Banned from entering Belarus since late August, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk, president of the country’s bishops’ conference, can return to the country to celebrate Christmas with his people, the country’s nuncio said.
Belarus says it will allow archbishop to return for Christmas
Maryland Catholic Conference urges Trump to stop a federal execution
Eight Catholic bishops serving Maryland dioceses urged President Donald Trump Dec. 22 to stop the planned federal execution of Dustin Higgs, a Maryland man on death row in Indiana.
Italy’s lockdown forces changes to pope’s Christmas events
With Italy returning to a COVID-19 lockdown over the Christmas holidays, the Vatican has announced that most of Pope Francis’ usual appointments will be livestreamed with few or no members of the public present.
Week of prayer to focus on reconciliation among Christians
The 2021 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity — Jan. 18-25 — should help Christians see that the closer they draw to Christ, the closer they will be to one another, said materials for the week published by the Vatican.
COVID-19 emergency fund for Eastern churches distributes $11.7 million in aid
With a North American charity as its main collaborator, the Congregation for Eastern Churches’ COVID-19 emergency fund distributed more than $11.7 million in aid, including food and hospital ventilators in 21 countries where members of the Eastern Catholic churches live.
Two Vatican cardinals test positive for COVID-19; one hospitalized
Two top Vatican officials — Cardinal Konrad Krajewski and Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello — have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, Italian media reported, and a Vatican source confirmed.
U.S. bishops say benefits of Pfizer, Moderna vaccines outweigh concerns
Maryland’s Catholic bishops are encouraging Catholics strongly to be vaccinated against COVID-19, “unless medically indicated otherwise.”
Naumann: Vaccine objectors still have ‘responsibility to protect public health’
The bishops, responding to questions about moral concerns about vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, said the two were not directly connected to cell lines that originated with tissue taken from abortions, but there was a remote connection as both vaccines relied on an aborted fetal cell in one of the confirmatory lab tests.