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Vatican City, Nov 21, 2024 / 17:20 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has published a letter addressed especially to priests in formation to promote the renewal of the study of Church history, emphasizing its importance in better interpreting reality.

At the beginning of the letter, presented Thursday at the Vatican Press Office, the Holy Father refers to the need to promote a "genuine sense of history" that takes into account the "historical dimension that is ours as human beings."

"No one can truly know their deepest identity, or what they wish to be in the future, without attending to the bonds that link them to preceding generations," the Holy Father says. The pontiff also points out that everyone, not only candidates for the priesthood, needs this renewal.

'To love the Church as she truly exists'

In this context, the Holy Father states that we must abandon an "angelic" conception of the Church and embrace its "stains and wrinkles" in order to love the Church as it is. 

In short, Pope Francis invites the faithful to see the real Church "in order to love the Church as she truly exists," a Church that has learned "and continues to learn from her mistakes and failures."

According to the Holy Father, this can "serve as a corrective to the misguided approach that would view reality only from a triumphalist defense of our function or role."

Dangers of an ideological reading of history

In the letter Pope Francis criticizes the manipulation of history by ideologies that "destroy (or deconstruct) all differences so that they can reign unopposed." These ideologies seek to lead young people to "spurn the spiritual and human riches inherited from past generations" and ignore everything that came before them, he says.

For the pope, this also leads to posing "false problems" and seeking "inadequate solutions," especially in an era marked by a tendency "to dismiss the memory of the past or to invent one suited to the requirements of dominant ideologies."

"Faced with the cancellation of past history or with clearly biased historical narratives, the work of historians, together with knowledge and dissemination of their work, can act as a curb on misrepresentations, partisan efforts at revisionism, and their use to justify" any number of evils, including wars and persecutions, the Holy Father indicated.

The pope thus points out that "we cannot come to grips with the past by hasty interpretations disconnected from their consequences" and that reality "is never a simple phenomenon reducible to naive and dangerous simplifications."

The Holy Father warns against the efforts of those who act like "gods" who want to "cancel part of history and humanity."

Human frailty and the spread of the Gospel

The Holy Father goes on to recognize "the human weakness of those to whom the Gospel has been entrusted" and exhorts the faithful to not ignore shortcomings and to "combat them assiduously" so that they do not hinder the spread of the Gospel.

The Holy Father reiterates that "forgiving does not mean forgetting," and he encourages the Church "to initiate — and help initiate in society — sincere and effective paths of reconciliation and social peace."

He also calls for avoiding the "merely chronological approach" to the history of the Church, which "would transform the history of the Church into a mere buttress for the history of theology or spirituality of past centuries." 

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

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CNA Staff, Nov 21, 2024 / 18:15 pm (CNA).

The longest-serving president in Georgetown University history, John DeGioia, is stepping down after 23 years to recover after suffering a stroke. 

DeGioia, who served as the 48th president of the Jesuit university in Washington, D.C., noted in a letter that stepping down was "the most difficult decision I have ever made." 

He explained in his letter that he is retiring "to devote my energies to my ongoing recovery" from his recent stroke in June. DeGioia will remain on staff as a member of the faculty, according to a Thursday announcement by the university.

"Serving as the president of Georgetown has been the privilege of my lifetime," DeGioia stated. "I look forward to continuing to advance and support Georgetown's mission and the university community that means so much to all of us. I remain deeply proud of the work we have done together to strengthen the Georgetown community, our nation, and our world."

DeGioia graduated from Georgetown with a bachelor's degree in English in 1979 and a doctorate in philosophy in 1995. When he became president in 2001, DeGioia became the first layperson to lead a Jesuit college or university in the U.S.

"With DeGioia's vision, Georgetown has grown new and existing academic programs, deepened opportunities for student learning and engagement, and advanced Georgetown's mission of education and service globally," the university press release stated.

DeGioia oversaw the establishment of a new campus in Qatar in 2005 as well as the formation of the McCourt School of Public Policy in 2013. He oversaw an increase in the financial aid budget to $284 million and endowment growth from $700 million in 2001 to $3.6 billion in 2024. 

Chair of the Georgetown board of directors Thomas Reynolds III said that under DeGioia's leadership, the university "has grown and flourished as a global leader in higher education."

