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Pope Francis said Friday that he plans to visit Mongolia, the world’s most sparsely populated sovereign country. In off-the-cuff remarks to employees of the Italian airline company that staffs the papal plane for his international trips, the pope said that he will travel to Mongolia after his scheduled trips to Hungary and France in the coming months. An apostolic journey to Mongolia would make Pope Francis the first pope to visit the Asian country that shares a 2,880-mile border with China, its most significant economic partner. Mongolia has a population of about 1,300 Catholics in a country of more than 3 million people. Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Budapest, Hungary, at the end of this month from April 28–30 in what will be his second visit to the central European country in three years.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254107/pope-francis-says-that-he-will-travel-to-mongolia
Pope Francis on Sunday defended Saint John Paul II against a recent accusation that the Polish pope secretly visited women at night. Pietro Orlandi, the brother of Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old girl and Vatican citizen who went missing 40 years ago, insinuated this week that John Paul II secretly left the Vatican at night to engage in immoral behavior. Speaking to the public on Divine Mercy Sunday, a day established by Pope John Paul II in 2000, Pope Francis called the insinuation “unfounded and offensive.” The disappearance of Orlandi was the subject of a Netflix true-crime docuseries, “Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi,” which came out last year. The final episode of the series puts forward a theory that the Vatican was somehow involved in the disappearance. The Vatican has always denied having any role in the girl’s vanishing and has cooperated with other investigations into the disappearance in recent years.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254109/pope-francis-defends-st-john-paul-ii-against-offensive-conjectures-from-brother-of-missing-vatican-girl
Catholic and pro-life leaders lamented Colorado Governor Jared Polis’ final approval of three strongly pro-abortion bills on Friday, objecting that they prioritize abortion “at the cost of countless children’s lives.” The new laws ban abortion-pill reversal treatments, greatly restrict advertising for pro-life pregnancy resource centers, require insurance providers to pay for abortions, and remove parental notification for minors seeking an abortion, among other measures. In an April 14 letter, the Catholic bishops of Colorado said there was “a strong outcry” against the three bills. They said the laws are out of step with the 63% of Coloradans who do not support unrestricted abortion. Most residents do not want to pay for abortion in their health insurance and do not want to penalize health care providers who object to abortion and “gender-affirming care.” Bella Health and Wellness, a pro-life, Catholic-founded health care clinic that provides abortion pill reversal, quickly filed a legal challenge to the abortion pill reversal ban, with the backing of the religious liberty legal group Becket.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254108/colorados-latest-extreme-abortion-laws-will-cost-countless-childrens-lives-pro-life-leaders-warn
Today the Church celebrates Saint Stephen Harding, regarded as the founder of the Cistercian monasteries. Before his death in 1134, Stephen had established 13 monasteries. By the end of the 12th century there were 500 in Europe.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-stephen-harding-439