Catholic News

• 'To cry out, to walk, to give thanks': Pope Francis canonizes John Henry Newman, 4 other blesseds (Vatican Press Office)
  The five canonized during a Mass in St. Peter’s Square (video) are St. John Henry Newman (English cardinal, 1801-1890, works); St. Giuseppina Vannini (Italian, 1859-1911), virgin, foundress of the Daughters of Saint Camillus; St. Mariam Thresia Chiramel (Indian, Syro-Malabar, 1876-1926), virgin, foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family; St. Irmã Dulce Pontes (Brazilian Franciscan sister, 1914-1992), virgin; and St. Marguerite Bays (Swiss, Secular Franciscan Order, 1815-1879), virgin.
• Pope appeals for dialogue for Syria following Turkish invasion (Zenit)
  “My thought goes once again to the Middle East, in particular, to the beloved and martyred Syria, from which tragic news arrives again on the fate of the populations of the northeast of the country, constrained to abandon their homes because of the military actions: among these populations, there are also many Christian families,” Pope Francis said following his October 13 Sunday Angelus address. “To all the actors involved and also to the international community, please, I renew the appeal to be sincerely committed, with honesty and transparency, to the path of dialogue to seek effective solutions.”
• Synod fathers discuss women deacons, ordination of married men to priesthood (Vatican News)
  “It was also suggested that the Synod could lay the foundation for this new step forward in faith in the Holy Spirit which must be stronger than the fear of making a mistake,” the Vatican said in its synopsis of synod discussions on October 12.
• Prince Charles pays tribute to St. John Henry Newman (L'Osservatore Romano)
  The English cardinal “bridges the divisions between traditions,” the Prince of Wales wrote in an article that appeared in the Vatican newspaper on the eve of Newman’s canonization.
• Advocates urge Trump not to desert Christians, Yazidis, Kurds in Syria (CNS)
  President Trump’s recent decision to move US troops from northeastern Syria “undercuts our own trust that this administration is truly committed to international religious freedom and the survival of religious minorities in the Middle East,” dozens of religious freedom advocacy organizations said in a letter.
• Synod press briefing: bishops speak of challenge of understanding Church discipline (Vatican News)
  Bishop Adriano Ciocca Vasino (Brazil) said that the traditional seminary is not sufficient; Bishop Rafael Cob Garcia (Ecuador) added that in the Amazon basin, there is a “difficulty understanding disciplinary norms of the Catholic Church, including celibacy.”
• Listen to the cry of Hong Kong's citizens, Cardinal Tong urges government (AsiaNews)
  Cardinal John Tong Hon, 80, was Hong Kong’s bishop from 2009 to 2017, and is currently apostolic administrator following the death of his successor.
• 60 million girls missing because of selective abortions in India (AsiaNews)
  “In our country, 50,000 babies are aborted every month for one reason: they are girls instead of boys,” said Tehmina Arora, Director of ADF (Alliance Defending Freedom) India.
• Mexico City's cardinal sees integral ecology as Church's response to the cry of the poor (Vatican News)
  Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, Mexico City’s archbishop since 2018, spoke at the synod press briefing on October 11. Other participants in the press briefing discussed ecological sins, slavery, women’s participation in the synod, and the desire for the Word of God.
• Pope calls for peace in Ecuador (Zenit)
  Following attacks on government buildings, the nation’s president ordered the army onto the streets of Quito, the nation’s capital.
• Syro-Malabar prelate warns of declining birth rate, lack of marriage prospects for Christian men (New Indian Express)
  The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church (CNEWA profile), an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See, is based in the southwestern Indian state of Kerala (map). The word “lakh” in the article means 100,000.
• Fostering an abiding sacramental presence in Amazon is key synod theme, San Diego bishop says (National Catholic Register)
  Pope Francis appointed Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego as a participant in the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region.
• Pontifical academy hosts symposium on dignity and the future of work (Pontfical Academy of Social Sciences)
  “Dignity and the Future of Work in the age of the 4th Industrial Revolution” is the theme of the two-day symposium organized by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
• Bishops, religious discuss Church's missionary work in the Amazon (Vatican News)
  The comments were made during the October 10 press briefing at the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region.
• Papal prayers for victims of attack on German synagogue (Vatican News)
  Two people were killed, and three were injured, in the Halle and Landsberg attacks on Yom Kippur.
• Reforms have 'completely renewed' the Vatican Bank, its president says in 1st interview (Vatican News)
  Since 2014, Jean-Baptiste Douville de Franssu (background) has been president of the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), colloquially known as the Vatican Bank.
• Brazilian bishop says infanticide in Amazon 'shocking' but largely eliminated by Church (National Catholic Register)
  An Amazonian chief, Jonas Marcolino Macuxí, said recently “that infanticide is still practiced, and that it had been dying out until liberation theologians arrived in the region in the 1970s,” according to the report.
• Vatican's Secetary of State calls for support for Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (Holy See Mission)
  Cardinal Pietro Parolin spoke at a recent UN conference on the 1996 treaty, which cannot enter into force until it is ratified by China, Israel, North Korea, the United States, and four other nations.
• Apostolic visitation: Brooklyn bishop interviews more than 30 people in Diocese of Buffalo (Western New York Catholic)
  Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, said recently that Pope Francis desires a total investigation of the troubled New York diocese.
• Insurer: no coverage for Buffalo diocese in cover-up cases (WKBW)
  The insurance company that provides coverage for the Buffalo (New York) diocese has said that it will not handle payments for sex-abuse settlements if the diocese concealed evidence of the abuse. Continental Insurance argued in court filings that its coverage is for “accidents” and not for “a decades-long pattern of covering up allegations of abuse.”
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