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U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear Hobby Lobby challenge to HHS mandate

November 26, 2013 World News Comments Off on U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear Hobby Lobby challenge to HHS mandate

by LifeSiteNews.com Tue Nov 26, 2013 12:13 EST WASHINGTON, Nov. 26, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to hear the challenge by the Christian-owned Hobby Lobby stores against the HHS birth control mandate, which requires all employers to provide health insurance that covers contraception, abortifacient drugs and sterilizations. The HHS mandate is a key component of the Obama administration’s embattled healthcare reform law. “My family and I are encouraged that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide our case,” said Mr. Green, Hobby Lobby’s founder and CEO. The nation’s highest court accepted the federal government’s appeal of a June decision by the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court had decided that the HHS mandate places a…Continue Reading

President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Applauds Federal Court Ruling on HHS Mandate in favor of Catholic Dioceses, Ministries

November 26, 2013 World News Comments Off on President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Applauds Federal Court Ruling on HHS Mandate in favor of Catholic Dioceses, Ministries

November 22, 2013 Ruling a significant victory for conscience rights Court says government cannot reduce right to free exercise to right to worship Washington – In a significant victory for conscience rights, a federal district court in Pennsylvania November 21 handed down the first decision on the merits in a case by Catholic non-profit organizations challenging the final HHS mandate. The Court found that the mandate’s “religious employer ‘accommodation’ places a substantial burden on Plaintiffs’ right to freely exercise their religion,” determined that the plaintiffs, the Dioceses of Pittsburgh and Erie and related organizations, are “likely to succeed on the merits” of their claim under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and issued a preliminary injunction preventing the government from enforcing…Continue Reading

German bishop: allow Communion for divorced/remarried, despite Vatican disapproval

November 26, 2013 Uncategorized, World News Comments Off on German bishop: allow Communion for divorced/remarried, despite Vatican disapproval

CWN – November 25, 2013 A German bishop has said that the country’s episcopal conference will move forward with plans to allow Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics, despite clear disapproval from the Vatican. Bishop Gebhard Fürst of Stuttgart told a lay group, the Central Committee of German Catholics, that the German bishops have already drafted new guidelines for the reception of Communion by divorced/remarried Catholics, and hope to vote their approval to those new rules in March 2014. Bishop Fürst said that the German hierarchy is responding to demands from the faithful. “Expectations are great, and impatience and anger are greater still,” he said. Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,…Continue Reading

Pope Francis echoes Pope Benedict, underlines continuity of Council of Trent, Vatican II

November 26, 2013 World News Comments Off on Pope Francis echoes Pope Benedict, underlines continuity of Council of Trent, Vatican II

CWN – November 25, 2013 Pope Francis has embraced the ‘hermeneutic of reform’ that Pope Benedict XVI proposed as the key to interpreting the teachings of Vatican II. In a letter dated November 19 and released November 23, the Pope appointed Cardinal Walter Brandmüller as his special envoy to the December celebration the 450th anniversary of the conclusion of the Council of Trent (1545-63), the nineteenth of the Church’s 21 ecumenical councils. Cardinal Brandmüller, 84, is the president emeritus of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences. “It is appropriate that the Church recall with a more prompt and attentive zeal the very fruitful doctrine that came to pass from that Council held in the Tyrolean region,” Pope Francis said in…Continue Reading

Pope Francis meets Russian President Putin

November 25, 2013 World News Comments Off on Pope Francis meets Russian President Putin

2013-11-25 Vatican Radio Pope Francis had a private meeting in the Vatican on Monday afternoon with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. It’s the fourth time the Russian leader has been here to the Vatican – he met twice with Pope John Paul II in 2000 and 2003 and had an audience with Pope Benedict in 2007. In September this year, Pope Francis also wrote directly to President Putin, as the city of St Petersburg prepared to host the G20 summit of world economic leaders. In that letter, the Pope spoke of the need for a more just global financial framework, stressing that “the world economy will only develop if it allows a dignified way of life for…Continue Reading

