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Lawmakers in California are considering a bill that would remove several safeguards on assisted suicide. The bill would replace a 15-day waiting period for lethal drugs, with a 48-hour waiting period. It would also remove a mandatory mental health assessment. The California Catholic Conference is urging local Catholics to speak out against the bill. Assisted suicide has been legal in California since 2015.
A proposed bill in Spain would criminalize efforts to interact with women entering abortion clinics. The bill characterizes as harrassment approaching women with photographs, models of babies, and proclamations against abortion. Penalties include jail terms of three months to a year, or community service.
The pope has ordered an apostolic visitation of Germany’s Cologne archdiocese, amid fierce criticism of its handling of abuse cases. The pope will send a Cardinal from Stockholm, and the president of the Dutch bishops’ conference, to evaluate the handling of abuse cases by the Cardinal who leads the Cologne archdiocese. The visitation will take place during the first half of June.
The Vatican has imposed penalties on a retired Polish bishop, after an investigation into his handling of clerical abuse cases. The bishop led a diocese in southern Poland from 1992 to 2013. The investigation was conducted under the norms of the pope’s motu proprio, Vos estis lux mundi.
Today, the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Bernard of Menthon. Bernard was an Italian priest in the late first-century, who founded a series of centers of hospitality for travelers through the Alps.