Catholic News

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=281581&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Seattle, Wash., Jan 8, 2025 / 21:58 pm (CNA).

A raging wildfire in the Pacific Palisades sector of Los Angeles has destroyed Corpus Christi Catholic Church and forced the closure of 65 Catholic schools, archdiocesan officials said. 

An image shared by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles shows the church reduced to a steel frame. Announcing the "terrible sad news of our Church" on Corpus Christi's website, Father Liam Kidney indicated that "the priests are safe with family and friends."

Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez urged prayers on social media, writing, "Please keep praying for all those suffering in the wildfires sweeping through Southern California. My heart goes out to our neighbors who have lost their homes and livelihoods."

In addition to Corpus Christi, there may be about four more parishes that are threatened and are either under an evacuation order or warning, Fr. Andrew Hedstrom, associate pastor at St. Linus Catholic Church in Norwalk, California, wrote on X.

Paul Escala, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese, attributed the string of school closures to evacuation orders, power outages, poor air quality, and staff displacement. "We are in nearly every neighborhood across all three counties," he told CNA. 

"Some neighborhoods have been completely wiped out, and yet we have really only one parish church that has reported catastrophic loss." Escala identified that site as Corpus Christi, a 1950s-era church in an affluent neighborhood between Santa Monica and Malibu.

The status of the parish school remains unclear. "Buildings, including the library and gymnasium, have been reported to have suffered significant damage," Escala said. "But the school itself, we have not verified that it has been a complete loss." 

Access is restricted to first responders and select media. "It's too early to know," Escala added. "Law enforcement has restricted entry, and once it's declared safe, we'll be able to assess the extent of the damage."

Escala stressed that the archdiocese is working to support displaced families. "Our focus is on our families and our parishioners," he said. "We're going to work very closely with those families of students and our staff to identify alternative schools if the area is not deemed safe for use and/or the buildings are no longer functional."

Pablo Kay, editor in chief of Angelus, the official news outlet of the Archdiocese, said the neighborhood "has been close to being wiped out" according to fire crews and local news reports. 

"So what we know is that the church burned," he noted. "Whether anything was spared in the sanctuary—we probably won't know for several days." Kay added that reports of damage to a classroom or other parts of the school remain unconfirmed.

The Los Angeles Fire Department estimates the blaze at nearly 16,000 acres, with around 300 structures destroyed. As of Wednesday evening, the Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, and Hurst Fire were at zero percent containment.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=281579&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 8, 2025 / 18:20 pm (CNA).

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, in a letter addressed to clergy, religious, and faithful announced the launch of a multiyear "pastoral conversion" plan for the archdiocese based on the framework proposed by the final document produced by the Synod on Synodality.

"Pastoral conversion requires nothing more or less than our willingness to be open to what God's word is saying to us and to listen to one another," Tobin wrote, adding: "The term that best describes the journey that we are traveling together now is 'synodality.'"

Following a multiyear process of the Synod on Synodality, which began in 2021, Pope Francis adopted the final document, "For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission," in October 2024.

The 52-page document, approved by 355 synod members in attendance, outlines substantial proposals for Church renewal, including expansion of women's leadership roles, greater lay participation in decision-making, and significant structural reforms, including strengthening pastoral councils at parish and diocesan levels.

"Synodal leadership affirms the fact that every baptized person has the right and the responsibility to participate in the Church's life and ministry," Tobin wrote.

"The same is true of our ecclesial structures," the archbishop said of Newark's parishes, schools, institutions, and ministries.

Quoting the Holy Father's first apostolic exhortation in 2013, which states "We cannot leave things as they presently are," Tobin declared: "We must allow the Holy Spirit to renew us, as individuals and as communities, so that we can effectively carry the joy of the Gospel to others here at home and to the ends of the earth."

Following the directive of the final document, the initiative, titled "We Are His Witnesses," proposes a series of recommendations for structural changes to be implemented across the archdiocese in the coming years.

In the first place, Tobin revealed that he has instructed all parishes across the archdiocese to establish "fully functioning pastoral and finance councils" by July. At this time, the archbishop also said he expects all parish leaders to have completed training in "the synodal style of leadership with a missionary outlook."

