World Religions News

Pope Francis waves to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on Dec. 4, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Dec 5, 2024 / 14:10 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis this week encouraged participants of the second International Congress of Confraternities and Brotherhoods to bring Christ “out into the streets so that he may enter into all hearts.”

In a message to nearly 2,000 people participating in this year’s conference on popular piety in Seville, Spain, from Dec. 4–8, the pope emphasized the significance of “beauty” in attracting others to faith in Jesus Christ and his Church. 

“Above all, it is the beauty of Christ that summons us, calls us to be brothers and sisters and urges us to take Christ out into the streets, to bring him to the people, so that everyone can contemplate his beauty,” the pope wrote in a Dec. 4 message to congress participants.

“Be crazy with love,” the pope added. “Crazy with love for God, so much so to touch the hearts of their people, to bring them to God.” 

Using the expression of Spanish saint Manuel Gonzalez, known for his devotion to the Eucharist and who describes life as a “round trip” that begins and ends in Christ, the Holy Father reminded the congress’ European and Latin American participants that the Church is a “people walking toward God” in the pilgrimage of life. 

“‘The people ... are hungry for truth, for affection, for well-being, for justice, for heaven, and, perhaps, without realizing it, for God and ‘the tears of his heart,’” the pope said, sharing the words of St. Manuel.

Besides elaborate acts of piety, such as processions and public liturgies, the pope highlighted the need for people to go “to the tabernacle where the Lord awaits us” to present one’s own and others’ prayers and petitions.   

“This living Bread is the only one that can satisfy the hunger of our society, a Bread that was born to be given, to be consumed, and that from the altar calls us to dialogue with him, to be our consolation and our rest,” the Holy Father wrote. 

This year’s International Congress of Confraternities and Brotherhoods includes separate presentations by the Vatican’s prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Archbishop Salvatore Rino Fisichella; prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life Cardinal Kevin Farrell; and Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

Pope gifts golden rose to Our Lady of Hope of Macarena 

On Dec. 3, the evening before the five-day congress, Pope Francis gifted a golden rose to the image of Our Lady of Hope of Macarena.

Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, substitute for general affairs of the Vatican Secretariat of State, was in charge of granting the golden rose to Our Lady in the Basilica of the Macarena in Seville.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Archbishop José Ángel Saiz Meneses of Seville said the pope’s gesture “reinforces the Christian and Marian identity of the city and constitutes a call to spiritual renewal and commitment to the values ​​of the Gospel” and expresses a “deep recognition” of the popular piety found in southern Spain.

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A Moment in Time: “As a Jew, I Will ….” Read More »

The post A Moment in Time: “As a Jew, I Will ….” appeared first on Jewish Journal.

Through its inaugural video initiative, “Shalom Begins on Your Plate,” the organization is highlighting the ways in which plant-based eating better aligns with Jewish values.

The post Center for Jewish Food Ethics Launches “Shalom Begins on Your Plate” appeared first on Jewish Journal.

(RNS) — In his triple jubilee year, the great Catholic theologian has been celebrated this year in academic conferences and expositions of his relics — resurrecting an old controversy about where his true head lies.

The post When it comes to venerating St. Thomas Aquinas, are two heads better than one? appeared first on RNS.

A demonstrator holds a sign opposing sex changes for minors at a rally on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on Dec. 4, 2024, as justices heard oral arguments in a challenge to a Tennessee law banning transgender surgeries for minors. / Credit: Migi Fabara/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 5, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

Demonstrators rallied on the steps of the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday morning as justices heard oral arguments in a challenge to a Tennessee law banning transgender surgeries for minors.  

Speaking at the rally was activist and detransitioner Chloe Cole, who joined a chorus of opponents of “gender-affirming care” for children, calling the law a necessary step in protecting young people from what they described as irreversible medical interventions. 

Cole was joined by Daily Wire host Matt Walsh, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and other advocates, medical professionals, and concerned parents speaking at a rally organized by the medical nonprofit Do No Harm. 

Tensions were high at times, as a rally organized by a coalition of trans-rights activists shared the space outside the nation’s highest court.