"It is hard to put in words the depth of Jack's impact at Georgetown," Reynolds said. "Since first arriving on campus as an undergraduate student in 1975, Jack has spent his entire career at Georgetown and has helped shape every facet of the university."

DeGioia "guided many new efforts to engage Georgetown's Catholic and Jesuit identity," according to the university press release. 

In his letter, DeGioia noted the importance of the university's role in the world in light of "our mission as a Catholic and Jesuit institution." 

Early in his presidency, DeGioia established the role of vice president for Mission and Ministry, designed to deepen Ignatian spirituality at the university. DeGioia collaborated with the Vatican and visited Rome annually to engage with Catholic leaders. He helped establish the university's Initiative of Catholic Social Thought and Public Life in 2013 to build dialogue and encourage young Catholic leaders in their faith. 

"I am grateful to many who have guided us in this work and who have enlivened our tradition in new ways so that Ignatian spirituality and our Catholic and Jesuit identity are ever more present to our university community," he wrote.

Under DeGioia, Georgetown became the first Catholic university to open an LGBTQ resource center in 2008. 

Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest who served as a board member under DeGioia, noted in a post on X on Thursday that DeGioia was "one of the very earliest supporters of my LGBTQ ministry and OutreachCatholic," a controversial pro-LGBT group.

Under DeGioia's leadership, Georgetown renovated sacred spaces for Orthodox Christian and Catholic communities while expanding the Jewish gathering space on campus and opening a mosque on campus as well as "Dharmalaya," a Dharmic mediation center. 

In 2023, Georgetown became the first Catholic and Jesuit university to establish a Disability Cultural Center. 

DeGioia also oversaw Georgetown's "ongoing work on racial justice," the press release noted. DeGioa in 2015 publicly apologized for Georgetown staff, the Maryland Province of Jesuits, who owned and sold more than 250 slaves in the 1830s. 

"Georgetown is a place where we — continuously, rigorously, and collectively — pursue truth," DeGioia continued in his letter. "We commit to the formation of our students, to the inquiry of our faculty, and to the common good of our communities."

Robert Groves, Georgetown's current provost and executive vice president, will serve as interim president while the board of directors searches for a new president. The vice president and chief of staff to DeGioia, Joseph Ferrara, will serve as senior vice president and chief of staff.

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Vatican City, Nov 21, 2024 / 14:50 pm (CNA).

In an address to participants of the first plenary assembly of the Dicastery for Culture and Education on Nov. 21, Pope Francis said desire, fearlessness, and Christian hope are remedies needed to overcome the "shadow of nihilism" prevalent in society.

Describing nihilism as "perhaps the most dangerous plague of today's culture" because of its attempt to "erase hope" in the world, the pope told dicastery members that their institution should work toward inspiring humanity.

"Schools, universities, cultural centers should teach us to desire, to remain thirsty, to have dreams, because, as the Second Letter of Peter reminds us, we 'await new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells,'" the pope said.

"Understand your mission in the educational and cultural field as a call to broaden horizons, to overflow with inner vitality, to make room for possibilities unseen, to bestow the ways of the gift that only becomes wider when it is shared," he continued.

Reminding his listeners of the Catholic Church's expansive cultural and educational heritage, the pope said there is "no reason to be overwhelmed by fear."

"In a word, we are heirs to the educational and cultural passion of so many saints," he said after citing the examples of Sts. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Edith Stein, and Catholic scientist Blaise Pascal.

"Surrounded by such a host of witnesses, let us get rid of any burden of pessimism; pessimism is not Christian," he added.

The pope also drew upon the cultural works of musical and literary greats, including Mozart and American poet Emily Dickinson, and insisted that they, too, can be a source of inspiration for the dicastery's various cultural and educational projects.

'Let us think about the future of humanity'

Identifying poverty, inequality, and exclusion as "pathologies of the present world," the Holy Father insisted it is a "moral imperative" of the Church to ensure people — especially children and youth — have access to a comprehensive education.

"Some 250 million children and adolescents do not attend school," he stated. "Brothers and sisters, it is cultural genocide when we steal the future from children, when we do not offer them conditions to become what they could be."

Sharing with dicastery members the experience of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry with the hardships of refugee families, the pope said the French writer felt wounded after seeing the children.