Tobin also shared that pastors have been asked to find ways to lead their congregations in "reflecting on what it means to be a 'shared parish'" through small groups "based on the word of God," while parishes across the archdiocese have been asked to "be open to new alliances with other parishes," regardless of size or location.

"I want to make it clear that We Are His Witnesses is not a project with a hidden agenda for closing or consolidating parishes, schools, or other institutions," Tobin noted in the letter. "We have something very different in mind, namely the pastoral conversion of our hearts and minds to prepare us, as an archdiocese, for the work of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ now and in the future."

The initiative has been entrusted to auxiliary Bishop Michael Saporito, who is expected to lead the newly-founded Commission on Pastoral Planning, a group of lay faithful, clergy, and religious, in presenting a comprehensive pastoral plan for Newark by the summer of 2026.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=281577&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Vatican City, Jan 8, 2025 / 12:35 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis used his first general audience of the year to address the scourge of exploitation and violence against children, urging Christians worldwide not to remain indifferent to their pain and suffering.

Putting a spotlight on the "scourge of child labor," the Holy Father lamented that there are "too many children forced to work" who are unable to smile, dream, or nurture their talents.

"In every part of the globe, there are children who are exploited by an economy that does not respect life, an economy that, in so doing, consumes our greatest store of hope and love," he said on Wednesday.

Speaking to hundreds of international pilgrims gathered inside the Paul VI Hall in Vatican City, the pope said society — especially Christians "who recognize themselves as children of God" — must not turn a blind eye to the plight of vulnerable children. 

"[Christians] cannot accept that our little sisters and brothers, instead of being loved and protected, are robbed of their childhood, of their dreams, victims of exploitation and marginalization," he said.

In spite of great technological advancements, the Holy Father said, such progress has often disregarded the dignity of children, "who are a gift from God," and failed to address their current and future needs. 

"Today we want to turn our gaze toward Mars or toward virtual worlds, but we struggle to look in the eye a child who has been left at the margins and who is exploited or abused," he said.

"The century that generates artificial intelligence and plans multiplanetary existences has not yet reckoned with the scourge of humiliated, exploited, mortally wounded childhood," he continued.

Before extending his greetings to different pilgrim groups from around the world, the pope prayed: "Let us ask the Lord to open our minds and hearts to care and tenderness, and for every boy and every girl in the world to be able to grow in age, wisdom, and grace, receiving and giving love."

Pope praises CircAfrica for its 'mission' to do good

At the end of the pope's first general audience since the opening of the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, 50 members of CirCAfrica, a circus company currently on tour in Rome, performed a short extract from their show for the pope and pilgrims inside the Paul VI Hall.

Praising circus artists' mission of "doing good and making us laugh," the Holy Father, who was seen tapping his feet to the music during the show, thanked the dancers, acrobats, and jugglers from various African nations for making him and others "laugh like children." 

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=281576&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Lima Newsroom, Jan 8, 2025 / 14:40 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has announced the launch of its annual collection in support of the Church's mission in different areas of Central and South America as well as the Caribbean.

"With the support of parishioners like you, the collection for the Church in Latin America helps countless poor and marginalized people experience God's love and share it with their neighbors," said Bishop Daniel H. Mueggenborg of Reno, Nevada, the chairman of the USCCB's Committee on National Collections, in a Jan. 7 statement. 

The prelate also recalled the example of Blessed Stanley Rother, a priest from Oklahoma whom he met in 1981 and who was later martyred in Guatemala while dedicating his life to serving Latin American Catholics most in need.

"Blessed Stanley Rother ministered in Guatemala, even in the face of great danger because God had called him to love and care for Latin Americans in need. Father Rother's ministry to the poor threatened the interests of powerful people and it ultimately led to his death," the bishop said.

Mueggenborg shared that this heroic testimony "helped to inspire my own priestly vocation and my sense of solidarity with Catholics in Latin America." 

"The Collection for the Church in Latin America is an opportunity for all of us to answer that same call. It may not cost us our lives, but a financial sacrifice, even a small one, will go toward impacting the lives of many," the prelate encouraged.

U.S. Church aid by the numbers

Last year, the collection raised $6.2 million, which went to more than 250 ministries in places where the Church cannot sustain itself without outside help, the USCCB said.

