Mary, Mother of Persecuted Christians gains a shrine in Wyoming

Bishop Robert Pipta of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma, Ohio, celebrates a Divine Liturgy on Saturday, May 11, 2024, at the Byzantine chapel at Wyoming Catholic College, on the occasion of the installation and blessing of the new shrine. / Credit: Julian Kwasniewski/Wyoming Catholic CollegeAnn Arbor, Michigan, May 14, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).Bishop Robert Pipta of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma, Ohio, dedicated a shrine and an icon on Saturday, May 11, at Wyoming Catholic College directed to prayer specifically for persecuted Christians. In a response to CNA, Pipta wrote of the event: "To be reminded that the Theotokos continues her motherly care for persecuted Christians throughout the world is of great value to the Catholic faithful in our communities." Pipta celebrated a Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine chapel at the college and was accompanied by its chaplain, Father David Anderson; Father Benedict Kiely; students; and faculty. Bishop Robert Pipta bl...

Australian archbishop faces criticism over pastoral letter on human dignity

Archbishop Julian Porteous. / Credit: Archdiocese of HobartCNA Newsroom, May 14, 2024 / 15:22 pm (CNA).An Australian archbishop has been criticized for his pastoral letter addressing human dignity and legislative challenges to religious and parental freedoms.Archbishop Julian Porteous of Hobart released the four-page document titled "We Are Salt to the Earth" on May 2. The pastoral letter was sent to Catholic parishes and schools in the Tasmanian archdiocese.In the letter, Porteous reiterated the Church's teaching on the complementarity of the sexes, the sanctity of marriage, and the protection of life from conception to natural death."Believing in God as creator we see our identity as male and female as a gift. Thus, we see efforts to disconnect gender from biological sex as denying the reality of who we are and the precious identity we have as a man or a woman," Porteous wrote."God created male and female as sexually complementary. This means that, sexually speaking, we have ...

Heavy rains in Brazil leave hundreds dead or injured, half a million homeless, churches flooded

Our Lady of Medianeira is among 31 flooded churches in the Archdiocese of Porto Alegre, Brazil. / Credit: Courtesy photoACI Digital, May 14, 2024 / 18:31 pm (CNA).The heavy rains that have pounded the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul since the end of April have flooded 31 churches in the four vicariates of the Archdiocese of Porto Alegre. "Due to the height of the water, we lost all the items for Mass, equipment, liturgical books, everything," Father Fabiano Glaser, pastor of Our Lady Mediatrix Parish in the town of Eldorado do Sul, told ACI Digital, CNA's Portuguese-language news partner.The largest flood in the history of Rio Grande do Sul has already affected 450 of the state's 497 municipalities, nearly 90% of its territory, according to the daily Civil Defense bulletin issued May 14 at 9 a.m. local time. So far there are 147 dead, 125 missing, 806 injured, and more than 538,000 homeless.More than 76,000 people and 11,000 animals have been rescued. The level of the Guaí...

Wyoming sorority sisters sue over admission of biological man

Members of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, biological women's sports activist Riley Gaines, and lawyers from the Independent Women's Law Center approach the 10th Circuit Courthouse in Denver on May 14, 2024. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Independent Women's ForumWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 14, 2024 / 18:11 pm (CNA).Six members of Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Wyoming are suing their sorority for admitting a man who identifies as a woman.Represented by the Independent Women's Law Center (IWLC), the sisters argued their case before a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on Tuesday. The women are alleging that the sorority's decision in fall 2022 to admit a man, Artemis Langford, violated its bylaws, which state that all members be women. The sisters have also said that Langford has harassed them in their sorority house by watching them change, taking photos, and asking "invasive" sexual questions. Allie Coghan, a Kappa Kappa Gamma a...

UK author of transgender study: U.S. groups are 'misleading the public' 

null / ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 14, 2024 / 16:22 pm (CNA).An English pediatrician who led a comprehensive review of the safety and efficacy of prescribing transgender drugs to children is warning that health associations in the United States may be misleading the public.In an interview with the New York Times published on Monday, Dr. Hilary Cass warned there is no comprehensive evidence to support the routine prescription of transgender drugs to minors with gender dysphoria. Cass published the independent "Cass Review," commissioned by the National Health Service in England, which prompted England and Scotland to halt the prescription of transgender drugs to minors until more research is conducted.As England, Scotland, and other European countries scale back their use of transgender drugs for minors, most doctors' associations and health associations in the U.S. continue to endorse these medical inter...

