Catholic News

• Formula for Baptism cannot be altered, Vatican says (Vatican News)
  The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has said that a newly popular form of Baptism is invalid, and those people baptized with this formula must be baptized again. The CDF ruled that saying “we baptize you,” rather than “I baptize you,” is improper and invalid, explaining that “when one baptizes it is really Christ Himself who baptizes.” The CDF cautioned against changing the formula for a sacrament, saying that doing so is a liturgical abuse and a “wound inflicted upon the ecclesial communion.”
• Pope extends Eastern Catholic Patriarchs' jurisdiction over Arabian Peninsula (Vatican News)
  The six Eastern Catholic Patriarchs “will be able to provide direct pastoral care for the faithful, who since 2003 have been under the care of the Latin apostolic vicars,” according to the report. At the same time, the Latin-rite apostolic vicars, along with the papal nuncios, will be responsible for relations with civil authorities.
• Hong Kong Catholic diocese urges schools to promote national security education (Hong Kong Free Press)
  Peter Lau, Cardinal John Tong Hon’s delegate for education, directed Catholic schools to “enhance students’ awareness to national security and [the importance of] abidance to the law, have them learn and respect the national flag, the national emblem and the national anthem and foster the correct values on their national identity, consistent with the Catholic teaching,” according to the report.
• Kentucky bishop rebukes President Trump as 'anti-life' (National Catholic Reporter)
  “For this president to call himself pro-life, and for anybody to back him because of claims of being pro-life, is almost willful ignorance,” said Bishop John Stowe of Lexington. “He is so much anti-life because he is only concerned about himself, and he gives us every, every, every indication of that.”
• Biden defends his commitment to faith following Trump comments (Joe Biden)
  After President Trump said that his opponent is “against God, he’s against guns, he’s against energy, our kind of energy,” former Vice President Biden responded with a statement that begins, “Like so many people, my faith has been the bedrock foundation of my life.”
• Pope begins new series of talks on issues raised by pandemic (Vatican News)
  At his public audience on Wednesday, August 5, Pope Francis announced that he was beginning a new series of weekly talks on the social issues that have been highlighted by the Covid pandemic. The Pope—who was resuming his weekly audiences after a July break—said that the Church has no expertise on the medical aspects of the pandemic, but can offer a moral perspective on the social and political issues that have come to the fore.
• Nicaragua's latest woes put Catholic leadership in an impossible position (Crux)
  “We are prisoners of a government that has eliminated fundamental freedoms,” a bishop said of Daniel Ortega’s regime. “We are prisoners of a government that continues to fuel hostility towards the Church and does not prevent, indeed mostly favors, attacks against us.”
• Federal court halts Vermont ban on dual enrollment for students at religious high schools (AP)
  The Alliance Defending Freedom filed the suit on behalf of the Diocese of Burlington.
• Maryland county issues 2nd order to stop Catholic, other private schools from opening (CNA)
  Gov. Larry Hogan overturned a previous order by Montgomery County (map) directing private schools not to reopen.
• In UK, parish priests hit by Covid financial crisis (The Tablet)
  Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak “introduced the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) to help people who are not salaried have some income during the pandemic,” according to the report. “But priests who have asked for this financial assistance have been rejected by the tax collecting authority.”
• Catholic high school files lawsuit against California governor to reopen in the fall (San Diego Union-Tribune)
  The school, St. Augustine High School, is located in San Diego.
• Prayers answered: Rhode Island diocese sees decades-high number of new seminarians (CNA)
  The Diocese of Providence’s eight new seminarians are “the most new seminarians in almost 40 years,” Bishop Thomas Tobin said.
• USCCB calls for prayers for Lebanon, assistance for disaster victims (USCCB)
  “The world watched with shock and horror the catastrophic explosion in the Port of Beirut Tuesday,” said Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles (president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops) and Bishop David Malloy of Rockford (chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace). “Over 135 have died, thousands are injured, and the suffering has only begun to be told.”
• In Australia, Sydney parish responds to hate crime with love (Catholic Weekly)
  A statue of St. Francis of Assisi Our Lady of Fatima, Kingsgrove was beheaded.
• In China, houses of worship forced to donate to the state or stay shut (Bitter Winter)
  “Some elderly congregation members live alone and have no sources of income, but are also forced to give money,” said a local leader of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the nation’s official Protestant body.
• Charges dropped against Australian priest accused of stealing almost $500,000 from parish (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
  Archbishop Timothy Costelloe of Perth said that he has initiated canonical action against Father Joseph Walsh and that the archdiocese is considering a civil suit against the priest.
• 'Racism makes a liar of God': How the Church in the US is wrestling with the Black Lives Matter movement (New York Times)
  “Racism makes a liar of God,” said EWTN radio host Gloria Purvis. “It says not everyone is made in his image. What a horrible lie from the pit of hell.”
• Managua cathedral fire was no accident, Nicaraguan cardinal says (AP)
  Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes of Managua has rejected the claim by Nicaraguan police that a fire in the city’s cathedral was accidental. Government officials had floated the theory that fumes from disinfectant had ignited, starting the fire. The cardinal insisted, to the contrary, that it was a “savage and terrorist” arson attack.
• Democrats 'want to put the churches out of business,' President Trump tells EWTN (CNA)
  Asked “if there was one message you wanted to say to our viewers,” President Trump responded: “Well, I think anybody having to do with, frankly, religion, but certainly the Catholic Church, you have to be with President Trump when it comes to pro-life, when it comes to all of the things, these people are going to take all of your rights away, including Second Amendment, because, you know, Catholics like their Second Amendment.”
• Six lay women named to Vatican Council for Economy (Vatican News)
  Pope Francis has appointed seven lay members—six of them women—to the Council for the Economy, which supervises the work of the Secretariat for the Economy. The Pontiff has also replaced six of the eight prelates who serve on the Council. Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who heads the group, remains in place. Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark is the only American member of the Council.
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