Happy Friday! It’s time for fish. And, of course, weekly roundup:
Eight California lawmakers are urging San Francisco archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone to withdraw “morality clauses” for high school teachers, which ask employees to “affirm and believe” that “adultery, masturbation, fornication, the viewing of pornography, and homosexual relations” are “gravely evil.” Artificial-reproductive technology, contraception, and abortion are described similarly, according to the Los Angeles Times. The lawmakers’ letter argues the clauses strip high school teachers of civil rights protections.
Gruesome video released by Islamic State militants shows the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya. “The blood of our Christian brothers is a witness that cries out,” Pope Francis said regarding the brutal slayings. “They were assassinated just for being Christian.”
After killing a Danish film director in a Saturday afternoon attack on a Copenhagen cafe and then a Jewish night guard at a synagogue, the 22-year-old gunman responsible for Denmark’s worst burst of terrorism in decades was shot and killed by Danish police, according to the New York Times.
Pope Francis’ new cardinals were formally installed on Saturday. The 15 new cardinals who are of voting age come from 14 countries and include prelates from Ethiopia, Panama, Thailand, and Vietnam, and from places in Europe far removed from the traditional power dioceses of Old World Catholicism.
Pope Francis expressed compassion for men who have left the priesthood to marry, saying he understands their “suffering,” but didn’t say they should return to active ministry.
Religion News Service reports that Catholic gay rights group New Ways Ministry typically draws around two-dozen people on its pilgrimages to visit holy sites in places like Assisi and Rome. But this year, the number of pilgrims unexpectedly doubled to 50—a clear sign of the so-called “Francis Effect,” where the pope’s open-arms acceptance is giving new hope to gay and lesbian Catholics.
More Utah residents go to church every week than residents of any other state, according to a new Gallup poll.
And now for the papal rapid fire roundup:
This week, Pope Francis:
- Told Catholics to be open and welcoming.
- Criticized gender theory.
- Walked in an Ash Wednesday procession.
- Is a plush pontiff.
- Let more kids ride in the popemobile.