"It torments me that in each of these men there is a little Mozart, murdered," writes de Saint-Exupéry in his autobiographical work "Land of Men."

Toward the conclusion of the private audience, Pope Francis referred to the dicastery's plenary assembly theme, "Let us pass on to the other shore" (cf. Mk 4:35), and encouraged his listeners to take courage and carry out their work with a sense of hope.

"I repeat: We must not let the feeling of fear win. Remember that complex cultural passages often prove to be the most fruitful and creative for the development of human thought," he said. 

"Contemplating the living Christ enables us to have the courage to launch into the future," the pope added.

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CNA Staff, Nov 21, 2024 / 15:50 pm (CNA).

Numerous news reports in recent days reported that a new artificially intelligent "Jesus" has begun taking people's confessions at a Catholic church in Switzerland. 

Claim: A holographic "AI Jesus" has been created and deployed at a chapel in Switzerland specifically to hear confessions.

CNA finds: St. Peter's Chapel in Lucerne, a historic parish church, recently installed "an innovative project that explores the use of virtual characters based on generative artificial intelligence in a spiritual context" in collaboration with the Immersive Realities Research Lab at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

The AI program was reportedly trained with content from the New Testament, with the goal of allowing the "Jesus" avatar to verbally respond, in one of 100 languages, to questions about the Bible from people entering the confessional. 

(Numerous reports described the "Jesus" avatar as a "hologram," which is a 3D projection created with lasers; but a Deutsche Welle video of the installation in action showed that the artificial face of "Jesus" merely appeared on a curved computer monitor behind the confessional screen.) 

The installation is titled "Deus in Machina" (a Latin phrase meaning "God in the machine" and a play on the more commonly used literary phrase "Deus ex machina"). An announcement from the lab said the project, which is described as an "art exhibit," "encourages thinking about the limits of technology in the context of religion."

The breakdown: Despite being placed in the confessional booth, the parish notes on its website that the AI installation is intended for conversations, not confessions. Confession, also called penance or reconciliation, is one of the seven sacraments of the Church and can only be performed by a priest or bishop, and never in a virtual setting.

A theologian at the Swiss parish said the project is also intended to help to get religious people comfortable with AI and reportedly said he does see potential for AI to help with the pastoral work of priests, given that AI can be available any time, "24 hours a day, so it has abilities that pastors don't."

Peter Kirchschläger, an expert in theological ethics, opined to Deutsche Welle in response to the theologian's comments that "we should be careful when it comes to faith, pastoral care, and the search for meaning in religion. This is an area in which we humans are actually vastly superior to machines. So we should do it ourselves."

The Swiss art project is the latest in a series of attempts — including an embrace of the technology at the Vatican itself — to make AI work in service of the Catholic faith, which so far has yielded mixed results. 

CatéGPT, for example, an artificial intelligence chatbot designed by another Swiss, engineer Nicolas Torcheboeuf, aims to provide answers to questions about Catholic teaching by drawing on authoritative documents. Other similar AI-based services have gained popularity, such as the U.S.-based Magisterium AI. 

Less successful was an AI "priest" created and unveiled earlier this year by the California-based apologetics apostolate Catholic Answers, which was criticized by some users for its video game-like priestly avatar. Moreover, at least one user managed to goad the priestly character into hearing their confession, prompting a statement from the apostolate in which it promised to replace the priest character with a lay character named "Justin."

The verdict: The "AI Jesus" project exists, but it's not intended to hear people's confessions, or to replace a priest. Rather, it's an art exhibit created by researchers at a local technical university in concert with theologians who say they want to raise questions about the use of technology in religious settings and to demonstrate the ability of AI to answer questions about the Bible. 

We rate this claim misleading.

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CNA Staff, Nov 21, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

After Catholic media mogul and human rights activist Jimmy Lai took the stand on Wednesday in a yearslong Hong Kong national security trial, Bill McGurn, Wall Street Journal columnist and godfather of Lai, told "EWTN News Nightly" that Lai is "a real champion of freedom."

Lai, 76, was first arrested in August 2020 under China's newly instituted Hong Kong national security law. Since his arrest, he has faced multiple trials and has been convicted on multiple charges of unlawful assembly and fraud. The allegations are widely condemned as politically motivated. 

