December 20, 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 - Several American Catholic dioceses have already issued statements on how they intend to implement new Vatican guidelines that permit nonliturgical pastoral blessings of homosexual couples, but it’s still unclear what this will look like in most of the country. The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a declaration on Monday titled Fiducia Supplicans, which allows “spontaneous” pastoral blessings for “same-sex couples” and other couples in “irregular situations.” The document still prohibits any sort of liturgical blessing of homosexual couples because such a blessing would “offer a form of moral legitimacy to a union that presumes to be a marriage or to an extra-marital sexual practice.” The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s document has led to some controversy among the Catholic faithful and some confusion about what the Vatican is actually calling on bishops and priests to do. The implementation of the new guidelines could differ from diocese to diocese, as various bishops appear to be emphasizing different parts of the document. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256321/us-dioceses-respond-to-vatican-declaration-on-same-sex-couple-blessings More than 40 laymen and laywomen in the Diocese of Clogher in the north of Ireland will soon begin presiding over funeral liturgies amid a shortage of priests. A major vocation crisis could result in fewer than 10 active priests in the diocese in less than 20 years, according to the local ordinary, Bishop Larry Duffy. Duffy said that the diocese is “far too dependent” on priests for pastoral care, administration, property maintenance, planning, and parish governance. In 2021, a survey by the Association of Catholic Priests found that only about 30% of Catholics in Ireland attend Mass weekly — a significant drop from 91% in 1975. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256318/irish-diocese-to-rely-on-laity-to-preside-over-funerals-amid-shortage-of-priests A religious freedom watchdog group is urging the Biden administration to add the government of India to a list of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said this month in a press release that it was “alarmed by India’s increased transnational targeting of religious minorities and those advocating on their behalf.” The commission this month said Indian authorities “have used spyware and online harassment campaigns to target and intimidate journalists and activists abroad advocating on behalf of religious minorities.” Commissioner Stephen Schneck said in the release that the indications of religious persecution are “deeply troubling and represent a severe escalation of India’s efforts to silence religious minorities and human rights defenders both within its country and abroad.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256317/us-religious-freedom-watchdog-urges-white-house-to-list-india-as-country-of-concern Today, the Church celebrates Saint Dominic of Silos, a Spanish monk who in the eleventh century renewed the spirit of the monastery of San Sebastian in Silos, reforming its structure, its finances, and its works of charity. Dominic was known for miracles of healing, which he obtained through prayer, and for his work of ransoming Christian prisoners from the moors. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-dominic-of-silos-90