Stories for week of January 12, 2025

Ordered from most to least recent.

Released Friday, Jan. 17

 Pence, in Hong Kong, asks freedom for Jimmy Lai
 Retired bishop decries ‘vigilante approach’ to immigration
 Pope to Spanish seminarians: recognize signs of hope
 Jerusalem Patriarch sees ceasefire as necessary first step
 USCCB committee chairman issues statement for Religious Freedom Day
 Vatican City State puts AI guidelines in place
 Background: Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2025
 UN agency leader meets with Pope, praises him for support of people in rural areas
 Pope upholds Argentine saint as model for future priests
 Pope welcomes Albanian Muslim delegation, praises interreligious dialogue
 French basilica vandalized
 M23 terrorizing North Kivu, missionary says

Released Thursday, Jan. 16

 Pope injured in household fall
 Cuban prisoner release a hopeful sign: Cardinal Parolin
 Pope issues bonus to Vatican employees with large families
 Cost of US sex-abuse scandal tops $5 billion
 Survey finds greater American concern for religious freedom
 Kidnapping of Nigerian priests declined in 2024
 1 in 7 Christians worldwide face high levels of persecution, discrimination
 Cardinal Parolin hails strong Vatican-Jordan ties
 Holy Land bishops welcome ceasefire agreement
 Bomb damages church in southeastern Italy
 Quality of Catholic education, healthcare is winning respect of Muslims, Cameroon bishop says
 ‘The moral purpose of the economy is to support the flourishing of families,’ bishops tell congressional leaders
 God ‘has become a nomad with the Gitano people,’ Pope writes in message

Released Wednesday, Jan. 15

 Papal plea for landslide victims in Myanmar
 See Christ in those in need, Pope urges Caritas
 Pope, at audience, decries exploitation of children
 Vatican increases penalties for illegal entry
 Cuba to release prisoners in Jubilee gesture
 Ukrainian Catholic, Orthodox primates discuss ecumenical ties
 Papal praise for Spanish cooperative
 Vatican newspaper draws attention to the ‘world’s most serious humanitarian crisis’ in Sudan
 Italian bishops encourage enrollment in optional Catholic religion classes
 49-year-old prelate resigns
 2 arson attacks on Sardinian church
 A year after attacks on Christian villages, bishop praises faithful, calls for aid
 USCCB announces pro-life novena

Released Tuesday, Jan. 14

 US bishops’ pro-life chairman stresses forgiveness after abortion
 Top Texas court grills attorney general on case against Catholic migrant shelter
 Tabernacle recovered intact from devastated Los Angeles church
 Cardinal Parolin meets with papal nuncios in Middle East
 Pope’s autobiography, Hope, released

Released Monday, Jan. 13

 Cardinal Parolin says China accord ‘beginning to bear some fruit’
 Angolan archbishop reveals he was assassination target
 Biden honors Pope with Medal of Freedom
 Kidnapped nuns released in Nigeria
 ‘The face and the voice’: papal reflection for Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
 Pope baptizes 21 babies in Sistine Chapel
 In unusual move, Pope appoints 3rd secretary for Vatican dicastery
 Administrator of leading Syro-Malabar archeparchy resigns; replacement named
 St. John the Baptist was a ‘great prophet of hope,’ Pope says in special Jubilee audience
 Papal condolences for Los Angeles fires
 Cardinal Cantalamessa, Archbishop Gänswein deny involvement in Father Rupnik’s 2020 Lenten sermon to Roman Curia
 Rome’s mayor, Lazio’s president meet with Pontiff, discuss projects, Jubilee challenges

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Wed5 February
Ordinary Time

Memorial of St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr

Image for Memorial of St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr

The Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Agatha (d. 250), who died in defense of her purity, in Catania, Sicily. After Quintanus, the governor of Sicily, tried in vain to force her to consent to sin, she was imprisoned for a month with an evil woman. He then turned from sensuality to cruelty and had her…

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