September 4, 2024 // National

News Briefs: September 8, 2024

OSV NEWS

Bishops Decry Workers’ Struggles in Labor Day Message

WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – Labor Day marks a time to “recommit ourselves to building together a society that honors the human dignity of all who labor,” said two U.S. Catholic bishops in a joint statement ahead of the national civic holiday, which was held this year on Monday, September 2. “Our faith calls us to pray, work, and advocate for protections that allow all laborers to thrive,” said Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, who respectively chair the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development and Committee on Migration. Citing Scripture, Catholic social teaching, and papal encyclicals, the two bishops pointed to the Church’s “long history of proclaiming the essential role labor plays in helping people to live out their human dignity” as children of God. Yet the bishops noted that dignity is threatened by a number of factors, including low wages, declining union representation, lack of protection for immigrant laborers, and the erosion of child labor laws. “We know it does not have to be this way,” they said. Amid such threats to human dignity, the Catholic Church “offers a vision for the future that does not require our society to choose between a thriving economy, economic justice, dignified conditions for all workers, and safeguarding the most vulnerable among us,” they said, adding, “Let us strive without ceasing to protect the sacredness of human life and together build a society that respects and uplifts each person’s human dignity.”

Pope Calls for Cease-Fire as Israeli-American Found Dead in Gaza

JERUSALEM (OSV News) – In what was a devastating Sunday morning for hostage families, Israeli officials said on September 1 that the country had recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose parents became outspoken global advocates for all hostages to be released. The military confirmed all six had been killed shortly before the arrival of Israeli forces, the Associated Press reported. All six bodies were discovered in a Gaza tunnel with gunshot wounds. Pope Francis, in his September 1 Angelus prayer, said: “I once again turn my thoughts with concern to the conflict in Palestine and Israel, which risks spreading to other Palestinian cities. I appeal for the negotiations to continue and for an immediate cease-fire, the release of hostages, and relief to the people of Gaza, where many diseases are also spreading.”

Bishops: Eucharist Can Recommit Faithful to Care of Creation

WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – A “true Eucharistic experience” recommits the faithful to the care of God’s creation, said two U.S. Catholic bishops in a joint message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. The annual observance, which takes place annually on September 1 and which began among the various Orthodox churches, was endorsed by Pope Francis in 2015. In June, the pope announced the theme for this year’s day of prayer would be “Hope and Act with Creation.” That message “resonates deeply with the Catholic community” in the United States, which “continues to experience the joy” of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress held in Indianapolis in July, wrote Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Archeparchy of Philadelphia, Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, Chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace. The two bishops released a reflection on the centrality of the Eucharist in redeeming humankind and the creation with which it has been divinely entrusted. The bishops stressed that “we are not left to our own devices” in healing the ravages of environmental exploitation or the ravages of sin on the human condition as a whole, since “God is with us.” Rebuilding a broken world “can only happen in continuity with the first edifice, which has Jesus Christ as the cornerstone, the rock that holds everything together,” said the bishops.

Carmelites find St. Teresa of Ávila’s Body Still Incorrupt

ALBA DE TORMES, Spain (OSV News) – The silver coffin of St. Teresa of Ávila was opened in Alba de Tormes on Wednesday, August 28, and it was confirmed that her body has remained incorrupt since her death in 1582. The opening of the Spanish nun’s tomb marks the beginning of a study of her relics, which will be carried out by Italian doctors and scientists with the approval of the Vatican. The last opening of St. Teresa’s coffin happened in 1914, 110 years ago. The Spanish Diocese of Ávila now wants to obtain canonical recognition of the relics from Rome. According to the announcement made by the Postulator General of the Discalced Carmelite Order, Father Marco Chiesa, those present at the scene were able to see that “it is in the same condition as when it was last opened in 1914.” St. Teresa, one of the great mystics of the Catholic Church, began the Carmelite reform, which restored and emphasized the contemplative character of Carmelite life. St. Teresa was named a Doctor of the Church in 1970.

Study: Shroud Bloodstains Are ‘Consistent’ with Wounds of Christ

TURIN, Italy (OSV News) – A study published in July revealed that a new analysis of the Shroud of Turin, including the composition and a microscopic analysis of bloodstains, shows that the marks are consistent with the tortures endured by Christ as described in the Gospels. The study, titled “New Insights on Blood Evidence from the Turin Shroud Consistent with Jesus Christ’s Tortures,” stated that the presence of creatinine particles with ferritin, which are often a by-product of muscle contractions, “confirms, at a microscopic level, the very heavy torture suffered by Jesus of the [Holy Shroud of Turin].” The new study was written by Giulio Fanti, associate professor of Mechanical and Thermal Measurements at the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Padua. According to his personal website, Fanti has studied and written about the famed burial cloth since 2004.

The Earth Needs of Prayers and Action, Pope Says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Earth is ailing, and it needs the prayers of Catholics as well as their personal commitment to caring for creation, Pope Francis said. “Let us pray that each of us listen with our hearts to the cry of the Earth and of the victims of environmental disasters and climate change, making a personal commitment to care for the world we inhabit,” the pope said in a video message released on Friday, August 30, by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network. The network posts a short video of the pope offering his specific prayer intention each month, and members of the network pray for that intention each day. Pope Francis’ intention for September is “For the cry of the Earth,” which coincides with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, celebrated on September 1, and its inauguration of the monthlong “Season of Creation.”

Pope Francis stops to pray before the tomb of St. Monica in the Rome basilica named for her son, St. Augustine, on the feast of St. Monica, Aug. 17, 2024. (CNS photo/Vatican press office) Editors: best quality available.