September 17, 2024 // National

News Briefs: September 22, 2024

OSV NEWS

Pope: Both U.S. Presidential Candidates Espouse Anti-Life Views

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM SINGAPORE (CNS) – Asked what a U.S. Catholic given a choice between voting for a person who supports abortion or one who supports closing borders and deporting migrants, Pope Francis said one must choose “the lesser evil.” “Who is the ‘lesser evil’ – that woman or that man?” the pope asked, referring to Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. “I do not know. Each person must think and decide in his or her conscience.” Pope Francis spent 45 minutes answering questions from 10 journalists on his flight on Friday, September 13, from Singapore to Rome at the end of a 12-day trip. He was asked about the four countries he visited, about sexual abuse, about his future travel plans, about the war in the Holy Land, and the Vatican’s relations with China. A U.S. television reporter asked him about the choice Catholic voters face between Harris, who supports legalized abortion, and Trump, who wants to severely restrict immigration and has said he wants to deport millions of migrants. Both attitudes “are against life: the one who wants to throw out the migrants and the one who kills children,” the pope said. “Both are against life.”

PanelExplores Dialogue’s Role in Protecting Democracy Amid Election

WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – Amid an unprecedented U.S. presidential election cycle, Catholic voters should reflect on fostering key principles of Catholic social teaching – such as respect for human life, solidarity, and the common good – through dialogue and civic engagement, panelists said at a discussion event on Wednesday, September 11, hosted by officials with the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University. Kim Daniels, director of the initiative and an adjunct professor in the Jesuit university’s department of theology and religious studies, noted that Pope Francis has recently warned about the global “retreat from democracy” and has stated that “democracy always requires the transition from partisanship to participation, from ‘cheering’ to dialogue.” She said this “very Catholic and Jesuit idea, that dialogue, engaging with others with respect, with humility across differences, can help us enrich our understanding, learn from each other, and better inform our actions.” Panelists included Echelon Insights pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson, Washington Post columnist and Georgetown public policy professor E.J. Dionne; Nichole M. Flores, a religious studies professor at the University of Virginia; and Sohrab Ahmari, a founder and editor of Compact magazine. They explored the political and religious dynamics of a tumultuous U.S. presidential election year. Ahmari said that despite some of the “partisan fury” on display, he is optimistic about the future. “I think for Catholics, we should seek to build the center, no matter which side of the aisle we’re on,” he said.

North Dakota Judge Overturns State’s Abortion Ban

BISMARCK, North Dakota (OSV News) – A North Dakota judge overturned that state’s near-total abortion ban on Thursday, September 12, ruling the state’s constitution permits abortion until viability. The near-total ban on abortion, which the state enacted after the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, was unconstitutionally vague under North Dakota’s constitution, Judge Bruce Romanick of the district court in Burleigh County wrote in the ruling, which came as part of a lawsuit filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights. North Dakota’s Attorney General Drew Wrigley said in a statement he would appeal the ruling, arguing the judge’s decision contained “flaws in his analysis.” The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death and, as such, opposes direct abortion. After the Dobbs decision, Church officials in the United States have reiterated the Church’s concern for both mother and child and called to strengthen available support for those living in poverty or other causes that can push women toward having an abortion.

March for Life Names Jennie Bradley Lichter President-Elect

WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – The March for Life Education and Defense Fund named Jennie Bradley Lichter as its new president-elect on Thursday, September 12, and that its current president, Jeanne Mancini, will leave the role next year after the organization’s 2025 event. Lichter will initially join the group, which began as an annual march in protest of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, as President-Elect and will officially assume leadership of the organization on February 1, 2025. Mancini will continue to serve on its board of directors. “The March for Life is a storied organization that for 50 years has given the pro-life movement and our nation the great gift of a massive, peaceful, joy-filled annual witness to the dignity of unborn human life,” Lichter said in a statement. Mancini, who is only the second president of the organization after its founder, Nellie Gray, said in a statement that leading the March for Life “has been the honor and opportunity of a lifetime, one for which I will be forever grateful.” The national march takes place each year on or near the anniversary of Roe. The 2025 event is scheduled for January 24.

Encountering, Following Jesus Changes Everything, Pope Francis Says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – It is not enough to know about Jesus, one must encounter Him, be changed by His Gospel, and follow Him, Pope Francis said. “I can know many things about Jesus, but if I have not encountered Him, I still do not know who Jesus is,” the pope told visitors and pilgrims who joined him in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, September 15, for the midday recitation of the Angelus prayer. “It takes this life-changing encounter, it changes one’s way of being, one’s way of thinking; it changes the relationships you have with your brothers and sisters, your willingness to accept and forgive; it changes the choices you make in life,” he said. “In reality, to know the Lord, it is not enough to know something about Him, but rather to follow Him, to let oneself be touched and changed by His Gospel. It is a matter of having a relationship with Him, an encounter,” he said. The faithful, he said, should be “bothered” by the questions and ask, “Who Jesus is for me, and what place does He occupy in my life? Do I follow Jesus only in word, continuing to have a worldly mentality, or do I set out to follow Him, allowing the encounter with Him to transform my life?” Pope Francis added, “Everything changes if you have truly come to know Jesus!”

FBI Investigates Apparent Assassination Attempt on Trump

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (OSV News) – Former President Donald J. Trump was the target of an apparent assassination attempt on Sunday, September 15, weeks after being wounded in a previous attack during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said Trump was “safe following gunshots in his vicinity” as the former president played golf at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Suspect Ryan Wesley Routh was taken into custody after fleeing the golf course in an SUV. Secret Service agents stationed ahead of Trump on the course spotted Routh hiding in shrubbery with an AK-style rifle fitted with a scope and “immediately engaged” with the suspect. The FBI is investigating the incident as an attempted assassination. In July, Trump sustained a graze wound to the ear when Thomas Matthew Crooks fired on him during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In June, Metropolitan Archbishop Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia issued a statement calling on Americans to renounce political violence and embrace peace, dialogue, and justice. “America can do so much better,” stressed the archbishop, who chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Domestic Justice and Human Development. “There is no good reason to resort to violence to resolve political issues. … Practically speaking, political violence does not ensure positive or lasting change.”

OSV News photo/Gregory A. Shemitz
People gather for a 9/11 memorial service in Point Lookout, New York, on September 11, to mark the 23-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks.