Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon French cardinal says book royalties go to abuse victims
A French cardinal who resigned as archbishop of Lyon after being acquitted of failing to report clerical sex abuse said the royalties from his new book would go to abuse victims.
Cardinal Philippe Barbarin told France’s RTL radio that the Archdiocese of Lyon would distribute the money.
“I’m not benefiting personally and I’m happy to do anything which helps the victims,” he said in early October. His book, En mon âme et conscience (‘In my Spirit and Conscience’), details events that led to his March resignation, six weeks after his suspended sentence was overturned on appeal.
Teen was an ‘influencer for God’, mother says
Before his death from leukemia in 2006, Carlo Acutis was an average teen with an above-average knack for computers. He put that knowledge to use by creating an online database of eucharistic miracles around the world.
For venerable Acutis’ mother, Antonia Salzano, the heartbreak that all parents experience over the loss of a child has been mingled with serenity and joy as she prepared to see her son beatified at the Basilica of St Francis. “It’s unusual for parents to [be present at] the beatification of their son or daughter,” Ms Salzano told Catholic News Service October 9.
“It’s very unusual because normally it takes a long time. But instead, for Carlo it took 14 years to have the beatification.”
World Food Program wins 2020 Nobel Peace Prize
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize to the World Food Program, the world’s largest humanitarian organisation addressing hunger and promoting food security.
The committee said it awarded the prize for the World Food Program’s “efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict”.
As the number of Covid-19 cases worldwide surpassed 36.5 million, with more than one million deaths, the committee cited the link between the pandemic and hunger and cited the World Food Program’s efforts. “The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a strong upsurge in the number of victims of hunger in the world,” the committee said.
Four Vatican Swiss Guards test positive for the coronavirus
The Vatican has confirmed Monday that four Swiss Guards have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Responding to journalists’ questions, Holy See press office director Matteo Bruni said that the four members of the world’s smallest but oldest standing army had been placed in isolation following positive tests at the weekend.
Mr Bruni added that, in addition to the four members of the corps responsible for protecting the Pope, three other residents or citizens of Vatican City State tested positive for the virus.
Ohio University members pray for America
The president of Franciscan University of Steubenville has called for an increase in humility, repentance and prayer as the path to bring healing and peace to the nation.
“Each one of us as an individual, as a town, as a country must reconcile with this reality – that if things are going to change and if things are going to be different, it’s up to us,” Franciscan Fr Dave Pivonka said in his homily at a morning Mass in Franciscan University’s Finnegan Fieldhouse.
“It has to be a personal decision that each one of us makes.”
The Mass, celebrated by Bishop Jeffrey Monforton of Steubenville and followed by a eucharistic procession, was part of a ‘Unite Our Nation’ event that drew together priests, religious sisters, students, other faith leaders and members of the community to pray for the country.