Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, Ennis Road, Limerick
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Catholic News

  • Know yourself, Pope urges faithful (Vatican Press Office)
    At his weekly public audience on October 5, Pope Francis said that knowledge of oneself is a key to discernment. “Forgetfulness of God’s presence in our life often goes hand in hand with ignorance of ourselves,” the Pope said. Likening prayer to the use of the internet, he said that “it is important to know ourselves, to know the passwords of our hearts.”
  • Medical associations seek federal clampdown on investigation of gender surgery (CNA)
    Three of America’s most influential medical organizations have asked the Biden administration to investigate and prosecute journalists and bloggers who are reporting on hospitals that perform gender-altering surgery on children. The American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and Children’s Hospital Association called upon Attorney General Merrick Garland to address what they termed “targeting individual physicians and hospitals, resulting in a rapid escalation of threats, harassment, and disruption of care across multiple jurisdictions.” Reports on the potential negative effects of irreversible surgery, and the efforts of hospitals to promote it, have prompted public protests at some institutions, such as Boston Children’s Hospital, which has become a leader in the lucrative business.
  • USCCB announces candidates for conference president, VP (USCCB)
    The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has announced the slate of 10 candidates to succeed Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles and Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit as conference president and vice president. The Pillar has published an analysis of the candidates. Candidates were also announced for the chairmanship of six committees. The voting will take place at the bishops’ fall general assembly (November 14-17).
  • Zelensky advisor meets with Pope (Vatican News)
    Alona Verbytska, plenipotentiary advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, met recently with Pope Francis. Neither the Vatican press office nor the Ukrainian government released a statement on the details of the meeting.
  • 'Proclaim the Gospel of hope,' Pope tells Oblates of Mary Immaculate (Vatican News)
    On October 3, Pope Francis addressed participants in the general chapter of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. St. Eugène de Mazenod founded the missionary institute in 1816. “May your founder, the charism he transmitted to you, and his missionary vision be and remain points of reference for your life and your work; to stay rooted in your missionary vocation, above all by living the testament of your founder, in mutual love among yourselves and in zeal for the salvation of souls,” the Pope said in his address. “It is the heart of your mission and the secret of your life, and this is why the Church still needs you.”
  • Pope Francis YouTube documentary launches from Vatican City (Variety)
    On October 4, the global premiere of The Letter, a film featuring Pope Francis, took place at the Vatican. “The Letter”—a reference to the encyclical Laudato si’—includes conversations between Pope Francis and an Amazon tribal chief, a climate activist from India, a climate refugee from Senegal, and two US scientists. The film, directed by Nicholas Brown, is a YouTube Original documentary.
  • Each of us must defend the nation, Ukrainian Catholic leader says (Archeparchy of Philadelphia)
    Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said on October 2 that “human blood is pouring out” after “the enemy massively attacked Zaporizhzhia and its surroundings.” “We know—we have emphasized and mentioned this more than once—that love creates heroes,” he continued. “This is true Christian love, which flows from the precious and life-giving Cross of the Lord.” “Today, there are no rear areas in Ukraine,” the prelate added. “Each of us must stand on the front in defense of everything we love so much, everything we call native, in defense of Ukraine. And when we truly love, then we will persevere, we will find the strength not to stop.”
  • Papal nuncio asks Timorese to accept discipline of Nobel-laureate bishop (UCANews)
    The Vatican’s representative in East Timor has urged the country’s Catholics to accept the disciplinary penalties imposed on Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo because of his “serious crimes” of sexual abuse. Msgr. Macro Sprizzi, an official of the apostolic nunciature in East Timor, said that the Vatican’s actions reflected the fact that Bishop Belo, had been tried and found guilty of abuse charges. Bishop Belo, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his defense of human rights in East Timor, has been ordered by the Vatican not to return to the country.
  • Pope recognizes 'countless acts of kindness and charity' of Stella Maris, Apostleship of the Sea (CNA)
    In a message to participants in the 25th World Congress of Stella Maris (the Apostleship of the Sea), Pope Francis expressed his hope that “Stella Maris will never waver in drawing attention to the issues which deprive many within the maritime community of their God-given human dignity.” Some maritime workers, the Pope said, “continue to suffer from a variety of unjust working conditions and other deprivations, aggravated not least by the effects of climate change. Moreover, damage to marine environments, as to others, disproportionately affects the poorest and most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters, whose very livelihoods are even threatened with extinction.”
  • Bahrain papal visit furthers outreach to Muslim world, bishop says (Crux)
    The Pope’s upcoming visit to Bahrain “is like a dream come true,” said Bishop Paul Hinder, and the announcement “has caused great excitement, not only among the Catholics, but even among people of other faiths who live in the small island nation.”
  • Strife in Cameroon has become 'a question of money,' bishops' spokesman says (Fides)
    The violent conflict launched by separatists in Cameroon, which has caused at least 4,000 deaths in the past several years, has now become a question of money, according to Father Humphrey Tatah Mbuy, a spokesman for the country’s episcopal conference. He explained that guerrilla now frequently seize hostages and demand ransom, and “it is very difficult to separate a person from his source of income, even if that source is human blood.” The separatists are not alone in kidnapping for profit, he said; government troops have been guilty of the same practice.
