December 15, 2023

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 - The Vatican has decided to shut down the religious community of sisters co-founded by accused abuser Father Marko Rupnik, the Slovenian Archdiocese of Ljubljana announced Friday. Sisters from the Loyola Community were presented with a decree on December 14 from the Vatican Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life on the dissolution of their community “due to serious problems concerning the exercise of authority and the way of living together,” the archdiocese said. According to the December 15 statement, the dissolution of the community must take place within one year. The Vatican decree ordering the dissolution of the Loyola Community was issued on October 20. Rupnik co-founded the Loyola Community with Sister Ivanka Hosta in Ljubljana, Slovenia, more than three decades ago. The priest and mosaic artist was removed from the Jesuits in June after having been accused of spiritual, psychological, and sexual abuse of religious sisters. Since then, the Vatican has announced that Rupnik will face a canonical process over the abuse allegations after Pope Francis decided to waive the statute of limitations on the claims. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256290/breaking-vatican-closing-down-loyola-community-co-founded-by-rupnik The Vatican’s doctrine office published a letter on Thursday confirming that single mothers can receive Communion after going to confession and urging the need for further “pastoral work” in parts of the world where single mothers might still face harsh judgment. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256278/vatican-doctrine-office-encourages-single-mothers-to-receive-communion-after-confession Pope Francis on Thursday urged global leaders to adopt an international treaty to regulate the development and use of artificial intelligence, saying technological research must be directed toward “the pursuit of peace and the common good.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256279/pope-francis-calls-for-global-regulation-of-ai-for-peace-and-common-good More than two dozen human rights advocates are urging Congress to call on the State Department to put Nigeria back on a list of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256276/human-rights-leaders-call-for-nigeria-to-be-redesignated-as-religious-freedom-violator Today, the Church celebrates Saint Virginia Centurione Bracelli. She founded a refuge center in Genoa in 1625, which soon became overrun with the needy, and she rented an empty convent in 1631 where she cared for the sick with the help of other women, and she instructed the women in the faith in addition to their work. She constructed a church dedicated to Our Lady of Refuge, and soon the women who worked with her in the hospital were formed into two congregations: the Sisters of Our Lady of Refuge in Mount Calvary, and the Daughters of Our Lady on Mount Calvary. Victoria retired from the administration of the orders, and performed manual labour and begged for alms, but was called back to administrative duties soon after. She was canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II on May 18, 2003. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-virginia-centurione-bracelli-85