CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) — While there’s nothing wrong with a bit of light reading in the summer, reading a book or two of the Bible also can be a relaxing — as well as enlightening — vacation activity, Pope Benedict XVI said. “Naturally, many of the books of literature we pick up during vacation […]
Continue readingWASHINGTON (CNS) — When it comes to issues of religious freedom, Bill Donohue thinks the Obama administration has put religious employers between a rock and a hard place. Commenting on the Department of Health and Human Services’ Aug. 1 announcement that contraceptives and sterilization will be among the mandated preventive services for women under the […]
Continue readingDENVER (CNS) — Supreme Knight Carl Anderson announced Aug. 2 that the Knights of Columbus will purchase the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington. The announcement came during the business session of the Knights’ 129th annual convention Aug. 2-4. Anderson, delivering his annual report, said that over the next year, the fraternal organization […]
Continue readingReligious leaders urge Obama to protect the poor in budget efforts WASHINGTON (CNS) — After a July 20 meeting with President Barack Obama, leaders of the faith-based Circle of Protection came away reassured about his commitment to protecting assistance for the poor in impending budget cuts. But they remain worried that a deal to raise […]
Continue reading
Photo Caption: Bishop R. Daniel Conlon, the former Bishop of Steubenville, Ohio, was installed to head the Diocese of Joliet during a Mass on July 14. By: By Catholic News Service JOLIET (CNS) — The role of bishops as “those who are sent” requires humility, steadfastness and courage, Bishop R. Daniel Conlon said as he […]
Continue readingVATICAN CITY (CNS) — Retired Cardinal Kazimierz Swiatek of Minsk-Mohilev, Belarus, died July 21 at age 96. He retired just five years ago after more than 65 years of active ministry and several run-ins with the Soviet police. In a telegram of condolence, Pope Benedict XVI said, “I recall the courageous witness he gave to […]
Continue reading
Photo Caption: Daniel Radcliffe, front, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint star in a scene from the movie “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2.” By: By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The last battle of the almost-grownup Harry Potter may be too scary for young viewers, but it champions […]
Continue readingBERLIN (CNS) — A German appeals court has upheld the conviction of a traditionalist bishop for denying the Holocaust. On July 11, the court ruled against British Bishop Richard Williamson, a member of the Society of St. Pius X, who in a 2009 TV interview said that the Holocaust was exaggerated and that no Jews […]
Continue readingWASHINGTON (CNS) — As the effort to pass the DREAM Act hits its 10th anniversary, churches, synagogues and mosques around the country will devote a September weekend to teaching their congregations about the faith-based reasons to work for its passage. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., flanked by priests, bishops, rabbis, ministers and an imam, announced July […]
Continue readingBy: By Nancy Frazier O’Brien, Catholic News Service BELLEVUE, Wash. (CNS) — Taking on the issue of physician-assisted suicide in the state where voters most recently approved it, the U.S. bishops declared suicide “a terrible tragedy, one that a compassionate society should work to prevent.” Approved 191-1 June 16 at the bishops’ spring general assembly […]
Continue reading
