November 20, 2024 // National

News Briefs: November 24, 2024

OSV NEWS

Pope Calls for Investigation of Possible Genocide in Gaza

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis said the international community should investigate whether Israel’s military actions in Gaza constitute genocide according to an excerpt from a recently released book. “According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of genocide. It should be investigated carefully to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies,” Pope Francis said. An excerpt from the book, “Hope Never Disappoints: Pilgrims Toward a Better World,” written with the journalist Hernán Reyes Alcaide, was published on Sunday, November 17, by Vatican News, the Italian newspaper La Stampa, and the Spanish newspaper El País. Yaron Sideman, the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, posted on X a few hours later: “There was a genocidal massacre on October 7, 2023, of Israeli citizens, and since then, Israel has exercised its right of self-defense against attempts from seven different fronts to kill its citizens. Any attempt to call it by any other name is singling out the Jewish State,” Sideman posted.

Pope: Dioceses Should Commemorate Their Own Saints Each Year

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Beginning in the Holy Year 2025, local churches worldwide will annually honor the saints, blesseds, and other holy figures connected to their communities, Pope Francis announced. “It seems important to me that all particular churches commemorate their saints and blesseds on a single date, as well as the venerables and servants of God of their respective territories,” he wrote in a letter published on Saturday, November 16. “Therefore, I urge the particular churches, beginning from the coming Jubilee of 2025, to remember and honor these figures of holiness, every year on November 9.” While all saints are celebrated on fixed dates on the liturgical calendar, the pope said that local churches should commemorate their own holy figures both within and outside the liturgy to promote “those figures who have characterized the local Christian path and spirituality.” The letter stated that pastoral guidelines to facilitate the initiative should be developed by bishops’ conferences worldwide.

Vatican Document Shaping USCCB Resources on Gender, Love, Humanity

BALTIMORE (OSV News) – Efforts to apply a Vatican document on human dignity to an American context and its “a radical emphasis on individual autonomy” are underway within three committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. On Wednesday, November 13, the U.S. bishops heard at their fall plenary assembly about resources offered by their committees on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth; Pro-Life Activities; and Catholic Education in relation to the document Dignitas Infinita, a recent declaration from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on human dignity. Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, said the committees shared these resources with “the goal of applying the lessons of Dignitas Infinita to our American society so that the Church can more effectively proclaim that “the person created in the image of God is a being at once corporeal and spiritual and is fulfilled in its vocation to divine beatitude in Jesus Christ.” Bishop Thomas A. Daly of Spokane, Washington, chair of the Catholic Education committee, emphasized the importance of Catholic educators having a sound understanding of the dignity of the human person. Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, outgoing chair of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-life Activities, expressed gratitude for the document’s emphasis on the dignity of the unborn, and highlighted resources offered by the Pro-Life Committee to inform and assist Catholics about teachings in the document.

Bishops Decry Move to Add Abortion, Same-Sex Marriage to Virginia Constitution

RICHMOND, Virginia (OSV News) – Virginia’s Catholic bishops decried a move by a Virginia House of Delegates’ committee on Wednesday, November 13, to advance proposed constitutional amendments to add a right to abortion in the state’s constitution and repeal a constitutional provision that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The move by the 22-member Privileges and Elections Committee, which included a third measure to restore the voting rights of people with felony convictions, is preliminary, and even if the amendments are ultimately passed, that process could take years. The measures were tabled last January, according to the Associated Press. “Adding a ‘right’ to abortion in Virginia’s constitution would enshrine a fundamental tragedy, not a fundamental right,” said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington and Bishop Barry C. Knestout of Richmond in a November 13 statement released by officials with the Virginia Catholic Conference. “Alarmingly, this proposed policy appears to allow virtually unlimited abortion at any stage of pregnancy.” The Virginia bishops also opposed the proposal to remove a constitutional provision protecting traditional marriage that was approved by voters in 2006. But the bishops supported the third proposal to restore the voting rights of people who served time for felony convictions, as “it reflects the teaching of faithful citizenship that each person should participate fully in the political process.”

Pope Picks Chicago Priest to Oversee Ecology Center

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis has appointed a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago to serve as administrative management director of the Laudato Si’ Center for Higher Education, which is based at the papal villa and farms at Castel Gandolfo. Father Manuel Dorantes, pastor of St. Mary of the Lake and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Chicago, will begin a four-year term at the center on Sunday, December 1, Vatican officials announced in mid-November. Pope Francis established the center in early 2023, saying he wanted “to make a tangible contribution to the development of ecological education by opening a new space for training and raising awareness,” according to officials with the Vatican City governor’s office.

Notre Dame de Paris Returns to Her Cathedral in France

PARIS (OSV News) – Mirac-ulously missed by burning beams falling from the roof on April 15, 2019, and waiting for five years to make it back to Notre Dame Cathedral, the 14th-century statue of the Virgin of Paris returned home on Friday, November 15, accompanied by thousands of Parisians praying, singing, and lighting candles as they walked their Virgin to Paris’ most iconic church, restored after the fire. Since the fire, the statue, also referred to as Virgin and Child, or the Virgin of the Pillar, has been housed near the Louvre in the Church of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, from where the procession began. With the statue being processed through the streets by truck, the procession followed along the banks of the Seine River toward the Île de la Cité, one of two Parisian islands and home to Notre Dame Cathedral. Arriving in front of the cathedral at around 7 p.m., the pilgrims were greeted by the singing of the Maîtrise Notre Dame, the cathedral’s choir. Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris blessed the original statue, with the crate carrying it opened so that it could be seen. The truck then entered the cathedral’s construction site so the original statue could be installed inside the cathedral.

Scott Warden
Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love outruns three Virgina defenders for a 4-yard touchdown run during the Irish’s victory against the Cavaliers on Saturday, November 16, at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend. The sixth-ranked Irish improved to 9-1 and have won eight straight heading into their game against No. 18 Army at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, November 23.