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National Catholic Reporter: Bringing you independent reporting on the Catholic church and justice issues since 1964.
Joined March 2009
Legion of Christ finds 33 priests, 71 seminarian sex abusers - 1/3 of the priestly abusers were victims of the Legion's late founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel
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Republican candidates Donald Trump and JD Vance have been spreading lies about immigrants in the United States as a cornerstone of their campaign. The shameful silence of our Catholic leaders has been beyond deafening.
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Jesuit Fr. @JamesMartinSJ is joining a rabbi and imam to deliver the convocation at the end of the @DNC convention that starts Monday
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Catholics in Hong Kong who have taken the side of the protesters, along with sympathetic emigres in the US, agree that the church should promote peaceful solutions. But some argue that church leadership has not been out front as much as it could be.
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Faithful Catholics must vote for the ticket most likely to promote a dignified quality of life for all and the works of social justice throughout our society. In such a broadened view, this Catholic, at least, must vote for @KamalaHarris and @Tim_Walz.
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Review: As we follow the devil on an L.A. "vacation," a theology of self-actualization emerges. Unlike humans, Lucifer doesn't just believe God exists. He knows it. Consequently, the one-sided relationship uniquely pains him.
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BREAKING: Pope Francis has expressed openness to Catholic blessings for same-sex couples, under the condition they are not confused with marriage ceremonies for men and women, in what could be a watershed moment for the global Catholic Church.
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BREAKING: Pope Francis has written a sweeping letter to the U.S. bishops decrying the "major crisis" triggered by President Trump's mass deportation plans and explicitly rejecting @VP's attempts to use Catholic theology to justify the crackdown.
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If a Christian leader in her pulpit, addressing a president who voluntarily placed himself in that sacred space, cannot speak out of the heart of the Gospel, then we might as well turn our cathedrals, basilicas and other houses of worship into museums.
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Cardinal Timothy Dolan said he was "doubly disappointed" by the rejection from Kamala Harris of his invitation to the annual Al Smith dinner. But we are triply disappointed that Dolan did not have the courage to stand up to Donald Trump.
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In a late vote May 27, the U.S. House overwhelmingly passed a measure condemning the Chinese Communist Party for forcing Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities into indoctrination camps in the country's Xinjiang region.
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Faithful Catholics must vote for the ticket most likely to promote a dignified quality of life for all and the works of social justice throughout our society. In such a broadened view, this Catholic must vote for @KamalaHarris, says Thomas Groome.
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BREAKING: A new Vatican document officially declares it possible for Catholic priests to bless same-sex unions and divorced and remarried couples. The pastoral shift may be among the most significant in the church's history. @cwwhiteNCR reports.
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Pope Francis offered a paragraph of catechesis to Vice President JD Vance, whose foray into medieval theology was sophomoric. Call it Hillbilly theology.
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In that now-famous speech July 23, U.S. Rep. @AOC repeatedly railed against the "dehumanizing" of others and instead called for treating people with dignity and respect. These are themes often repeated by Pope Francis.
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NEWS: The Vatican announced Nov. 11 that Pope Francis had effectively fired Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland, a firebrand prelate who called synodality "garbage" and endorsed a video that attacked Francis as a "diabolically disoriented clown.”
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BREAKING: In a departure from many diocesan policies on the topic, a new document from the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, stresses the first response to LGBTQ individuals should be "one of welcome, love, and respect."
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NEW: @BrianFragaNCR interviewed with @BishStrickland outside of the @USCCB meeting earlier today. Watch here.
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Pope Francis has declared Sunday the World Day of the Poor. The Vatican will observe it with a Mass for 4,000 people in need, who will then be invited to lunch.
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A Catholic case for Pete Buttigieg: "I'm supporting him for the presidency because I believe his vision for the nation has the best chance of moving us in the direction of a more just and peaceful society, one that advances the reign of God on Earth."
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Flash: #PopeFrancis changes Catholic Church law to make explicit women can act as lectors and altar servers. This effectively removes a previous option for individual bishops to restrict those ministries only to men, @joshjmac reports.
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It's disappointing that so few Catholic leaders have joined San Juan Archbishop Roberto González Nieves in condemning a comedian's racist jokes at a Donald Trump rally, writes John Kenneth White.
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"No one is scandalized if I give a blessing to an entrepreneur who perhaps exploits people, which is a very serious sin. Whereas they are scandalized if I give it to a homosexual – this is hypocrisy," said @Pontifex.
