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In this pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual state of the nation address at the Gostiny Dvor conference center in central Moscow on Feb. 29, 2024. / Credit: GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Feb 29, 2024 / 16:05 pm (CNA).Russian President Vladimir Putin in a speech on Thursday cautioned that any Western military intervention in support of Ukraine could potentially lead to nuclear conflict."[The West] must understand that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory," Putin, who is widely expected to hold onto power in an upcoming election, said in a Feb. 29 speech to Russia's Federal Assembly. Warning of "tragic consequences" if NATO forces were ever deployed to Ukraine, Putin continued, as reported by the Washington Post: "All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don't they get that? ... [Rus...
President Joe Biden tells EWTN News' Owen Jensen he disagrees with the Catholic Church's position on IVF, Feb. 29, 2024. / Credit: EWTN NewsWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 29, 2024 / 16:35 pm (CNA).President Joe Biden expressed today his disagreement with the Catholic Church's position that in vitro fertilization (IVF) is immoral because it kills countless unborn human babies.As the controversy continues after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling established the personhood of unborn babies conceived through IVF, Biden was asked by EWTN White House correspondent Owen Jensen on Thursday what he thought about the Church's position on the issue. "The Catholic Church says IVF is immoral and wrong because it destroys countless human embryos. What do you say to that?" Jensen asked."I don't agree with that position," Biden responded before walking away.As President Joe Biden, who is Catholic, was headed to the Texas southern border, White House Correspondent @owentjensen asked...
The Apostolic Nunciature of Poland has revealed further information regarding the resignation of Polish Archbishop Andrzej Dziega, indicating that he stepped down due to alleged negligence in overseeing sexual abuse claims. / Credit: Redaktor01|Wikimedia|GFDLCNA Staff, Feb 29, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).The Apostolic Nunciature of Poland has revealed further information regarding the resignation of Polish Archbishop Andrzej Dziega, indicating that he stepped down due to alleged negligence in overseeing sexual abuse claims.The Holy Father accepted Dziega's resignation last week. Neither the nunciature nor the Vatican had immediately given a reason for his departure. The prelate, meanwhile, had published a two-page resignation letter on Feb. 24 in which he cited a "radical weakening of my condition." In the letter, he apologized to his "brother priests," saying: "If my weaknesses, including incomplete understanding of specific circumstances, and sometimes even my ordinary hu...
Mac Sinise, son of actor Gary Sinise, performs with the Lt. Dan Band. / Credit: The Gary Sinise FoundationACI Prensa Staff, Feb 29, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).Gary Sinise, the Catholic actor who played Lt. Dan in the 1994 movie "Forrest Gump," announced the death of his 33-year-old son Mac, the victim of a rare form of cancer.Sinise, also known for his starring role in the television series "CSI: New York," shared the sad news this week, more than five years after Mac was diagnosed with chordoma, a rare type of bone cancer that, according to the Mayo Clinic, "usually forms in the bones of the spine or in the skull."Since 2017, Mac, also a Catholic, worked alongside his father at the Gary Sinise Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting U.S. military veterans, first responders, and their families.On Feb. 28, Sinise shared on the foundation's website that his family was "heartbroken" and "managing as best we can."The actor noted that "Mac was a man who loved his Cat...
A picture taken from a position in southern Israel on Feb. 29, 2024, shows smoke billowing over the Gaza Strip amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. / Credit: JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty ImagesCNA Staff, Feb 29, 2024 / 11:40 am (CNA).The Vatican has reiterated its call for the safe return of the hostages taken by the terrorist group Hamas and for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the ongoing war between the two.Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin insisted on Tuesday that a "cease-fire" is the only way for the hostages to be returned to Israel. "Our concern is, first of all, to find a way to have the hostages released and for humanitarian assistance, which continues to be very difficult," he said on the sidelines of an award ceremony of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation on Tuesday. "So the only path is that of a cease-fire."Parolin confirmed that there have been "no developments" in diplomatic contacts wi...
