Catholic News

• Pope highlights importance of protecting civilians during conflicts (Vatican Press Office)
  The Pope made his remarks to participants in an international conference on humanitarian law.
• Pope Francis recalls 70th anniversary of secular insitutes (Vatican Press Office)
  Pope Pius XII’s decision to create secular institutes “was in a certain sense revolutionary,” said Pope Francis. “Indeed, it outlined a new form of consecration, that of the lay faithful and diocesan priests called to live evangelical counsel[s] in the secular life in which they are immersed.”
• British court upholds university's expulsion of student who wrote that same-sex marriage is sinful (The Guardian)
  Sheffield University expelled the student from its master’s program in social work after he wrote on Facebook that “same-sex marriage is a sin whether we like it or not. It is God’s words and man’s sentiments would not change His words.”
• Vatican Secretary of State comments on the European project (Vatican Press Office)
  “The European project is undoubtedly a human work,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin said at a conference on Europe’s future. “As such, it has its limitations and can always be perfected ... As Christians, we want to make our contribution inspired and sustained by our faith.”
• Indonesia passes law against radical Islamist organizations (Fides)
  Indonesia, the world’s 4th-most populous nation, is 87% Muslim, 7% Protestant, and 3% Catholic.
• Egypt: Coptic priest conducts sit-in in his closed church (Watani)
  Watani is a weekly Egyptian newspaper.
• Honduran bishops, in election statement, call for restoration of democracy, rule of law (Fides)
  The Central American nation of 8.9 million is 97% Catholic.
• Cardinal Marx, at Vatican press conference, praises EU, discusses Christian contribution to its future (Vatican Press Office)
  Climate change, changes in the workplace, and migration are 3 challenges facing “Project Europe,” which has achieved “great results,” said Cardinal Reinhard Marx. “The main question is: what can we do, and what do we want to do, to live together in this Europe and to carry forward ‘Project Europe’?”
• Indiana court rules that sex offenders are not banned from churches (Religion Clause)
  
• University College Dublin: student body president impeached, faces threats for pro-life stance (Irish Times)
  
• Sudan: authorities charge 5 Christians with noise pollution for loud church services (World Watch Monitor)
  The nation of 36.7 million is largely Sunni Muslim.
• Group helps aspirants to priesthood, religious life tackle student debt (National Catholic Register)
  
• England's Buckfast Abbey to celebrate 1,000 years (CNA)
  
• English bishop: abortion is 'the cornerstone issue for any society' (Catholic Herald)
  Bishop Michael Campbell of Lancaster said that “sadly, the price of admission into mainstream British life has meant that we somehow keep the Catholic brand name and tribal loyalty, but are content to live a mix of nostalgia and generic good will and ‘keep our heads down’ in the public sphere.”
• In shift of stance, DUP signals hopes for papal visit to Northern Ireland (Irish Catholic)
  The DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) was founded by Ian Paisley, a staunch critic of the Catholic Church.
• Papal audiences (10/28) (Vatican Press Office)
  In separate audiences, Pope Francis received Cardinal Marc Ouellet (prefect of the Congregation for Bishops), the Holy See’s representative at the World Tourism Organization, the Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations, the participants in the 3rd Conference on Humanitarian International Law, the 1st VPs of the European Commission and the European Parliament, and participants in the conference “(Re)Thinking Europe.”
• Episcopal appointments (10/27) (Vatican Press Office)
  Pope Francis appointed a new bishop in Brazil.
• Papal audiences (10/27) (Vatican Press Office)
  In separate audiences, the Pontiff received the archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, Cardinal Agostino Vallini (the vicar general emeritus of Rome, and Cardinal Kevin Farrell (prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life).
• Place people, not profits, at center of economic system, Pope tells Italy's Catholics (Vatican Radio)
  The Pope made his remarks in a video message for the 48th Social Week for Italian Catholics.
• Moscow patriarch: Bolshevik Revolution was a catastrophe (Moscow Patriarchate)
  The head of the Russian Orthodox Church said that the October Revolution of 1917 “led to truly catastrophic consequences for religious communities, to persecution of believers, destruction of churches and total anti-religious propaganda.” Criticizing moral relativism, he added that there is a distinction between the religious and “secular liberal” understandings of freedom.
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