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News, of the hour, on the hour, from Catholic Information Radio.
I’m Bryan Douglas in Philadelphia, and at this hour….
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Lead:

Up to 24 U.S. bishops, including two cardinals, could have their retirements accepted because of age this year. There are 11 active U.S. bishops, including one cardinal, who have already turned 75. Thirteen more will celebrate their 75th birthday in 2010. At age 75 bishops are requested to submit their resignation to the pope.

Some of the more notable ones include Bernard Cardinal Law, archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome and a cardinal since 1985, who turned 75 on November 4, 2006. A former bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Mo., he was archbishop of Boston from 1984 until his resignation in 2002 in the wake of public controversy over his handling of clergy sex abuse cases there. He was named to his current post in 2004.

Also turning 75 on April 19 this year is Justin Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia. Originally from Los Angeles, he was ordained an archbishop in 1985 while serving as head of the school that educates future Vatican diplomats. He returned to the United States in 1994 to become archbishop of St. Louis, holding that post until his appointment as archbishop of Philadelphia in 2003. He was elevated to the College of Cardinals that same year.

Pope Benedict, like his predecessor, often asks cardinals to stay on the job after they reach the age of 75. Even when a cardinal retires in his 70s, he remains an active member of the College of Cardinals, eligible to enter a conclave and vote for a new pope until the age of 80.

I’ll be back with more after this.

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Story 2:
Pope Benedict XVI's personal secretary visited the woman responsible for knocking the pope down during the Christmas Eve Mass. Msgr. Georg Ganswein, the papal secretary, visited Susanna Maiolo at the psychiatric hospital in Subiaco, outside of Rome, where she was transferred Dec. 25. The papal secretary made the private visit to show her the Holy Father's interest in her situation," the papal spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said in a written statement yesterday. The Vatican statement said the legal proceedings against Maiolo, which were being carried out by the Vatican's judicial system, would continue until it came to a conclusion.

Story 3:
Following the Malaysian High Court’s approval of a Catholic newspaper’s use of the word “Allah” for God, hundreds of Moslem youth have taken to the streets in protest and the newspaper’s website has been hacked several times in a predictable show of Moslem intolerance of others’ beliefs .

The Herald, the country’s only Catholic publication, had been threatened with the loss of its printing license for using “Allah” to name the Christian God in its Malay-language section. The newspaper argued that its usage follows centuries of tradition, while the Malaysian government argued the usage by Christians would confuse Moslems.

Fr. Lawrence Andrew, the editor of the Herald, told the Malaysian Insider newspaper that technicians have confirmed the cyber attacks took place and the website was operating normally. The Malaysian Prime Minister has said the Home Ministry will appeal the ruling.

Story 4:
The U.S. Catholic bishops have reiterated that the proposed health care bill is “deficient” and needs “essential changes” because it lacks guarantees of longstanding federal restrictions on abortion funding, hinders immigrants’ access to health care, and falls short of total coverage. They call on Congress and the Obama Administration to create legislation that “truly protects the life, dignity, health, and consciences of all,” wrote the bishops in a recent letter to members of the Senate.

That their letter does not acknowledge the Conference’s divergence from their constituents’ views was not acknowledged even in light of polls that indicate, on this political question, the Bishops and their flock are at diametrically opposed positions.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 5:
A Japanese cardinal, the Archbishop Emeritus of Tokyo, was remembered by the Pope today for his unfailing commitment to the spread of the Gospel in Japan. The Holy Father spoke warmly of the cardinal in a telegram addressed to the current Archbishop of Tokyo, Most Rev. Peter Okada, and expressed his sorrow at the loss of Cardinal Shirayanagi but also his gratitude for the prelate’s many years as priest and bishop.

Story 6:
During the course of the year 2009, a 2.2 million faithful and pilgrims participated in general or special audiences, the Sunday Angelus, or in liturgical celebrations presided by the Pope, according to the Prefecture of the Papal Household.

