Brian Brock is Professor of Moral and Practical Theology at the University of Aberdeen. He is also a husband and father of three children, including Adam, who is 16, who has Down Syndrome and autism. He has written a wide range of scholarly essays on themes related to disability and is a Managing Editor of the “Journal of Religion and Disability.”
Pope Francis will celebrate the Vatican’s traditional Christmas “Mass during the Night” Dec. 24, but will begin the liturgy at 7:30 p.m. local time so that the few people invited to attend can get home in time to observe Italy’s 10 p.m. curfew.
Church leaders in Iraq have praised Pope Francis’ decision to come in March amid a pandemic as a brave decision, voicing hope that his presence in the country will send a much-needed message of peace and solidarity, and will encourage Christians to stay, despite present difficulties.
With the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe closed for her feast to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Pope Francis said Catholics still can receive a plenary indulgence Dec. 11 and 12 for their Marian devotion if they follow certain conditions.
A duplicate rendering of “Angels Unawares” is touring the U.S., with a stop in Brooklyn to serve as the Nativity scene for the Diocese of Brooklyn in Grand Army Plaza of Prospect Park. Its unveiling is set for early Tuesday evening, Dec. 8, along with the annual Christmas tree lighting, also in the plaza.
Barring any obstacles caused by the global pandemic, Pope Francis is set to begin international travel again in 2021 by visiting Iraq in March, which would make him the first pope to visit this nation.
Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the pope emeritus’ secretary, is denying media reports that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI lost his voice.
Pope Francis weighed into a long-standing debate about whether people with intellectual disabilities should be able to receive the sacraments Thursday, saying the disabled are members of equal standing in the Catholic Church and, as such, have the same right to the sacraments as everyone else.
In an introductory teleconference Tuesday morning, Dec.1, Auxiliary Bishop Michael Fisher of Washington emphasized the collaborative, cooperative, and communicative approach to ministry that he will bring to the Diocese of Buffalo as its new bishop.
One by one 11 senior churchmen, including two U.S. citizens — Cardinals Wilton D. Gregory of Washington and Silvano M. Tomasi, a former Vatican diplomat — knelt before Pope Francis to receive their red hats, a cardinal’s ring and a scroll formally declaring their new status and assigning them a “titular” church in Rome.
