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WASHINGTON – This week, the U.S. Department of State officially published three rules, significantly expanding the “Mexico City Policy,” which historically limited certain federal funds from going to foreign non-governmental organizations that perform or promote abortion abroad. The State Department is referring to these three rules collectively as the Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance (PHFFA) Policy. Three bishop-chairmen of committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) responded:

“God entrusts us with a responsibility to share our blessings to help preserve the lives and dignity of our brothers and sisters in need. We support robust funding for authentic lifesaving and life-affirming foreign assistance and applaud new policies that prevent taxpayer dollars from going to organizations that engage in ideological colonization and promote abortion or gender ideology overseas. We also call for the implementation of any related policies to be carried out in a manner that recognizes the inherent dignity of every human person and does not harm those who are racially or ethnically marginalized.”

The bishop-chairmen were Bishop Edward J. Burns of the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Committee on International Justice and Peace. Earlier in the week, Bishop Thomas had also offered a statement, in part, addressing the rule related to the performance and promotion of abortion.

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ROME (CNS) -- Thanks to a 17th-century Italian priest, skis made their way from their origin in Scandinavia to Central Europe.

Father Francesco Negri, born in Ravenna, Italy, in 1623, was a natural history and geography buff and longed to discover the secrets of the North. 

According to an article first published by the Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire in 2006, Father Negri is thought to be the first tourist to travel to Norway's North Cape and the first Central European to don a pair of skis and spread this sleek, winter transport technology to Italy, host country to the Olympic Winter Games in Milano-Cortina Feb. 6-22.

During the Italian priest's 1663-66 voyage to the snow-covered lands of Sweden and Norway, he met with and wrote extensively about the Scandinavian peoples, according to the article.

In his book, "Viaggio Settentrionale," he marveled at how the native hunters darted toward their reindeer prey using "two thin boards no wider than the foot, but 8 to 9 palms long, with the tip turned up a bit so as not to dig in the snow."

He also made drawings and described how the skier used sticks that had a round piece of wood driven into one end, so the poles would not perforate the snow.

Not the passive observer, Father Negri also strapped the unfamiliar "skie" to his feet and experimented. 

He noted that it was important to keep the skis straight and parallel. Possibly speaking from personal experience, he warned the user would fall if the skis spread too far apart or if the front tips or back ends crossed.

In his book, published posthumously in 1700, the Italian priest offered some other helpful hints for successful skiing.

It helps "to eat and drink abundantly," he wrote. He said it was best to fuel up on generous portions of distilled liquor, or "aquavit," early in the morning in order to burn through the deep, cold drifts.

Over the years, the pastime grew in popularity, becoming a more common hobby in middle-class society. Among the many Central Europeans who became avid skiers was St. John Paul II. Born in Poland in 1920, he loved the outdoors and would still go swimming, skiing and mountain climbing while he was bishop and cardinal of Krakow, Poland. 

He did not let becoming pope in 1978 and moving to the Vatican stop him from his love for sport. St. John Paul regularly left the Vatican unannounced and, in his early years, he would spend an afternoon skiing or hiking.

According to Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the late pope's private secretary, St. John Paul made more than 100 secret trips to ski or hike in the Italian mountains, particularly the Gran Sasso mountain in Abruzzo.

Another well-known saint-skier is St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, whom St. John Paul beatified in 1990, and Pope Leo XIV canonized Sept. 7, 2025. 

Born in Turin, which hosted the Winter Olympics in 2006, St. Frassati loved the outdoors and was an avid mountain climber. An iconic image of the young man shows him on a mountain summit with a hiking stick and smoking a pipe, illustrating the motto he was best known for, "Verso l'alto" ("To the heights").

 

Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, DC, joined other local religious leaders in condemning the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis.

“The murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti—two U.S. citizens devoted to civic engagement and to caring for their immigrant neighbors—have left communities in Minneapolis and across the nation grieving, shaken, and rightly outraged,” the signatories wrote in their January 29 statement. “Their deaths are a profound moral failure, and they demand our collective attention and response.”

The signatories added:

We affirm the sacred worth of every human life. That commitment includes—and compels us to stand with—immigrants and others who are especially vulnerable in this moment. We condemn without reservation the use of indiscriminate and lethal force against civilians.

