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Pope proposes 'culture of embrace' for Catholic Action (Vatican News)
Posted on 04/25/2024 00:04 AM (CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News)
In his remarks to the group the Pope asked them to “bear witness to everyone that the way of the embrace is the way of life.” He spoke of “first the missing embrace, then the embrace that saves, and third the embrace that changes life.”
Cardinal Parolin: no going back on Pope's reforms (Vatican News)
Posted on 04/25/2024 00:04 AM (CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News)
Cardinal Parolin offered that thought at a press conference introducing a new book about Vatican controversies by the journalist Ignazio Ingrao. In that book the author writes of “irreversible processes” of reform begun in this pontificate.
Apr. 25 Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist; Major Rogation Day, Feast
Posted on 04/25/2024 00:00 AM (Catholic Culture Liturgical Year)
US fertility rate hits all-time low (Forbes)
Posted on 04/24/2024 23:04 PM (CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News)
New data from the federal government show a rate of 1.62 births per woman in 2023. That figure, a 2% decline from the previous year, is the lowest ever recorded.
The number of births in 2023 also dropped 2% from the previous year, The 3.59 million births were the fewest since 1979.
The birth rate in the US has been declining 1 to 2% consistently over the past decade. The fertility rate is now well under the “replacement rate” of 2.1 children per woman.
Web site 'defrocks' priest generated by AI (Catholic Herald)
Posted on 04/24/2024 23:04 PM (CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News)
Early this week, Catholic Answers introduced the AI-generated character, which answers questions by drawing on the site’s archives. The experiment proved unpopular with many users, who questioned the prudence of using AI to answer serious questions of faith—and especially to invoke the authority of the priesthood. One user reported that “Father Justin” had, on request, agreed to a “virtual confession, all the way to giving me absolution and a penance.”
March for the Martyrs to Rally for Persecuted Christians with Jim Caviezel as Keynote Speaker in Washington, D.C.
Posted on 04/24/2024 19:03 PM (ChurchPOP)
A Priest Explains the Most Powerful Tool of the Devil - And How to Defeat It
Posted on 04/24/2024 14:00 PM (ChurchPOP)
Catholic Schools Fare Well in State Budget
Posted on 04/24/2024 13:37 PM (New York State Catholic Conference)
New York State’s Catholic schools will benefit from increased support under the recently enacted state budget. Governor Hochul and legislative leaders provided significant increases in several programs that serve religious and independent schools. The most notable funding increases include: $25 million increase for Health, Safety, & Security initiatives (totaling $70 million); $45 million increase in […]
The post Catholic Schools Fare Well in State Budget first appeared on New York State Catholic Conference.
Dignity for All Students Act
Posted on 04/24/2024 11:37 AM (New York State Catholic Conference)
Memorandum of Opposition Re: S3180 Hoylman-Sigal / A1829 Jean-Pierre Includes private, independent and religious schools under the provisions of the “Dignity for All Students Act” The above referenced legislation would force the state’s religious and independent schools to comply with the provisions of Chapter 482 of the Laws of 2009, despite the clear and explicit […]
The post Dignity for All Students Act first appeared on New York State Catholic Conference.
Faith, hope, love are antidote to pride, pope says at audience
Posted on 04/24/2024 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While the virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance are the marks of a righteous individual, the virtues of faith, hope and love emphasize a connection to other people fueled by belief in God and reliance on prayer, Pope Francis said.
"The Christian is never alone. He or she does good not because of a titanic effort of personal commitment, but because, as a humble disciple, he or she walks behind the master Jesus," the pope said April 24 at his weekly general audience.
Bundled up in a coat on a chilly spring morning, Pope Francis continued his audience talks about virtue, distinguishing between the "cardinal" -- meaning "hinge" -- virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, which are essential for living a righteous life, and the "theological" or New Testament virtues of faith, hope and charity.
The cardinal virtues were espoused and promoted by ancient philosophers well before the development of Christianity, the pope said. "Honesty was preached as a civic duty, wisdom as the rule for actions, courage as the fundamental ingredient for a life that tends toward the good and moderation as the necessary measure not to be overwhelmed by excesses."
Christianity, he said, did not replace that ethical heritage, but "enhanced, purified, and integrated" it with the teachings of Jesus about faith, hope and love.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, the pope noted, says the three theological virtues "are the foundation of Christian moral activity; they animate it and give it its special character. They inform and give life to all the moral virtues."
Those virtues, he said, also are "the great antidote to self-sufficiency" and prevent a good person from falling into pride.
"Pride is a poison; it is a powerful poison: one drop of it is enough to spoil an entire life marked by goodness," the pope said.
If people perform good works only "to exalt themselves, can they still call themselves virtuous? No," he said.
"Goodness is not only an end, but also a way. Goodness needs a lot of discretion, a lot of kindness," the pope said. "Above all, goodness needs to be stripped of that sometimes too unwieldy presence that is our self."
Greeting Polish pilgrims, Pope Francis noted that April 27 is the 10th anniversary of the canonization of St. John Paul II. "Looking at his life, we can see what man can achieve by accepting and developing within himself the gifts of God: faith, hope and charity."
Amid an ongoing debate about liberalizing the nation's abortion laws, Pope Francis asked Polish Catholics to "remain faithful to his legacy. Promote life and do not be deceived by the culture of death."
Expressing his ongoing concern about wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and Myanmar, Pope Francis encouraged people to ask, through the intercession of St. John Paul, "for the gift of peace to which he, as pope, was so committed."