McGurn, friend and godfather to Lai, told "EWTN News Nightly" anchor Tracy Sabol that Lai's charisma on the stand worries the Hong Kong authorities. Lai has been in solitary confinement since his arrest in 2020.

"Today is the first time we've heard from Jimmy. The trial began in January," McGurn told Sabol. "This is the first time we've heard his voice."

On Wednesday Lai denied allegations of seditious activism as well as allegations that he had colluded with the then-U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. 

"Today was a big day because the pressure on Jimmy — like all the people arrested in Hong Kong for these political crimes — is to plead guilty," McGurn explained. "But Jimmy doesn't believe he did anything wrong. He's correct in that. He wants to have his say in court, even if it's biased against him."

"The government hates that because Jimmy is obviously sincere. He's very charismatic," McGurn added. "He's a real champion of freedom, and ordinary Hong Kong people appreciate that."

Lai's long-running Apple Daily newspaper was a pro-democratic voice in Hong Kong media. Hong Kong authorities froze the company's assets, forcing the newspaper to close. 

McGurn said that "Jimmy Lai is being singled out because he owned a newspaper that tried to tell the truth about what's going on in Hong Kong."

"They treat him like he's this great threat, and he's a newspaper man. He does what ordinary publishers do. He talks to leaders all the time," McGurn said.

"The government exposed what a thin case they have," McGurn continued. "Now they're worried because he's so charismatic: What's he going to say on the stand? Even without a script, Jimmy is very eloquent and very persuasive when he talks about freedom."

When asked how the family is doing, McGurn cited the strength of Lai's wife, Teresa. Lai joined the Catholic Church in 1997 with the support of Teresa, whom he married in 1991.

"His whole family is suffering from this. His wife, Teresa, is a rock — just a rock of faith," McGurn said. "Jimmy draws strength from her because she has her husband in jail and her three kids scattered around the world, and she's keeping it all together."

McGurn calls it all "a real inspiration."

"We think of these stories of saints that have withstood all this persecution as belonging to the Middle Ages," he said. "It's going on right now, and we can see it." 

Cardinal Zen stands with him

McGurn noted that Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze–Kiun attended the trial, sitting with Lai's family. Zen also attended the sentencing of 45 other pro-democracy activists on Tuesday. 

"It must have really lifted [Lai's] spirits," McGurn said. "It's a tremendous thing."

In the United States, Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, among others, has been outspoken about support for Lai.

"How sad it is how they have mistreated this great man of principle," Smith said on Capitol Hill. "He could have left any time he wanted, given his wealth. He wanted to fight for his fellow friends and citizens in Hong Kong. For that — for speaking truth to power in a dictatorship — he is being very, very much maligned and unfortunately hurt by the judicial, corrupt system."

When asked what he thought about Smith's comment, McGurn said: "He's absolutely right." 

"As Congressman Smith pointed out, he could have run away. He has houses all over the world, but he stood and went to jail for his principles," McGurn said.

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Madrid, Spain, Nov 21, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Marta Rodríguez Díaz, a Catholic expert on gender ideology, said that rather than fighting gender ideology, the mission of the Catholic Church is "to seek to make light shine in the darkness" and to offer critical dialogue.

Rodríguez also pointed out that "if the Church is not credible today in terms of gender, it is not for a lack of having much to say but because there is a lack of educators who know how to convey its message in a comprehensive and accurate way."

Rodríguez was chosen by the Spanish Bishops' Conference to provide formation to diocesan delegates for family and life pastoral care regarding the challenge the gender ideology issue represents for the Catholic Church.

She holds a doctorate in philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University and is a professor in the philosophy department of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum. She is also coordinator of the academic area of ??the Institute for Women's Studies.

Rodríguez is also the academic director of the course on gender, sex, and education at the Francisco de Vitoria University in collaboration with the Regina Apostolorum and was part of the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life.

She spoke recently with ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, about gender ideology, Catholic anthropology, and how it relates to the culture today.

ACI Prensa: How should the Church combat gender ideology?

Rodríguez: I don't know if I like the word "combat" ... I think that the mission of the Church is to be light and to seek to make light shine in the darkness. To be light means proposing the entire truth about the human being, to educate and also to warn and point out those ideas that contradict the dignity of the person or don't help attain its fullness.

Personally, I would prefer to see us, as a Church, more dedicated to a dialogue capable of seriously addressing the ideologies of our time than to making total denunciations that only those who already think like us understand.