More than half of the funds were used to cover pastoral needs, about 28% went to disaster relief, and about 20% supported vocations and the formation of clergy and religious.

The following are examples of some of the projects that benefited from the collection:

— In Haiti, 330 lay leaders were trained in Catholic social teaching on ecology, combined with practices to improve soil and water, and reforestation to prevent erosion.

— In Honduras, the Diocese of Choluteca received support to serve migrants from Latin America, Asia, and Africa as part of a program that integrates evangelizing the poor with respect and social sensitivity.

— In the Dominican Republic, 18 young women who joined the Poor Clares are receiving support as they pray for the world from their cloistered convent. 

— In Ecuador, the International Eucharistic Congress, held in September 2024 with participants from 40 countries in attendance, was subsidized.

— In Brazil, the Archdiocese of San Salvador de Bahía implemented a social program that included converting cooking oil into cheap fuel and a World Day of the Poor festival with food, music, and a Eucharistic procession through impoverished neighborhoods.

Many dioceses will be taking up this collection the weekend of Jan. 25-26. It's also possible to contribute online at #iGiveCatholicTogether.

This story was first publishedby ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=281571&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

ACI Prensa Staff, Jan 8, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has marked another milestone in his pontificate by appointing, for the first time in the history of the Catholic Church, a woman to head a Vatican dicastery. She is Italian nun Sister Simona Brambilla, the new prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Brambilla, who will turn 60 on March 27, had been serving as secretary of the same dicastery since October 2023. At that time, she was the second woman to hold such a position, after Sister Alessandra Smerilli was appointed to the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in 2021.

Moreover, just last month, on Dec. 13, 2024, Brambilla was appointed by the pope to be a member of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod, which "is responsible for the preparation and realization of the Ordinary General Assembly" of the Synod of Bishops.

Regarding this appointment, the Italian nun said: "I deeply believe in the synodal journey. We have lived and are living an experience of the Spirit, which impels the Church to walk together, in mutual listening and mutual edification. From this experience there is no going back."

"We go forward; and we go inward, deeper, involved and caught up in a spiral movement that, with strength and gentleness, brings us to the essentials of who we are as Christians: brothers and sisters in Christ, lightened, disarmed, and freed from the various armors and vestments we may be wearing," she added. 

A few years earlier, in July 2019, Brambilla and six other women became the first members of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Brambilla, who as secretary oversaw the apostolic visitation to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and the suppression of the Carmelite Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas, served for 13 years as superior general of the Consolata Missionaries.

She joined the congregation in 1988 and was sent to Mozambique as a missionary. The nun was also the order's first general councillor. This experience allowed her to write a thesis on evangelization and inculturation in the African country and to obtain a doctorate in psychology in 2008 at the Gregorian Institute of Psychology, where she also taught.

The nun is also a professional nurse, practicing at the hospital in Merate, Italy.

In October 2023, in an interview with ACI Stampa, CNA's Italian-language news partner, the nun shared that "the experience of fruitful contact with different realities, peoples, cultures, particular Churches, forms of Consecrated Life in Africa, America, Asia, and Europe has transformed me and strengthened in me the awareness that the encounter with others is a source of growth, of exchange of gifts, of grace" with the call to "sow the Gospel" and make it germinate everywhere.

What can be done to renew consecrated life?

In that interview, Brambilla answered the question on what can be done to renew consecrated life as follows: "I feel the need and desire to study with those who have much more knowledge and wisdom than me and who have long offered their skills and their energies of mind, heart, and soul to accompany the paths of consecrated men and women in different fields."

In this way, she continued, she will be able to help others better, also considering the importance of listening to "everyone, their various experiences and paths, is a fundamental step to let the Spirit guide us, to open our hearts, our inner senses to his light… so that he may show us his ways, to walk with them together."

The nun also highlighted the importance of "littleness" when questioned about the lack of vocations in the Church, offering as a point of reference a speech by Pope Francis in September 2022 in Kazakhstan.

Brambilla quoted, among others, the following passage: "the Gospel says that being 'little,' poor in spirit, is a blessing, the first beatitude, because smallness humbly gives us the power of God and leads us to not base our ecclesial activity on our own capacities. This is a grace! I repeat: There is a hidden grace in being a small Church."

