Talbert Zoo

CNA Staff, May 14, 2020 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- Papal basilicas are considering checking visitors’ temperatures as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus when public Masses resume, the Holy See press office said Thursday. Representatives of the four major Roman basilicas — St. Peter’s, St. Mary Major, St. John Lateran and St. Paul Outside the Walls — met May 14 under the auspices of the Vatican Secretariat of State, the press office said. They discussed which protocols to adopt in light of the “second phase” of Italy’s lockdown, when…

Denver Newsroom, May 13, 2020 / 05:42 pm (CNA).- The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis has assembled a team of 30 priests ready to administer last rites— confession, communion, and anointing of the sick— to COVID-19 patients. All the priest-volunteers on the “Anointing Corps,” which launched early this month, are under 50, and most are parochial vicars. The team has anointed at least a dozen patients so far, the archdiocese said May 12. Auxiliary Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who is spearheading the initiative, told CNA that priests from the Anointing…

CNA Staff, May 12, 2020 / 05:00 pm (CNA).- The bishops of England and Wales have expressed disappointment after the government said churches in the U.K. should remain closed until at least July 4. The bishops issued a statement May 11 after U.K. officials published a document Monday setting out plans to ease the nationwide lockdown imposed amid the coronavirus pandemic. “The timing and the manner of the opening of churches touches profound sensitivities and spiritual needs. The government's document and statements fail to recognize this,” a spokesman for the…

CNA Staff, May 11, 2020 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- Attorneys are calling for a federal judge to recuse himself from a transgender sports case, after the judge instructed that they use terminology for gender identity and not biological sex. The Title IX case in Connecticut was brought by three female high school track athletes against the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) over a policy of allowing athletes to compete in sports based on their self-described gender identity, not their biological sex. After males identifying themselves as female began competing in…

Vatican City, May 10, 2020 / 05:30 am (CNA).- We must always remember that we are made for heaven, Pope Francis said in his Regina Coeli address Sunday.  Speaking in the library of the Apostolic Palace due to the coronavirus pandemic, the pope said May 10: “God is in love with us. We are his children. And for us He has prepared the most worthy and beautiful place: paradise.”   “Let us not forget: the dwelling place that awaits us is paradise. Here we are passing through. We are made…

CNA Staff, May 9, 2020 / 06:01 am (CNA).- Pakistan’s government has declined to include the Ahmadi religious group in its National Commission for Minorities, drawing attention to the group whose Muslim self-identification is rejected by many Muslims. In a note seen by Reuters, Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs said Ahmadis should not be included in the commission “given the religious and historical sensitivity of the issue.” Pakistan’s constitution does not recognize the Ahmadis as Muslim. However, Ahmadis consider themselves part of Islam. The movement was founded in 1889 in…

CNA Staff, May 8, 2020 / 07:00 am (CNA).- A new “dial-a-Mass” service enabling Catholics with no internet connection to listen to Sunday Masses is proving a success, an English bishop has said.  Bishop Terence Drainey of Middlesbrough said that 100 people used the Mass-by-Phone service when it launched May 3.   Public Masses were suspended in England from March 20 and churches ordered to close days later. The government has not indicated when churches will be allowed to reopen.  The Diocese of Middlesbrough, in northern England, decided to introduce…