Crux Now

Burundi bishops call for national dialogue to avert renewed civil war

Earlier this month, a United Nations inquiry claimed that crimes against humanity are being committed in Burundi. The report said killings, torture, sexual violence, degrading treatment, enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests have been taking place since the controversial 2015 election. The bishops said in a statement, "We want to once again insist on the inclusive dialogue that must be prioritized for the greater interest of the nation and with a view to blocking the way to all those who choose the path of war."

Meet the man who helped build the pope's brand on Twitter

Spanish Catholic layman Gustavo Entrala, who created a successful digital marketing company and who's advised both Popes Benedict XVI and Francis about their use of Twitter, says that Francis has the most "consistent" and attractive brand among major world leaders today, in part because he's seen to embody his own message.

Myanmar Cardinal calls on international community not to abandon Aung San Suu Kyi

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, said it is important to remember that even if Aung San Suu Kyi’s perceptions of the Rohingya situation are incorrect, “her integrity and commitment are above suspicion...Her own lifetime sacrifice to resurrect from the ruins of junta misrule of sixty years is a great historic achievement,” the cardinal said. “In her fragile hands, she holds the dreams of millions of this country.”

US Senate committee advances bill to aid Christians in Iraq
- Matt Hadro
- September 21, 2017
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted Sept. 19 to advance a bill that seeks to ensure U.S. aid reaches Christian genocide victims in Iraq out of the committee, moving it closer to a floor vote. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) praised Tuesday’s vote, saying the bill provides much-needed support to the Chaldean Archeparchy of Erbil, which has hosted Christian victims of Islamic State for several years.
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Mexican family mourns 11 dead after church falls at baptism
- Pablo Spencer
- September 21, 2017
Among the victims of a magnitude 7.1 quake in Mexico were 11 members of a family attending a baptism in the center of the country. The earthquake was centered in Puebla state, where it killed more than 40 people. Across Mexico it killed more than 200 people. Pope Francis expressed his closeness and prayers to the Mexican people during his general audience on Wednesday.
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Bangladesh cardinal praises government response to Rohingya crisis, calls on Myanmar to take them back
- Nirmala Carvalho
- September 20, 2017
Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario, the Archbishop of Dhaka, is planning on visiting a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh on Sunday, and said Caritas Bangladesh – the main tool for the Catholic Church’s humanitarian outreach in the country – is waiting for permission from the government to go to the area. Nearly half of Myanmar’s million Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, after facing increased attacks from the military and Buddhist mobs.
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Korea exhibit at Vatican shares history, peace through art
- Hannah Brockhaus
- September 20, 2017
An exhibit at the Vatican, called “Come in cielo cosi in terra” (“On earth as it is in heaven”), is the first-ever collaboration between the Vatican Museums and the Seoul archdiocese. It is also sponsored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the South Korean embassy to the Holy See. The exhibit outlines, chronologically, the history of Catholicism in Korea from its start through the present time. It includes religious books and objects, as well as Korean religious art.
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Church leaders offer prayers, Mexicans pitch in after earthquake
- David Agren
- September 20, 2017
After a devastating 7.1 earthquake, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City asked all parishes in the impacted areas, along with priests, religious, and laity to “collaborate with the authorities in order to assist people that have been affected and show Christian solidarity.” The cardinal also expressed his sympathy to the relatives of those who had lost loved ones in the earthquake.
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Catholic health care growth a benefit, not a threat, ethicist says
- Kevin J. Jones
- September 20, 2017
The National Bureau of Economic Research is an influential domestic policy think tank based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its working paper estimated that the expansion of Catholic hospitals reduces by 30 percent the annual rates per-bed of inpatient abortions. The rates of tubal ligations or sterilizations drop 31 percent. Edward Furton, an ethicist with the National Catholic Bioethics Center, said, “The authors assume that denying access to these ‘services’ represents a moral failing of some sort, but not many people would agree.”
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D.C. summit to highlight hardships facing Middle East Christians
- James Martone
- September 20, 2017
A two-day gathering of Christian minority leaders, academics and U.S. officials will focus on helping the Middle East Christians and other targeted groups by first promoting security and stability in Lebanon, where millions of Christian and non-Christian refugees have fled wars in their home countries of Syria and Iraq.
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Padre Pio's relics continue to draw the masses
- Christopher White
- September 20, 2017
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, said the words of Padre Pio – trust, pray, do not worry, do not be afraid – are almost a summary of the constant calm assurances of Jesus that we hear in the Gospel. The saints relics were in New York last weekend, before being taken to Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta, and other locations over the next two months.
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In Vatican trial, question remains: Whose reputations are on the line?

September 19, 2017

As the latest major Vatican criminal trial resumed on Tuesday, judges seemed to challenge claims by the main defendant that spending $500,000 from funds belonging to a papally-sponsored children’s hospital to remodel the private apartment of a Vatican cardinal was entirely routine and above-board. As the trial plays out, the reputations of both that cardinal and Pope Francis’s broader financial reform appear at stake.

Pope Francis reboots the John Paul II institute on marriage and family

September 19, 2017

Pope Francis on Tuesday decided to reboot one of the signature institutions of the St. Pope John Paul II era in Catholicism, the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. From now on it will be a theological institute, with the mandate of exploring the “lights and shadows” of family life with “realism” and “love,” while also staying faithful to the Church’s teaching.