According to the data you offer, pastoral workers either have a vague understanding of the Catholic teaching on the subject or don't know or understand it at all. What steps must be taken to reverse this situation?

Formation, formation, formation. It's necessary to provide formation in Christian anthropology. My experience is that pastoral workers have insufficient knowledge of it and are not capable of proposing it in all its beauty and depth. In addition, it's necessary to provide formation in moral theology so that they know how to discern the pastoral applications that are appropriate in each case, without in any way blurring the truth about the [human] person. It's also necessary to provide formation in a pastoral style that knows how to connect with the postmodern world and to propose the perennial beauty of the Gospel in a language that is comprehensible to today's world.

I think that if the Church is not credible today on gender issues, it's not because it doesn't have much to say but because there is a lack of formators who know how to convey its message in a comprehensive and accurate way.

There is a crisis in the family, in which the roles of men and women are confused. Is this a main cause of the confusion among young people on the issue of gender? What other elements push in this direction?

Definitely, the crisis of femininity and masculinity that we are experiencing has a very strong impact on young people. Without attractive role models, it is difficult to carry out the process of identifying with one's own sex that is necessary in adolescence. In addition, there is the crisis of the family itself: many dysfunctional families, with absent fathers and mothers.

The media, social media, and movies certainly also have an influence, as they insist so clearly on one single message. In short, I think that today's kids are bombarded by ideas that confuse them, and they have no solid points of reference to guide them.

You say that knowing things have not been done well up to now is "liberating." In what sense?

In the sense that it makes us see what depends on us and where we can improve our discourse to be more credible. Personally, I am very concerned when it's said that the cause of all the confusion among young people is from social media, the news media, laws... because all that is true, but it's also true that it doesn't seem that it will change in the next few years.

But if, at the same time that we recognize the impact of all these external elements, we recognize that as a Church we have not always been up to the task; that we have not been able to propose the message with the depth and beauty that our times demanded … then we have things that depend on us, and that allow us to hope that the landscape can, indeed, improve.

You list some risks in the educational field. What are you referring to by "medical practices little proven from the scientific point of view?"

[I'm referring] to hormonal treatments for children and adolescents. I'm not a doctor, but many doctors and psychologists have raised serious objections to this type of practice. In other countries they are backing off, but in Spain we are still carrying out experiments.

You state that "it's not necessary to declare war on the term 'gender': It's possible to take it up critically." What part of that discourse is acceptable according to the magisterium of the Church?

The problem is not the term gender but the anthropology from which it draws. Amoris Laetitia No. 56 states that "gender and sex can be distinguished, but they cannot be separated." The same is said in Male and Female He Created Them in Nos. 6 and 11. And Dignitas Infinita again takes up this affirmation. I believe that the consolidated tendency of the magisterium in recent years has been to stop declaring war on the term and to engage in a critical dialogue with what I call "gender theories."

Gender is the development or cultural interpretation of sex. It's fair to distinguish it from sex, but not to separate it from it.

What makes this era different from others in terms of cultural change and the distance between generations that makes dialogue on these issues so difficult?

I think the difficulty lies in what Pope Francis calls "a change of era." Culture is always in continuous change, but there are moments in history when a true change of era occurs. It's a moment of rupture, where time "changes its skin," and a deeper adaptation of language, perspective, and vision is needed.

Veritatis Gaudium recognizes that "we still lack the culture necessary to confront this crisis; we lack leadership capable of striking out on new paths." It's about learning to propose the beauty of Christ and of man in a postmodern world. This requires a new prophetic word. 

How can we balance welcoming those wounded by gender ideology as the good Samaritan would, with the proclamation of the anthropological truth of the creation of man and woman as the image of God and what follows from this affirmation?

In Jesus there is no contradiction between truth and charity. The same Jesus who proclaims the Sermon on the Mount and says that adultery begins in the heart raises up the adulterous woman.

Affirming that sex is a constitutive reality of the person and that it permeates body and soul does not contradict the recognition that identity in the psychological sense is bio-psycho-social and that the person has the task of integrating different elements: body, psyche, culture…

We can say that I am born a woman, but at the same time I have to become a woman. This process is not simple, and even less so today. I believe that we have to seriously take into consideration the experience of each person.

