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Pope Francis made an appeal for migrants Sunday, calling on the international community to stop deporting migrants to unsafe countries.
Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace, the pope asked the Catholic pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray in silence for migrants, many of whom he said had been subjected to “inhumane violence.”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249387/pope-francis-appeals-that-migrants-not-be-sent-back-to-unsafe-countries
On Monday, Pope Francis appointed economist Jeffrey Sachs to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
Sachs, the director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University in New York, has been a frequent visitor to the Vatican in recent years.
Sachs has in the past advocated for a reduction in fertility rates in developing countries through the dissemination of contraception, a view at odds with Catholic teaching.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249389/pope-francis-names-jeffrey-sachs-to-pontifical-academy
Catholics are praying following the execution of Willie B. Smith III on Thursday evening, the first execution in Alabama since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Smith was sentenced to death in 1992 for the murder of a 22-year-old woman. His attorneys have argued that Smith was borderline intellectually disabled.
The Catholic Mobilizing Network said they were praying for the repose of Willie Smith’s soul, and the diocese of Birmingham stated that, quote, “capital punishment devalues human life and contributes to a climate of violence in our communities."
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249376/catholics-pray-after-alabama-executes-death-row-inmate
After seven hours of debate and notable opposition in the House of Lords on Friday, the sponsor of a bill that would legalize assisted suicide in England and Wales chose not to take the bill to a vote. The bill would have permitted assisted suicide for terminally ill adults with fewer than six months to live, subject to the approval of two doctors and a high court judge.
The Catholic bishops of England and Wales, as well as a number of other religious leaders, have strongly opposed the idea of legalizing assisted suicide.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249373/english-assisted-suicide-bill-not-put-to-vote-in-house-of-lords
Today, the Church celebrates Saints Chrysanthus and Daria, third century martyrs and spouses who converted dozens of people before their martyrdom.