News from Saint John and Beyond

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    News from Saint John and Beyond
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Rome Reports
Whispers in the Loggia
- For Brooklyn, “Columbus” Day Comes Early – In NY Homecoming, Pope Taps Brennan to Succeed “The Czar”
  
  In the first Stateside move of the Vatican’s new working year, the most significant opening on the current US docket is off the table… and as Mets fans can always use good news, for once they’re in...
- Amid US Bench's Communion Clash, The "Holy Office" Flashes A Red Light
  
  As some US bishops advocate levying de facto sanctions on President Biden and other Catholic politicians for their support of legal abortion, the Holy See's distinct, but veiled skepticism over a...
- "A Child Can Teach Us How To Love" – Despite COVID and Curfews, Christus Natus Est
  
  Before anything else, especially amid all the sorrows, fears, loss and disorientation of a brutal year across the globe, Buon Natale a tutti – to one and all, a Blessed Christmas... may all its light,
- "The Poor Are The Center of The Gospel" – At Vatican "Festivus," The Church's Choice: "The Docility of the Shepherds, or the Defensiveness of Herod"
  
  Fifteen years (less a day) since Benedict XVI revolutionized the Roman Pontiff's Christmas "greeting" to the leaders of his Curia – transforming the holiday pleasantry into a Pope's ultimate...
- Whether you’ve been waiting three decades or just three weeks for this, the “mountaintop” is at hand. From 4pm Rome (10am US ET), the livefeed of a Public Consistory like no other – from the Altar of...
- Fearing "Attack" On "Fundamental Values," The Bishops Warn Biden's White House
  
  As the US bishops face a moment unseen in most of their lifetimes – the nation's election of a Catholic to the Presidency – the issue of Joe Biden's faith emerged by surprise at today's public close...
- On Day Two, The "Viruses" Take Center Stage
  
  Set to begin at 1pm Eastern, this final day of a virtual – and heavily curtailed – USCCB Plenary will be underpinned by what've arguably been the two key threads of American life in 2020: the bench's...

National Catholic Register
- U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Missouri Convicted Murderer’s Death Row Case
  
  Missouri Department of Corrections Missouri’s bishops said citizens can reach out to the governor’s office to express opposition to the pending execution of...
- As Aleppo’s Christians Face New Ordeal, Church Leaders Call for Courage and Faith
  
  ACI MENA Smoke of war rises over a residential area in Aleppo. On Dec. 1, 2024, the Franciscan complex of the Terra Santa College in Aleppo was hit by a strike. No...
- Tensions High as Israel and Hezbollah Test Fragile Cease-Fire
  
  Broken glass and empty streets are seen in Kiryat Shmona, Israel, after months of rocket fire from Hezbollah. A 60-day cessation of hostilities hangs by a...
- Jimmy Lai, Witness to Truth
  
  ANTHONY WALLACE Jimmy Lai poses during a June 16, 2020, interview with AFP, at the Next Digital offices in Hong Kong, ahead of his arrest that August. ...
- Vatican Suppresses Carmelite Monastery Following Long-Running Controversy
  
  Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity Discalced Carmelite Nuns Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas ...
- Trump Taps Patel to Shake Up the FBI
  
  Kash Patel speaks at the 2022 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix. If confirmed, Kash Patel will head an agency shrouded in controversy...
- Charismatic Renewal in Spain Accepts Bishops’ ‘Intergenerational Healing’ Guidance
  
  Credit: PeopleImages.com/Yuri A/Shutterstock Credit: PeopleImages.com/Yuri A/Shutterstock The Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Spain is a private association of...
News from the Vatican
- Pope’s jubilee visit to Turkey to advance political, ecumenical agenda
  
  Should Pope Francis visit Turkey next year as he wishes to commemorate a landmark anniversary for the Council of Nicaea, it will mark a key opportunity for him to make advancements on several key...
- Spanish Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso dies
  
  Shortly after the pope revealed that Spanish Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso, prefect for the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, was “very ill, at the end of his life,” O’sservatore Romano announced...
- Vatican to form study group to classify crime of ‘spiritual abuse’
  
  Facing a swath of scandals involving lay founders and other individuals who have committed abuse under the guise of false spiritual and mystical experiences, the Vatican is establishing a study group...
- ‘Vatican Girl’ panel hears former Vatican top cop, snubs Ali Ağca
  
  “I am not a witness to anything,” Domenico Giani, former head of the Vatican gendarmes, told an Italian parliamentary commission investigating the Emanuela Orlandi disappearance.
- Survivors blast papal meeting with duo linked to scandal-plagued Peru group
  
  After threatening to excommunicate two Peruvian laypeople suing a papal envoy, Pope Francis apparently met with the pair over the weekend and annulled the excommunication decree, though it remains...
- ‘Techie teen’, mountaineer to get halos during jubilee year
  
  Pope Francis during his weekly general audience announced the canonization dates of two of the Catholic Church’s most popular young saints-in-the-making: the “techie teen” Carlo Acutis, and...
- Survivors and safeguarding experts call on Vatican to remove all abusers
  
  Over 20 years after the Catholic Church in the United States imposed a “one strike, you’re out” policy on clerical sexual abuse, a group of safeguarding experts is calling on the Vatican to impose...