A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
-
Pope Francis appealed for peace in the Holy Land on Sunday, calling the recent spike in Israeli-Palestinian violence a “spiral of death” that accomplishes nothing. In his Sunday Angelus address on January 29, the pope expressed “great sorrow” for the death of Palestinians killed in an Israeli military raid as well as seven Israelis killed in a shooting outside of a synagogue in east Jerusalem. The pope spoke following a wave of violence in Israel and Palestine this week. On Friday night, seven Israelis were killed and three wounded in a shooting outside of a synagogue in east Jerusalem on the Jewish Sabbath, the deadliest attack on Israelis in 15 years, according to the Associated Press. The synagogue shooting occurred the day after an Israeli military raid in the West Bank killed nine Palestinians and another Palestinian man was shot by Israeli forces in al-Ram, north of Jerusalem.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253494/pope-francis-expresses-sorrow-over-spiral-of-death-in-the-holy-land
A compilation of new data by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University shows that Nigeria and Kenya have the highest proportion of Catholics who attend Mass weekly or more, with Nigeria as the clear leader. Ninety-four percent of Catholics in Nigeria say they attend Mass at least weekly. In Kenya, the figure was 73%, and in Lebanon it was 69%. The level of attendance in Nigeria is notably high given the high number of violent attacks against Christians across the country in recent years. But in 29 of the 36 countries examined, fewer than half of self-identified Catholics attend Sunday Mass. Countries with a higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita had lower levels of Mass attendance and vice versa. The researchers acknowledged that the use of self-reported Mass attendance numbers could inflate the figures slightly, meaning actual attendance numbers could be, in reality, slightly lower across the board.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253488/where-is-mass-attendance-highest-one-country-is-the-clear-leader
Today, the Church celebrates Saint Hyacintha of Mariscotti. Born of a noble family near Viterbo (Italy,) Hyacintha entered a local convent of sisters who followed the Third Order Rule. She eventually became very penitential in food and clothing, and was ready to do the most humble work in the convent. She developed a special devotion to the sufferings of Christ and by her penances became an inspiration to the sisters in her convent. The people loved her so much that her veil had to be replaced multiple times due to people clipping off pieces of it to keep for themselves. She was canonized in 1807.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-hyacintha-of-mariscotti-132