The statistics, the communique concludes, refer exclusively to celebrations and events held in the Vatican and Castel Gandolfo, and do not take account of the Pope's meetings with large numbers of faithful during his pastoral visits within Italy or on his apostolic trips to other countries.

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That’s the news at the top of the hour.
I’m Bryan Douglas, CIR NEWS, for Catholic Information Radio.

To listen to the feed, at 8PM, click here.
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News, of the hour, on the hour, from Catholic Information Radio.
I’m Bryan Douglas in Philadelphia, and at this hour….
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Lead:

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled Holocaust survivors cannot sue the Vatican Bank in US courts. The survivors allege that the bank received and laundered assets stolen from Jews by the Nazi-backed government regime in Croatia during the Holocaust.

They sought an accounting from the Vatican, as well as restitution and damages.
The court didn't rule on the allegations. In its decision, the court said the Vatican bank, formally known as the Institute for the Works of Religion, was a sovereign entity entitled to the protections of the foreign sovereign immunities act, and that therefore U.S. courts had no jurisdiction.

In defending the lawsuit, the bank did not challenge the allegations of the plaintiffs that they had suffered terrible losses at the hands of the regime, the challenge was simply to the jurisdiction of U.S. courts over the Vatican financial institution.

The survivors filed suit against the Vatican Bank a year after Swiss Banks agreed to pay some $1.25 billion to Nazi victims and their families who accused the banks of stealing, concealing or sending to the Nazis hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Jewish holdings.

The Vatican bank was famously implicated in a scandal over the collapse of Italy's Banco Ambrosiano in the 1980s. Roberto Calvi, the head of the Banco Ambrosiano, was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982. The circumstances remain mysterious.

I’ll be back with more after this. (insert PSAs)

Story 2:
Claiming over 10,000 followers, between 20 and 25 priests in Uganda have gone into schism and registered as the Catholic Apostolic National Church. The group, which has dispensed with the discipline of clerical celibacy, has ties to the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church, a sect started by the late excommunicated Bishop Carlos Duarte Costa.

Denouncing leaders of the new schism as “false prophets,” Ugandan Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala said that quote “they come putting on sheep’s clothes, but inwardly they are wolves who want to snatch the good values in the Church.” unquote

Story 3:
In a move that is both ethically profound and politically rare, Montana has become the third state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. A divided state supreme court ruled last Thursday that neither state law nor public policy prevented doctors from prescribing lethal drugs to terminally-ill patients who want to end their lives.

In essence, the court ruled, suicide is not a crime. The ruling – which is likely to be challenged in the legislature and perhaps in a voter referendum – follows a pattern in the Pacific Northwest. Jeff Laszloffy of the Montana Family Foundation told LifeNews that it was not as bad as it could have been, since it places the issue back in the hands of the legislature as representatives of the will of the people rather than in an unelected court that answers to no one.

Story 4:
The City Council in Springfield, Massachusetts, has created the Our Lady of Hope Historic District to prevent the demolition or exterior alteration of a recently closed parish. The Italian Renaissance-style church has 65 stained glass windows. An official of the Diocese of Springfield, citing the separation of Church and state, said the diocese is pondering an appeal.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 5:
Benedict XVI is urging those involved in violence of any kind to stop and reflect and thus embark on a path of peace.

The Pope made this exhortation today before praying the New Years Day Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter's Square. The Holy Father acknowledged that for those involved in violent groups, a change of life might seem impossible. But, he assured, God can make it happen.

Story 6:
Turkey will ask for the return of the bones of Saint Nicholas, who Father Christmas is modelled on, from their display in Italy, local media reported on Friday. Saint Nicholas, from the modern-day town of Demre on southern Turkey's Mediterranean coast, is, according to tradition, the ancestor of Father Christmas.

It is questionable that these relics would be returned to Turkey, since that regime does not recognize non-Muslim religions and regularly oppresses and tires to control Christianity by confiscating Church property and dictating who can be the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople.

