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According to a report published by Reuters on Wednesday, a massive forced abortion program has been carried out by the Nigerian military on at least 10,000 women since 2013. In addition to exposing the Nigerian government’s forced abortion campaign, Reuters’ findings further evidence the use of rape as a weapon of war carried out by Islamist insurgents on Nigerian civilians. 7 Division, the Nigerian military force in charge of countering the insurgents, has been forcing chemical and surgical abortions on tens of thousands of women who have been raped by Islamist insurgents such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State-West Africa Province (ISWAP), a self-proclaimed regional “caliphate” of ISIS. Reuters verified that the Nigerian military has beaten and coerced women, some as young as 12, into abortions in the most unsanitary conditions. For the second consecutive year, Nigeria has been left off of the U.S. State Department’s list of countries that engage in or tolerate the world’s worst religious freedom violations, despite regular reports of kidnappings and killings of Christians.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253012/reuters-exposes-massive-rape-and-forced-abortion-campaigns-in-nigerian-conflict
Journalists investigating secular and Catholic Church sources in Poland have called into question allegations by a Dutch writer that Saint John Paul II “covered up” sexual abuse while still a bishop in Poland. The Polish Bishops’ Conference, in a statement published November 14, spoke of “increasingly hearing questions about John Paul II’s attitude toward the tragedy of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable people by the clergy and about his response to such crimes during his pontificate.” The bishops decried these as a “media assault” on Saint John Paul II and his pontificate.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253005/journalists-contradict-allegations-of-cover-up-against-john-paul-ii-before-he-was-pope
Today, the Church celebrates The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, which recognizes the long-held belief of the Church that Mary was conceived free from original sin. Mary was granted this extraordinary privilege because of Her unique role in history as the Mother of God. Even though Mary is unique in all humanity for being born without sin, she is held up by the Church as a model for all humanity in Her holiness and Her purity in her willingness to accept the Plan of God for her.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/solemnity-of-the-immaculate-conception-of-the-blessed-virgin-77