  • Pro-life volunteer shot while going door to door in Michigan (National Catholic Register)
    An 84-year-old woman from Lake Odessa, a town of 2,000 in central Michigan, was shot in the back shoulder as she was distributing pamphlets against a pro-abortion ballot initiative. The woman was able to drive herself to the police station and was then taken to the hospital.
  • Pakistani Christians protest rape, abduction, forced conversion of teenage girl (AsiaNews)
    Christians in Pakistan are calling attention to the case of a 15-year-old Christian girl who was kidnapped, raped, and forced to marry her assailant and convert to Islam, as they plead for government action to prevent such violations. The girl, identified as “Saba,” was able eventually to escape from her captor. But her case illustrates the danger to young Christian women who are wanted by Muslims as wives. Kidnapping, followed by forced marriage and conversion to Islam, rarely results in criminal penalties.
  • Blessed Sacrament found intact in tabernacle of church burned by armed men in Cameroon (CNA)
    St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Nchang, a village in Cameroon (map), was burned down in a recent attack. Bishop Aloysius Fondong of Mamfé found the Blessed Sacrament intact when he went to the site and opened the tabernacle.
  • Papal prayer for victims of Hurricane Ian, soccer tragedy in Indonesia (Vatican News)
    “I am close to the populations of Cuba and Florida, afflicted by a violent hurricane,” the Pontiff said. “May the Lord receive the victims, give consolation and hope to those who suffer, and sustain the solidarity efforts.” “And I also pray for those who have lost their life and those who have been injured in the clashes that broke out after a football match in Malang in Indonesia,” he added, referring to the Kanjuruhan Stadium disaster.
  • Witnesses in Vatican mega trial paint bleak picture of how Secretariat managed funds (RNS)
    Following testimony from defense witnesses in the trial of Cardinal Angelo Becciu and nine other defendants, the Vatican financial trial has resumed with testimony from witnesses for the prosecution. The RNS coverage summarizes testimony from Revisor General Alessandro Cassinis Righini, appointed by the Pope to oversee Vatican budgets; Nicola Squillace, an attorney charged with fraud, embezzlement and money laundering; and Roberto Lolato, an advisor to the prosecution on the London real estate deal at the center of the trial.
  • Vatican cardinal, unwelcome in Germany, cancels visit (Pillar)
    Cardinal Kurt Koch, the president of the Dicastery for Christian Unity, cancelled plans for a visit to Germany, after the president of that country’s episcopal conference said that he would not be welcome because of his criticism of the German Synodal Path. Bishop Georg Bätzing, the president of the German bishops’ conference, had demanded an apology from Cardinal Koch, after the Swiss prelate, in a June speech, said that the Synodal Path was an unacceptable break from Catholic tradition, and observed that a similar bid to find “new sources” for Christianity had occurred in the “German Christian” movement that supported Hitler. Responding to Bishop Bätzing’s demand for an apology, Cardinal Koch said that he did not intend to compare the Synodal Path with the Nazi movement, but he stood by his argument that it was “frightening” to see the current movement look for new foundations for Christianity, outside Scripture and Tradition. After Bishop Bätzing reiterated his complaint, organizers of an ecumenical conference at which Cardinal Koch had been scheduled to speak announced that the cardinal had withdrawn “for security reasons.” A local pastor reported threats of violence.
  • Pope warns Redemptorists against abandoning prayer and community life (CSSR News)
    On October 1, Pope Francis addressed participants in the general chapter of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), the religious institute founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori in 1732. In “re-imagining and renewing the Congregation, three fundamental pillars must not be forgotten: the centrality of the mystery of Christ, community life and prayer,” the Pope said. “The abandonment of community life and prayer is the door to sterility in consecrated life, the death of the charism and closure towards the brothers.” “Instead, docility to the Spirit of Christ pushes us to evangelize the poor, according to the announcement of the Redeemer in the synagogue of Nazareth (cf. Lk 4: 14-19), concretized in the congregation by St. Alphonsus Maria de ‘Liguori,” the Pope added.
  • Pope warns of nuclear war risk; appeals to Putin on Ukraine (AP)
    Pope Francis devoted his entire Sunday Angelus address on October 2 to the war in Ukraine. “Let there be a halt to arms, and let us seek the conditions for negotiations that will lead to solutions that are not imposed by force, but consensual, just and stable,” Pope Francis said. “And they will be so if they are based on respect for the sacrosanct value of human life, as well as the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each country, and the rights of minorities and legitimate concerns.” “My appeal is addressed first and foremost to the President of the Russian Federation, imploring him to stop this spiral of violence and death, also for the sake of his own people,” the Pope continued. “On the other hand, saddened by the immense suffering of the Ukrainian people as a result of the aggression they have suffered, I address an equally confident appeal to the President of Ukraine to be open to serious proposals for peace.”
  • Russian Orthodox spokesman says dialogue with Rome nearly 'frozen' (Crux)
    The chief ecumenical official of the Russian Orthodox Church has told a Russian television audience that relations with the Holy See are “practically frozen.” Metropolitan Anthony Sevryuk said that the prospects for a “summit meeting” between Moscow’s Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis are bleak. He attributed the cooling in relations to statements “not only from the lips of the Pope, but also the great part of his aides,” condemning the Russian war in Ukraine and the support that the Moscow patriarchate has shown for that offensive.
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