Staff Reporter

Pope Francis: “I ask myself, where do hatred and vengeance lead? Do we imagine that we can build peace by destroying the ‘other’?”

In a statement released Wednesday, the USCCB laments a serious shortfall in fundraising efforts for the CCC, due largely to a “perfect storm” of increasing demands and plunging donations.

"Recognition should be given to those lay men and women who feel called by virtue of their baptism to cooperate in the work of catechesis,” says Pope Francis

The so-called “Liebe Gewinnt” (“Love Wins”) movement comes in response to a document from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which said that the Church has no power to bless “unions of persons of the same sex.”

“It is paramount,” the Council say explains, “that we do not lower our guard in adhering strictly to the wearing of masks at all times in the worship service; the washing of hands with soap or sanitization before and after the service; sanitizing of all microphones and shared material; regular sanitizing of the places of worship; adequate social distancing in the places of worship.”

In an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Paluku Sikuli Melchisédech of Butembo-Beni, in the north-eastern part of the country, says the government’s inaction in the face of the crisis is either “weakness, or it is complicity.”

Pope Francis says, "The true economy, the one that creates work, is in crisis."

In remarks following the public recitation of the Regina Coeli on Sunday, Pope Francis invited the faithful to join the Burmese Church in praying for peace by adding a Hail Mary for Myanmar during the daily recitation of the Rosary in May.

Beginning on May 10, the government will allow religious services to resume, with a limit of 50 people in attendance, regardless of the size of the worship space or whether worshippers have been vaccinated.