In January 2024, the new prefect gave an interview to the Italian bishops' newspaper Avvenire in which she said that her appointment as secretary of the Dicastery for Consecrated Life "finds its place within an ecclesial path that is increasingly synodal, open, inclusive, dialogical, and evangelical" and in which she noted what Pope Francis had said in his homily on Jan. 1 a year ago.

"The Church needs Mary in order to recover her own feminine face, to resemble more fully the woman, Virgin and Mother, who is her model and perfect image, to make space for women and to be 'generative' through a pastoral ministry marked by concern and care, patience and maternal courage," the pope said at that time in the excerpt cited by the nun.

Asked whether her appointment would "demasculinize" the Catholic Church, the new prefect emphasized that "this is a reflection to be continued and expanded by everyone but also to be translated into an effective practice that certainly passes through a greater participation of women at the various levels of the life of the Church."

It also requires "a careful study of the feminine dimension of the Church and of the mission in the broadest sense: models and dynamics of thought, affection, sensitivity, spirituality, action, mission that embody the two vital dimensions, the feminine and the masculine, and take into account the necessary, beneficial, and blessed interaction between the two."

Despite the questions it may have raised, Brambilla's appointment does not contradict Church teaching. Although the ministerial priesthood is reserved for men, the Church recognizes the equal dignity and complementarity of men and women.

Pope Francis has emphasized the need for a "more incisive female presence in the Church" and this appointment is a step in that direction. Brambilla's appointment does not entail sacramental functions reserved for the priesthood but rather an administrative and pastoral leadership role that reflects the richness of the gifts and abilities that women bring to the Church, as demonstrated by the long history of influential women in Catholicism.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=281568&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

CNA Staff, Jan 8, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

As states continue to legislate on abortion in the post-Roe v. Wade landscape, a major point of contention as a new presidential administration takes office is the two-drug medication abortion regimen, commonly referred to as the abortion pill.

Abortions done via medication, also called chemical abortions, currently account for about half of the abortions that are done in the United States every year. However, many states restrict the use of abortion pills, specifically the first drug in the two-drug regimen, mifepristone.

Take a look at the map below to see where abortion pills are legal, and where they aren't:

At the federal level, mifepristone is approved to abort an unborn child up to 10 weeks' gestation, having been first approved for such use in 2000. 

The drug kills the child by blocking the hormone progesterone, which cuts off the child's supply of oxygen and nutrients. A second pill, misoprostol, is taken between 24 to 48 hours after mifepristone to induce contractions and expel the child's body.

Several states, most of which have some pro-life laws in place, have also passed restrictions on abortion pills designed to protect women, including requirements that only physicians may dispense them. These states include Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Utah.

A large number of states — most of them concentrated in a contiguous cluster in the South and Midwest — ban abortion in most cases but provide exceptions in cases where the life of the mother is at risk or in the cases of rape, incest, or fetal anomaly. In these states, access to abortion pills is likely to be very limited or prohibited entirely. 

States with total bans on abortion pills include Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas. 

However, just because these states have bans on abortion pills in place does not mean the drugs are not accessible; women in those states can still receive them in the mail. Under then-President Donald Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the FDA was given the ability to distribute the drug via mail. The administration of President Joe Biden eventually solidified the practice as a norm in 2023.

A group of state attorneys general, led by Missouri, are currently suing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over its deregulation of the drug, arguing that abortion drugs have been "flooding states like Missouri and Idaho [where abortion is otherwise regulated] and sending women in these states to the emergency room."

In addition, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recently filed a lawsuit against an abortionist in New York alleging that she illegally provided abortion drugs to a woman in Texas, which killed the unborn child and caused serious health complications for the mother.

President-elect Trump has committed to keeping abortion pills accessible during his second term — a major disappointment for pro-life advocates, who have urged Trump to use the FDA's power to enforce a Comstock Act prohibition on the delivery of "obscene" and "vile" products through the mail, which includes the delivery of anything designed to produce an abortion.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=281567&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 8, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The large majority of parents, including most Catholic parents, are against school policies that impose gender ideology by permitting biological males in girls' spaces and hiding information about a child's gender identity from his or her parents, according to a poll released this week.

