Newscast for 8, 9, and 10PM tonight.
Click on link in the top box under Catholic Information Network at the right to listen. This will open up a new window with an embedded player.

--
(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)

Lead:
The Vatican has given its approval to a new English-language translation of the Roman Missal, which will probably be introduced for parish use sometime next year.

The new translation concludes a contentious 8-year process, in which a Vatican committee guided the development of a translation that would be more faithful to the authoritative Latin original of the Roman Missal. The new texts follow the guidelines set forth in the 2001 document Liturgiam Authenticam, which led to a series of changes in English-language translations.

Pope Benedict noted that the process of preparing a new translation had been "a truly collegial enterprise," involving bishops from all of the world's English-speaking countries, with every continent included in the process.

Having obtained official approval with approval from the Congregation for Divine Worship, the new translation will be introduced in each English-speaking country after a period of preparation in which the bishops' conferences of these countries will explain the changes in liturgical language.

Cardinal George Pell of Melbourne, Australia, the chairman of the Vox Clara committee, said that the introduction of the new texts for regular parish use would probably take place in 2011, likely around the Advent season. Each episcopal conference will be responsible for determining the date of implementation in each individual country.

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

Story 2:
In a profile of Jeffrey Anderson, the New York Times reveals that the lawyer who is attempting to bring suit against the Vatican was successful in steering the Times news coverage toward his case. Referring to Anderson's involvement in the case of Father Lawrence Murphy, the Times story notes that the aggressive trial lawyer was a main source for a front-page report critical of Pope Benedict. The Times report also quoted Jeffrey Lena, an attorney representing the Vatican in American courts, who observed that Anderson had courted publicity to favor his lawsuits. Lena noted quote "It shows how you can both create a media frenzy, and then capitalize on it," unquote

Story 3:
The five bishops who conducted an apostolic visitation of the Legion of Christ will present their report on Friday, April 30. Pope Benedict will weigh that report before taking any action, according to the director of the Vatican press office. Father Federico Lombardi said that the Pope is unlikely to make any immediate decision regarding the future of the Legionaries. Rumors have circulated in Rome recently about a possible papal move to appoint a new head for the troubled order, or even to suppress the Legion. Father Lombardi suggested that such speculation is premature.

Story 4:
Supermajorities in both houses of the Oklahoma legislature have voted to override the democrat governor’s vetoes of two measures restricting abortion. One law requires a woman to undergo an ultrasound and listen to a detailed description of her unborn child before obtaining an abortion, while another would protect physicians from “wrongful birth” lawsuits. Prior to the votes to override the veto, an Oklahomans for Life legislative alert noted that the ten Democrats who voted for the pro-life bills were being subjected to “intense pro-abortion pressure” and asked Oklahomans to thank the senators for their support.

Story 5:
At the conclusion of his regular weekly public audience on April 28, Pope Benedict XVI called attention to the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, which will be celebrated on Saturday, May 1. He said that he prayed that this day will be an opportunity for deeper reflection on the meaning of work and its proper place in family life. The Pope invoked the intercession of St. Joseph on all workers.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 6:
A Chinese-Turkish exploration team reported on Sunday that they have discovered a wooden structure on the top of Mt. Ararat in Turkey which they believe to be the biblical Noah's Ark. The team reported earlier this week that after a nearly two year expedition involving difficult weather and treacherous conditions, the team discovered a broken up wood structure with seven spaces, containing wood fragments estimated at over 4,800 years old. According to the Bible, after the earth was flooded and the waters receded, Noah's ark ran aground on a mountain, which many believe to be Mt. Ararat – the highest point in the region.

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

Newscast for 8, 9, and 10PM tonight.
Click on link in the top box under Catholic Information Network at the right to listen. This will open up a new window with an embedded player.

--
(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)

Lead:
The Vatican Publishing House released today a report on the Catholic Church's global presence, showing an increase in the Catholic population in 2008. Although the number of Catholics has risen globally, the study recorded a decline in priests, seminarians and non-ordained religious within Europe.

The recently released edition of the Statistical Yearbook of the Church compiled findings from 2000-2008, and documented that the number of Catholics in the world increased from 1.05 billion in 2000 to 1.17 billion in 2009, a growth of 11.54 percent.

Specifically in Africa, the Church grew by 33 percent, in Asia by 15.61 percent, and in America by 10.93. The number of Catholics in Europe remained generally stable throughout the nine year period, increasing only by 1 percent.

The Vatican yearbook also reported that the number of bishops in the world went up from 4,541 in 2000 to 5,002 in 2008, a growth of 10.15 percent.

As reported earlier this week, Pope Benedict XVI is expected to release a letter announcing the creation of a new Vatican dicastery called the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization. The new department will be aimed at bringing the Gospel back to Western societies that have lost their Christian identity, most notably Europe and the United States.

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

Story 2:
George Weigel, who recently took Fr. Hans Kung to task for his attacks against Pope Benedict, said he would welcome a response from the dissident priest . In an April 16 open letter to the Catholic bishops of the world, published in the Irish Times and other venues, Kung criticized Pope Benedict’s engagement of Protestants, Jews and Muslims; his support for Catholic teaching on birth control and condoms; and his approach to the Second Vatican Council. Weigel responded to this in an April 21 letter of his own, published on the website of the journal First Things, saying that he was “struck by the extraordinary vitriol of the article and by its misstatements of fact, both of which required a response.”

Story 3:
Bishop Francisco Cases of the Canary Islands explained this week that the resignations of bishops involved in the sexual abuse of minors demonstrate the Church’s “zero tolerance” policy in dealing with the issue. He stressed the need to be more aware of abuse statistics, not only within the Church, but in all parts of society, saying such data is alarming and pointing out that abuse is a social problem, and lamented that the issue is being portrayed as an ecclesial one.

