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The Jesuit Superior General, Father Arturo Sosa, has confirmed that Jesuit artist Father Marko Rupnik incurred an automatic excommunication in 2019 for abusing the sacrament of confession, a fact his religious order was aware of but did not disclose until now. Rupnik is a world-renowned artist whose works include projects in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican, the Knights of Columbus' National Shrine to John Paul II in Washington, DC, the Cathedral of Santa María la Real de Almudena in Madrid, and the Fatima Shrine. Abusing the sacrament of confession in the manner that Rupnik did is one of the most serious crimes in the Catholic Church. Rupnik, 68, is also alleged to have sexually abused members of a women’s institute of religious life in Ljubljana, Slovenia, while serving as the chaplain there in the early 1990s
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253079/jesuit-superior-says-that-fr-marko-rupnik-was-excommunicated-in-2019
Four statues at Saint Joseph Parish in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, were vandalized overnight between December 10 and December 11, and police are asking for help identifying a suspect caught on camera. Father Stephen Leva, the pastor of the church, said in an online post December 11 that the four statues affected were of Saint Anthony, Saint Joseph, Our Lady of Lourdes, and the Holy Family. The Downingtown Police Department asked for the public’s assistance Tuesday in identifying the perpetrator who was caught on camera. Those photos of the perpetrator can be seen on the department's Facebook page. The church is the second largest parish in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia with more than 5,000 families, according to the parish’s website.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253080/suspect-caught-on-camera-vandalizing-pa-catholic-church
Cardinal Joseph Zen has filed an appeal with Hong Kong’s High Court following his conviction last month for failing to register a fund that helped pay for the legal fees and medical treatments of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters. The Hong Kong Free Press reported on December 14 that the 90-year-old cardinal and former bishop of Hong Kong filed an appeal of the verdict this week together with four other trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund who were fined about 500 US dollars each. Zen’s trial from September to November focused on whether it was necessary for the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund trustees to apply for local society registration between 2019 and 2021.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253073/cardinal-zen-appeals-conviction-in-hong-kong-court
Today, the Church celebrates Saint Virginia Centurione Bracelli. She founded a refuge center in Genoa in 1625, which soon became overrun with the needy, and she rented an empty convent in 1631 where she cared for the sick with the help of other women, and she instructed the women in the faith in addition to their work. She constructed a church dedicated to Our Lady of Refuge, and soon the women who worked with her in the hospital were formed into two congregations: the Sisters of Our Lady of Refuge in Mount Calvary, and the Daughters of Our Lady on Mount Calvary. Victoria retired from the administration of the orders, and performed manual labor and begged for alms, but was called back to administrative duties soon after. She was canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II on May 18, 2003.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-virginia-centurione-bracelli-85