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NEW: @Pontifex has sent a message of support to a conference that will discuss LGBTQ ministry in the Catholic Church this weekend, after right-wing online influencers organized a petition to try and stop the event.
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"I don't have the right to cast anyone out from the church," said @Pontifex referring to members of the LGBTQ community. "My job is to receive, always."
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Pope Francis will not be visiting Canada to personally apologize for the suffering endured by indigenous Canadians at residential schools, said the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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There is no perfect way of selecting bishops. Even Jesus got it wrong one out of 12 times. But the laity should have a greater voice in the process, says Fr. Tom Reese.
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When Joe Biden leaves the Oval Office, so, too, will a Catholic commander-in-chief who always carried a rosary in his pocket, and arranged his public schedule to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation. @BrianFragaNCR reports.
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In a viral Fox News interview, the vice president suggested that it is more Christian to prioritize your family over a stranger, but Jesus wanted us to demolish the categories that keep us from seeing each other as worthy of love in the first place.
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Franciscan Fr. Daniel Horan asks, if Jesus entrusted Mary of Magdala to be the first witness to his Resurrection and St. Paul entrusted the Deacon Phoebe to be a minister in the early Christian community, then what is our excuse today?
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I am angry about Cardinal Timothy Dolan's remark that the pontiff was “probably close to death.” What we need is Pope Francis back. The world needs him back.
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BREAKING: The San Diego Diocese has divested its financial holdings from the fossil fuel industry, the first Catholic diocese in the U.S. to make public such a move in response to Pope Francis' calls to address climate change.
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Christian nationalism is a distortion of the religion from which it takes its name, and it can only be defeated by love, Catholic Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, told a statewide ecumenical gathering in Frankfort.
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When confronted with a perceived slight to his brand of Catholicism, Bishop Robert Barron is quick to post on social media. But when it comes to those on the margins, his alleged prophetic voice is conspicuously silent, says NCR digital editor John Grosso.
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Catholic Relief Services is bracing for massive cuts — as much as 50% this year — because of draconian reductions in U.S. foreign assistance ordered by the Trump administration, according to an internal email from the chief executive of the organization.
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BREAKING: Pope Francis on Oct. 17 held a meeting with Sr. Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of @NewWaysMinistry, who had previously been reprimanded by the Vatican and several U.S. bishops for her decades-long ministry to #LGBTQ Catholics.
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BREAKING: A meeting between Germany's Catholic bishops and lay representatives agreed Friday to call for the church to approve blessings of same-sex unions.
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Vice President Vance, and the policies he is defending, does not start with grace and gratitude. He is not just ethically wrong. He doesn't understand the Catholic faith to which he converted, and he is not alone.
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It is time for complicit Catholics, in particular, to stop aiding and abetting cruelty by asserting that this administration is in any way pro-life. It is not.
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On average, 10 women are murdered every day in Mexico. Says one human rights activist, "We live in a society where a social acceptance of violence against women is normalized."
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The Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to St. Juan Diego almost 500 years ago at a moment of chaos and despair. "Her hope is to recognize that, yes, today this is our situation, but if God intervenes, tomorrow will be different."
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Without being sucked into partisan politics, the bishops need to affirm that Christian nationalism is a heresy, that lying in politics is a sin against the common good and politicians are subject to the same laws as any other citizen, says @ThomasReeseSJ.
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Ambassador Callista Gingrich joined Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican secretary for relations with states, at an event to discuss the Vatican's fight for religious freedom around the world.
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Pope Francis on Jan. 19 denounced President Donald Trump's provisional plans to carry out a massive deportation of migrants as a "disgrace."
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Pope Trump? According to Canon Law, any candidate must be of sound mind. Canon 171 §1, n.1 says: “Those who lack the use of reason are incapable of a valid ecclesiastical election.” This, along with not being a baptized Catholic, would rule out Trump.
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Archbishop Viganò, the disgraced former papal nuncio to the United States who questioned the legitimacy of Pope Francis and the authority of the Second Vatican Council, has been found guilty of schism and excommunicated. @cwwhiteNCR reports:
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Jim Martin brings incarnational spirituality to life for thousands upon thousands of Catholics.