Confessions of a Pope

November 25, 2013 World News Comments Off on Confessions of a Pope

  2013-11-21 L’Osservatore Romano   “Priests and bishops too have to go to confession”. And “even the Pope confesses every 15 days, because the Pope is also a sinner. And the confessor hears what I tell him, he counsels me and forgives me, because we are all in need of this forgiveness”. The Holy Father confided this to the faithful at the General Audience on Wednesday morning, 20 November, in St Peter’s Square. Continuing his reflections on the Creed, the Holy Father expanded on the ‘remission of sin’, “in reference to the ‘power of the keys’, as it is called, which is a biblical symbol of the mission that Jesus entrusted to the Apostles”. The following is a translations of…Continue Reading

Judge Rules Pittsburgh Catholic Church Doesn’t Have to Comply With HHS Mandate

November 22, 2013 World News Comments Off on Judge Rules Pittsburgh Catholic Church Doesn’t Have to Comply With HHS Mandate

by Steven Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 11/21/13 7:44 PM In yet another pro-life victory against the HHS mandate that forces churches and religious groups to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions for their employees, a federal judge has ruled that the Catholic Church in Pittsburgh doesn’t have to comply.Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh made such a stink when he testified in court recently that he received national attention. He said would rather pay fines, no matter how much they might be that be forced to follow the directives of the abortion mandate. “I would not be able to live with myself knowing that we’re contradicting what we believe,” he said during a hearing…Continue Reading

Pope Francis and the pro-life and pro-family movements: webcast audio now available!

November 19, 2013 World News Comments Off on Pope Francis and the pro-life and pro-family movements: webcast audio now available!

by JOHN JALSEVEC Thu Nov 14, 2013 Nov. 14, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Since his election in March, Pope Francis has garnered widespread media coverage, thanks in large part to a series of spontaneous gestures, statements and free-wheeling interviews that have endeared him to many Catholics and non-Catholics alike. At the same time, some in the pro-life and pro-family movements have expressed perplexity, if not consternation in some cases, about some of the statements made by the pope in some of those interviews. In one interview with Jesuit magazines across the world the Pope had declared that “it is not necessary to talk about [abortion, gay ‘marriage’ and contraception’] all the time.” While in another interview with atheist Eugenia Scalfari, the Pope…Continue Reading

Archbishop Kurtz Elected President of U.S. Bishops Cardinal DiNardo Elected Vice President

November 12, 2013 World News Comments Off on Archbishop Kurtz Elected President of U.S. Bishops Cardinal DiNardo Elected Vice President

November 12, 2013 Bishops elect chairman of Catholic Education Committee Chairmen-elect chosen for five other USCCB committees New CRS, CLINIC board members chosen November 12, 2013 BALTIMORE—Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) during the bishops’ annual fall General Assembly, November 12, in Baltimore. Archbishop Kurtz has served as vice president of USCCB since 2010. Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston was elected USCCB vice president. Archbishop Kurtz and Cardinal DiNardo are elected to three-year terms and succeed Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York and Archbishop Kurtz, respectively. The new president and vice president’s terms begin at the conclusion of the General Assembly, November 14. Archbishop Kurtz was…Continue Reading

ObamaCare’s marriage penalty: Cohabitating couples will pay less for healthcare than married couples

November 12, 2013 World News Comments Off on ObamaCare’s marriage penalty: Cohabitating couples will pay less for healthcare than married couples

by Kirsten Andersen Mon Nov 11, 2013 15:19 EST WASHINGTON, D.C., November 11, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Would you pay $10,000 a year to stay married to your spouse? Some American couples are being faced with exactly that decision as they consider their health insurance options under ObamaCare. One of the most controversial provisions of ObamaCare is that it requires all Americans to purchase health insurance, whether they want it or not, or face hefty fines. To facilitate enrollment, the government has set up health care “exchanges” in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., where people can compare and purchase insurance plans. The government has promised subsidies to help those who cannot afford the higher premiums, but the way the subsidies are…Continue Reading