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National & World News
Only frequent church attendees avoided downward mental health trend in 2020

CNA Staff, Dec 11, 2020 / 12:09 am MT (CNA).- Americans who attend religious services weekly are the only demographic group appearing to show improved mental health in 2020, despite the stresses of the coronavirus pandemic and other events, says a new survey. The survey otherwise shows significant self-reported mental …
Pope Francis to offer Midnight Mass at 7:30pm

by Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, Dec 10, 2020 / 10:00 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis’ Midnight Mass will begin at 7:30 p.m. this year, as the Italian government extends a national curfew through the Christmas season. The pope’s traditional celebration of Christmas “Mass during the Night,” which takes place at …
St. Juan Diego hailed as messenger of hope, healing for Native Americans

CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2020 / 06:48 pm MT (CNA).- The Feast of St. Juan Diego, an Aztec peasant who witnessed an indigenous apparition of the Virgin Mary and later became the first canonized indigenous American saint, is a time for hope and healing for Native Americans and for recognition …
Catholic high schools in Michigan sue over coronavirus order keeping them closed

CNA Staff, Dec 8, 2020 / 04:14 pm MT (CNA).- Two high schools in the Diocese of Lansing have joined a lawsuit against a public health order keeping schools in Michigan closed for in-person learning, calling the order “scientifically, educationally and constitutionally unjustified.” Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced Dec. 7 an …
US bishops praise judge’s decision to reinstate DACA, call for path to citizenship

CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2020 / 03:30 am MT (CNA).- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) applauded a federal judge’s recent decision to restore the full Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, including the resumption of new applicants. Auxiliary Bishop Mario Dorsonville of Washington, chairman of the USCCB’s …
Circuit court vacates California church closure decision

CNA Staff, Dec 9, 2020 / 01:00 pm MT (CNA).- California churches scored another victory in their cases against state coronavirus restrictions on Tuesday. The South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista is now one step closer to winning its push for unrestricted indoor worship during the pandemic, after …
Assisi in Advent: illuminated frescoes and a nurse in a nativity scene

by Courtney Mares Rome Newsroom, Dec 9, 2020 / 01:00 pm MT (CNA).- Assisi unveiled a nativity scene Tuesday made of 50 figurines of shepherds, angels, and barn animals with a new addition this year: a life-size figure of a nurse in scrubs wearing a mask. The diocese said that …
Pope Francis proclaims Year of St. Joseph

Vatican City, Dec 8, 2020 / 04:08 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis announced a Year of St. Joseph Tuesday in honor of the 150th anniversary of the saint’s proclamation as patron of the Universal Church. The year begins Dec. 8, 2020, and concludes on Dec. 8, 2021, according to a …
US Supreme Court urged to protect KY religious schools from shutdown

CNA Staff, Dec 7, 2020 / 04:37 pm MT (CNA).- An order shuttering in-person education until Jan. 4 in Kentucky amid rising COVID-19 cases amounts to religious discrimination, the US Supreme Court has been told in amici curiae briefs. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) temporarily halted in-person learning in the …
Pope Francis: the Immaculate Conception is ‘one of the wonders of the story of salvation’

Vatican City, Dec 8, 2020 / 06:20 am MT (CNA).- The Immaculate Conception is “one of the wonders of the story of salvation,” Pope Francis said in his Angelus address Tuesday. Speaking from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square Dec. 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the pope encouraged …