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
-
Hundreds of thousands of children were abused in the Catholic Church in France over the past 70 years. That’s according to a new landmark report detailing the abuse crisis in the French Church. The report said an estimated 216,000 children were abused by priests, deacons, monks or nuns, from 1950 to 2020. The number of abused children jumps to 330,000 when including abuse by other Church workers.
Three Swiss Guards have quit their posts, after refusing to comply with the Vatican’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement. Three other guards have been suspended until they are fully vaccinated. Vatican City is requiring all employees and visitors to provide proof of vaccination, proof of recovery from the coronavirus, or a recent negative COVID test. The Swiss Guard is requiring all 135 guards to be fully vaccinated.
The next World Youth Day will take place August 1-6, 2023, in Lisbon Portugal. Lisbon is about 75 miles from Fatima, one of the most visited Marian pilgrimage sites in the world. Portugal also reportedly has one of the highest levels of weekly Mass attendance among young people in Europe. The last World Youth Day was in 2019, in Panama City.
More than 300,000 people participated in a March for Life in Mexico City last weekend. Marchers chanted in the defense of life, and carried posters criticizing the Supreme Court for legalizing abortion, and restricting the right to conscientious objection of health professionals.
Today is the Memorial of Saint Mary Faustina Kowalska. Faustina was born in 1905 to a poor but devout Polish family. She entered the convent at the age of 20, and spent time in convents in both Poland and Lithuania. Jesus appeared to Faustina throughout her life, asking her to become an apostle of his mercy, and to commission the painting of an image of his Divine Mercy.