Below is an excerpt from a report from Catholic News Agency about a possibility of an upcoming consistory, the gathering at which new cardinals are installed.

“The Vatican is refusing to deny media speculation that Pope Benedict XVI will announce a list of new cardinals as early as tomorrow.

“You will have to wait for an announcement but there is no announcement to be made at the moment,” Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi told CNA Jan. 5.

Several Italian newspapers are claiming that the Pope will announce he is convoking a consistory in Rome for Saturday, Feb. 18.

If Pope Benedict calls for a consistory – the gathering at which new cardinals are installed – it will be the fourth since his election in 2005.

At present, there are 192 members of the College of Cardinals. By the time a February consistory is convened, there will be only 107 of them under the age of 80, which is the limit for voting in a conclave to elect the next Pope. A conclave can have a maximum of 120 electors.”

By David Kerr

To read more visit CNA

Photo from CNA

Below is an excerpt of an article in the Irish Catholic about how a lay group that was set up to campaign for a reversal of the Government’s decision to close Ireland’s Embassy to the Holy See, has scheduled a high-profile meeting with political leaders later this month.

“A national lay initiative which grew out of the Government’s decision to close Ireland’s embassy to the Holy See is set to grow in 2012 with a high-profile public meeting with political leaders scheduled later this month beside the Dáil.

The group Ireland Stand Up describes itself as ”one of several national lay initiatives respectfully campaigning to reverse this Government’s decision to close Ireland’s Embassy to the Holy See” and to invite the Pope to Ireland for the closing of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in June.

The group has already held a national postcard campaign to lobby the Taoiseach Enda Kenny to reverse his Government’s decision to close the embassy and was inundated with requests for cards and public support.

The Irish Catholic also understands that Government deputies, particularly Fine Gael members, have expressed deep disquiet about the decision of Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore to effectively downgrade Ireland’s historic relationship with the Holy See by closing the embassy.”

By Paul Keenan

To read more visit the Irish Catholic

Below is an excerpt from a report from the Catholic News Agency about Pope Benedict XVI’s upcoming trip to Mexico and Cuba.

“Pope Benedict XVI’s itinerary for his March 2012 visit to Mexico and Cuba was released Jan. 2 through Vatican Radio.

He will leave Rome on March 23 and arrive in the city of Leon, Mexico where President Felipe Calderon, Archbishop José Martín of Leon and representatives of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference will officially receive him.The Pope will stay at the residence of the Sisters of Miraflores College in Leon, according to Vatican Radio’s unofficial translation of press releases from the bishops’ conferences of Mexico and Cuba.

On March 24 the pontiff will have an official meeting with President Calderon and his delegation at the Conde Rul House, the seat of the Guanajuato state government—the state that Leon is located in. He will then greet and bless children and the faithful who are gathered in La Paz square.

On Sunday, March 25, Pope Benedict will celebrate Mass at the municipality of Silao’s Bicentennial Park, at the foot of Cubilete Hill. The monument to Christ the King stands atop the hill. He will then celebrate vespers at Leon’s cathedral and deliver a message to the bishops of Mexico and other representatives of the bishops’ conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean.

On the morning of March 26, high-ranking Mexican civil and religious authorities will say farewell to the Pope at Leon airport, as he leaves for Cuba. Pope Benedict will arrive in Cuba’s city of Santiago, where he will be officially received by President Raul Castro, Archbishop Dionisio Guillermo García Ibáñez of Santiago, and members of Cuba’s Catholic bishops’ conference.

On March 27, Pope Benedict will make a private visit to…….”

From Catholic News Agency

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Below is an excerpt from a report on Rome Reports about a new ‘Personal Ordinariate’ which will allow Anglicans to join the Catholic Church.

“As of January 1, 2012, Anglicans in the United States, now have the option of joining the Catholic Church under a so called ‘Personal Ordinariate.’ The decision was established by the pope and the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. This allows Anglicans to join the Church while still keeping part of their liturgical practices.

Its official name is “The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter,” which will be led by former Episcopalian bishop Jeffrey Neil Steenson. It will be based in Houston, Texas.

Jeffrey Neil Steenson joined the Catholic Church in 2007 and was ordained a priest in 2009. The 59 year old priest is married and has three children. Because of this he won’t be ordained a bishop nor will he be allowed to ordain priests. He will however, be part of the Conference of Catholic Bishops where he’ll have voting power.

So far, over 100 Anglican priests have applied to become Catholic priests in this newly established ordinariate.”

By Rome Reports

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Below is an excerpt of a report on Zenit outlining Pope Benedict XVI’s thoughts on Christmas at yesterdays general audience.

“Benedict XVI says that we have the same opportunity the shepherds of Bethlehem had: acknowledging and receiving the Christ Child, who comes “today,” now, to each of us.

The Pope emphasized this point at today’s general audience, saying that it is important to understand that Christmas is more than an anniversary of a past event, of Jesus’ birth.

“Christmas, in fact, is not a mere anniversary of Jesus’ birth — it is also this, but it is more,” the Holy Father said at the last general audience of 2011. “It is the celebration of a mystery that has marked and continues to mark mankind’s history — God himself came to dwell among us, he made himself one of us; a mystery that concerns our faith and our very lives; a mystery that we experience concretely in the liturgical celebrations, especially in the Holy Mass.”

So, the Pontiff said, we can live out now and participate in an event that occurred more than 2,000 years ago.”

