Hospitals in the Lebanese capital are overwhelmed with those suffering injuries from a massive explosion in Beirut’s port, causing widespread damage the city and rocking the tiny Mediterranean nation already devastated by the coronavirus and its worst financial crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
World News
German author says retired Pope Benedict is ‘extremely frail’
An author with a long and close relationship to retired Pope Benedict XVI told a German newspaper that the 93-year-old retired pope is “extremely frail.”
Catholic prayer, meditation app Hallow sees huge increase in popularity
When the developers of the Catholic meditation app Hallow launched it in 2018, they hoped to attract young Catholics, but what is now the country’s No. 1 Catholic app has a bigger reach than that.
In planning Jan. 29 March for Life, officials mindful of health safeguards
March for Life is, at its core, a bus event for college and high school groups, and restrictions on that kind of travel are still an unknown factor.
Disappearance of Chinese bishop is subject of congressional hearing
“We are saddened by the recent reports that Bishop Su may have died during his recent imprisonment,” said Nury Turkel, a Uighur American who is a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, in testimony during the hearing. Bishop Su, if he is alive, would be 88 years old.
Jesuit superior warns of pandemic’s threat to democracy
Human lives and jobs are not the only things threatened by the coronavirus pandemic: In many countries, democracy and efforts to build a more just world also are under attack, said Father Arturo Sosa, superior general of the Jesuits.
Faith leaders criticize Trump’s plan to reject new DACA applicants
Faith leaders and immigrant advocates have denounced the Trump administration’s plan to reject first-time applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, and limit DACA renewals to one-year extensions instead of two.
Good films about the ‘Good War’: A viewer’s guide to WWII movies
Catholic News Service provides capsule reviews about movies on the Second World War.
U.S. data group: China hacked computers of Vatican, other church entities
China has been accused of hacking Vatican computers as well as those in the Diocese of Hong Kong and other Catholic organizations in May.
Notre Dame won’t host Sept. 29 presidential debate; venue moves to Ohio
The University of Notre Dame has withdrawn as the host site for the first presidential debate, with its president saying the health precautions required because of COVID-19 “would have greatly diminished the educational value” of having the debate on campus.
Beatification of Father McGivney to take place Oct. 31 in Hartford, Conn.
Father Michael McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus, will be beatified during a special Mass Oct. 31 at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford.
Regis Philbin dies; Catholic TV host logged 17,000-plus hours on tube
Regis Philbin, the Catholic talk- and game-show host whose career in television spanned six decades, died July 24 at age 88 of cardiovascular disease at a hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut, where he lived.