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The show's lasting reputation has little to do with politics or policy, "West Wing" writer Lawrence O'Donnell (@Lawrence) told NCR. It comes from the series' ability to "teach empathy and sympathy for other people's conditions." #TheWestWing
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The Catholic Church must have an honest reckoning about conversion therapy and its deadly impact on LGBTQ+ youth, writes grieving parent Joyce Calvo.
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Can you imagine if Bishop Barron advocated for the poor who will suffer throughout the world as passionately as he railed against feminism in 'Star Wars'? #Maythe4th #StarWarsDay
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During a press conference on the papal plane from Lisbon, Portugal, Pope Francis reiterated that his message that the church is open to everyone includes LGBTQ people and all marginalized groups.
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Breaking News: President Joe Biden has awarded Pope Francis the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honor.
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Vance's fraudulence is discerned in the fact that while he celebrates Catholicism as a vehicle for his sociocultural vision, he departs from the teaching of the church on a host of issues. @MichaelSWinters on @JDVance1 from 2022.
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We say: US Catholic colleges and churches should require vaccination. “Everyone has a moral obligation to get vaccinated unless they have a legitimate medical condition prohibiting them from doing so.”
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New from @cwwhite212: .Fr. James Altman, a Wisconsin priest who became a right-wing firebrand for claiming during the 2020 election that faithful Catholics cannot be Democrats, has been asked to step down as pastor of his church.
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All forms of clerical abuse begin with a priest thinking he is better than others and somehow over them, Pope Francis said.
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Joe Biden, former vice president, cradle Catholic and current parishioner at St. Joseph on the Brandywine in Greenville, Delaware, will become the 46th president. As fellow Catholics, we offer our congratulations.
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"@EWTN worries me because it represents a giant of economic and cultural power connected to a religious viewpoint that is fundamentally critical of the pope," the cardinal said.
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We say: The value Biden gives to Catholic social teaching impresses us. Biden cares about the common good, the dignity of the human person, stewardship for creation, a preferential option for the poor and vulnerable.
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Frank Pavone, a right-wing provocateur who defied requests from the Vatican and U.S. bishops to stop engaging in partisan political advocacy inconsistent with his role as a member of the clergy, has been dismissed from the priesthood. @cwwhiteNCR reports:.
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Commentary: We don't need to wait for women to be ordained — there have been laypeople in the College of Cardinals before. Let women have a place at the table now.
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More than 140 theologians, educators and lay leaders have called for all U.S. bishops to submit their resignations to Pope Francis in the wake of the Pennsylvania grand jury report.
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News: Pioneering feminist and liberation theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether died today at age 85. "Her legacy, both intellectual and personal, is rich beyond imagining," said long-time friend and colleague @MaryEHunt.
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Bishop Seitz of El Paso, Texas, is spearheading a march and vigil to protest the Trump administration's plans for mass deportations of immigrants who lack legal authorization to live and work in the U.S. as part of its immigration enforcement strategy.
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Too often, he said, when a priest is overly rigid about what he thinks is proper doctrine or liturgy, he is seeking his own glory and power, not the Lord's. Clericalism is a manifestation of spiritual worldliness, Francis said.
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"We want to be treated as equals not only theoretically, in dignity, but also in church ministry," writes Sr. Nameeta Renu. She suggests the understanding of holy orders as reserved for men could be expanded.
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As Catholic officials in Tigray continue to call for an end to atrocities and the humanitarian aid blockade, an international refugees organization is warning that Eritrean refugees have nowhere to run.
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Five conservative cardinals, including Raymond Burke, have challenged #PopeFrancis to affirm current Catholic teaching on homosexuality and women's ordination ahead of the #synod, where such hot-button issues are up for debate.
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Mass deportations and asylum bans — part of the Trump administration's rapid changes to U.S. immigration policy — destroy communities and human dignity, while constituting a "war on the poor," said Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas.
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We remain baffled by Barron's silence. God has given the bishop a social media megaphone, a powerful platform that he chooses to use to engage in the most divisive, ideological culture war nonsense while looking askance from the most vulnerable in society.
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During Vatican II, a group of Catholics in Kansas City decided laypeople should take the lead in church journalism. The result was the National Catholic Reporter, a key player in the life of the U.S. church since 1964. @ironworker1 reflects.
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Pope Francis praised actor and comedian Whoopi Goldberg for helping people laugh and feel joy, telling her, "You are very important."
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NEW from @BrianFragaNCR: The Vatican has launched a formal investigation of the east Texas diocese led by Bishop Joseph Strickland, a controversial prelate who has accused @Pontifex of undermining the Catholic faith, a diocesan spokeswoman has confirmed.