A poll of 1,000 parents throughout the country, commissioned by the nonprofit group Parents Defending Education (PDE), found that more than three-fourths of parents across ideological and political lines oppose school policies that allow biological males who identify as transgender girls to participate in girls' sports teams or access female bathrooms and locker rooms.

Nearly three-fourths of Catholic parents surveyed also oppose biological males on girls' sports teams and nearly 60% oppose biological males using girls' locker rooms and bathrooms, which was slightly lower than the general population polled.

The poll found that about three-fourths of parents oppose school policies that encourage or require teachers, counselors, school nurses, and coaches to hide a child's gender identity information from parents in certain circumstances if their child begins to identify as transgender. This includes nearly three-fourths of Catholic parents.

Such policies often prevent officials from notifying parents about their child identifying as transgender without first obtaining express consent from the child.

According to the poll, about 90% of parents want schools to focus on core subjects such as math, reading, writing, science, and social studies. Slightly more than half of parents want to reduce the influence of the United States Department of Education and slightly less than half of parents believe the department is appropriately using resources to advance students' education.

"These results highlight that parents are dissatisfied with a number of elements of the modern American education system — and that there is broad-based consensus that it's time for schools to get back to basics," PDE President Nicole Neily, a Catholic mother of two school-age children, said in a statement.

"For far too long, federal bureaucrats have sacrificed the needs of students and families in order to appease unions' and activists' insatiable demands for money and power," Neily added.

Disconnect between politicians, school officials, and parents

The poll found bipartisan opposition to schools enforcing gender ideology through these policies among parents. Yet, unity among parents has not led to bipartisan agreement within the federal government, state governments, or local school boards.

According to the poll, 86% of Republican parents, 80% of politically independent parents, and 60% of Democratic parents oppose biological males in girls' sports. It also found that 92% of Republicans, 75% of independents, and 58% of Democrats oppose biological males being permitted in female bathrooms and locker rooms.

About 88% of Republican parents, 72% of independent parents, and 58% of Democratic parents are also opposed to school policies that encourage or require teachers, nurses, coaches, and other school officials to hide information from parents if their child self-identifies with a gender that is inconsistent with his or her biological sex.

Despite bipartisan agreement among parents, about half of the states in the country permit biological males to participate in girls' athletic competitions and to access female locker rooms, bathrooms, dormitories, and other private spaces when those males self-identify as transgender girls. These policies exist in states run by mostly Democratic lawmakers.

As of Oct. 30, 2024, PDE also found at least 1,143 school districts — which operate nearly 21,000 schools and serve more than 12.2 million children — have policies that encourage or require school officials to hide information from parents in certain circumstances if their child begins to identify as a gender inconsistent with his or her sex. 

The list is incomplete, but the PDE encourages parents to report those policies to their organization for schools missing from the list.

In April 2023, California became the first state to impose a law that forces teachers and other school officials to hide a child's self-described transgender identity from parents in certain circumstances, which has prompted lawsuits challenging the policy.

At the federal level, President Joe Biden's Education Department revised Title IX regulations to redefine sex discrimination to apply to a person's self-asserted "gender identity" in schools, colleges, and other educational institutions. The enforcement of this policy has been blocked by judges for 26 states after Republican state officials filed lawsuits warning that the language would overrule their policies that separate athletics, bathrooms, and locker rooms on the basis of biological sex.

Neily told CNA that school districts often impose the policy of hiding information from parents "under the guise of safety" when officials believe the parents will not support a child's self-asserted transgender identity.

However, Neily said, school employees are already mandatory reporters and are obligated to notify Child Protective Services (CPS) if they believe a child is in danger, which can then be investigated by CPS. The policy of hiding information from parents, she said, allows school officials to make a "unilateral decision" that parents are unsafe. She expressed concern about "those kinds of snap judgments."

One reason for the disconnect between officials and parents, according to Neily, is that "many parents aren't aware that these policies are in place" and some parents do not "have the time or the bandwidth or the wherewithal to even know to ask these kinds of questions."

Neily expressed optimism that the incoming President-elect Donald Trump administration can reverse the Biden-era policies at the federal level and recognize that "families and parents are stakeholders" rather than simply considering "activists and teacher's unions."