Christian anthropology is not a theoretical truth that we have to throw at people… If we believe that we are well made [by God], we know that the truth is within each of us and we can recognize it in the longings of our heart.

Perhaps the task of the Christian companion is to walk with people as Jesus did with the disciples [going to] Emmaus, helping them to enrich the grammar with which they interpret their story. If we believe that "the truth makes us free," then perhaps what we need to have is a lot of patience and love to accompany people to be more and more authentically themselves.

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

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Vatican City, Nov 21, 2024 / 08:03 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has appointed U.S. Cardinal Kevin Farrell to oversee "new and unavoidable" reform to the Vatican's pension system as it faces a "serious prospective imbalance" that means changes can no longer be postponed.

In a Nov. 21 letter to cardinals, dicastery prefects, and managers in the Roman Curia, the pope underlined the gravity of the unsustainability of the Vatican's pension fund and noted the solution will require difficult decisions, "special sensitivity, generosity, and willingness to sacrifice on the part of everyone."

To address the challenges, the pontiff said he had taken an "essential step" by naming Farrell "sole administrator" of the fund.

Farrell, 77, is prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Laity, the Family, and Life as well as camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church and president of the Pontifical Commission for Confidential Matters.

The Irish-born cardinal, who was bishop of Dallas for nine years before his transfer to Rome, has also been chair of the Pontifical Committee for Investments since 2022. 

In his roles in the confidential matters commission, Farrell is responsible for authorizing the confidentiality of economic actions of the Roman Curia, if needed "for the greater good of the Church," according to the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium.

Farrell also oversees the Roman Curia's investments, ensuring they are in line with the social doctrine of the Church — a role he was named to after the Holy See came under scrutiny for certain investments, including the purchase of a luxury building in London, which lost the Vatican hundreds of thousands of euros and ended in a criminal trial.

Pope Francis said in his Nov. 21 letter that the pension fund is one of the central pieces of Vatican financial reform, a key part of the pope's project since his election in 2013.

"Different studies have been carried out from which it has been derived that the current pension management, taking into account the available assets, generates an important deficit," the pontiff wrote on Thursday.

"Unfortunately, the figure that now emerges, at the conclusion of the latest in-depth analyses carried out by independent experts, indicates a serious prospective imbalance in the fund, the size of which tends to expand over time in the absence of intervention," he continued. 

He added that "in concrete terms," the Vatican cannot "guarantee in the medium term the fulfillment of the pension obligation for future generations."

While the pope thanked those who have tried to address the pension fund's problems until now, he said it is imperative that the Vatican move into a new phase "with promptness and unity of vision so that the necessary actions are expeditiously implemented," and he asked for everyone's support, cooperation, and prayers.

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National Catholic Register, Nov 21, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

It's easy to conceptualize the presentation of the Lord because we find it in Scripture. Luke's Gospel tells of the Holy Family's journey to the Temple when Jesus was 8 days old. According to Jewish custom, Jesus was to be circumcised and Mary purified.

There Mary and Joseph meet the prophets Anna and Simeon, who recognized the child as the Messiah who would bring about the fall and rise of many and become a sign of contradiction and the cause of a sword that would one day pierce Mary's heart. We celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord annually on Feb. 2.

The presentation of Mary, however, is not found in Scripture. Instead, we learn about Mary's presentation from accounts that have come to us from apostolic times. What we know is found mainly in Chapter 7 of the "Protoevangelium of James," which has been dated by historians before the year A.D. 200.

The "Protoevangelium of James" was ostensibly written by the apostle of the same name. It gives a detailed account in which Mary's father, Joachim, tells his wife, Anna, that he wishes to bring their daughter to the Temple and consecrate her to God. Anna responds that they should wait until Mary is 3 years old so that she will not need her parents as much. 

On the agreed day for Mary to be taken to the Temple, Hebrew virgins accompanied the family with burning lamps. The Temple priest received Mary, kissed her, and blessed her. According to James' writing, the priest then proclaimed: "The Lord has magnified thy name in all generations. In thee, the Lord will manifest his redemption to the sons of Israel." 

After that, Mary was placed on the third step of the Temple and danced with joy. All the House of Israel loved Mary, and she was nurtured from then on in the Temple while her parents returned to their Nazareth home, glorifying God.