(roll theme and establish) And that’s top news at the top of the hour.
I’m Bryan Douglas, CIR NEWS, for Catholic Information Radio.

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News, of the hour, on the hour, from Catholic Information Radio.
I’m Bryan Douglas in Philadelphia, and at this hour….
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Lead:
The woman who leapt at Pope Benedict XVI during midnight Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve is being held in a psychiatric facility in Rome, while Vatican officials weigh their legal options.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, said that Pope Benedict-- who was not injured when he was pulled to the floor in the bizarre incident—had already forgiven Susanna Maiolo, his assailant,. Father Lombardi emphasized that there was no evidence Maiolo intended to harm the Pontiff.

The attack placed the pope's security under intense scrutiny after it came to light that Maiolo made a prior attempt to lunge at Benedict at the Midnight Mass last year, but was restrained by the pope's body guards.

Maiolo is the second person to rush the pope after a German tourist in 2007 jumped the security barrier in St Peter's Square and reached the back of the pope's car before he was brought down by security guards.

If she is deemed psychologically unstable—as most observers expect—she will not be prosecuted, the papal spokesman disclosed. Because the incident occurred inside the Vatican, the Holy See has jurisdiction over the case.

Cardinal Roger Etgaray, who also fell and broke his leg during the melee that broke out during the procession before midnight Mass, was reported in good condition after undergoing hip-replacement surgery at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome. The French-born prelate—the former president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, is 87 years old.

I’ll be back with more after this. (insert PSAs)

Story 2:
Two additional auxiliary bishops of the Dublin archdiocese tendered their resignations on Christmas Eve, bringing to 4 the number of Irish bishops who have stepped down in the wake of a damaging report about the handling of sex-abuse reports.

Bishops Eamon Walsh and Raymond Field issued a short statement announcing their resignations. While they apologized to sex-abuse victims, they did not acknowledge any wrongdoing on their part.

A fifth bishop mentioned in the Murphy Commission report, Bishop Martin Drennan of Galway, has firmly resisted pressure to resign, saying that he did nothing wrong in his handling of sex-abuse cases.

Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick and James Moriarty of Kildare had resigned earlier this month. They, like Bishop Drennan, served as auxiliary bishops in Dublin during the years covered by the Murphy Commission investigation.

Story 3:
At a huge outdoor Mass in Madrid for the Feast of the Holy Family, Antonio Cardinal Rouco-Varela offered a strong defense of Catholic teaching on marriage and family life against contemporary threats, including abortion, same-sex marriage, and divorce. The Madrid archbishop, who concelebrated the Mass with 300 other bishops, warned that Europe has no demographic future apart from Christian families open to life.

Story 4:
In an apparent split with Roman Catholic bishops over the abortion-financing provisions of the proposed health care overhaul, the nation’s Catholic hospitals have signaled that they back the Senate’s compromise on the issue and stirring controversy within the church,” The New York Times is reporting.

The Catholic Health Association has not endorsed the health legislation that was passed by the Senate nor did it endorse the Casey compromise language that was opposed by the bishops’ conference. Instead, before seeing the final language of the bill, the Catholic Health Association said it was “encouraged by recent deliberations.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 5:
Irish authorities plan to investigate the origin of a fire that destroyed the famous Catholic cathedral in Longford on Christmas Day, to determine whether the fire was deliberately set. St. Mel's cathedral was gutted by the blaze, and investigators are still awaiting clearance to enter the building. Because the fire occurred during a time of intense public criticism of the Church, some observers fear that arson may be the cause.
Story 6:

The December 25 edition of L’Osservatore Romano paid tribute to two new books devoted to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. The L’Osservatore Romano column was written by Giuseppe Fiorentino and Gaetano Vallini, who earlier this year paid tribute on the fortieth anniversary of the film Easy Rider.

(roll theme and establish) That’s the news at the top of the hour.
I’m Bryan Douglas, CIR NEWS, for Catholic Information Radio.

