In battleground states, Catholics are pivotal swing vote (AP) For decades, Roman Catholic voters have been a pivotal swing vote in U.S. presidential elections, with a majority backing the winner — whether Republican or Democrat — nearly every time. How they vote in the battleground states this year could well decide the outcome, and the rival campaigns are targeting them with fervent appeals to vote based on their faith…
Boris Johnson’s son baptized Catholic (Catholic Weekly) A Catholic priest has baptized the infant son of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A statement from the Archdiocese of Westminster, which covers the English capital north of the River Thames, confirmed that the baptism of Wilfred Johnson took place in London’s Westminster Cathedral. Johnson’s sixth child was born April 29 and baptized Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas, partly after the grandfather of his fiancée, Carrie Symonds. Symonds’ grandfather was named Nicholas, as well as two doctors — Nicholas Price and Nicholas Hart — whom Johnson said had saved his life when he contracted COVID-19 earlier that month…
Five years later: Remembering Francis’s visit to the U.S. (OSV) Pope Francis, who had been in the Chair of St. Peter for a little over two years, visited the United States from Sept. 22-27, 2015. The apostolic trip consisted of many of the usual features of previous papal visitations: formal remarks at the White House, an address to the United Nations, a Mass at Madison Square Garden. But consistent with the themes of his papacy, the Holy Father worked in additions to his schedule that highlighted his desire to be with the poor, marginalized and outcast…
Cardinal: fading Christian presence in Middle East is like a sinking ship (CNS) Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai warned that the Christian presence in the Middle East is shrinking and church leaders “are called to face the winds that blow in our homelands.” The assessment by the patriarch of Maronite Catholics during a meeting of the Middle East Council of Churches executive committee Sept. 18 underscored the dire reality facing Christians in the tumultuous region. “The ship threatened by strong winds and waves” that is sinking symbolizes “the witnessing church in the sea of our Middle Eastern countries troubled by the winds of conflicts and wars, political, economic, financial and livelihood crises, and the corona epidemic,” Cardinal Rai said…