The celebration of the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary grew slowly over the years. 

On Nov. 21, 543, Emperor Justinian dedicated a church to Mary in the Temple area of Jerusalem. Many of the early Church Fathers celebrated this feast day, such as St. Germanus and St. John Damascene. In 1373, it was formally celebrated in Avignon, France, and in 1472, Pope Sixtus IV extended it to the universal Church. The Byzantine Church considers Mary's Presentation one of the 12 great feasts of the liturgical year.

In 1974, Pope Paul VI wrote about this feast in his encyclical Marialis Cultus, saying: "Despite its apocryphal content, it presents lofty and exemplary values and carries on the venerable traditions having their origins in the Eastern Churches."

The memorial of the Presentation of Mary has been noted in the Church since its early years and yet is easily forgotten or misunderstood. 

Since it's classified as a memorial and not a solemnity or holy day of obligation, it doesn't draw much attention to itself other than a special opening prayer in the Mass. With this memorial, we celebrate the fact that God chose to dwell in Mary in a unique way. In response, she placed her whole self at his service. By our baptism, God invites us, too, into his service.

But there's more to celebrating the presentation of Mary. 

This feast gives us cause for great joy since Mary is truly our mother, given to us by Christ as he hung dying on the cross. Because we are part of her Son's body, she loves us with as much devotion and tenderness as she loves Jesus. When we celebrate Mary's presentation, we are giving Mary the honor she deserves and witnessing to her perfect purity as the virgin of Nazareth, the mother of God, and our mother.

Sts. Joachim and Anne surrendered their only daughter to God so that she would be completely free to follow his holy will. Although they loved her dearly, they knew that in the Temple Mary would always be near the Holy of Holies, surrounded by an atmosphere of godliness and grace. She would be instructed in Scripture and the history of the Jewish people. She would be under the guardianship and tutelage of the holy women of the Temple who had given their lives to God. One of them, Scripture scholars believe, was Anna — the woman who prophesied at the presentation of Our Lord. In the Temple, Mary would be completely focused on God and well prepared for becoming the mother of the Savior and mother of the body of Christ.

When we celebrate the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we remember the tremendous sacrifice Sts. Joachim and Anne made for our sakes. We give honor and respect to the Virgin, who is an example for all of us in our struggle for holiness. It is a privilege and an opportunity to express our gratitude for the gift of a pure, tender, and always-loving Mother.

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, on Nov. 21, 2023, and has been adapted by CNA.

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CNA Staff, Nov 21, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.

Wyoming judge blocks state pro-life laws

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court after a county judge blocked two pro-life laws in Wyoming. The judge blocked the Life Is a Human Right Act, which protected unborn children except in cases when the mother's life was at risk or in cases of rape or incest, as well as a law prohibiting chemical abortions via abortion pills, a law signed by Gordon in March 2023. 

Gordon said on Tuesday that the ruling was "frustrating" and that he instructed his attorney general to prepare to appeal the decision to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens ruled on Monday that the two laws violated the state constitution by restricting medical decisions. Owen has blocked Wyoming abortion laws three times since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Now that the ruling has been struck down, abortion is legal up until fetal viability in Wyoming.

The plaintiffs included Wyoming abortion clinic Wellspring Health Access, two obstetricians, two other women, and the Wyoming abortion advocacy group Chelsea's Fund. Following the ruling, Chelsea's Fund stated on Tuesday that it "will do everything in our power to uphold this ruling in the Wyoming Supreme Court."

Montana judge blocks licensing law for abortion clinic 

A Montana District Court temporarily paused the state's recent health department licensing regulations for abortion clinics amid pending litigation. House Bill 937 required licensure and regulation of abortion clinics and included rules for sanitation standards, emergency equipment, and hotlines for women who are coerced into an abortion or are victims of sex trafficking.

Two abortion providers, All Families Healthcare in Kalispell and Blue Mountain Clinic in Missoula, and an abortionist sued over the regulations, saying they would have to close if they were implemented. Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Chris Abbot ruled in their favor, saying that H.B. 937 was a shift in "the status quo" that abortion providers "are not generally considered health care facilities subject to a licensure requirement." Montana voters approved Initiative 128 on Election Day, enshrining a right to abortion in the constitution and allowing abortion after fetal viability.