Newscast script for 8PM, Tuesday, December 22, 2009. Click here to listen.

--
(Roll Theme)
News, of the hour, on the hour, from Catholic Information Radio.
I’m Bryan Douglas in Philadelphia, and at this hour….
(Theme Out)

1. Lead:
A former spokesman for the previous Archbishop of Dublin has criticised the current Archbishop of Dublin, Deermid Martin, for his handling of the fallout from the Murphy report on abuses in the archdiocese..
Eddie Shaw, currently a director with an outside consultancy and who worked at the communications office in the Archbishop’s House for a year between 2002 and 2003, said communications strategy by the archdiocese following publication of the Murphy report had been “catastrophic”.
Speaking on a Radio Ireland program yesterday, he related that he thought the way it was done was wrong by communicating with people who are your auxiliaries through prime time television interviews.
In other developments, one of Ireland’s leading child abuse campaigners has issued an open letter calling on Pope Benedict to visit Ireland and spend seven days in repentance here.
Christine Buckley, of the Aislinn Centre in Dublin said he should do so to assist Archbishop Martin in a major cleaning of the Catholic church in Ireland.
She also says, while he is visiting, the Pontiff should invite abuse survivors to tell him directly their stories in the presence of those responsible or the leaders of those organisations that were responsible for oversight. Miss Buckley, who spent time as a child in the Goldenbridge orphanage in Inchecore, is a well-known advocate against child abuse. There has been no response from the Vatican.

I’ll be back with more after this. (insert PSAs)

2. Story 2:
Mexico City lawmakers on Monday made the city the first in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, a change that will give gay couples more rights, including allowing them to adopt children.
The bill passed the capital's local assembly 39-20.
Leftist Mayor Marcelo Ebrard of the Democratic Revolution Party was widely expected to sign the measure into law.
Mexico City's leftist-led assembly has made several decisions widely unpopular in this deeply Roman Catholic country, including legalizing abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. That decision sparked a backlash, with the majority of Mexico's other 32 states enacting legislation declaring life begins at conception.

3. Story 3:
Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II in an assassination attempt in May 1981, will be released from a Turkish prison in January, his lawyer has announced.
Agca, who was convicted of the assault, was imprisoned in Italy until 2000, when—in accordance with a call for amnesty by Pope John Paul himself—he was granted a pardon for that crime, and then handed over to authorities in Turkey, to continue serving a sentence for a previous killing there. He will be eligible for release on January 18.
Agca, who has a history of making sensational public statements, generated headlines earlier this year by announcing that he wanted to become a Catholic.

4. Story 4:
Invoking the names of Hindu deities, a group of Hindu militants attacked a Christmas fair in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on December 20 and set fire to biblical representations. Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal called the attack “a matter of serious concern for Christians” and said that the state’s government rarely addresses attacks on Christians. Only one half of one percent of the people who live within Bhopal’s archdiocesan boundaries are Catholic.

This is Catholic Information News.

5. Story 5:
Bishop Edward Braxton of Belleville, Illinois, is receiving criticism for asking at least three parishes to follow the Church’s norm on kneeling during the Eucharistic Prayer. Among the priests asked to begin to follow the Church’s discipline in this matter is Msgr. James Margason, who served as diocesan vicar general when Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta was Bishop of Belleville. His request has been met with some measure of resistance.

6. Story 6:
In another story of a formerly Catholic university bowing to societal pressure, the former CEO and president of Planned Parenthood of Maryland has been adjunct instructor in the Department of Health Systems Administration at Georgetown University’s School of Nursing and Health Studies since 2005, according to her curriculum vitae. Roberta Lynn Geidner-Antoniotti has also worked as diversity summit organizer of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, as well as serving as acting project director of the Emergency Contraception Public Awareness Campaign. There was no response from the University when contacted.

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That’s the news at the top of the hour.

I’m Bryan Douglas, CIR NEWS, for Catholic Information Radio.