Expert on Our Lady of Guadalupe named master theologian on apparitions

Father Eduardo Chávez has been immersed in the study and dissemination of the message of the Virgin of Guadalupe for more than 40 years. / Credit: David Ramos/ACI PrensaACI Prensa Staff, May 14, 2024 / 15:52 pm (CNA).Father Eduardo Chávez, director of the Higher Institute of Guadalupan Studies and postulator of the cause for canonization of St. Juan Diego, was recently confirmed as "master Guadalupan theologian" by Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, the primatial archbishop of Mexico.The decision was made May 9 in conjunction with the Chapter of the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, headed by its rector, Father Efraín Hernández.Chávez, who also holds a doctorate in Church history from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, shared with ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, his gratitude for this appointment, committing himself to "deepen knowledge of the Guadalupan event, to disseminate it throughout the world."Chávez noted that "the Virgin of Guadalupe places Je...

Biden administration tightening asylum system to stop national security threats 

The new rule authorizes border agents to screen asylum seekers for "national security, criminal, or other public safety concern[s]" at the "earliest stage possible." Those flagged as potential threats to the U.S. and its citizens can be denied entry into the U.S. immediately. / Credit: Wikimedia CommonsWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 13, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).As communities on the U.S. southern border continue to face a record surge of migrants, the Biden administration has proposed a new rule meant to stop people who pose national security threats from remaining in the country.The Biden administration said the rule, which is set to be entered into the Federal Register today, will "enhance operational flexibility" and help the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "more swiftly remove certain noncitizens who are barred from asylum.""The proposed rule we have published today is yet another step in our ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of the American public by more quickly ide...

Pastor urges faithful to pray for vandal who defaced church: 'That's being a Christian'

Father Timothy Furlow speaks from the ambo at St. Patrick's Church in Portland, Oregon. / Credit: St. Patrick's Church in Portland, OregonCNA Staff, May 13, 2024 / 11:16 am (CNA).A pastor in Portland, Oregon, recently urged his parish to pray for a vandal who defaced the church building with vulgar graffiti, arguing that the controversy gets to the "core message" of the Gospel itself. A vandal tagged St. Patrick's Church in Portland with several graffiti in April that read "[expletive] you, my body my choice," a popular slogan for the pro-abortion movement. In his homily the morning the graffiti was discovered, the parish's pastor, Father Timothy Furlow, told parishioners that he deliberately left the vulgar message visible for the faithful to see on their way to Mass. "I wanted you to see it," he said. "Somebody said, 'Oh, we got to cover this up.' And then I'm like, nope. I want them to see that." "And the reason is because it fits kind of perfectly with w...

Pope Francis: The devil is threatening the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church with division

Pope Francis meets with members of the Syro-Malabar Church on May 13, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 13, 2024 / 16:53 pm (CNA).In a meeting with Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil and members of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church at the Vatican on Monday, Pope Francis urged unity and obedience amid a long-simmering liturgical conflict that continues to rock the Eastern church.As some fear an imminent schism in the ancient Eastern-rite church, the pope stressed the importance of unity, saying: "Apart from Peter, apart from the major archbishop, there is no Church."  He urged the faithful present at the Vatican's Consistory Hall to "press forward" in obedience to the Church, saying: "You are obedient, and where obedience is present, there is the Church. Where there is disobedience, there is schism."What is going on in the Syro-Malabar Church?The Syro-Malabar Church is an Eastern Catholic rite in full communion with the Roman Cath...

Mother's Day 2024: 12 Catholic quotes on the beauty of motherhood

Mosaic of Our Lady of Guadalupe inside Christ Cathedral in Orange, California. / Credit: Kate Veik/CNAWashington D.C., May 12, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).On Mother's Day, Catholics recognize the mothers in our lives as well as Mary, Mother of God. In celebration of all that mothers do, here are 12 quotes from saints and other Catholic figures on the beauty and significance of motherhood:St. Thérèse of Lisieux: "The loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother."St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein): "To be a mother is to nourish and protect true humanity and bring it to development."Pope Francis: "A society without mothers would be a dehumanized society, for mothers are always, even in the worst moments, witnesses of tenderness, dedication, and moral strength. … Dearest mothers, thank you, thank you for what you are in your family and for what you give to the Church and the world."St. John Paul II: "Thank you, women who are mothers! You have sheltered human beings ...