Vatican City, May 5, 2020 / 11:00 am (CNA).- Pope Francis said that he has looked up to St. John Paul II throughout his priesthood in a book foreword he wrote ahead of the 100-year anniversary of the Polish pope’s birth.  “St. John Paul II was a great witness of faith … Many times, in

CNA Staff, May 5, 2020 / 10:00 am (CNA).- Poland’s bishops have intervened in a debate about whether presidential elections scheduled for May 10 should go ahead despite a nationwide lockdown. A statement from the permanent council of the Polish bishops’ conference April 27 urged politicians to work together to ensure that the election would be

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 4, 2020 / 01:35 pm (CNA).- The diocese of Buffalo is asking a federal court to halt all outstanding clergy sex abuse litigation against it as it navigates bankruptcy proceedings. In a motion filed in federal bankruptcy court on Saturday, the diocese is seeking an injunction on the progress of all child

CNA Staff, May 4, 2020 / 12:01 pm (CNA).- The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has ordered 15 psychiatric hospitals in Belgium which belong to the Brothers of Charity to cease identifying as Catholic institutions after they allowed the euthanization of patients in 2017. The hospitals are managed by a civil non-profit corporation

CNA Staff, May 4, 2020 / 11:45 am (CNA).- Modern society is formulating an “anti-Christian creed” and punishing those who resist it with “social excommunication,” Benedict XVI has said in a new biography, published in Germany May 4. In a wide-ranging interview at the end of the 1,184-page book, written by German author Peter Seewald,

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 4, 2020 / 11:00 am (CNA).- The state of Indiana is hopeful the Supreme Court will hear their case on whether the state can block Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from receiving Medicaid funding.  State Solicitor General Tom Fisher told CNA that Indiana is once again petitioning the Supreme Court

CNA Staff, May 4, 2020 / 10:00 am (CNA).- The Justice Department (DOJ) is backing a small community church suing Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, arguing that the state cannot single out churches for public health restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic. Lighthouse Fellowship Church on Virginia’s Eastern Shore filed suit last week against Northam’s stay-at-home order prohibiting

Rome Newsroom, May 3, 2020 / 08:30 am (CNA).- The liquefaction of the blood of the early Church martyr St. Januarius occurred Saturday amid the coronavirus lockdown, leading the Archbishop of Naples to bless the city with the miraculous relic. “Dear friends, I have a big announcement to make: even in this time of coronavirus,

Vatican City, May 3, 2020 / 06:30 am (CNA).- Pope Francis called on all Catholics to pray for vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life on Good Shepherd Sunday, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. “Priesthood and consecrated life require courage and perseverance, and without prayer one does not follow this path. I invite

Nairobi, Kenya, May 3, 2020 / 06:01 am (CNA).- At a one-room house outside Nairobi, a 23-year-old girl with disabilities claps her hands and throws herself at Sr. Rose Catherine Wakibiru, who has been visiting girls with disability at their homes since the Kenyan government closed schools last month over coronavirus. The girl, referred to