GEORGIA
Georgia’s ‘heartbeat law’ takes effect after appeals court lifts injunction
Georgia’s “heartbeat law” is now in effect after a July 20 ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that reversed a lower court decision and said the law should be permitted to take effect immediately. The law bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is about six weeks into a pregnancy. It makes exceptions to save the life of the mother and in the case of rape and incest, if a police report is filed. It also makes exceptions to allow abortions when a fetus has serious medical issues.
OREGON
Oregon’s Catholic newspapers to shut down Oct. 1
The Portland-based Catholic Sentinel and El Centinela newspapers will close Oct. 1, reflecting a national transition in Catholic communications, according to a news release issued jointly July 21 by the Archdiocese of Portland and Oregon Catholic Press. The newspapers are the official publications of the Archdiocese of Portland but are owned by liturgical publisher OCP. The shutdown comes as a joint decision of the two entities, which are citing new directions in church media and hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual cost savings. Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample said the focus going forward will be more on evangelization and outreach and less on classic journalism.
FRANCE
French report warns lack of upkeep poses danger to historic churches
French parliamentarians warned that thousands of historic churches, many dating from the Middle Ages, will have to be sold or demolished unless government officials allocate resources to maintain them. “Like other Western countries, France faces questions over the future of its religious heritage given society’s growing secularization,” a report for the French Senate said. “As true common goods, these buildings have not just spiritual, but also historical, cultural, artistic and architectural value.” it said. The authors, Senators Pierre Ouzoulias and Anne Ventalon, said they were tasked with recommending ways to save France’s 100,000 religious sites, following “pleas from distraught mayors” unable to meet upkeep obligations under the country’s 1905 church-state separation law. Catholic churches in France were legally declared state property more than a century ago, requiring local governments to maintain them at public expense while allowing their use for Masses.
NIGERIA
Nigerian priest who was found dead is most recent to be kidnapped, killed
The body of a priest was discovered July 19, four days after he was abducted from a parish rectory in central Nigeria, an official with the Diocese of Kafanchan reported. Father John Cheitnum, was one of two priests kidnapped by assailants July 15 from Christ the King Church in Lere, a town in the central state of Kaduna, Father Emnanuel Okolo, diocesan chancellor, said in a statement. The second priest, Father Donatus Suleiman, was able to flee the abductors and is safe, the diocese said. The kidnappings and the killing were the latest in a series of violent actions against Catholic communities and clergy in recent weeks.
VATICAN
Pope modifies Opus Dei’s relationship to Curia, highlighting its ‘charism’
Saying he wanted to highlight the spiritual gifts of Opus Dei and its contributions to the Catholic Church’s evangelizing activities, Pope Francis said it will now work with and answer to the Dicastery for Clergy, rather than the Dicastery for Bishops. In the apostolic letter “Ad Charisma Tuendum” (“For the protection of the charism”), released by the Vatican July 22, Pope Francis also said the head of the personal prelature of Opus Dei “will not be made, nor will he be able to be made” a bishop. He said his decision was meant “to strengthen the conviction that, for the protection of the particular gift of the Spirit, a form of government based more on charism than on hierarchical authority is needed.”
VATICAN
Documents detailing Portuguese Inquisition to become available online
Rare documentation of the Portuguese Inquisition with detailed information about the sentencing trials which took place 500 years ago have been digitized for the first time in the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People Jerusalem’s National Library of Israel. The documents include printed versions of sermons preached by two priests at the end of the trials they presided over and a bound 60-page manuscript from the 18th-century that documents the first 130 years of the Portuguese Inquisition tribunal’s activities. Written in Portuguese, the manuscript holds information about trials conducted by inquisitors from 1540 to 1669 against Jews newly converted to Catholicism who were accused of continuing to secretly practice Judaism. Included are details of the trials including dates, names of priests who participated and numbers of victims sentenced in each one.