January 22, 2024

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. www.catholicnewsagency.com - Bishop Mario Dorsonville of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in southeastern Louisiana, whose ecclesial career spanned nearly four decades, died unexpectedly on Friday evening after serving as bishop of the diocese for less than a year. He was 63. He was born on Oct. 30, 1960, in Bogotá, Colombia, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1985. Dorsonville was a tireless advocate for migrants and immigration reform. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256595/bishop-of-houma-thibodaux-in-louisiana-dies-unexpectedly-at-63 Pope Francis announced the start of a Year of Prayer on Sunday in preparation for the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year. In his Angelus address, the pope said that a Year of Prayer starting on January 21 will be “a year dedicated to rediscovering the great value and absolute need for prayer in one’s personal life, in the life of the Church, and in the world.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256598/pope-francis-announces-year-of-prayer-to-prepare-for-2025-jubilee Pope Francis called for the release of six religious sisters who have been kidnapped in Haiti in his Angelus address on Sunday. Armed gunmen took the religious sisters hostage in Port-au-Prince on Friday during a bus hijacking, according to Vatican News. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256599/pope-francis-calls-for-release-of-6-religious-sisters-taken-hostage-in-haiti Today, the Church celebrates Saint Vincent, a Deacon of Saragossa, and a martyr under Diocletian in 304. This most renowned martyr of Spain is represented in the dalmatic of a deacon, and has as emblems a cross, a raven, a grate, or a fire-pile. He is honored as patron in Valencia, Saragossa and Portugal. Very little can be confirmed about his life. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-vincent-124 Today is also the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children, which the Church in the US celebrates each year on January 22. The USCCB includes information about this day on its website, saying that the day is to be observed as “a particular day of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life and of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256582/its-not-too-late-to-join-this-pro-life-novena