12/15/2020 at 1:38 PM Posted by Kevin Edward White
On the moral illicitness of the use of vaccines
made from cells derived from aborted human fetuses
In recent weeks, news agencies and various information sources have reported that, in response to the Covid-19 emergency, some countries have produced vaccines using cell lines from aborted human fetuses. In other countries, such vaccines are being planned.
A growing chorus of churchmen (bishops’ conferences, individual bishops, and priests) has said that, in the event that no alternative vaccine using ethically licit substances is available, it would be morally permissible for Catholics to receive vaccines made from the cell lines of aborted babies. Supporters of this position invoke two documents of the Holy See: the first, from the Pontifical Academy for Life, is titled, “Moral reflections on vaccines prepared from cells derived from aborted human fetuses” and was issued on June 9, 2005; the second, an Instruction fr
Pope Francis at his general audience address in the library of the Apostolic Palace Dec. 16, 2020. Credit: Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Dec 16, 2020 / 04:30 am (CNA).- People who pray for others are like God’s antennas, Pope Francis said at the general audience Wednesday.
In his address Dec. 16, the pope insisted that those who seek solitude and silence to intercede for others are not evading reality.
“Whoever can knock on the door of someone who prays finds a compassionate heart which does not exclude anyone,” he said, seated beside a traditional depiction of the nativity.
He added: “These people pray for the entire world, bearing its sorrows and sins on their shoulders. They pray for each and every person: they are like God’s ‘antennas’ in this world.”
Doctrine committee sets standards for church hymns
Friday, Dec. 18, 2020
By Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON Expressing concern for the doctrinal soundness of some of the lyrics of Catholic hymns now available for use in Catholic liturgies, the U.S. bishops’ doctrine committee in a forthcoming report suggests guidelines for bishops in evaluating hymn lyrics and for selecting hymnals being considered for use in churches.
An accompanying memo said the document is to “assist bishops in their oversight of liturgical celebrations in their dioceses and in the granting of the imprimatur.”
It also encouraged bishops to “share this resource with composers and hymn publishers in their dioceses” as well as “diocesan worship officers, pastors and parish musicians.” It also said that the doctrine committee “is available for any bishop who desires assistance in the evaluation of hymns or hymnals.”
By Father Joseph J. Quindlen
By Father Joseph J. Quindlen • Posted December 15, 2020
In his Christmas Message of 1998, appealing to both respect for human dignity and the common good, Pope St. John Paul II called for an end to the death penalty.
In his Jan. 27, 1999 homily at the Trans World Dome of St. Louis, Missouri, he repeated, “A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform. I renew the appeal I made most recently at Christmas for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary.”
Doctrine committee sets standards for evaluating, improving church hymns
Dec 15, 2020 catholic news service
Members of The Catholic University of America Chamber Choir sing during an Oct. 10, 2017, rehearsal at St. Vincent de Paul Chapel on the campus of the Washington university. The U.S. bishops doctrine committee, in a forthcoming report, suggests guidelines for bishops in evaluating hymn lyrics and for selecting hymnals being considered for use in churches. (Credit: Chaz Muth/CNS.)
Expressing concern for the doctrinal soundness of some of the lyrics of Catholic hymns now available for use in Catholic liturgies, the U.S. bishops doctrine committee in a forthcoming report suggests guidelines for bishops in evaluating hymn lyrics and for selecting hymnals being considered for use in churches.