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The US House of Representatives voted 258-169 to pass the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA) on Thursday, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature. A total of 219 Democrats, along with 39 Republicans, voted “yea” to the bill. One hundred sixty-nine Republicans voted against it. One Republican voted “present” — neither yes or no — and four Republicans were recorded as not voting. The bill, which would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and recognize same-sex marriages on a federal level, has drawn criticism from Catholic leaders for not providing strong enough protections for those who believe marriage is between one man and one woman — a belief in line with Church teaching. President Joe Biden, a Catholic, has pledged to sign it into law.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253021/house-passes-same-sex-marriage-bill-in-final-vote-sending-it-to-biden-s-desk
A group of clerical sexual abuse survivors has filed a request with the Baltimore Circuit Court in an attempt to make public a recently sealed attorney general’s report that claims to chronicle hundreds of instances of clerical abuse. At issue is a 456-page report compiled by the office of Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, which consists of information given by the Archdiocese of Baltimore along with information gathered from interviews, and which claims to identify more than 600 victims of clerical abuse in the archdiocese dating back eight decades. It is currently unclear whether the report will lead to any new criminal charges. At a joint press conference Dec. 7, a group of abuse survivors and their attorneys announced they had filed a motion in support of the Maryland Office of Attorney General’s recent motion to publicly disclose the report to the public. A judge in Baltimore last week ordered all proceedings, filings, and communications related to the release of the report on clerical sexual abuse to be made confidential. Going forward, the legal processes of releasing the full report will not be disclosed to the public because of the confidentiality order. Should the full report be released, pending Judge Anthony Vittoria’s decision, it will likely be redacted.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253024/baltimore-abuse-survivors-file-request-to-make-abuse-report-public
Today, the Church celebrates Saint Juan Diego, the indigenous Mexican Catholic convert whose encounter with the Virgin Mary began the Church's devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-juan-diego-409