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During his 2023 State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Joe Biden called on Congress to codify Roe v Wade and pass legislation banning discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity. Codifying Roe v Wade would establish federal abortion laws that mirror the standards that were set under the now obsolete Roe v Wade decision. Such a law would prohibit states from banning abortion and would prevent certain state-level abortion restrictions. Although Biden is the nation’s second Catholic president, he remains at odds with American Catholic bishops and Catholic Church teaching.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253582/biden-calls-to-codify-roe-pass-equality-act-in-sotu-speech
Pope Francis concluded his public audience on Wednesday with a prayer for the intercession of the Virgin Mary for the thousands of victims of a deadly earthquake in Turkey and Syria. “Let’s pray together so that these brothers and sisters can move forward from this tragedy. And we pray that Our Lady will protect them,” the pope said in the Vatican’s Paul the sixth Hall on February 8. He then led pilgrims at the event in praying a Hail Mary for all those affected. A series of large earthquakes in parts of Turkey and Syria February 6 created massive destruction and killed an estimated 9,600 people, according to the latest available estimates reported by Reuters early Wednesday morning.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253581/pope-francis-leads-hail-mary-for-victims-of-earthquake-in-turkey-and-syria
Today, the Church celebrates Saint Josephine Bakhita, a Canossian Sister who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Sudan.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-josephine-bakhita-680