Catholic News

• USCCB reacts to McCarrick laicization: 'No bishop, no matter how influential, is above the law of the Church' (USCCB)
  Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued this statement following the Vatican’s announcement of the laicization of Theodore McCarrick. Expressing gratitude to Pope Francis for “the determined way he has led the Church’s response,” Cardinal DiNardo said, “For all those McCarrick abused, I pray this judgement will be one small step, among many, toward healing. For us bishops, it strengthens our resolve to hold ourselves accountable to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
• In the Beatitudes, Jesus opens our eyes to reality, Pope tells pilgrims (Vatican Press Office)
  In his February 17 Sunday Angelus address (video), Pope Francis reflected on the Gospel reading of the day (Luke 6:17, 20-26).
• US bishops decry President Trump's order to fund border wall (USCCB)
  Reacting to President Trump’s decision to take executive action to fund a border wall, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Migration said that “the wall first and foremost is a symbol of division and animosity between two friendly countries. We remain steadfast and resolute in the vision articulated by Pope Francis that at this time we need to be building bridges and not walls.”
• McCarrick laicized; appeal denied (National Catholic Register)
  
• Overcome fear and encounter Christ in migrants and refugees, Pope preaches at Mass (Vatican Press Office)
  Pope Francis celebrated Mass (video) for the opening of the meeting “Freedom from Fear,” organized by the Italian bishops, Caritas, and the Astalli Centre (Jesuit Refugee Service).
• Preserve and transmit the tradition of the Church Fathers, Pope tells Augustinianum (Zenit)
  Pope Francis met with members of the Patristic Institute Augustinianum in commemoration of its 50th anniversary.
• Pope invites prayers for abuse summit (Vatican News)
  “From next Thursday to Sunday a meeting will be held in the Vatican of the presidents of all the episcopal conferences on the theme of the protection of the minors in the Church,” Pope Francis said following his February 17 Angelus address. “I invite you to pray for this appointment, which I wished for as an action of strong pastoral responsibility faced with an urgent challenge of our time.”
• Council of Cardinals meeting this week (Vatican Press Office)
  The Council of Cardinals—the body advising Pope Francis on reform of the Vatican bureaucracy—is holding its 28th meeting in Rome this week. During the 3-day meeting, stretching from February 18 to 20, the cardinals will continue their discussion of a new apostolic constitution governing the responsibilities of the Roman Curia. Once informally known as the “Council of Nine,” the group now has only six members, following the removal of Cardinals George Pell, Javier Errazuriz, and Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya.
• Pope cancels sanctions against Nicaraguan priest-poet Ernesto Cardenal (La Croix)
  Father Ernesto Cardenal, the former Nicaraguan culture minister who defied St. John Paul II’s order to resign from his position in the Sandinista government, is 94 years old and dying, according to the report.
• Diocese of Rome opens canonization causes of laywoman, nun (L'Osservatore Romano (pp. 2, 4))
  Enrica Onorante, a laywoman and mother who died in 2008, offered herself to God as a victim soul and worked with Italian bishops in assisting the Church in impoverished nations. Mother Maria Bernardetta of the Immaculate, who died in 2001, was a member of the Poor Sisters of St. Joseph and served in Argentina and Virginia.
• Pope Francis: Indigenous peoples are 'living cry of hope' for the earth (Vatican News)
  “They know what it is to listen to the earth, to see the earth, to touch the earth,” Pope Francis said following an address to representatives of the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development. “And if certain decisions taken so far have ruined it, it is never too late to learn lessons and acquire a new way of life.”
• Holy See diplomat: Address economic inequality by promoting education, strengthening families (Holy See Mission)
  Archbishop Bernardito Auza, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, issued his statement at a UN meeting devoted to “addressing inequalities and challenges to social inclusion through fiscal, wage and social protection policies.”
• Pope Francis discussed 'clarity of conscience,' liberation theology with Jesuits in Panama (La Civiltà Cattolica)
  La Civiltà Cattolica has published the transcript of the Pope’s wide-ranging conversation with 30 Central American Jesuits, a conversation that took place on January 26 during his apostolic journey to Panama.
• Election delay is 'bad news' for country, Nigerian cardinal says (Vatican News)
  Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, made his remarks after the 2019 Nigerian general election was postponed from February 16 to February 23.
• Vatican media consultant under fire for plagiarism (LifeSite News)
  Father Thomas Rosica, the Canadian priest who has occasionally acted as spokesman for the Vatican press office, has drawn heavy criticism for a speech that he delivered at Cambridge University earlier this month, in which he lashed out at Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano. Father Rosica’s speech included substantial passages that were taken, word for work, from published statements by Cardinals Edwin O’Brien and Walter Kasper, Father Thomas Reese, and Father James Martin.
• Open your eyes to see the suffering of the people, Venezuelan bishop tells Maduro (CNA)
  “For several years the Venezuelan people have been asking for a change in the social-political and even economic orientation” of the nation, said Bishop Mario Moronta of San Cristóbal. “The Church has insisted that it is the people who must be listened to.”
• India's bishops mourn victims of Kashmir terrorist attack (Vatican News)
  40 persons were killed and 35 injured in the Pulwama attack, which took place on February 14.
• Family asks Pope's help in finding missing imam (Daily Star (Lebanon))
  On February 15, Pope Francis received Cheikha Rabab Sadr, president of the Imam Sadr Foundation and a Lebanese woman ranked among Arab Business’s “100 Most Powerful Arab Women.” Her brother, Imam Musa al-Sadr, disappeared in Libya in 1978.
• Indian prelate decries imprisonment of Missionary of Charity (Indian Catholic Matters)
  Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, discusses a recent visit with Sister Concelia Baxla, who has been charged with child trafficking.
• Cardinal Sarah writes new book on today's 'spiritual, moral, and political crisis' (National Catholic Register)
  Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Robert Sarah as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2014. His new book, “Le soir approche et déjà le jour baisse” [Evening approaches and the day is now almost over], will be released on March 20.
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