8pm: on the Catholic Information Radio Network. CLICK HERE

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News, of the hour, on the hour, from Catholic Information Radio.
I’m Bryan Douglas in Philadelphia, and at this hour….
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1. Lead:
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has announced its opposition to Senate health care legislation in its current form. In a 60-40 vote during the overnight hours of December 21, the Senate voted along strict party lines to limit debate on the measure so as to allow for the its passage before Christmas.

According to the USCCB, the legislation does not seem to allow purchasers to exercise freedom of choice or conscience to ‘opt out’ of abortion coverage in the proposed federally subsidized health plan.

Bishops William Murphy of Rockville Centre and John Wester of Salt Lake City observed it will require purchasers of such plans to pay a surcharge which is extracted solely to help pay for other people's abortions. The government agency that currently manages health care for federal employees will promote and help subsidize multi-state health plans that include elective abortions, contrary to longstanding law governing that agency.

Again, according to the bishops conference, while they apparently appreciate the efforts made by Senators Robert Casey of Pennsylvania and Ben Nelson of Nebraska to improve the bill, the final judgment is that the bill is still morally flawed.

Senator Nelson provided the 60th vote needed to move the plan forward after Majority Leader Harry Reed inserted language in the bill that would specifically assist Nebraska in meeting its unfunded obligations that the bill will impose on the states if the bill becomes law, mirroring the hundreds of millions of dollars the Obama administration promised to Louisiana earlier in the month to secure that state’s support.

I’ll be back with more after this. (insert PSAs)

2. Story 2:
Jewish leaders have criticized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints’ decree that declared Pope Pius XII lived a life of heroic virtue.

The Israeli government did not question the decree but called upon the Vatican to open the archives of the pontiff’s wartime years. Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor stated that the beatification process does not concern the government of the Jewish state, and it's a matter that only concerns the Catholic Church. Moves to bestow sainthood on Pius XII have been a source of tension with Jewish groups because of the view among many historians that he remained passive during the Nazi Holocaust.

The Vatican has argued that Pius XII, who was pope from 1939 to 1958, saved
many Jews who were hidden away in religious institutions, and that his silence
was born out of a wish to avoid aggravating their situation.

In Italy, at least one Jewish leader questioned whether renewed tensions could prompt a postponement of the Pope's scheduled January visit to Rome's synagogue.

3. Story 3:
In recent years, the law school of one of the nation’s leading Jesuit universities has repeatedly posted Planned Parenthood job openings. Fordham University, located in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Tarrytown NY, posted a job listing for The Public Policy Litigation and Law Department of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the world’s oldest and largest voluntary pro-abortion organization, who is looking for law student interns in its New York and Washington, D.C. offices,” according to a recent job posting.

Additionally, the school sponsors a student organization that advocates for legalized abortion. Law Students for Reproductive Justice-- one of the Fordham University School of Law’s 35 student organizations-- believes that “every person, regardless of gender, race, class, or ethnicity, has the right to choose whether or not to, use contraception, or have a child. Our projects include brownbags lunches with reproductive rights activists, an ongoing escort program in partnership with Planned Parenthood of New York City, a research partnership with local pro-choice legal organizations, and internship opportunities.”

This is Catholic Information News (pause)

4. Story 4:
Archbishop Deermid Martin of Dublin will ask the Congregation of Bishops to remove four bishops implicated in the Murphy report if they do not resign of their own accord, according to an Irish media report. Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen welcomed the resignation of Bishop Donal Murray, calling it “a welcome indication that those who are in positions of leadership are facing up to their responsibility in the light of the very clear findings of the Murphy Commission.”

Story 5:
The Catholic bishops of Australia have voted their approval for a new series of English-language liturgical translations, clearing the way for the introduction of those new texts by early 2011. The US bishops had completed their approval of the new texts at their November 2009 meeting, after a long and lively debate.

(pause)

(roll theme and establish) That’s the news at the top of the hour.
I’m Bryan Douglas, CIR NEWS, for Catholic Information Radio.