Bishop Rolando Álvarez of the Diocese of Matagalpa, Nicaragua. / Credit: Diocese of MatagalpaACI Prensa Staff, Mar 7, 2023 / 13:15 pm (CNA).The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has called on the Nicaraguan dictatorship to release Bishop Rolando Álvarez and other political prisoners.The Daniel Ortega dictatorship in Nicaragua sentenced the bishop of Matagalpa to 26 years and four months in prison on Feb. 10 on several charges that included being a "traitor to the homeland."The sentence against Álvarez was issued just one day after the regime deported 222 political prisoners to the United States. The exiles and the bishop were stripped of their Nicaraguan citizenship based on a law passed Feb. 9.Álvarez refused to board the plane that would have taken him to freedom unless he first could meet and consult with the priests already aboard the plane and also the Nicaraguan bishops, a request that was denied and that Ortega later called &qu
A Traditional Latin Mass. / Andrew Gardner via Wikimedia (CC BY 4.0).Washington D.C., Mar 7, 2023 / 17:00 pm (CNA).Students, faculty, staff, and others who attend the Traditional Latin Mass at Franciscan University will need to venture off campus to worship in the more ancient form of the Mass following their bishop s decision to ban the campus monthly celebration. Bishop Jeffrey Monforton of the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio, ordered an immediate end to the Latin Mass on Franciscan University s campus. "The Diocese of Steubenville is seeking to meet the pastoral needs of the faithful in accord with the norms, including the recent rescript, issued by the Holy See," a spokesman for the diocese told CNA. "The Mass at Franciscan has been [canceled]," the spokesperson said. "The bishop is seeking a dispensation for the Mass at St. Peter s, where the weekly Latin Mass has been held for years."The Latin Mass will still be offered weekly at St. Peter s Church in
Pope Francis greets pilgrims from the popemobile in St. Peter s Square on March 8, 2023. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNAVatican City, Mar 8, 2023 / 05:00 am (CNA).Pope Francis said Wednesday that there is no option to be "passive subjects" when it comes to evangelization because every baptized Catholic has a mission to actively proclaim the Gospel. "There are not those who preach, those who proclaim the Gospel in one way or another, and those who keep silent. No. Every baptized person … whatever his position in the Church or level of education in the faith, is an active subject of evangelization," he said on March 8."Are you Christian? Yes, I received Baptism … And do you evangelize?" the pope asked."By virtue of the Baptism received and the consequent incorporation into the Church, every baptized person participates in the mission of the Church and, in it, in the mission of Christ the King, Priest, and Prophet."Pope Francis greets pilgrims in St. Pe
The lethal injection room at California's San Quentin State Prison. / California Department of Corrections via Wikimedia (CC BY 2.0)Denver, Colo., Mar 7, 2023 / 08:40 am (CNA).A group of Catholic bishops will visit San Quentin Prison s death row inmates on Tuesday as inmates await transfer to other facilities in light of California s moratorium on executions.The visit is "simply extending a pastoral presence to those whose lives are on the line and on a time clock," Bishop Oscar Cantu of San Jose told CNA March 6.Cantu is scheduled to visit the prison with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, and Bishop Michael Barber of Oakland. The California Catholic Conference organized the March 7 visit. In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions and ordered the closure of the execution chamber at San Quentin Prison, the Marin County facility near San Francisco that dates back to the 19th century.The state o
The campus of the University of Notre Dame. / ShutterstockDenver, Colo., Mar 4, 2023 / 11:43 am (CNA).In the wake of the Dobbs Supreme Court decision overturning the pro-abortion rights Roe v. Wade ruling, several bodies at the University of Notre Dame are hosting an event series dedicated to "reproductive justice." The series has attracted criticism for its decidedly pro-abortion slant: an "abortion doula" with a tattoo of abortion equipment is one of the speakers at its next event.Critics say the series conflicts with university policy requiring the presentation of Catholic teaching at such events."We have a series that so far has been dedicated to opposing the Dobbs decision and promoting the pro-choice position, as opposed to the Catholic position, at one of the leading Catholic universities in the country," William H. Dempsey, a Notre Dame alumnus and president of the Sycamore Trust, told CNA March 3."There have been no panelists who have explain