Virginia bishops condemn fast-tracked right to abortion proposal

Two Virginia bishops recently opposed a proposed amendment granting a right to abortion, which was fast-tracked by the state House Privileges and Elections Committee. Bishops Michael Burbidge of Arlington and Barry Knestout of Richmond in a Nov. 13 statement called the proposed right to abortion "a fundamental tragedy." Virginia law currently allows abortion up to 26 weeks and six days and allows abortion after that in certain cases. Burbidge and Knestout encouraged Virginia to "work instead for policies that affirm the life and dignity of every mother and every child."

The bishops also opposed a fast-tracked proposal to remove the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman from the state constitution. The bishops noted that they "affirm the dignity of every person" and "affirm too that marriage is exclusively the union of one man and one woman." Following the election, the bishops encouraged "deep engagement in decisions" that are at "the heart of who we are."

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CNA Staff, Nov 21, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

After Catholic media mogul and human rights activist Jimmy Lai took the stand on Wednesday in a yearslong Hong Kong national security trial, Bill McGurn, Wall Street Journal columnist and godfather of Lai, told "EWTN News Nightly" that Lai is "a real champion of freedom."

Lai, 76, was first arrested in August 2020 under China's newly instituted Hong Kong national security law. Since his arrest, he has faced multiple trials and has been convicted on multiple charges of unlawful assembly and fraud. The allegations are widely condemned as politically motivated. 

McGurn, friend and godfather to Lai, told "EWTN News Nightly" anchor Tracy Sabol that Lai's charisma on the stand worries the Hong Kong authorities. Lai has been in solitary confinement since his arrest in 2020.

"Today is the first time we've heard from Jimmy. The trial began in January," McGurn told Sabol. "This is the first time we've heard his voice."

On Wednesday Lai denied allegations of seditious activism as well as allegations that he had colluded with the then-U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. 

"Today was a big day because the pressure on Jimmy — like all the people arrested in Hong Kong for these political crimes — is to plead guilty," McGurn explained. "But Jimmy doesn't believe he did anything wrong. He's correct in that. He wants to have his say in court, even if it's biased against him."

"The government hates that because Jimmy is obviously sincere. He's very charismatic," McGurn added. "He's a real champion of freedom, and ordinary Hong Kong people appreciate that."

Lai's long-running Apple Daily newspaper was a pro-democratic voice in Hong Kong media. Hong Kong authorities froze the company's assets, forcing the newspaper to close. 

McGurn said that "Jimmy Lai is being singled out because he owned a newspaper that tried to tell the truth about what's going on in Hong Kong."

"They treat him like he's this great threat, and he's a newspaper man. He does what ordinary publishers do. He talks to leaders all the time," McGurn said.

"The government exposed what a thin case they have," McGurn continued. "Now they're worried because he's so charismatic: What's he going to say on the stand? Even without a script, Jimmy is very eloquent and very persuasive when he talks about freedom."

When asked how the family is doing, McGurn cited the strength of Lai's wife, Teresa. Lai joined the Catholic Church in 1997 with the support of Teresa, whom he married in 1991.

"His whole family is suffering from this. His wife, Teresa, is a rock — just a rock of faith," McGurn said. "Jimmy draws strength from her because she has her husband in jail and her three kids scattered around the world, and she's keeping it all together."

McGurn calls it all "a real inspiration."

"We think of these stories of saints that have withstood all this persecution as belonging to the Middle Ages," he said. "It's going on right now, and we can see it." 

Cardinal Zen stands with him

McGurn noted that Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze–Kiun attended the trial, sitting with Lai's family. Zen also attended the sentencing of 45 other pro-democracy activists on Tuesday. 

"It must have really lifted [Lai's] spirits," McGurn said. "It's a tremendous thing."

In the United States, Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, among others, has been outspoken about support for Lai.

"How sad it is how they have mistreated this great man of principle," Smith said on Capitol Hill. "He could have left any time he wanted, given his wealth. He wanted to fight for his fellow friends and citizens in Hong Kong. For that — for speaking truth to power in a dictatorship — he is being very, very much maligned and unfortunately hurt by the judicial, corrupt system."

When asked what he thought about Smith's comment, McGurn said: "He's absolutely right." 

"As Congressman Smith pointed out, he could have run away. He has houses all over the world, but he stood and went to jail for his principles," McGurn said.

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