1. Pope Francis recalls cost of war with WWII site visits.
By Associated Press, November 2, 2017, 7:01 AM
Pope Francis is underlining the price of war, visiting an American military cemetery and the site of a Nazi massacre in Rome.
Francis said the visits Thursday, which mark All Souls’ Day, show that “wars produce nothing more than cemeteries and death. That is why I wanted to give this sign in a moment when our humanity seems not to have learned the lesson, or doesn’t want to learn it.”
The pope will first say Mass in the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, where 7,680 American war dead who helped liberate southern and central Italy during World War II are buried and 3,095 missing are commemorated.
2. Prominent ex-NYT reporter comes out as longtime Planned Parenthood donor.
By Bradford Richardson, The Washington Times, November 2, 2017, Pg. A8
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who was the chief Supreme Court reporter at The New York Times for 40 years has admitted to making monthly donations to Planned Parenthood while working at the newspaper of record.
…
Mallory Quigley, communications director for the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, said Ms. Greenhouse is infamous in the pro-life community for her slanted news coverage. “There’s a clear pro-abortion bias throughout her writing,” Ms. Quigley said. “It’s difficult to be objective when you not only lean a certain direction, but when you are a contributing member to the pro-abortion movement.” “Suffice it to say,” she continued, “I was not shocked to find this out.” A spokesperson for The New York Times declined to comment.
http://www.washingtontimes.
3. Ex-bishops’ doctrine chief says darkness coming to light under Francis.
By Crux, November 1, 2017
A former chief of staff for the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, and a current member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission, has written Pope Francis to say that his pontificate “has given those who hold harmful theological and pastoral views the license and confidence to come into the light and expose their previously hidden darkness,” which, one day, will have to be corrected.
While expressing loyalty to Francis as the “Vicar of Christ on earth, the shepherd of his flock,” Capuchin Father Thomas Weinandy nevertheless charges that the pope is:
[1.] Fostering “chronic confusion.”
[2.] “Demeaning” the importance of doctrine.
[3.] Appointing bishops who “scandalize” believers with dubious “teaching and pastoral practice.”
[4.] Giving prelates who object the impression they’ll be “marginalized or worse” if they speak out.
[5.] Causing faithful Catholics to “lose confidence in their supreme shepherd.”
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Despite what Weinandy told Francis about a fear of reprisals, he said he’s not alarmed about possible fallout for himself.
“I am more concerned about the good that my letter might do,” he said.
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/
4. After critical letter to pope, theologian resigns as consultant to U.S. bishops.
By Crux, November 1, 2017
After making public a letter he wrote to Pope Francis accusing the pontiff of sowing “chronic confusion” and teaching in an “intentionally ambiguous” manner, a former chief of staff for the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine has resigned as a consultant to the same committee.
The conference announced the resignation in a statement on Tuesday, the same day the letter by Capuchin Father Thomas Weinandy was published by Crux and other media outlets.
“After speaking with the General Secretary of the Conference today, Father Thomas Weinandy, O.F.M., Cap., has resigned, effective immediately, from his position as consultant to the USCCB Committee on Doctrine,” the bishops’ statement said.
5. Pro-lifers laud US Senate’s confirmation of judicial nominee.
By Catholic News Agency, November 1, 2017, 11:53 AM
Catholic and pro-life groups are welcoming the Senate’s confirmation on Tuesday of Amy Coney Barrett to the US Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. Barrett had faced hostile questions about her Catholic faith during her confirmation hearing.
“Amy Coney Barrett will make an excellent judge and we welcome her confirmation despite unprecedented and unconstitutional attacks on her faith,” Ashley McGuire, senior fellow with The Catholic Association, said Oct. 31. “Catholics were alarmed by the anti-Catholic bigotry on display from Democrats during her hearings, but her confirmation is a testament to the enduring constitutional principle that there can be no religious test for office.”
President Trump’s nominee was confirmed by a 55-43 vote, largely along party lines.
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Reacting to Barrett’s confirmation, Americans United for Life said it is “especially encouraged,” and added that her scholarship has “demonstrated her dedication to preserving the originalist legacy of her former boss, the late Justice Antonin Scalia.”
Pro-life group the Susan B. Anthony List also welcomed the confirmation, calling it “a victory for the pro-life movement as well as for the fundamental freedom of all Americans to live out their faith in the public square.”
