Pope asks pardon for sins that drove apart Catholics, Orthodox (CNS) Like St. John Paul II before him, Pope Francis apologized to members of the Orthodox Church of Greece for the ways Catholics over the centuries had offended them, and he told Catholic leaders that they must embrace their minority status with humility. “Here, today, I feel the need to ask anew for the forgiveness of God and of our brothers and sisters for the mistakes committed by many Catholics,” Pope Francis told Orthodox Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens and all Greece…

Pope defends ousted Paris archbishop (NCR) Less than a week after accepting the resignation of Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit following reports of an “ambiguous” relationship with a woman, Pope Francis on Dec. 6 defended the recently ousted prelate, saying “we cannot condemn.” Aupetit, 70, offered his resignation to Francis last month after allegations surfaced that he had a relationship with a woman in 2012, prior to being made a bishop.  The pope said he had not accepted the archbishop’s resignation “on the altar of truth, but on the altar of hypocrisy…”

Cincinnati announces massive consolidation effort (CNA) The Archdiocese of Cincinnati this week announced plans for groupings of parishes, called “families,” which will greatly reduce the number of parishes in the archdiocese during a multi-year consolidation process…

Ohio historical marker honors former slave turned Catholic (Springfield Sun-News) A name from Springfield’s past will live on and gain new appreciation through an Ohio Historical Marker dedicated on Sunday. Daniel Rudd, a former slave who moved to Springfield after the Civil War and raised in Catholicism as a member of St. Raphael Church, was honored with the marker outside St. Raphael’s…

A look at an extraordinary relic of St. Joseph, his holy cloak (CNA) The holy cloak of St. Joseph, a unique relic of the foster father of Jesus, has traveled from church to church in Rome this year after spending 16 centuries in an ancient Roman basilica. The cloak, which tradition says was brought from the Holy Land to Rome by St. Jerome in the 4th century, is accompanied by a still-colorful veil held to have belonged to the Virgin Mary…

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