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News from Saint John and Beyond

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    News from Saint John and Beyond
Word on Fire
Rome Reports
Whispers in the Loggia
- For Brooklyn, “Columbus” Day Comes Early – In NY Homecoming, Pope Taps Brennan to Succeed “The Czar”
  
  In the first Stateside move of the Vatican’s new working year, the most significant opening on the current US docket is off the table… and as Mets fans can always use good news, for once they’re in...
- Amid US Bench's Communion Clash, The "Holy Office" Flashes A Red Light
  
  As some US bishops advocate levying de facto sanctions on President Biden and other Catholic politicians for their support of legal abortion, the Holy See's distinct, but veiled skepticism over a...
- "A Child Can Teach Us How To Love" – Despite COVID and Curfews, Christus Natus Est
  
  Before anything else, especially amid all the sorrows, fears, loss and disorientation of a brutal year across the globe, Buon Natale a tutti – to one and all, a Blessed Christmas... may all its light,
- "The Poor Are The Center of The Gospel" – At Vatican "Festivus," The Church's Choice: "The Docility of the Shepherds, or the Defensiveness of Herod"
  
  Fifteen years (less a day) since Benedict XVI revolutionized the Roman Pontiff's Christmas "greeting" to the leaders of his Curia – transforming the holiday pleasantry into a Pope's ultimate...
- Whether you’ve been waiting three decades or just three weeks for this, the “mountaintop” is at hand. From 4pm Rome (10am US ET), the livefeed of a Public Consistory like no other – from the Altar of...
- Fearing "Attack" On "Fundamental Values," The Bishops Warn Biden's White House
  
  As the US bishops face a moment unseen in most of their lifetimes – the nation's election of a Catholic to the Presidency – the issue of Joe Biden's faith emerged by surprise at today's public close...
- On Day Two, The "Viruses" Take Center Stage
  
  Set to begin at 1pm Eastern, this final day of a virtual – and heavily curtailed – USCCB Plenary will be underpinned by what've arguably been the two key threads of American life in 2020: the bench's...

National Catholic Register
- G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown: ‘The Foulest Crime Feels Lighter After Confession’
  
  ‘Confession’ COMMENTARY: We’re the one criminal we can catch and keep safe and sane under his own hat by repentance, and we do that especially by...
- Czech Archbishop Exhorts Synod’s Continental Assembly to Be the Salt and Light in Europe
  
  Katerina Sulova Archbishop Jan Graubner of Prague is shown Jan. 22 celebrating Mass to mark the 30th anniversary of the independent Czech Republic, in...
- Church of England Reports Synod Member to Police for Tweeting ‘Hate Speech’
  
  A church steeple is seen in Coventry, England. Sam Margarve has been a vocal critic of church leaders who want to bless homosexual unions and...
- Mexican Court Rules Against Pro-Family Leader Who Called a ‘Trans’ Woman Legislator a Man
  
  Mayte briceño - Own work The Federal Electoral Tribunal is located in Mexico City. The verdict of the Specialized Chamber against the National...
- The ‘Four Chaplains’: Selfless Heroes of World War II Honored on 80th Anniversary of Their Deaths
  
  Sean Quinn Father John Washington, a Catholic priest (pictured above); Rev. George L. Fox, a Methodist minister; Rabbi Alexander Goode; and Rev. Clark...
- Police Say Church Vandal Was About to Break Into Tabernacle — Until He Saw the Statue of Mary
  
  Logan County Sheriff's Office/Suzanne Stratford Jerrid Farnam, 32, has been charged with several felonies in connection with a violent vandalism at...
- The Papal Interview, Cardinal McElroy and Father Martin
  
  Tiziana Fabi Pope Francis addresses the media while aboard the plane from Juba to Rome on February 5, 2023 returning from the Pope's visit to Democratic...
News from the Vatican
- Francis accuses critics of ‘instrumentalizing’ death of Benedict XVI
  
  “People wanted to score points for their own side,” Francis said. "The people who instrumentalize such a good person, so close to God…those people don’t have ethics, they are people who belong to a...
- Pope taps American to head Vatican’s powerful Dicastery for Bishops
  
  Pope Francis has tapped Bishop Robert Francis Prevost, a Chicago native who currently leads the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, to take over the Dicastery for Bishops.
- In Congo, South Sudan, Pope will see the Church on the frontlines
  
  Pope Francis heads to the war-torn African nations of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan this week, where the church has long been on the frontlines of relief efforts amid war, poverty...
- Pope heads to battered Congo, South Sudan as a herald of peace
  
  Pope Francis will further cement his legacy as an advocate for the suffering and marginalized this week as he heads to Africa for the fourth time, visiting the ravaged nations of the Democratic...
- Pope’s chief of staff could undercut star witness in Vatican’s ‘trial of the century’
  
  Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra’s testimony is considered especially crucial to the defense case, since theoretically it could undercut the credibility of the star witness for the prosecution, Italian...
- Pope criticizes German reform process as ‘ideological’ and ‘made by elites’
  
  In a new, wide-ranging interview with the Associated Press, Pope Francis spoke out on several hot-button issues such as abuse and relations with China and called the ongoing ‘Synodal Path’ reform...
- Vatican, German bishops spar over proposal for new ‘Synodal Council’
  
  In the latest development amid an ongoing showdown between the Vatican and the German bishops, three top Vatican officials nixed the proposal for a new legislative body governing the church in...