Trump has promised to take executive action on Day 1 to stop what he calls "transgender lunacy."

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=281561&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Sao Paulo, Brazil, Jan 7, 2025 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

The oldest human being in the world is Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas, a 116-year-old nun from the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul who was born on May 27, 1908.

Sister Inah became the oldest person in the world after the Dec. 29, 2024, death of Tomiko Itooka, a Japanese woman who was 16 days older than Inah. LongeviQuest, a group of researchers specializing in mapping people who are over 100 years old, confirmed the nun is now the world's oldest person.

"It's a source of great pride for the Canabarro Lucas family," her nephew Cleber Vieira Canabarro Lucas, 84, told ACI Digital, CNA's Portuguese-language news partner, on Jan. 6.

In March 2024, Sister Inah told ACI Digital that one of the secrets of her longevity is prayer: "I pray the rosary every day for everyone in the world."

Sister Inah currently lives in Porto Alegre in Rio Grande do Sul state in the Santo Enrique de Ossó Shelter, which is next to the Provincial House of the Teresian Sisters of Brazil, a community where in 1927 she was accepted at the age of 19.

According to her nephew, a few days ago Inah had some health problems and the doctors advised her to rest, but now she is fine.

"Logically, the condition of her health at 116 years of age is already a little complicated: She no longer hears well, she has great difficulty speaking, her vision is very poor, but she goes on with her life with the plans that God gave her," Cleber said. 

Sister Inah's longevity is due to her spirituality, Cleber said, since "she was always a little nun who prayed a lot, prayed a lot; she dedicated herself to prayer all her life." He also spoke of other characteristics such as "her kindness in always wanting to do good to others, her good humor typical of her personality, her optimism, and her determination in life."

Inah Canabarro Lucas was born in the São Francisco de Assis district of inner Rio Grande do Sul state on May 27, 1908, the second to last of seven children. According to Cleber, "they were all well fed, they were normal and she was very thin, weak, and her godfather at that time told her father: 'Friend, don't get me wrong, but this girl must be sick and get ready because unfortunately I don't think she will last long' ... They're all gone and she is already 116 years old!"

Sister Inah is the great-great-niece of Gen. David Canabarro, one of the main leaders of the Farroupilha Revolution (1835–1845) in Rio Grande do Sul.

When she was a child, one of her siblings told her mother that Inah could study at a convent school in her city. Inah then asked: "What are nuns?" The mother replied that they were women who dedicated themselves to praying to God, and Inah then said: "I'm going to be a nun."

Inah studied at the convent school and, at the age of 19, she went to make her novitiate with the Teresian sisters in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Over the course of more than a century, she has experienced numerous changes in the world and in the Church. The nun has lived through two world wars and 10 popes. The year she was born, St. Pius X was pope.

As a teaching sister, Inah taught Portuguese, mathematics, science, history, art, and religion in Teresian schools in Rio de Janeiro, Itaqui, and Santana do Livramento, a city where she is much loved because it was where she spent most of her life.

A notable achievement in her life was the creation of the Santa Teresa School marching band in Santana do Livramento. The band featured 115 musical instruments and performed in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. She also collaborated in the creation of the renowned Pomoli High School marching band in Rivera, Uruguay, sister city of Santana do Livramento.

Sister Inah has also been an enthusiastic fan of Sport Clube Internacional, a soccer team founded in 1909 when she was 1 year old. Apart from saying that she prays for people around the world, the only other words Sister Inah said to ACI Digital in March of last year were praise for the "Inter" (the soccer team).

"Because it's the team of the people, good people, poor, very upright, very good."

This story was first published by ACI Digital, CNA's Portuguese-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by ACI Prensa/CNA.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=281555&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Vatican City, Jan 7, 2025 / 11:00 am (CNA).

More than half a million people have passed through the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica, two weeks after its Christmas Eve opening. 

Pope Francis, the first "pilgrim of hope" to cross the Holy Door's threshold, inaugurated the 2025 Jubilee Year by opening the papal basilica's door on Dec. 24, 2024. 

Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization Cardinal Rino Fisichella said the great number of pilgrims marks "a very significant beginning" for the Catholic Church's holy year, which will conclude on Jan. 6, 2026. 

