1. Pope aims to cut down on corruption among Vatican managers, By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, April 29, 2021, 8:39 AM
Pope Francis issued tough new anti-corruption regulations Thursday that require Vatican cardinals and managers to periodically declare they are investing only in funds consistent with Catholic doctrine and aren’t under criminal investigation or stashing money in tax havens.
A new law published Thursday also contains a prohibition that, if broadly applied, would amount to a revolution in curial culture: It prohibits any Vatican employee from receiving work-related gifts with a value of over 40 euros ($48).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/pope-aims-to-cut-down-on-corruption-among-vatican-managers/2021/04/29/5b276e3a-a8e4-11eb-a8a7-5f45ddcdf364_story.html
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2. Lockdowns Give School Choice a Boost, Under Biden, advocates expected a setback. But the movement has notched notable victories this year., By Paul E. Peterson, The Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2021, Pg. A17, Opinion
President Biden wants credit for opening up the nation’s schools within 100 days of taking office. Yet over a third of U.S. students still aren’t going to a classroom every day. Many urban districts open their doors only to young children or for just two days a week, and scare talk dissuades numerous parents from sending their kids.
The big news at the 100-day mark isn’t school opening but the revival of the school-choice movement. As Democrats took control of the federal government in January, teachers unions upped their antichoice rhetoric while calculating the best way to spend billions of new federal education dollars.
Three months later, school-choice advocates have scored big victories around the country.
…
Survey data show a rise in the level of support over the past two years for vouchers, charters and tax-credit scholarships. Political leaders sense a change in the public mood. After aggressive unions and bewildered school boards shut down schools for a year, the choice bandwagon has begun to roll. No one knows what will happen once schools reopen fully. But if the 2022 elections favor the opposition party, as is historically the case, choice advocates could soon find themselves in a stronger position than they ever anticipated.
Mr. Peterson is the director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he is a member of its Education Success Initiative.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/lockdowns-give-school-choice-a-boost-11619649358?
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3. Biden’s abortion rights stance triggers coming debate among Catholic bishops on Communion, By Michelle Boorstein, The Washington Post, April 28, 2021, 5:59 PM
Having a U.S. president who attends Mass week after week and talks about his faith is powerful to millions of American Catholics. But to millions of others, a Catholic U.S. president enacting one policy after another in favor of abortion access is a source of shame. This conflict is now headed directly at the U.S. church’s leadership group, which plans a vote about it at its spring conference.
Catholic leaders, like their massive flock, are deeply divided about Biden, only the second U.S. president to come from the country’s largest faith group. Since his election, the increasingly loud right wing of the church has made clear that Biden cannot continue to expand abortion rights and call himself Catholic and go unchallenged.
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Brian Burch, of the conservative advocacy group Catholic Vote, is urging the bishops to reel in Biden.
“Officials who repeatedly declare by their actions that they are not in communion with the church, especially on matters of grave moral import, create confusion and division. Nobody celebrates a Catholic who chooses to separate themselves from the church. But when they do, we can’t pretend as if the disunity does not exist,” Burch said. “Any religious institution risks its own credibility and integrity if it allows its adherents to flout its core teachings.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/04/28/biden-catholic-president-bishops-abortion-communion/
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4. US Catholic bishops may press Biden to stop taking Communion, By David Crary, Associated Press, April 28, 2021, 11:59 AM
When U.S. Catholic bishops hold their next national meeting in June, they’ll be deciding whether to send a tougher-than-ever message to President Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians: Don’t receive Communion if you persist in public advocacy of abortion rights.
At issue is a document that will be prepared for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops by its Committee on Doctrine, with the aim of clarifying the church’s stance on an issue that has repeatedly vexed the bishops in recent decades. It’s taken on new urgency now, in the eyes of many bishops, because Biden, only the second Catholic president, is the first to hold that office while espousing clear-cut support for abortion rights.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-catholic-bishops-may-press-biden-to-stop-taking-communion/2021/04/28/ae4f802a-a83a-11eb-a8a7-5f45ddcdf364_story.html
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5. Vatican’s revamped Center for Child Protection will attack ‘systemic’ abuse in the church, By Claire Giangravé, Religion News Service, April 28, 2021, 5:22 PM
An initiative aimed at protecting minors from sexual abuse that has reshaped how the Catholic Church safeguards children is ready to take the next step.
On Sept. 1, the Center for Child Protection at the Gregorian University in Rome will become the Institute of Anthropology, Interdisciplinary Studies on Human Dignity and Care, or IADC, a change that symbolizes the church’s changed approach to a problem that has widened far beyond the church, according to the Rev. Hans Zollner, the president of the organization and a leading figure in the Vatican’s efforts on the issue.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/vaticans-revamped-center-for-child-protection-will-attack-systemic-abuse-in-the-church/2021/04/28/defbc4cc-a867-11eb-a8a7-5f45ddcdf364_story.html
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6. Connecticut ends its state religious vaccine exemption, By Susan Haigh, Associated Press, April 28, 2021, 11:14 PM
Connecticut will no longer allow a religious exemption from childhood immunization requirements for schools, colleges and day care facilities, becoming the sixth state to end that policy.
The legislation was signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Ned Lamont, hours after the Democratic-controlled Senate passed the bill late Tuesday night. More than 2,000 opponents had rallied outside the state Capitol building, arguing the legislation unfairly infringes on their religious liberties and parental rights.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/connecticut-is-6th-state-to-end-religious-vaccine-exemption/2021/04/28/0096ee76-a846-11eb-a8a7-5f45ddcdf364_story.html
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7. Pope ousts leadership of Ecuadorian diocese amid complaints, By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, April 28, 2021, 1:20 PM
Pope Francis responded Wednesday to reports of poor governance, financial mismanagement and moral failings in the Ecuadorian diocese of Riobamba by not only accepting the resignation of the retiring bishop but that of his heir apparent as well.
Francis on Wednesday accepted the resignations of Bishop Julio Parrilla Diaz, who turned 75 last month, and his deputy, Monsignor Gerardo Miguel Nieves Loja, 53.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pope-ousts-leadership-of-ecuadorian-diocese-amid-complaints/2021/04/28/6c292b4e-a81a-11eb-a8a7-5f45ddcdf364_story.html
___________________________________________________________TCA Media Monitoring provides a snapshot from national newspapers and major Catholic press outlets of coverage regarding significant Catholic Church news and current issues with which the Catholic Church is traditionally or prominently engaged. The opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of The Catholic Association. |