Both the pastor of nearby San Bernabé parish in El Escorial, Fr. Florentino de Andrés, along with the Archdiocese of Madrid, anticipate the deconsecration of the chapel as a result of the ceremony. / Credit: Zarateman/Wikimedia CommonsMadrid, Spain, Feb 28, 2024 / 18:28 pm (CNA).The private Catholic chapel where two Spanish men celebrated their civil "marriage" last weekend is subject to "canonical effects" and deconsecration, according to the Archdiocese of Madrid and a Catholic priest with jurisdiction in the area.The Holy Trinity chapel, located on the grounds of the Finca El Campillo, a property used as a wedding venue in the town of El Escorial, was the scene of a celebration of the two men's civil marriage last Saturday.Cristina González Navarro, who owns the property, told ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, that at the event inside the chapel "there was no priest" and that "a wedding wasn't held," but she refused to offer more details about what the ritual ...
Argentine President Javier Milei speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland on Feb. 24, 2024. / Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesBuenos Aires, Argentina, Feb 28, 2024 / 19:19 pm (CNA).Argentine President Javier Milei has ordered the prohibition of inclusive language by the national government, the spokesman for office of the president, Manuel Adorni, announced at his daily press conference.In Spanish, all nouns have a gender, usually designated by the -o ending for masculine and the -a ending for feminine. In order to make a generically masculine word to cover both sexes, inclusive language proponents have invented gender neutral endings. Adorni explained that steps are to be taken "to prohibit inclusive language and everything related to gender perspective throughout the national public administration" and specified that " the letter 'e', the @, 'x' will not be used along with the unnecessary inclusion of the feminine var...
Father Federico Highton is one of two Argentine priests who in 2015 founded the Order of St. Elijah, whose motto is "Through my God I shall go over a wall," which comes from Psalm 17. / Credit: Luis M. PiccinaliBuenos Aires, Argentina, Feb 29, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).From an undisclosed location in Southeast Asia out of fear of an atheistic government, the intrepid Father Federico Highton devotes his life to announcing the Gospel to all people, especially those living in places where the faith has vanished or never been established. Highton and Father Javier Olivera Ravasi are two Argentine priests who in 2015 founded the Order of St. Elijah, whose motto is "Through my God I shall go over a wall," which comes from Psalm 17. The order is dedicated to cultural engagement and sending missionaries "ad gentes" ("to the nations"), in a reference to the Second Vatican Council's decree that reaffirmed the call for missions and salvation in Christ and highlighted the link betwee...
null / ShutterstockCNA Staff, Feb 28, 2024 / 18:13 pm (CNA).Since the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) are human children, debate over fertility treatment has erupted anew.Here's everything you need to know.What is IVF? IVF is a medical procedure that fuses sperm and egg in a lab environment to conceive a child outside of the sexual act. The live embryo is then later implanted into a uterus to continue developing until birth. According to the Mayo Clinic, IVF is typically used as a "treatment for infertility" that "also can be used to prevent passing on genetic problems to a child." Is the Catholic Church against IVF? Yes. While the Church encourages certain fertility treatments for couples struggling to have children, the use of IVF is contrary to Catholic teachings. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Paragraph 2377) states that IVF is "morally unacceptable" because it separates the marriage act from p...
Pope Francis appeared in a wheelchair at his general audience on Feb. 28, 2024. / Vatican MediaRome Newsroom, Feb 28, 2024 / 12:01 pm (CNA).Pope Francis this week called for prayers for, and expressed his closeness to, the victims of twin terrorist attacks on Catholic and Muslim communities in the West African country of Burkina Faso."We pray for the victims of the recent attacks on places of worship in Burkina Faso," a papal aide read on behalf of the Holy Father during his Wednesday general audience. The pope's comments come after an official telegram signed by the Vatican's Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin was sent to Bishop Laurent Dabiré, president of the Episcopal Conference of Burkina Faso and of Niger on Monday. That message expressed pain on the pontiff's behalf for the families of those murdered. The Monday telegram denounced the killings and reiterated the pope's appeal for peace, noting that "hatred is not the solution to conflicts." The pope fur...