“During the Holy Mass on Christmas night, we will repeat as a refrain to the responsorial psalm, these words: ‘Today a Savior is born for us.’ This adverb of time ‘Today,’ which is used repeatedly throughout the Christmas celebrations, refers to the event of Jesus’ birth and to the salvation that the incarnation of the Son of God comes to bring,” he explained

By Zenit

To read more visit Zenit.org

Photo: Rome Reports

Below is an excerpt from a report in Catholic Herald about how Pope Benedict XVI has further advanced the canonization of seven blessed, including Blessed Marianne Cope and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.

“Pope Benedict XVI has advanced the sainthood Causes of Blessed Marianne Cope of Molokai and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.

He also formally recognised the martyrdom of 64 victims of the Spanish Civil War and advanced the Causes of 18 other men and women.

During a meeting on December 19 with Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, the Pope signed the decrees recognising the miracles needed for the canonisations of Blessed Marianne and Blessed Kateri.

Before a date is set for the canonisation ceremonies, there must be an “ordinary public consistory”, a formal ceremony opened and closed with prayer, during which cardinals present in Rome express their support for the Pope’s decision to create new saints.

Blessed Marianne, who worked as a teacher and hospital administrator in New York, spent the last 30 years of her life ministering on the Hawaiian island of Molokai to those with leprosy. She died on the island in 1918 at age 80 and was beatified in St Peter’s Basilica in 2005.

Blessed Kateri, known as the Lily of the Mohawks, was born to a Christian Algonquin mother and a Mohawk father in 1656 in upstate New York along the Hudson River. She was baptised by a Jesuit missionary in 1676 when she was 20, and she died in Canada four years later. In June 1980, she became the first Native American to be beatified.”

By Carol Glatz

To read more visit Catholic Herald

Photo: A statue of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha outside the Kateri Shrine in Fonda, New York (From CNS)

Below is an excerpt from an article on Zenit.org which reports how Pope Benedict recently received a delegation of children with whom he exchanged Christmas greetings.

“Benedict XVI is inviting children to a missionary spirit, encouraging them to tell their friends that they have found a great Friend in Jesus.

This morning in the Vatican, Benedict XVI received a delegation of children from Italian Catholic Action, with whom he exchanged Christmas greetings.

The Holy Father thanked the group for their visit, then went on to remark on a theme they have been studying this year, the invitation made to Bartimaeus in the Bible: “Arise, He is calling.”

This call, the Pontiff explained, “has already been repeated often in your lives, and it is repeated again today. The first call was in the gift of life. Always be attentive to this great gift, appreciate it and be grateful to the Lord. Ask Him to give a joyful life to all the boys and girls of the world, that they may all be respected and none may lack what they need to live.”

From Zenit.org

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Below is an excerpt of an article in CiNews which outlines how the Irish Government will respond if Pope Benedict expresses interest in visiting Ireland next year.

“The Irish Government will “respond positively” if Pope Benedict expresses an interest in visiting Ireland, Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore confirmed this week.

Relations between the Irish government and the Vatican have become strained in recent months since the speech by the Taoiseach in the Dáil when he launched an attack on the Vatican and later, when the government announced the closure of the Irish embassy in the Vatican that they said was for financial reasons and not because of the fallout from the Cloyne Report into clerical child sexual abuse.

Appearing before an Oireachtas committee this week, Mr Gilmore reiterated that the closure of the Vatican embassy as well as the closing of other embassy’s in Iran and Timor Leste, had to be seen in the context of the “diminishing resources” available to his department.

However, he stressed that Ireland has not broken off diplomatic relations with the Holy See, and he also took the opportunity to clear up any “misunderstandings” about whether the Pope was welcome in Ireland.2

By Sean Ryan

To read more visit CiNews

Below is an excerpt from a recent article in CiNews about the conclusion of investigations into an alleged miracle as a result of the intercession of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

“The investigation tribunal into an alleged miracle attributed to the intercession of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen has been concluded.

The tribunal has looked into the alleged miraculous healing of James Fulton Engstrom, a one-year-old, born without a pulse last year, and whose parents credit his survival to the late archbishop.  The baby had no pulse at birth and his parents Bonnie and Travis Engstrom prayed fervently to Archbishop Sheen.  Just over an hour after birth as doctors were about to pronounce the time of death, they detected a heartbeat.

The conclusion of the tribunal was marked with a mass at which official tribunal documents were sealed by Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of Peoria (Illinois in the US) and Monsignor Stanley Deptula, executive director of the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation, which is the official promoter of the archbishop’s cause for sainthood.

The documents will now be shipped to the Vatican for consideration.  If the alleged miracle is approved by the Pope, U.S. Catholics could witness the first ever beatification on American soil in the diocese of Peoria.”

By Ann Marie Foley

To read more visit CiNews

Below is an excerpt from an article in the Irish Catholic about how the main Christian churches are uniting against Government moves to dilute the ethos of faith-based schools.

“The main Christian churches are united in their determination to resist any moves by the Government that would dilute the ethos of faith-based schools.

The Irish Catholic has learned that Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist leaders are standing firm with Catholic leaders in their resolve to oppose legislation that would effectively eliminate the distinctive character of the schools and deny parents the right to choose such an education for their children.

As all of the Churches await the final report of the Government’s Forum on School Patronage — due before Christmas — it is understood that a threat to rule 68 has emerged as the major concern.

Rule 68 states that ”a religious ethos should inform and vivify the whole work of the school”.

A senior Catholic Church source said that the removal of the rule ”would mean that faith-based schools would effectively be prevented from being faith-based schools.

”We would be Catholic schools in name but would be prevented from doing anything active to preserve or even promote that ethos,” the source said.”

By Michael Kelly

To read more visit the Irish Catholic