Happy 85th birthday, Pope Francis (Vatican News) People across the world, and certainly not only Catholics, are celebrating with the Pope on the occasion of his birthday, with messages of good wishes pouring in from all different quarters. Also felicitating the Pope on his birthday is Cardinal Michael Czerny, a fellow Jesuit and the under-secretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. He highlights the gift that a birthday is. “The 17th of December is a day worth reflecting on,” the Cardinal says, adding that the Holy Father must have already had retirement plans when he went into the conclave that elected him Pope in 2013, but “the Holy Spirit decided differently…”
Pope at 85: No more Mr. Nice Guy, as reforms hit stride (AP) Pope Francis celebrated his 85th birthday on Friday, a milestone made even more remarkable given the coronavirus pandemic, his summertime intestinal surgery and the weight of history: His predecessor retired at this age and the last pope to have lived any longer was Leo XIII over a century ago. Yet Francis is going strong, recently concluding a whirlwind trip to Cyprus and Greece after his pandemic-defying jaunts this year to Iraq, Slovakia and Hungary. He has set in motion an unprecedented two-year consultation of rank-and-file Catholics on making the church more attuned to the laity, and shows no sign of slowing down on his campaign to make the post-COVID world a more environmentally sustainable, economically just and fraternal place where the poor are prioritized…
COVID booster shots to be required at some Catholic colleges (CNS) For next year’s spring semester, some Catholic colleges are joining other colleges across the country in requiring students to receive COVID-19 vaccine booster shots. As of Dec. 15, at least five Catholic colleges and universities — University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana; Boston College; St. Joseph’s College of Maine; St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont; and Georgetown University in Washington — had joined about 20 schools of higher education in implementing a booster requirement for students when they return to campuses in January…
Donald Cozzens dies (The New York Times) The Rev. Donald Cozzens, a Roman Catholic priest who challenged the church on its culture of secrecy and its denial that it protected priests who molested children, died on Dec. 9 in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. He was 82…
Women fear voices will be ignored at synod (CNS) Women around the world are participating in the process of the Synod of Bishops, but many of them fear that, despite promises, their voices will not be heard, said speakers at a webinar in Rome. “We have to deal with the fears,” Xavière Missionary Sister Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, said Dec. 16 during the conference on “Women in Synodality” sponsored by the Australian Embassy to the Holy See, Georgetown University and Civiltà Cattolica, a Jesuit journal…
Responding to Michigan Catholic diocese, Episcopal church issues statement on LGBTQ congregants (TV6) The Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan has responded to the Catholic Diocese of Marquette’s instructions on transgender congregants…
