Catholic News

• Nigerian priest's followers desecrate cathedral altar, vandalize bishop's residence (The Nation (Lagos))
  According to the report, followers of Father Camillus Ejike Mbaka, who leads an adoration ministry, reacted violently after Bishop Callistus Onaga of Enugu ordered him to leave his parish. The bishop called for seven days of reparation and atonement following the desecration.
• Council of Cardinals reflects on life of Church in pandemic (Vatican News)
  Pope Francis instituted the advisory Council of Cardinals in 2013.
• Swiss president meets with Pontiff (Vatican Press Office)
  Guy Parmelin, Switzerland’s president since January 1, was in Rome for the swearing in of 34 new members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard.
• Vatican offices provide few details regarding funding of controversial conferences (National Catholic Register)
  “Four Vatican institutions — the Pontifical Council for Culture, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Social Sciences, the Pontifical Academy for Life, and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development — have been at the forefront” of hosting such conferences, journalist Edward Pentin notes.
• Federal court rules insurance company must pay for teenager's puberty-delaying hormones, mastectomy (Religion Clause)
  The court ruled that “denying a transgender [person’s] insurance coverage for treatment of gender dysphoria violates the sex discrimination ban in the Affordable Care Act,” according to the report.
• Central African Republic cardinal: 75% of country is now under government control (Fides)
  Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, the the war-torn nation’s leading prelate, said, “For many people there is relative calm again. However, most of them have lost their homes, possessions, and even family or friends.”
• Maronite bishops concerned about political crisis and 'disintegration' of Lebanese institutions (AsiaNews)
  Lebanon “is disintegrating in a way that is in danger of becoming irremediable” warned the bishops of the Maronite Church, an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See.
• Catholic college's report sparks calls for accountability from survivors of alleged abuse by David Haas (National Catholic Reporter)
  “52 women have submitted reports about Haas’ alleged abusive behavior,” according to the report on the contemporary hymn composer.
• Iowa bishops back state constitutional amendment on abortion (National Catholic Register)
  The amendment would overturn a 2018 court ruling that discovered a right to abortion in the state’s constitution.
• Historic Barcelona church hosts iftar meals during Ramadan (PRI)
  Iftar is the meal eaten after sunset during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting.
• In Canada, bishops set up new confidential reporting system to report abuse (Canadian Catholic News)
  The Canadian bishops set up the new reporting system as called for by Vos estis lux mundi [You Are the Light of the World], Pope Francis’s motu proprio addressing sexual abuse.
• Archbishop Cordileone after downtown stabbings: 'We must stop hating one another' (Catholic San Francisco)
  “It happened again,” said San Francisco’s archbishop. “This time, two Asian women were stabbed on the streets of San Francisco in broad daylight. How can this be happening? . . . I ask San Francisco Catholics to engage in prayer, adoration, and fasting for an end to violence and hatred.”
• Papal message for World Day of Migrants: all in the same boat (Vatican News)
  In his message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, Pope Francis says that as the Covid epidemic passes, the world should “think no longer in terms of ‘them’ and ‘those’ but only ‘us.’” The papal message, entitled “Toward An Ever Wider ‘We,’ insists that “we are all in the same boat and called to work together so that there will be no more walls that separate us.”
• Pope to institute formal 'ministry of catechist' (CNS)
  The Vatican press office announced that Pope Francis will institute the ministry in a May 11 apostolic letter.
• USCCB highlights 'fruitful work of lay ecclesial ministers' (USCCB)
  “Co-Workers: Bishops and Lay Ecclesial Ministers in Conversation” is hosted by the USCCB’s Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth and the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.
• Vatican 'security expert' says she compiled damaging files on prelates (CNA)
  A “security expert” who has been charged by Vatican prosecutors with embezzlement now says that she was asked by Cardinal Angelo Becciu to compile damaging information about other Vatican officials. Cecilia Marogna told an Italian news broadcast that her files were to document “immoral conduct of some prelates.” Although Marogna’s background raises questions about her credibility—she is reportedly being investigated in Slovenia for money-laundering—this is the second recent allegation of attempts at blackmail by officials of the Secretariat of State.
• Bishop McElroy opposes call to deny Communion to Biden (Catholic Vote)
  Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego has rejected arguments that Catholic politicians who support abortion (including President Biden) should not receive Communion. Bishop McElroy said the denial of Communion would be “the wrong step” because a politician’s failure to abide by Church teaching “cannot be the measure of Eucharistic worthiness in a church of sinners and questioners.” He added that while abortion is a serious matter, racism is also a grave offense. (He did not, however, identify any American Catholic politicians who endorse—much less seek taxpayer funding for—racism.)
• Fauci headlines Vatican conference on health (AP)
  Dr. Anthony Fauci gave a keynote address to a Vatican conference on holistic health that opened May 6. Although the conference had been planned before the outbreak of the Covid epidemic, Fauci used the occasion to encourage religious institutions to promote vaccination, and the heads of two major vaccine manufacturers, Moderna and Pfizer, also spoke. An AP report noted the odd selection of speakers for a Vatican conference, which including rock stars and New Age theorists. The AP report noted: “Supermodel Cindy Crawford has a slot to talk about ‘beauty from the inside out,’ and Chelsea Clinton is teaming up with an Italian public health official to promote equal access to health care.”
• Catholic colleges, universities debate Covid vaccine requirements (National Catholic Reporter)
  In its Note on the Morality of Using Some Anti-Covid-19 Vaccines, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said that “practical reason makes evident that vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation and that, therefore, it must be voluntary.”
• Investigations of bishops rise as McCarrick scandal reforms kick in (National Catholic Register)
  In the two years since Pope Francis issued Vos estis lux mundi [You Are the Light of the World], his motu proprio addressing sexual abuse, “investigations have been opened to address claims against Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, NY; Bishop Oscar Cantu of San Jose, CA; Bishop John Brungardt of Dodge City, KS; and former Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany, NY.” In addition, Bishop Michael Hoeppner of Crookston, Minnesota, recently resigned following an investigation into his handling of an abuse allegation.
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