The actions we have witnessed in recent days represent a grave departure from our nation’s deepest moral commitments and from the values of human dignity, restraint, and accountability that our faith traditions uphold. When the power of the state is exercised without regard for life, justice, or the common good, the foundations of democracy itself are put at risk.

In a message marking the 800th anniversary of Toledo Cathedral in Spain, Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to the Mozaribic Rite of the sacred liturgy.

“Throughout this year, the cathedral will show, through important liturgical celebrations and cultural events, the rich spiritual heritage of that particular Church,” Pope Leo wrote in his message, dated December 19 and released today by the archdiocese. “In this regard, I would like to emphasize the value of the Hispano-Mozarabic liturgy that is celebrated daily.”

Pope Leo noted that the cathedral, in its eight centuries, has witnessed “the recovery of the Kingdom of Granada and the evangelization of the New World, events that have been recorded for history in the art of that cathedral.”

Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, called on religions to resists the “weaponization” of thoughts and words.

Addressing an interfaith service on January 28, Archbishop Balestrero said that “one of the most urgent services religions can offer today to a suffering humanity is to resist the rising temptation to weaponize thoughts and words. Our spiritual traditions—and right reason—call us to look beyond blood ties, ethnicity, or unilateral ambitions, beyond the reflex to divide or exclude.”

The prelate added:

And yet, how often today is the language of faith dragged into political battles, manipulated to bless nationalism and justify violence?

We who believe must actively refute these forms of blasphemy and desecration of religions—with clarity and truth, with courage, and above all, with lives that reflect what we profess. Alongside all our efforts, we must nurture the habit of prayer and defend the art of dialogue as authentic, credible, and transformative paths to peace and encounter.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, also spoke at the service, telling participants that “there is no lasting peace without justice—but there is no real justice unless the other is recognized as a person, not a tool or an obstacle.”

Addressing the bishops of central Africa, the president of the Symposium of Bishops’ Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) offered strong praise for Ecclesia in Africa (The Church in Africa), Pope St. John Paul II’s 1995 post-synodal apostolic exhortation.

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa said that “we are called to recognize that this vision is by no means outdated, but on the contrary, more urgent than ever ... Above all, it revives the urgency of the mission entrusted to us: to be artisans of reconciliation, justice, peace, and hope, in fidelity to the Gospel and in dialogue with the concrete realities of our peoples.”

The prelate then offered pastoral priorities: the formation of peacemakers, synodal pastoral governance, and prophetic social engagement.

“The Church must continue to strengthen commissions for justice and peace, promote civic education, support victims of violence, and create spaces for dialogue that contribute to reconciliation and social cohesion,” he said of the third priority.

The president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops invited bishops and priests to hold a Holy Hour for Peace in the coming days.

“Let us pray for reconciliation where there is division, for justice where there are violations of fundamental rights, and for consolation for all who feel overwhelmed by fear or loss,” Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City wrote on January 28.

Archbishop Coakley added:

While proper laws must be respected, works of mercy, peacefully assembling, and caring for those in your community are signs of hope, and they build peace more surely than anger or despair ever could ...

The recent killing of two people by immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis and that of a detained man in Texas, are just a few of the tragic examples of the violence that represent failures in our society to respect the dignity of every human life. We mourn this loss of life and deplore the indifference and injustice it represents. The current climate of fear and polarization, which thrives when human dignity is disregarded, does not meet the standard set by Christ in the Gospel.

Fielding questions from journalists, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, described violence in Minneapolis is “unacceptable” and said that “difficulties, problems, and contradictions must be resolved in other ways.”

Cardinal Parolin also hinted that the Holy See will reject President Trump’s invitation to join his Board of Peace for Gaza.

“Faced with this proposal, there were indeed problematic points that needed to be taken into consideration and that would then be evaluated in view of a response,” Cardinal Parolin said. “The response has not yet been given, but I believe one cannot forget the problematic aspects of this plan.”

Cardinal Parolin also expressed optimism about a resolution to the Greenland crisis and declined to comment about the possible presence of ICE agents at the Winter Olympics in Milan.