“What an absolute honor to be here on the steps of the Supreme Court speaking, surrounded by so many of my friends, my colleagues, and all the other brave souls who have pushed this battle forward,” Cole told those surrounding her. The 20-year-old detransitioner spoke through shouts of both approval and derision.

In her speech, Cole expressed confidence that “the Supreme Court is going to do the right thing” and is in the momentum of the movement against “gender-affirming care” for minors.

“The transitioning of children is so awful and horrific,” she declared, “that it’s managed to create this massive movement that has unified Democrats, Republicans, Christians, atheists, and really just about everybody to fight for the safety of our children.” 

Cole detransitioned after undergoing years of puberty blockers and an irreversible double mastectomy at the age of 15. She has shared her story across a variety of platforms and spoken widely about the dangerous effect of gender transition procedures on children.

“I’m grateful that the state of Tennessee has listened to the stories of victims like me, that they have pumped the brakes hard on this practice, that the Supreme Court is willing to listen so soon and set a precedent that will allow most of the nation to protect children,” she continued.

“I feel like the suffering that I went through as a child and the grief and the guilt that my mom and dad experienced while they had their healthy daughter ripped away from them was not in vain,” Cole added.

Cole told the audience she was confident the justices “understand how wrong this is.” 

“It doesn’t take a degree in biology to understand that a drug cocktail and a scalpel do not make a child the opposite sex,” she said. “You don’t have to be a biologist to know that no child is born in the wrong body, that children are perfectly made in God’s image.” 

Walsh, the leading figure in the documentary “What is a Woman?”, also underscored biology as a driving force behind his advocacy against transgender surgeries for minors.

“Biology is real,” he stated. “It is immutable. It is not subject to the whims of any individual or government or medical organization.” 

The Daily Wire host often discusses sex and gender-related news on his show and in his documentary “What is A Woman?”, where he tackles the highly contentious issue of gender identity and gender ideology. The film received widespread accolades from conservatives as well as hostility from transgender activists. 

Walsh described gender ideology as “deeply sinister,” stating to the crowd of both supporters and counterprotesters that gender ideology “is one of the greatest and most incomprehensible evils ever visited upon children in the whole history of the human race.” 

At several points during his address, advocates for trans rights shouted insults or attempted to rush the stage where he was speaking. 

“These are the truths that bring us to this spot on this day, that biology is a fact, that we have a duty to protect our children, that the trans agenda denies the fact of biology,” he said. “It is a distinct threat to our children — we affirm these truths [and] we call the Supreme Court to affirm them, too.”

The Tennessee law went into effect in July 2023 and prohibits doctors from performing transgender surgeries on or prescribing any drugs to facilitate a gender transition, such as puberty blockers or hormones to minor children under 18 years old.

It is being challenged by President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and by families who live in the state, who are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee.

The Supreme Court’s decision could have a wide-ranging effect across the country. There are currently 24 states that prohibit both transgender surgeries and drugs for minors. Another two states — New Hampshire and Arizona — prohibit the surgeries but not the drugs. Numerous state-level laws currently face legal challenges.

During an appearance on “EWTN News Nightly” on Wednesday, Ethics and Public Policy Center resident expert Mary Rice Hasson told host Tracy Sabol that she was “cautiously optimistic” after hearing the oral arguments. 

Rice Hasson said she believes the justices were reluctant to “wade into something that they saw as really medically unsettled” or to grant transgender individuals protected status.

The court, she said, will “either grant some sort of protected status” or will “go and look at the purpose of the status and say, ‘This is not about sex discrimination or “transgender status,” this is about a legislature looking at the medical evidence and making a decision, and we are going to uphold the authority of the state.’ So I’m cautiously optimistic.” 

PALERMO, Calif. (AP) — The shooting occurred shortly after 1 p.m. at the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists, a private Christian school with fewer than three dozen students.

The post Gunman may have targeted California religious school in shooting that wounded 2 kindergartners appeared first on RNS.

CAIRO (AP) — Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has adamantly rejected genocide allegations against it as an antisemitic “blood libel.”

The post Amnesty International says Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Israel rejects the allegations appeared first on RNS.