Happy Friday! And happy March Madness. To celebrate, here’s a fun “Catholic guide” to the NCAA Basketball Tournament. And, as always, here’s your weekly roundup:
Christian protesters turned unusually violent after suicide bombers attacked services at nearby Catholic and Anglican churches in one of Pakistan’s largest Christian communities. The explosions killed at least 17 and injured 80 people.
The head of India’s Catholic bishops, speaking out after a nun was raped in the east of the country last week, said the country should be as concerned about the welfare of its people as it is about its cows.
A Holocaust-denying bishop who made headlines in 2009 when Pope Benedict XVI rehabilitated him and members of his breakaway traditionalist society is planning to consecrate a new bishop in Brazil without Pope Francis’ consent—a church crime punishable by excommunication.
A study released by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication has found that more Catholics in the United States are worried about global warming than other Christian groups and they are more supportive of policy action to reduce the effects of climate change.
An Italian man wrote to Pope Francis about his abuse at the hands of a priest, and the pontiff personally intervened.
Pope Francis has accepted a decision by Cardinal Keith O’Brien to give up his rights and duties as a cardinal. O’Brien had been accused of inappropriate behavior toward priests dating back to the 1980s. He will retain the title of cardinal but will be reduced to a strictly private life.
Elton John is boycotting Italian designers Dolce and Gabbana for calling children conceived with in vitro fertilization “synthetic.”
A San Francisco cathedral got a lot of bad press this week regarding a sprinkler system it seemed was installed to prevent people suffering from homelessness from sleeping on church grounds. The archdiocese, however, has said the sprinklers were intended to wash away “needles, feces, and other dangerous items,” not people.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to expand public pre-K to all 4 year-olds depends in part on the participation of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim schools, under a proposal that would permit religious instruction and prayers during midday breaks.
Pope Francis will address the U.N. General Assembly on September 25, meet with U.N. leadership, and participate in a town hall meeting with U.N. staff, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the office of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
The St. Louis archdiocese canceled a speech from a visionary who saw the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje. To Roman Catholic officialdom, it’s unclear whether the Virgin Mary appeared to Ivan Dragicevic and five others 34 years ago in a Bosnian village.
And now for the papal rapid fire roundup
This week, Pope Francis:
- Went to confession.
- Phoned Benedict XVI.
- Said use of the death penalty marks a nation’s failure.
- Is going to prison for the weekend.
