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All Masses in the Extraordinary form will be permanently suspended at the North American College, the most important American Catholic institution in Rome. The college will also no longer teach the Extraordinary Form to seminarians. The rector of the college said the decision is in line with the pope’s new regulations on the traditional liturgy.
The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon has said its Catholic schools will comply with a statewide vaccine mandate for school administrators. Oregon has mandated that all school teachers, staff and volunteers become fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by mid-October. The archdiocese said individual Catholics are free to seek religious exemptions, but clergy are not to write any letters supporting such exemptions.
The pope will reportedly visit Cyprus in December. A local official told the Associated Press the visit will take place December 2-3. The Vatican has not confirmed the trip. The pope did express interest in visiting Cyprus in an interview broadcast today. Cyprus has a population of about 875,000 people, including approximately 10,000 Catholics.
In his general audience Wednesday, Pope Francis said Catholics must reflect on how they live their faith. He said Christ must be at the center of everything in life. The pope warned that otherwise the faith can be reduced to mere formalities. Pope Francis based his reflections on a passage from Saint Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In the passage, Saint Paul berates the Galatians for becoming distracted from the truth of the crucified Christ.
Today is the feast of Saint Beatrice da Silva Meneses. The Portuguese saint abandoned her noble background in the mid-15th century to enter the convent, and eventually started a new religious order.