Nuns send Trump letter urging him to ‘count the votes’ (RNS) Nearly 2,000 nuns have signed a letter addressed to President Donald Trump suggesting he abandon calls to halt vote tallies in various states and instead “count the votes.” The letter accuses “some elected officials” of making “the immoral choice to hold onto power at any cost, including disenfranchising thousands, denying their most sacred gift: their voice.” “We took vows as Catholic Sisters, and you took a vow to uphold the Constitution,” the letter to Trump reads. “Stay true to your vow. Count the votes…”
Italian cardinal in ICU with COVID-19; local Catholics begin novena for him (Crux) Perugian Catholics have launched a novena for their archbishop, Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, who is currently hospitalized in intensive care after being diagnosed with COVID-19. Bassetti, the president of the Italian bishops’ conference, tested positive for the coronavirus in late October and was admitted to the Saint Mary of Mercy hospital in Perugia, where he has been receiving treatment…
New cardinal from Mexico credited with building up indigenous church (NCR) Several months after Pope Francis was elected in 2013, Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel of San Cristóbal de Las Casas sent a letter asking the new pope to revisit the topic of ordaining indigenous deacons. Pope Francis responded immediately and proposed a meeting with the Mexican bishop for Dec. 12, 2013. Ordinations of indigenous deacons — prohibited by the Vatican for more than a decade — resumed shortly thereafter. Cardinal-designate Arizmendi, 80, was among the 13 churchmen named to the College of Cardinals Oct. 25. Due to his age, he will not participate in any conclaves to elected future popes…
Pandemic strains deacons’ ministry (Chicago Catholic) When natural disasters strike across the country, a group of local deacons called Hope’s on the Way aid the victims by filling and shipping 5-gallon plastic buckets with much-needed cleaning supplies to the area. The group has been doing this since 2015 and on Oct. 21, using the main hall at St. Mary Retreat House in Lemont, members worked with volunteers to fill 100 buckets that were then shipped to Lake Charles, Louisiana, which has been hit hard by hurricanes this year…
Mattingly: Catholic voters feel lost, tense as 2020 ends (Elko Daily Free Press) The political realities of 2020 left many Catholics and other active religious believers torn between political options that no longer seemed acceptable…
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