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Imagine a twice divorced, convicted rapist, felon and anti-Catholic bigot sitting on the throne of Peter. That's your pick for a president who supports and cares for the Catholic Church? It's hard to imagine anything more offensive.
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JD Vance’s views on childless women are sharply at odds with the attitude of his present Catholic faith. Catholic history is full of childless women respected for their work, many of them members of religious communities.
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Who knows how Pope Leo XIV will play on the world stage. For now we can only state, but state with certainty, that the cardinals have chosen someone committed to the reforms Pope Francis began.
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Our editorial calls out @CatholicVote, Attorney General William Barr, @CardinalDolan and other Catholics for supporting Trump and his assaults on democracy. "A pro-life movement that embraces white nationalism is not a true pro-life movement. Period."
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Some will say that the decision to restrict the Latin Mass will cause a schism, but Msgr. Kevin Irwin writes whatever action people will take "will simply unmask the silent schism that has taken place and continues in the American Catholic Church."
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The #AmazonSynod has called on #PopeFrancis to allow for the priestly ordination of married men on a regional basis, in order to address a lack of ministers across the region.
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Stephen Adubato writes that what we call "traditional Catholicism" is the product of an artificial culture constructed to pick and choose elements from the past that fit the ideological and aesthetic tastes of its adherents.
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The National Catholic Reporter Publishing Co. has promoted executive editor @HeidiSchlumpf to vice president. "This promotion recognizes the extraordinary leadership Heidi has provided during the first year of her tenure," said CEO and publisher @bmitch.
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U.S. Jesuit Fr. James Martin set out a series of ways in which parishes can show welcome and respect to LGBT Catholics.
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Pope Francis used his 2023 message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation to call for an end to "the fossil fuel era," saying it is "madness to permit continued exploration and expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure."
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President Joe Biden's call for unity, his care for the poor, the environment and true peace in our fractured world make him an example of what public service ought to be, writes contributor Msgr. Paul Garrity.
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NEW from @BrianFragaNCR: A Catholic bishop in Michigan vilified President Joe Biden as a "stupid" Catholic "who is not living the life Jesus wants for him" during an April 5 presentation after a celebration of daily Mass.
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Pope Francis issued a plea on behalf of prison inmates, saying they should never be deprived of hope and always be given the opportunity to redeem themselves.
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Pete Buttigieg, two-term mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has captured the nation's interest. Residents of South Bend vouch for the Democratic presidential candidate's integrity, telling NCR that in real life, Buttigieg "is who he appears to be."
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Prominent Catholic leaders sent messages of video support to the LGBTQ community for Pride Month after Outreach 2020, a Catholic LGBTQ conference hosted by Fordham University, was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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"Tradition is the guarantee of the future and not the container of the ashes," Pope Francis said aboard the flight back to Rome after his three-day visit to Romania.
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Butker has made it his business to encourage listeners to focus on their own vocations and stay in their own lanes. Isn't his own lane … football?
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Pope Francis is pressing Catholic theologians to be more in tune with the challenges of ordinary people and urging them to dialogue with non-believers as well as believers of various religions.
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A priest from the Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat in Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray says killings, abductions and rape are still occurring in the region where a military offensive launched in November.
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#Breaking: Pope Francis has announced that he will create 21 new cardinals, giving the 87-year old pontiff another opportunity to further cement his legacy by now naming 80% of the men who will one day elect his successor. @cwwhiteNCR reports:
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The @USCCB rejects the concept of gender transition, leaving many transgender Catholics feeling excluded. On Nov. 8, the Vatican made a sharply contrasting statement, saying it's permissible for trans Catholics to be baptized and serve as godparents.
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In the Yakima Diocese, men studying to be priests are not only expected to study theology, philosophy and biblical exegesis, but also spend part of their summer learning from and ministering to migrants in the fields. Read more by @gehringdc.
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Pope Francis has defended his controversial decision to let priests bless same-sex couples but admitted that "solitude is a price you have to pay" when you make difficult decisions.
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For some priests and seminarians, "women represent danger, but in reality, the true danger are those men who do not have a balanced relationship with women," said Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.
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Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago is advocating for Catholic faithful to receive holy Communion standing — the normative posture established by the U.S. Catholic bishops — as part of a renewed awareness of the theology of the Communion procession.
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