible," Gallardo told ACI Prensa on March 18. The infrastructure for electricity production in Cuba includes eight old plants along with backup generators and eight offshore floating plants, all of them impacted by the shortage of diesel fuel necessary for their oper...
Pope Francis on March 19, 2024, appointed Bishop Gerard Battersby to lead the Diocese of La Crosse in western Wisconsin. / Credit: Marek Dziekonski/courtesy of the Archdiocese of DetroitWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 19, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).Pope Francis on Tuesday appointed Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Gerard Battersby to lead the Diocese of La Crosse in western Wisconsin after accepting the resignation of Bishop William Callahan.The pope's appointment was communicated to the U.S. bishops by the apostolic nuncio to the U.S., Cardinal Christophe Pierre.Erik Archer, a representative for the Diocese of La Crosse, told CNA that Battersby will be officially installed as bishop of the diocese on May 20 at St. Joseph the Workman Cathedral. At 63 years old, Battersby will become the 11th bishop to lead the Diocese of La Crosse. He was born in Detroit and has been serving as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Detroit since 2017. He issued a statement on Tuesday upon learning ...
Pope Francis addresses the faithful at his Wednesday general audience on Feb. 28, 2024. / Credit: Vatican MediaRome Newsroom, Mar 19, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).Pope Francis on Tuesday released his message for the 61st World Day of Prayer for Vocations, reflecting on the Christian pilgrimage as a synodal journey that is rooted in hope and aimed toward discovering God's love. The theme for the this year's World Day of Prayer for Vocations, "Called to Sow Seeds of Hope and to Build Peace," reflects the universal Christian call to "base our lives on the rock of Christ's resurrection, knowing that every effort made in the vocation that we have embraced and seek to live out will never be in vain," the pope said. This year the Church celebrates the World Day of Prayer for Vocations on April 21."This ultimate calling is one that we must anticipate daily," the pope observed. "Even now our loving relationship with God and our brothers and sisters is beginning to bring about God's d...
Father Jerome "Jerry" Kaywell, a Grammy award-winning musician, had been placed on leave amid claims of sexual misconduct before his accuser apologized and said the accusations were based on a "false memory." / Credit: Jerry Kaywell YouTube pageCNA Staff, Mar 19, 2024 / 14:30 pm (CNA).A Grammy award-winning Florida priest has been cleared of allegations of sexual misconduct after his accuser recanted his claims and said the accusations had been the product of a "false memory."In a letter obtained by CNA, Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Florida, last week told parishioners of Sacred Heart Parish in Punta Gorda there was "no evidence to support" the allegations that Father Jerome Kaywell had committed sexual misconduct in 2013 and 2014. Dewane had informed parishioners in January that the diocese had "received notification from a law firm of an allegation of sexual misconduct" regarding Kaywell. The incident "allegedly occurred in the winter...
null / Addie Mena/CNACNA Staff, Mar 19, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).The Supreme Court rejected without comment this week an Indiana Catholic husband and wife's petition over a dispute involving custody of their transgender-identifying son. Mary and Jeremy Cox refused to accept their son's self-declared female identity in 2019 and instead sought therapy to address what they saw as underlying mental health concerns. The government subsequently removed their son from their home, placing him in another home that "affirmed" his transgender beliefs. The state government eventually dropped its abuse allegations against the couple, though it ultimately refused to return him to their custody, claiming that the child had developed an eating disorder due to the dispute. Multiple court decisions upheld the state's order. The couple, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, subsequently petitioned the Supreme Court last month. On Monday the Supreme Court decl...
The flag of Vatican City. / Andreas Duren/CNA.CNA Staff, Mar 19, 2024 / 11:30 am (CNA).Pope Francis has laicized an Ohio priest after the clergyman received a life sentence in prison for the sexual abuse of minors, the Diocese of Toledo said this week. Michael Zacharias, 57, was convicted on five counts of sex trafficking by a federal jury in the Northern District of Ohio last May. His crimes, committed between 1999 and 2020, involved three victims, two of whom were minors when Zacharias began abusing them.Upon his conviction, he faced a minimum of 15 years in prison. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said in November that the then-priest received a life sentence for the crimes. In a press release on Monday, the Diocese of Toledo said that following Zacharias' convection, diocesan officials "had transmitted the case to the Holy See along with the request to the Holy Father to impose the penalty of direct dismissal from the clerical state.""The diocese was rece...
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Asked to reminisce about his life and where he was at key moments in history, the 87-year-old Pope Francis obliged, but also used the opportunity to talk about the lessons the events hold today and his hope for the future.The book, "Life: My Story Through History," written with Italian journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona, begins with Pope Francis explaining that while he was only 3 years old when World War II started, he remembers his parents talking about a "monster" -- Hitler -- and his family and neighbors sharing letters from relatives still in Europe."Even though it happened more than 80 years ago, we must never forget the moments that devastated the lives of so many innocent families," the pope said in the book."War eats you up inside," he said, before adding, "You see it in the eyes of young children who no longer have any joy in their hearts, only terror and tears." Since Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he has spoken often of meeting Ukra...
