February 12, 2024

Catholic News

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. www.catholicnewsagency.com - A foundation dedicated to spreading devotion to Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, better known as Padre Pio, opened a chapel in rural Kansas this weekend that will permanently host a first-class relic of the saint. The plan is to inaugurate five chapels dedicated to the saint, each with a first-class relic, across the United States in the four cardinal directions so that they form the shape of a cross on a map, with the Kansas chapel forming the cross’ center. The inaugural chapel, located inside Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church in Beloit, Kansas, opened February 11 with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Gerald Vincke of the Diocese of Salina. The plans for the four other chapels are still in the works. Padre Pio, born Francesco Forgione in 1887 in Italy, became a Franciscan priest around the turn of the 20th century. He took the new name Pio, a modernized Italian form of “Pius,” in honor of Saint Pius V. He is perhaps best known for receiving the stigmata — Christ’s wounds present in his own flesh. He is remembered for his patient suffering in the face of pain and health issues, his fervent prayer, and compassionate spiritual guidance. He was declared a saint in 2002 after dying in 1968. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256782/chapel-housing-first-class-padre-pio-relic-to-open-in-kansas The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) published a document to explain its concerns about the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval and deregulation of a chemical abortion pill, which is the subject of an ongoing US Supreme Court case. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256793/chemical-abortion-pill-us-bishops-issue-guide-laying-out-dangers-and-concerns Catholic bishops in Nigeria’s Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province (IEP) are alarmed by the recurrent and “pervasive” security challenges in the West African nation, which they compare to a battlefield characterized with hostility and killing. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256791/nigeria-fast-becoming-a-hostile-killing-field-say-catholic-bishops-in-ibadan-province Katalin Novák resigned as president of Hungary on Saturday amid protests over her decision to pardon a man last year who had been convicted of hiding a string of child sexual abuses in a state-run children’s home. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256798/katalin-novak-resigns-as-president-of-hungary Today, the Church celebrates Saint Julian the Hospitaller, or "the Poor Man," who came from a wealthy, noble family in the early 4th century and is a popular saint in Western Europe. According to a legend, while Julian was a baby, he was cursed to one-day kill his own parents, which he did. He swore to devote the remainder of his life to good works. He and his wife then undertook a pilgrimage to a distant country where he established a hospital. The hospital was near a river that was frequently crossed by people prompted to travel by the Holy Crusades. People frequently drowned crossing this river so Julian took responsibility of ferrying travelers across and tending to the sick. Julian is considered the patron of ferrymen, innkeepers and circus performers. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-julian-the-hospitaller-145