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November 2014

November 17

Pope confirms he will visit U.S. next September

November 17, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis said he would attend the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in September 2015, making it the first confirmed stop on what is expected to be a more extensive papal visit to North America.

Priests for Life won't 'obey' HHS mandate

November 17, 2014

WASHINGTON - Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said a U.S. federal appeals court that ruled against his organization in its challenge to the federal contraceptive mandate "is wrong, and we will not obey the mandate."

Vatican lifts ban on married priests for Eastern Catholics in diaspora

November 17, 2014

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has lifted its ban on the ordination of married men to the priesthood in Eastern Catholic churches outside their traditional territories, including in the United States, Canada and Australia.

Pope calls abortion, euthanasia, IVF sins 'against God the creator'

November 17, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis denounced a "false compassion" that would justify abortion, euthanasia, artificial reproduction technologies and medical research violating human dignity. And he urged medical doctors to "go against the current" and assert "conscientious objection" to such practices, which he called sins "against God the creator."

Pope warns against the ‘false sense of compassion’ in euthanasia

November 17, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has warned doctors and ethicists on several hot-button social issues, attacking abortion, embryonic stem cell research and euthanasia as “playing with life” and “a sin against God.”

November 18

Catholic defense of family means aiding migrant families, bishop says

November 18, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Migrants are among the poorest, most vulnerable people in the world, and a church committed to defending strong families must be particularly engaged in assisting migrant couples and their children, a U.S. bishop told a Vatican conference.

Jerusalem patriarch calls for end to violence in Holy Land

November 18, 2014

JERUSALEM - After an early morning synagogue attack left four Israelis dead and eight injured Nov. 18, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal called for an end to all violence in the Holy Land.

Sexual revolution is destroying families, Russell Moore tells Vatican conference

November 18, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Prominent U.S. evangelicals Russell Moore and Rick Warren blasted the sexual revolution at a Vatican conference Nov. 18 and said it is destroying the institution of marriage.

November 19

Pope condemns attack on Jerusalem synagogue, urges end to violence

November 19, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis condemned the "unacceptable episodes of violence" in Jerusalem, episodes that "do not spare even places of worship," after an attack in a synagogue left four worshippers, a policeman and the two attackers dead.

Italy promises to return 23 million euros to Vatican bank

November 19, 2014

VATICAN CITY - In what the Vatican bank described as recognition that it has established serious measures to prevent money laundering, it announced the Italian government has promised to return 23 million euros (U.S. $29 million) that had been blocked for more than three years.

Pakistani church sends demands related to blasphemy to government

November 19, 2014

THRISSUR, India - The Catholic Church in Pakistan has presented a series of demands to the government, calling for a fair and thorough investigation into the beatings and burning of a young Christian couple accused of desecrating the Quran.

After three months in prison, Gibbons’ charges withdrawn

November 19, 2014

TORONTO - Charges of disobeying a court order and obstructing a peace officer against Toronto pro-life demonstrator Linda Gibbons were withdrawn on Nov. 12, charges that never should have been laid in the first place, according to her lawyer.

Spirituality alive on the Maidan

November 19, 2014

TORONTO - As Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Brisbane, Australia, confronted Vladimir Putin Nov. 15 at G-20 meetings with a stark suggestion that Russia “get out of Ukraine,” Ukrainian scholars and churchmen were in Toronto to discuss the spiritual values of the Ukrainian revolution.

Prominent Catholic politician calls for end to Catholic school system

November 19, 2014

TORONTO - It’s time for Ontario to ditch publicly funded, separate Catholic education, retired Ontario cabinet minister and prominent Italian and Catholic politician Greg Sorbara claims in five bombshell paragraphs toward the end of his new 208-page political memoir.

November 20

Prostitution law goes into effect Dec. 6

November 20, 2014

OTTAWA - Canada’s prostitution Bill C-36 passed the Senate Nov. 6 and will go into effect Dec. 6, criminalizing the purchase of sex for the first time in Canadian history.

Criminalizing ‘barbaric’ acts law welcomed

November 20, 2014

OTTAWA - Canada’s Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act has found support among Catholic pro-family groups.

Pope’s 2015 Philly visit won’t focus on hot-button sex issues

November 20, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput says hot-button socio-sexual issues won’t be the central focus when the World Meeting of Families welcomes Pope Francis to the City of Brotherly Love next year.

Justice will only be served in forgiveness and healing

November 20, 2014

The problem with earthly justice is that sometimes it seems to take its good old time and other times it just doesn’t seem to exist at all.

Speaking of sex

November 20, 2014

Ontario’s Ministry of Education has launched an online survey regarding the sex-ed component of a new health and physical education curriculum for elementary schools. According to an information package, the ministry is seeking input from 4,000 selected parents — one from every elementary school in the province — as it finalizes a new curriculum for implementation next September.

Feed the world, safeguard the planet, Pope tells nutrition conference

November 20, 2014

ROME - Every human being has a right to food, and no business plan or economic policy can override that right, Pope Francis told world leaders gathered in Rome.