Catholic News Agency - News

Vatican City, Sep 24, 2008 / 12:52 pm (CNA).- Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, announced during Mass on the Feast of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina that Pope Benedict XVI will visit the saint?s tomb at San Giovanni Rotondo next year.

Vatican City, Sep 24, 2008 / 11:05 am (CNA).- Continuing his reflections on St. Paul, Pope Benedict XVI dedicated today's audience to Paul's relationship with the Twelve Apostles. The Pope reminded the faithful that like Paul, ?our faith is not born of a myth, nor of an idea, but of a meeting with the Risen One in the life of the Church."

Mexico City, Sep 24, 2008 / 10:34 am (CNA).- Archbishop Jose Luis Chavez Botello of Antequera-Oaxaca and his Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Campos Conteras said in a recent statement that the crisis of violence and lack of security in the country is due to the loss of values in Mexican society.

Melbourne, Sep 24, 2008 / 04:59 am (CNA).- Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, Australia is railing against a bill in the state of Victoria, which will require doctors who object to performing abortions to do so in ?emergencies,? among other anti-conscience rules. The Catholic archbishop labeled the bill "a real threat to the continued existence of Catholic hospitals.?

Sioux Falls, Sep 24, 2008 / 12:47 am (CNA).- Pro-life activists in South Dakota have launched a television ad featuring Dr. Bernard Nathanson, one of the founding members of NARAL, who calls on South Dakotans to vote to ban the use of ?abortion as birth control.?  

Mexico City, Sep 23, 2008 / 09:45 pm (CNA).- A group of pro-life and pro-family experts has warned that the upcoming summit ?Youth and Development,? which will be held in El Salvador in October, will promote so-called ?sexual and reproductive rights,? contraception, gender ideology, abortion, and a frontal attack on the family and the rights of parents to educate their children according to their convictions.

Washington DC, Sep 23, 2008 / 05:08 pm (CNA).- Cardinal Justin Rigali, the chairman of the U.S. Bishops? Committee on Pro-Life Activities, has written a letter to the U.S. Congress to alert them that the Freedom of Choice Act would undermine bipartisan efforts to reduce abortions and make abortion on demand a "national entitlement."

Madrid, Sep 23, 2008 / 04:18 pm (CNA).- The Bishops? Conference of Spain has condemned the terrorist attack attributed to the Basque separatist group ETA, which took place Monday morning in the town of Santona, claiming the life of one person and leaving 10 others injured.  The bishops also expressed their closeness and solidarity with the victims and their family members.

Bogotá, Sep 23, 2008 / 02:24 pm (CNA).- The president of the Bishops? Conference of Colombia, Bishop Ruben Salazar Gomez has issued a statement about the efforts to regulate euthanasia in the country and warned that it is ?contrary to ethics and socially disorienting to pass legislation regarding the suppression of innocent human lives.?

Lima, Sep 23, 2008 / 12:30 pm (CNA).- The Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, said this week the financial crisis in the United States and the rest of the world is a consequence of the idolatry of money and power.

Vatican City, Sep 10, 2008 / 10:32 am (CNA).- This coming Friday, Pope Benedict XVI will fly from Rome to Paris, thereby commencing his first visit as Pope to France. In anticipation of the visit, the Holy Father has penned a message to the nation lauding its strong tradition of faith and culture.

Vatican City, Sep 10, 2008 / 09:59 am (CNA).- Speaking to 9,000 pilgrims gathered at the Paul VI Hall this morning, Pope Benedict reflected on St. Paul as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Though he did not belong to the group of the Twelve that Jesus called during his ministry, Paul nevertheless claims the title for himself, he explained.

San Diego, Sep 10, 2008 / 07:51 am (CNA).- A federal judge ruled on Friday that a San Diego high school teacher has a free speech right to display patriotic banners in his classroom with messages such as ?God Bless America,? ?In God We Trust,? and ?One Nation Under God.? School officials had ordered the banners removed on the grounds they promoted a ?Judeo-Christian? viewpoint.

Rome, Sep 10, 2008 / 05:17 am (CNA).- Bishop Alex Dias of the Diocese of Port Blair in India?s Andaman and Nicobare islands has charged that the Indian government is not doing enough to halt the anti-Christian violence in the state of Orissa. Speaking in an interview, the bishop warned that the violence could spread if it is not halted in time, saying ?The world must know that these things happen in India.?

Port au Prince, Sep 10, 2008 / 02:52 am (CNA).- Caritas Haiti, the local branch of the Catholic pastoral charity Caritas International, has provided relief aid to Haiti after the passage of Hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike left hundreds dead and 600,000 people in need of aid. Caritas Haiti staff in Gonaïves, one of the worst-hit cities, report that the situation is bleak, with the director general of the organization saying it is ?desperate.?

Hanoi, Sep 10, 2008 / 01:13 am (CNA).- Amid ongoing demonstrations held by Vietnamese Catholics who seek to recover confiscated church properties, the Vietnamese government has accused the Archbishop of Hanoi of inciting the protests. Meanwhile, Vietnam Police Generals have threatened to punish anyone who ?incites protests? or writes and distributes articles relating to Catholic protests on the internet.

Valparaiso, IN, Sep 9, 2008 / 11:05 pm (CNA).- In December of 2005 an op-ed piece by sociologist Dalton Conley appeared in the New York Times, stating that ?most Americans... see a fetus as an individual under construction.? This widespread vision of the embryo and fetus as ?under construction? is the key to understanding why good people may find pro-life arguments to be absurd or otherwise non-rational...

San José, Sep 9, 2008 / 09:32 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Hugo Barrantes Urena of San Jose in Costa Rica has called on the country?s lawmakers to defend the institution of marriage and not go ?against correct reason? by approving same-sex marriage.

Washington DC, Sep 9, 2008 / 04:56 pm (CNA).- Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen. Joseph Biden drew fire on Tuesday for his remarks claiming that Republicans? pledged support for parents raising children with developmental disabilities or birth defects should drive them to support stem cell research.

Lima, Sep 9, 2008 / 04:32 pm (CNA).- The Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, publicly forgave those who attacked him last week for his homily in which he said human rights are not the property ?of a small ideological group.?