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U.S.
Pro-life activists react to GOP platform change on abortion
WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee has revised the GOP’s abortion platform following the guidance of former President Donald Trump, despite opposition from pro-life activists. The previous platform, which called for federal abortion restrictions, has been modified to emphasize state-level legislation and removed calls for federal legislation. This change follows Trump’s argument that abortion should be left up to the states following the 2022 Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which returned the matter of abortion to the legislative branch. The new GOP platform, released on July 8, asserts that states have the right to enact laws protecting life, referencing the 14th Amendment, whereas the previous platform called for a 20-week federal abortion ban. The new platform opposes late-term abortions and supports prenatal care, birth control and in vitro fertilization access. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, argued the changed platform still showed the GOP “strongly pro-life at the national level.” However, former Vice President Mike Pence criticized the changes, arguing they abandon the party’s foundational pro-life principles and cede too much power to individual states. (OSV News)
La. governor cuts $1 million for Catholic Charities homeless shelter
LAFAYETTE, La. — Gov. Jeff Landry, R-La., vetoed $1 million in state funds for an emergency homeless shelter run by Catholic Charities of Acadiana over the organization’s work with migrants, he acknowledged in press statements. Landry said that he vetoed the funds for the largest homeless shelter in Lafayette on the basis of his allegation that the shelter’s operator, Catholic Charities of Acadiana, facilitates illegal immigration, a charge the Catholic Church’s charitable arm denied. The move comes as some elected officials have grown increasingly hostile toward nongovernmental organizations, including Catholic ones, that provide resources such as food and shelter to migrants, including those at the U.S.-Mexico border. In July, a state judge denied Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s effort to shut down Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas, a Catholic nonprofit serving migrants, finding his office “failed to establish probable grounds for the proceedings” and violated the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. (OSV News)
WORLD
Vatican excommunicates Archbishop Viganò, found guilty of schism
VATICAN CITY — Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, former nuncio to the United States, has been excommunicated after being found guilty of schism, the Vatican said. Members of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith met July 4 to complete an extrajudicial penal process against Archbishop Viganò, who was accused of “the reserved delict of schism,” the dicastery announced in a press release July 5. “His public statements manifesting his refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff, his rejection of communion with the members of the Church subject to him, and of the legitimacy and magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council are well known,” the dicastery wrote. “At the conclusion of the penal process, the Most Reverend Carlo Maria Viganò was found guilty of the reserved delict of schism,” it said. The dicastery thereby declared the archbishop automatically excommunicated in accordance with canon law. “This decision was communicated to the Most Reverend Viganò on 5 July 2024,” it said. “The lifting of the censure in these cases is reserved to the Apostolic See,” it added. (CNS)
First Nation, Vancouver Archdiocese unveil a ‘Sacred Covenant’ for reconciliation
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Officials of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, British Columbia, and a First Nation where the largest Indigenous residential school in Canada was located reiterated their joint commitment June 26 to press forward with learning more about the mistreatment of thousands of Indigenous children by a government education program administered by some Catholic religious orders at such schools that ran for nearly 100 years. The archdiocese and Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation marked Canada’s Indigenous Peoples Day June 21 by releasing to the public a signed “Sacred Covenant” written in both English and Chinook. The document states the Catholic Church recognizes the “profoundly negative” impact and “lasting and damaging effect” of the inadequately funded government program that forced First Nations children to be separated from their families, disallowed the use of their languages and cultural heritage, and subjected them to various types of abuse and neglect. In the “Sacred Covenant,” the Church pledges to provide scientific and technical expertise and technical services for the investigation. (OSV News)
Vatican publishes schedule of pope’s four-nation visit to Asia
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis will meet with young people, the marginalized, government officials, bishops, priests, religious and missionaries when he travels to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore in September. The 12-day Asian tour will be the longest trip of his papacy. He intends to visit: Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, Sept. 3-6; Port Moresby and Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, Sept. 6-9; Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, Sept. 9-11; and Singapore Sept. 11-13. The focus of the visit will be encounters with people on the peripheries in nations that are also at the furthest ends of the earth. He will meet with the elderly, the ill, “street children,” the disabled and all those who minister to them, as well as leaders of government and civil society. He will hold meetings with local Catholics and his fellow Jesuits and celebrate Masses in all four countries. When he visits the predominantly Muslim nation of Indonesia, he will have an interreligious meeting at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta. He will also hold an interreligious meeting with young people in Singapore. (CNS)
Vatican sees slight increase in donations to pope’s charity fund
VATICAN CITY — Donations to the annual Peter’s Pence collection, which supports the work of the Roman Curia and funds the charitable activity of the pope, went up in 2023, with increased donations from dioceses, foundations, private donors and religious orders, the Vatican said. Peter’s Pence allocated 13 million euros ($14 million) to support 236 projects in 76 countries and it covered about 24% of the expenses of the Holy See, that is, approximately 90 million euros ($97 million), said a report by the Peter’s Pence office, detailing its activity for 2023. The Vatican released the office’s annual disclosure report June 29. Dioceses, foundations, private donors and religious orders — in that order — gave a total of 48.4 million euros ($52 million) to Peter’s Pence in 2023, the report said. In comparison, the amount collected and donated in 2022 was 43.5 million euros ($46.7 million). As in previous years, the report said, dioceses and individuals in the United States led the giving with 13.6 million euros ($14.6 million), an increase from 11 million euros in 2022. Overall, the total contributions granted from the fund for 2023 amounted to 103 million euros ($111 million), which was slightly down from last year’s total of 107 million euros ($115 million). (CNS)
