CALIFORNIA
Archbishop offers prayers for Pelosi’s husband after hammer attack
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said he was praying for the husband of House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi after police said he was “violently assaulted” at home early Oct. 28 by a man with a hammer. San Francisco Police Chief William Scott in an Oct. 28 news conference identified 42-year-old David Depape as the suspect, saying he will be charged with attempted homicide. Scott said authorities were called to the Pelosi home at 2:27 a.m. Officers said they encountered the speaker’s husband, 82, and a suspect holding a hammer. “The suspect pulled the hammer away from (Pelosi) and violently assaulted him … our officers immediately tackled the suspect and disarmed him,” Scott said.
NEW YORK
Buffalo Diocese, attorney general settle lawsuit over sexual abuse
The Diocese of Buffalo and the New York attorney general’s office have reached a settlement in a 2020 civil lawsuit filed by the state regarding the diocese’s handling of clergy sexual abuse allegations. Under the agreement, filed Oct. 25 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the diocese is required to implement enhanced child protection measures. It also prohibits two retired bishops alleged to have covered up clergy sexual abuse from holding any fiduciary roles within New York. The settlement comes in a case filed by the attorney general’s office in November 2020 that accused diocesan leaders of protecting more than two dozen priests accused of child sexual abuse by not sending their cases to the Vatican for review.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Catholic groups urge Biden to seek diplomacy with Putin, avoid nuclear war
Catholic organizations and religious orders are calling President Joe Biden to undertake diplomatic means to prevent nuclear war with Russia. In an Oct. 26 letter to Biden sent by the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, the organizations condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine and urged Biden not to respond in kind if such weapons are used. The letter was signed by the following organizations and religious orders: Franciscan Action Network, Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Pax Christi USA, United States Catholic Mission Association, Sisters of Bon Secours, USA, Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, Sisters of St. Anne, Dominican Sisters of Peace and Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart.
CAMEROON
Religious workers freed after more than a month
After over a month in captivity, the five priests, a nun and three other church workers kidnapped from St. Mary’s Parish in Nchang have been freed. “I announce with great joy the release of all nine who were abducted,” Bishop Aloysius Fondong Abangalo of Mamfe said Oct. 23. The bishop did not give details on how the kidnapped religious were released, but an official of the Nigerian Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons said his office was involved. Nchang borders Nigeria.
CONGO
Pope denounces attack on village
Pope Francis condemned an attack on a Congolese village that led to the deaths of seven people, including a nun, after gunman looted and burned homes and a local health center. Before concluding his weekly general audience Oct. 26, the pope said he was “horrified” by the attack which continues “to stain the Democratic Republic of Congo with blood.” According to Fides, the news agency of the Dicastery for Evangelization, the attack occurred the evening of Oct. 19 when militants looted and burned several homes before destroying a health center run by the Diocese of Butembo-Beni. Several villagers, Fides reported, said the attackers were members of the Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan militant group allied with the so-called Islamic State.