"Hundreds of groups of faithful have already made their pilgrimage," Fisichella said in a Jan. 7 media statement released by the Dicastery for Evangelization. 

"The dicastery is working tirelessly to ensure that pilgrims receive a welcome and an experience that lives up to their expectations," he added.

Holy See and Italian authorities are collaborating to welcome an estimated 30 million people expected to come to Rome throughout the jubilee year.

"Preparations are underway all over the world to reach Rome in the coming months, with many children, young people, adults, and the elderly who have already entered the jubilee climate with the celebrations for the opening of the holy year," Fisichella said.

Jubilees — a tradition celebrated in the Catholic Church since 1300 — are filled with special spiritual, artistic, and cultural events for people intending to come to Rome for pilgrimage. 

An important part of the jubilee is the opportunity to receive a plenary indulgence — a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove the temporal punishment due to sin — by passing through a "Holy Door."

Besides the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica, the other four Holy Doors of the 2025 Jubilee are located at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, the Basilica of St. Mary Major, the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, and in Rome's Rebibbia prison.

"The thousands of people who filled the four papal basilicas during the days of the celebrations for the opening of the Holy Doors" reflects the "great desire" among pilgrims to participate in the Church's jubilee festivities, according to the Dicastery for Evangelization.

The first major calendar event of the 2025 holy year is the Jubilee of the World of Communications to be held from Jan. 24–26. Thousands of journalists and media professionals from around the world are expected to come to Rome for the occasion.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=281554&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Rome Newsroom, Jan 7, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).

Pope Francis accepted Tuesday the early resignation of French Bishop Dominique Rey of Fréjus-Toulon following years of Vatican scrutiny over the ordination of clerics using pre-Vatican II liturgical books and other concerns.

Bishop François Touvet, appointed coadjutor bishop of the same diocese in November 2023, now automatically succeeds Rey.

In a Jan. 7 press release, Rey, who has led the diocese since 2000, said he was recently informed by the nuncio, the pope's ambassador in France, that Pope Francis wanted him to submit his resignation after he had encouraged him not to resign in December 2023.

While Rey added that he does not know what changed in the intervening year, "faced with misunderstandings, pressures, and polemics that are still harmful to the unity of the Church, the ultimate criterion of discernment for me remains that of obedience to the successor of Peter."

The Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon in the south of France was able to ordain six men to the transitional diaconate last month after all ordinations in the diocese were halted by the Vatican in June 2022 following a fraternal visit by Archbishop (now Cardinal) Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille.

The ordinations of six seminarians from the traditionalist community Missionaries of Divine Mercy took place in the Collegiate Church of Saint-Martin in Lorgues on Dec. 1, 2024.

In his announcement ahead of the ordinations, Touvet said they were "the fruit of a trusting and peaceful dialogue maintained with the superior of the community [of the Missionaries of Divine Mercy] and the Dicastery for Divine Worship [and the Discipline of the Sacraments]."

Pope Francis appointed Touvet a coadjutor bishop of Fréjus-Toulon in November 2023, putting him in charge of economic and real estate management, religious communities, and the training of priests and seminarians.

The Vatican requested the suspension of ordinations in the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon in the summer of 2022 due to "questions that certain Roman dicasteries were asking about the restructuring of the seminary and the policy of welcoming people to the diocese," according to an announcement by Rey at the time.

Known for his support of the Traditional Latin Mass, Rey had also ordained diocesan clerics using the 1962 Roman Pontifical.

After Pope Francis promulgated Traditionis Custodes, the 2021 motu proprio restricting the celebration of Mass in the extraordinary form of the Roman rite, Rey highlighted the concerns of some priests and communities present in his diocese who offered Mass according to the old rite. 

Rey said in his Jan. 7 statement, posted to X, that "just as I have always tried to respond to the calls for the new evangelization of St. John Paul II, then to the encouragements of Benedict XVI to welcome and form priestly vocations, and finally to the orientations of Francis, I have agreed, in this case, to hand over the pastoral charge that had been entrusted to me in 2000 by John Paul II."

"As I reach my 25th year of episcopate in service of the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon, I thank God for the blessings and missionary fruits," he added.

Rey announced he will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving in the diocese on Feb. 1.

Full Article