Archbishop Timothy Broglio, Archbishop of the Military Services. Photo: US Air Force/Wikipedia US archbishop: Covid vaccines morally permissible, but troops may conscientiously object
The archbishop of the US military archdiocese believes that vaccine should not be mandatorily imposed on service members.
Archbishop Broglio, of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, underlined in a statement ‘Coronavirus Vaccines and the Sanctity of Conscience’, that “no one should be forced to receive a Covid vaccine if it would violate the sanctity of his or her conscience”.
Despite Archbishop Broglio’s endorsement of personal discretion on the matter, the Pentagon announced that all service members would have to be vaccinated against Covid in August as its formal vaccine policy.
Catholic sites suffered more than 100 acts of vandalism since May 2020
The US bishops’ conference last Thursday highlighted the rise in vandalism of churches
Referencing the sudden spike in acts of Church vandalism in a joint-statement, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City warned that, “These incidents of vandalism have ranged from the tragic to the obscene, from the transparent to the inexplicable. There remains much we do not know about this phenomenon, but at a minimum, they underscore that our society is in sore need of God’s grace.”
Kids join Rosary initiative inspired by St Padre Pio
Children in South Sudan Myanmar (Burma), and Lebanon have joined a worldwide initiative to get one million kids to pray the rosary this year on October 18.
‘One million children praying the Rosary’ is a prayer campaign by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) held annually on the feast of St Luke.
This year, the organisation has provided meditations on the mysteries of the Rosary for children in 24 languages, along with printable colouring pages and a prayer to St Joseph.
More than 100,000 children from 44 countries, including the US, Spain, Kenya, India, Colombia, and the Philippines, have already registered to take part in the Rosary campaign, according to an online map published by the pontifical charity.
US Politician’s reception by Pope not endorsement, archbishop says
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent meeting with Pope Francis does not reflect a papal endorsement of her views on abortion, the archbishop of San Francisco said in a television interview on October 13.
Although the Vatican did not reveal what the Pope and Ms Pelosi discussed, Ms Pelosi said in a statement after the meeting that she thanked the Pope for his “immense moral clarity” in addressing the issue of climate change.
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone took issue with the assumption that the Vatican is indirectly validating her anti-Catholic ideals. “Popes meet with everyone. They meet with world leaders, no matter who they are, even if there are these problematic things in their background or in their policies. They meet with everyone. I don’t think Pope Francis could be clearer in his condemnation of abortion,” he said.