Venezuelan migrants receive food while waiting for information to enter Peru in Arica, at the Chile-Peru border, on May 4, 2023. / Credit: AGUSTIN MERCADO/AFP via Getty ImagesACI Prensa Staff, May 10, 2023 / 16:00 pm (CNA).In a May 8 interview with EWTN News, Bishop Marco Antonio Cortez Lara of Tacna and Moquegua in Peru said "it s a serious thing" for a government to sacrifice its people for a failed ideological system. The prelate was referring to the crisis of the migrants stranded at the Peruvian-Chilean border, most of whom are Venezuelans who have fled their country due to the dire social and economic situation that currently exists there.Under the socialism introduced by the governments of presidents Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela has gone from being a prosperous country to one having shortages of basic necessities and a high rate of poverty. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 7 million Vene
Cardinal James Michael Harvey presided over a eucharistic procession at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelicum, in Rome on May 11, 2023. The 22nd edition of the annual procession was attended by about 130 students, faculty, and community members. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, May 11, 2023 / 12:25 pm (CNA)."We affirm in faith that the Lord walks where you walk, that he journeys at your side," Cardinal James Michael Harvey said Thursday before a eucharistic procession at Rome s University of St. Thomas Aquinas, or Angelicum.An estimated 130 students, faculty, and community members participated in the 22nd annual procession, which was preceded by an exhortation from Harvey in the Church of Sts. Dominic and Sixtus. Cardinal James Michael Harvey presided over a eucharistic procession at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelicum, in Rome on May 11, 2023. The 22nd edition of the annual procession was attended by about 130 students, faculty, a
Pope Francis receives relics of the Coptic martyrs from Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, May 11, 2023. Pope Francis also announced that the 21 men will be added to the Church s official list of saints. / Credit: Vatican MediaRome Newsroom, May 11, 2023 / 10:00 am (CNA).Pope Francis said Thursday that the Coptic Orthodox martyrs killed by ISIS in 2015 will be added to the Catholic Church s official list of saints. He also received a relic of the martyrs blood as a gift."I am glad to announce today that, with the consent of Your Holiness, these 21 martyrs will be inserted into the Roman Martyrology as a sign of the spiritual communion uniting our two Churches," Francis said in a speech to the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Pope Tawadros II.The Roman Martyrology is an official list of the saints and blesseds, including martyrs, recognized in the liturgy of the Catholic Church. The list is ordered according to the Church
The Agape Pregnancy Resource Center in Des Moines, Iowa, was vandalized in June 2022. / FBI Omaha OfficeBoston, Mass., May 10, 2023 / 15:30 pm (CNA).The FBI s Omaha, Nebraska, field office is offering a major reward to anyone who can help identify the individual or group who vandalized a pro-life pregnancy center in Des Moines, Iowa, in June 2022. The request comes following a yearlong string of attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers across the nation, which began after it was reported in May 2022 that Roe v. Wade would be overturned.The bureau is offering $15,000 to anyone providing information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the individual or group who broke windows and left graffiti on the Agape Pregnancy Resource Center."Fake clinic," "Stop lying," and "This place is not safe" were a few of the phrases spray-painted on the exterior of the clinic. The clinic was vandalized on both June 3, 2022, and June 4, 2022, in
Migrants in Greece. / Ververidis Vasilis via www.shutterstock.com.Denver, Colo., May 11, 2023 / 13:10 pm (CNA).In his message for the 109th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, released May 11, Pope Francis recognized the migratory flows of our times as "the expression of a complex and varied phenomenon" that requires analysis of the different stages, including the departure, arrival, and the possibility of returning to one s homeland.The Church observes the World Day of Migrants and Refugees on the last Sunday of September, which this year falls on Sept. 24. This year s theme is "Free to choose whether to migrate or to stay."Pope Francis pointed out that the Holy Family s flight into Egypt was not a free decision. This is the case with many migrants. He added that persecutions, wars, atmospheric phenomena, and extreme poverty are some of the main causes of forced migrations today."Conflicts, natural disasters, or more simply the impossibility of living a dignif