Catholic News

• Pope, in general audience, reflects on trials, persecution suffered by St. Paul (Vatican News)
  On May 29, Pope Francis began a new series of Wednesday general audiences devoted to the Acts of the Apostles. On December 11 (video), the Pope discussed “how with the passage of time, Paul’s missionary apostolate is increasingly marked by suffering.”
• Be courageous in peace negotiations with Russia, Ukrainian Catholic leader tells nation's president (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church)
  Since 2014, over 10,000 people have been killed in the War in Donbass; 1.4 million Ukrainians have been internally displaced, and 925,000 have left the country. “Russia has its own interests, the rich countries of the West have their own interests,” said Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. “We cannot, in those negotiations, abandon our desire to be a free, independent state that has chosen its path of development.”
• Vatican cardinal holds 'brainstorming meeting' with staff of World Council of Churches (Vatican News)
  350 Protestant and Orthodox communities are members of the World Council of Churches. The theme of the meeting, hosted by the president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, was “Serving a Wounded Humanity: Towards Interreligious Solidarity.”
• Islamist militia has slaughtered hundreds of Nigerian Christians this year, report finds (Church Times)
  The report, published by the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust, follows a fact-finding mission by Baroness Caroline Cox, 82, a member of the House of Lords and a Third Order Anglican Franciscan.
• US commission raises alarm about speech laws that restrict religious freedom in Africa (USCIRF)
  The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has released a report examining “Apostasy, Blasphemy, and Hate Speech Laws in Africa: Implications for Freedom of Religion or Belief.”
• Peoria bishop announces novena 'to remove all obstacles' to Archbishop Sheen's beatification (Diocese of Peoria)
  “I know how deeply saddened we all are about the postponement of the beatification of Fulton Sheen,” said Bishop Daniel Jenky, CSC. “But in these turbulent times when our faith is being tested – which even Fulton Sheen prophesied about – we need to remain faithful to prayer like Archbishop Sheen.”
• California attorney general subpoenas all the state's dioceses (Sacramento Bee)
  In May, Attorney General Xavier Becerra launched an investigation into whether California dioceses reported allegations of child sexual abuse to civil authorities.
• Two guards hurt in attack on National Shrine (Fox)
  Two security guards were injured in a violent attack by a lone man at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC on December 10. According to reports the man deliberately hit one security guard with his car, then stabbed another who came to assist. Washington police arrested a suspect after a brief stand-off. No explanation has been given for the attack.
• Vatican hosts symposium on palliative care and elderly mental health (Pontifical Academy for Life)
  In partnership with the Qatar-based World Innovation Summit for Health and the British Medical Journal, the Pontifical Academy of Life is hosting a symposium devoted to “Christian, Islamic and medical perspectives on ethics and palliative care,” among other topics.
• A year after attack on Strasbourg Christmas market, 2 arrested for pledging allegiance to ISIS there (RTL (French Radio))
  A year after the 2018 Strasbourg attack, two Chechens traveled to the market and publicly pledged allegiance to ISIS, leading to their arrest.
• God corrects and comforts us with tenderness, Pope preaches at weekday Mass (Vatican News)
  At a Mass celebrated in the chapel of Domus Sanctae Marthae on December 10, Pope Francis preached on Isaiah 40:1-11 and Matthew 18:12-14, the readings of the day.
• Pastor of nation's largest parish placed on leave (Charlotte Observer)
  Father Patrick Hoare, pastor of St. Matthew Catholic Church in Charlotte, has been accused of sexually abusing a minor 25 years ago—long before his ordination to the priesthood in 2007. “Please understand administrative leave is standard procedure under our policy and does not imply guilt,” said Bishop Peter Jugis.
• Cardinal Tagle's new Vatican post: heading a 'superdicastery' (National Catholic Register)
  The appointment of Cardinal Luis Tagle to head the Congregation for Evangelization takes on special importance, notes Edward Pentin of the National Catholic Register, because under the draft plan for the reform of the Roman Curia, that Congregation would take on sweeping new authority, becoming a “superdicastery,” second in power only to the Secretariat of State.
• Pope makes surprise visit to crèche exhibition (Vatican News)
  A week after the publication of Pope Francis’s apostolic letter Admirabile Signum (On the Meaning and Importance of the Nativity Scene), the Vatican has begun a five-week exhibition of 100 crèches, under the auspices of Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.
• Take additional steps to eliminate nuclear weapons, Vatican diplomat urges (Holy See Mission)
  “My Delegation urges governments possessing nuclear weapons to reconsider any plans to ‘modernize’ nuclear capabilities, whether for missiles, aircraft, submarines, or warheads,” said Archbishop Bernardito Auza. “These developments risk expanding instead of reducing the role of nuclear weapons in global security. The Holy See also strongly urges all governments concerned to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).”
• A seminary is a house of prayer, study, and communion, Pope tells Bologna seminarians (Vatican Press Office)
  Pope Francis also spoke of “the four attitudes of closeness of diocesan priests … Proximity to God, closeness to the bishop, closeness to the presbytery, among you, and closeness to the people of God. If one of these is missing, the priest will not work and will slowly slip into the perversion of clericalism or attitudes of rigidity. Where there is clericalism, there is corruption, and where there is rigidity, under rigidity, there are serious problems.”
• Poll shows sharp divide between practicing, lapsed Catholics (National Catholic Register)
  A new poll by EWTN and RealClear shows dramatic differences in opinion between self-identified Catholics who practice the faith and those who do not. Among the 22% of Americans who identify themselves as Catholics, the poll showed, only 39% attend Mass regularly, and just 13% go to Confession at least once a year. A slim majority of those surveyed (58%) accept most or all Church teachings. On political issues, 52% of active Catholics approve of President Trump, as opposed to 44% among all (active and inactive) Catholics.
• Chinese authorities sentence Protestant leader to prison, take away children of Christian couple (AsiaNews)
  The Early Rain Covenant Church is an evangelical home church in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province (map).
• Controversial Vatican prelate looks forward to Vatican-Beijing diplomatic ties (Crux)
  During a visit to China, Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, the president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, suggested that the Pope could visit China soon, and suggested that, having reached an accord in the appointment of bishops, Beijing and the Holy See might now renew formal diplomatic ties. Bishop Sanchez Sorondo—who in the past has said that China offers a model for Catholic social teaching—made his remarks to the government-run Global Times.
• German bishop accused of defrauding elderly woman (CNA)
  Bishop Johannes Bündgens, an auxiliary of the Aachen diocese, faces criminal charges for allegedly taking over $140,000 from an elderly woman. Bishop Helmut Dieser, the head of the Aachen diocese, said that he was “shocked” by the accusation. Bishop Bündgens has been removed from pastoral responsibilities while the criminal investigation proceeds.
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