By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service, April 1, 2020

Seeing and growing closer to God require purifying one’s heart from the sins and prejudices that distort reality and blind people to God’s active and real presence, Pope Francis said.

This means renouncing evil and opening one’s heart to letting the Holy Spirit be one’s guide, the pope said April 1 during a live broadcast of his weekly general audience from the library of the Apostolic Palace.

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2020/04/flush-the-lies-from-ones-heart-to-see-god-pope-says-at-audience/
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2. Texas coronavirus abortion rule back in effect, after court grants stay.

By Catholic News Agency, March 31, 2020, 3:00 PM

A Texas order prohibiting most abortions during the novel coronavirus pandemic is temporarily back in effect, after the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put a stay on a federal district court ruling on Tuesday.

After the Western District Court of Texas on Monday allowed elective abortions to continue in the state of Texas during the coronavirus pandemic through a restraining order, a three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit issued the temporary stay on the district court’s ruling on Tuesday.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/texas-coronavirus-abortion-rule-back-after-court-grants-stay-15716
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3. Northern Ireland bishops lament beginning of ‘one of the most liberal abortion regimes’.

By Charles Collins, Crux, March 31, 2020

Bishops in Northern Ireland say they are “saddened and dismayed” by the implementation of “one of the most liberal abortion regimes anywhere in the world.”

The UK Parliament unilaterally removed pro-life protections from Northern Ireland when it passed the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Act 2019 in October.

…

On March 25, the UK government announced its abortion policy for Northern Ireland, which is more liberal than the rest of the United Kingdom, allowing for abortion on demand in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and up to 24 weeks for undefined mental or physical health reasons. If an unborn child is considered disabled, abortion is allowed up to birth.

Although abortions in the rest of the UK generally must take place in hospitals and be performed by doctors, the Northern Ireland law allows abortions to take place in doctors’ offices and be performed by nurses and midwives.

…

The law also limits the right of conscientious objection of medical personnel in an area where both main Christian traditions object to abortion on moral grounds.

The regulations went into effect on March 31.

https://cruxnow.com/church-in-uk-and-ireland/2020/03/northern-ireland-bishops-lament-beginning-of-one-of-the-most-liberal-abortion-regimes/
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4. Kentucky AG aims to declare abortion ‘non-essential’ under coronavirus bans.

By Catholic News Agency, March 31, 2020, 6:30 PM

Kentucky’s attorney general has joined the national controversy over whether abortion clinics can continue to operate at a time when other surgeries and procedures have been canceled or delayed to conserve medical resources to combat the novel coronavirus.

“Abortion providers should join the thousands of other medical professionals across the state in ceasing elective procedures, unless the life of the mother is at risk, to protect the health of their patients and slow the spread of the coronavirus,” Kentucky’s Attorney General Daniel Cameron said March 27.

The attorney general has asked Kentucky’s Acting Secretary of Health and Family Services Eric Friedlander to certify that abortion providers are not essential under the governor’s executive order barring non-essential medical procedures. The certification is necessary to act against any abortion clinics in violation.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/kentucky-ag-aims-to-declare-abortion-non-essential-under-coronavirus-bans-56005
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5. Bishops shocked that UK to allow abortion pills at home during pandemic.

By Simon Caldwell, Crux, March 31, 2020

The English bishops have expressed their shock at an emergency policy to allow “do-it-yourself abortions” during the coronavirus pandemic.

Auxiliary Bishop John Sherrington of Westminster said a change in the rules to allow the distribution of abortion pills in homes would “further endanger women” during a time of national crisis.

Under temporary measures announced March 28 to slow the spread of COVID-19, the government is waiving a legal requirement for women seeking abortions to visit two doctors before the procedure can go ahead.

https://cruxnow.com/church-in-uk-and-ireland/2020/03/bishops-shocked-that-uk-to-allow-abortion-pills-at-home-during-pandemic/
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6. Vatican publishes document on right to water access.

By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service, March 31, 2020

Access to clean water is an essential human right that must be defended and protected, the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development said in a new document.

Defending the right to clean water is part of the Catholic Church’s promotion of the common good, “not some particular national agenda,” the dicastery said, calling for “a management of water so as to ensure universal and sustainable access to it for the future of life, the planet and the human community.”

The 46-page document, titled “Aqua Fons Vitae: Orientations on Water, Symbol of the Cry of the Poor and the Cry of the Earth,” was released by the Vatican March 30.

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2020/03/vatican-publishes-document-on-right-to-water-access/
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