Story 4:
The misdeeds of a few priests who have committed “atrocities” should not overshadow the “great deeds” done by priests and religious of the Catholic Church, two leading African American ministers from St. Louis have said. Writing in the St. Louis American, Pentecostal Bishop Alphonso Scott of the Lively Stone Church of God and Bishop Jesse Battle of the House of Deliverance Church noted that Catholic Charities had raised $82 million last year to help the less fortunate in St. Louis. They reported that the Catholic Archbishop of St. Louis Robert J. Carlson has reached out to bridge racial divides through dialogue with organizations like the Ecumenical Leadership Council.

Story 5:
The bishops of Argentina issued a statement during their 99th plenary assembly this week which rejects current political pressure to equate homosexual unions with marriage, and plainly stated the bill currently under discussion should not be approved.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 6:
Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, voiced support for an new adult stem-cell research consortium but added that secular media outlets had inaccurately reported that the Vatican would contribute financially to the effort. The consortium includes researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine; the University of Salerno, and the Bambin Gesú children’s hospital in Rome. Adult stem-cell research is an ethical alternative to embryonic stem-cell research, which involves the killing of human embryos.

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

Newscast for 8, 9, and 10PM tonight.
Click on link in the top box under Catholic Information Network at the right to listen. This will open up a new window with an embedded player.

--
(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)

Lead:
The Family Research Council Action PAC announced plans to raise $500,000 in an effort to “replace” self-described pro-life congressmen and women who voted in support of health care reform. On Tuesday, the pro-life political action group announced their “20 in '10” initiative which will target districts across the U.S. with the aim of replacing the pro-life politicians in these areas who voted for the health care bill.

Connie Mackey, president of FRC Action PAC said quote “families that we represent are more energized than ever to replace these so-called 'pro-life' Democrats who voted for a health care bill that for the first time in three decades uses taxpayer funds for abortion on demand.” unquote

According to Congress.org, 11 of the 20 politicians whom committee is seeking to replace are self-professed Catholics. Criticism from the usual sources against FRC Action's list of politicians arose on Tuesday after it became apparent that two of the targeted congressmen did not vote for the health care bill.

Tim Potter, director of Electoral Relations for FRC Action, said that they are targeting them because they are in conservative districts and were swept into office because of mistakes by their opponents and the Obama electoral wave.

He continued, quote “It's time to replace this Congress, repeal the government takeover of health care and restore our Constitutional freedoms and FRC Action PAC has spent many months researching those races we see as vulnerable and that will have pro-life, pro-family candidates to fill the void.” unquote

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

Story 2:
Mehmet Ali Agca, who wounded Pope John Paul II in a 1981 assassination attempt, has requested a meeting with Pope Benedict when he travels to Fatima next month. Agca’s assassination attempt took place on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, and Pope John Paul later placed a bullet fragment in Our Lady of Fatima’s crown during an apostolic journey there. Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, indicated that such an encounter was not on the schedule.

Story 3:
A priest in Genoa has accused Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of sacrilege after he received Holy Communion during a televised funeral. The prime minister divorced his first wife in 1985, remarried outside the Church in 1990, and is divorcing his second wife amid allegations of infidelity. Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, the regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary said though that the condition of being divorced does not necessarily preclude Communion, provided the person in question has not remarried, does not cohabit, and has done penance.

Story 4:
Amid allegations that he physically abused children decades ago at a Catholic children’s home, Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg Germany has offered to resigned. Diocesan officials said that the 68-year-old prelate has asked Pope Benedict to accept his resignation to prevent further damage to the Church. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg said on April 21 that he and Archbishop Reinhard Marx of Munich asked Bishop Mixa to take a leave of absence, but he decided to offer his resignation instead.

Story 5:
In an 8-1 decision, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court upheld the nation’s anti-blasphemy law on April 19. Such laws have been used to persecute Christians alleged to have blasphemed Mohammed. Human rights and religious freedom advocates criticized the decision. A Human Rights Watch official said that the blasphemy law criminalizes the peaceful expression of certain religious beliefs, and hangs like a Sword of Damocles over the heads of religious minorities and those who practice traditional religions.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 6:
The Holy Father is encouraging sick people to offer their sufferings for vocations, in view of next Sunday's World Day of Prayer for Vocations. The Pope made this recommendation during his traditional greetings at the end of the general audience yesterday The Christian practice of offering up sufferings is one that this Pope has tried to renew. In his 2007 encyclical "Spe Salvi," he wrote: "There used to be a form of devotion -- perhaps less practiced today but quite widespread not long ago -- that included the idea of 'offering up' the minor daily hardships that continually strike at us like irritating 'jabs,' thereby giving them a meaning. Maybe we should consider whether it might be judicious to revive this practice ourselves.

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

Newscast for 8, 9, and 10PM tonight.
Click on link in the top box under Catholic Information Network at the right to listen. This will open up a new window with an embedded player.

--
(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)

Lead:
In an article published by L’Osservatore Romano, historian Alain Besançon has offered an analysis of the first five years of Benedict XVI’s pontificate. He noted that the media campaign against the Holy Father and the Church reveals a hatred for Christianity, and that the Pope is confronting head on the self-destruction of society, nature and reason.

Besancon noted that for the Pope, there is nothing more dangerous than the dictatorship of relativism that is infused in modern democratic society because any organized group can legitimize an opinion merely because it is their opinion without the need to support it with reason.

The French historian also made two observations, one about societal history and the other about the Church's understanding of the relationship between sins and crimes.

He said, the fact is, the Church sees a distinction between how it treats sins versus crimes, not forgiving civil crime, leaving that to the judgment of civil authorities, but the assessment of sin falls to her and is under her jurisdiction. He also observed that the Church holds that man is a sinner and that reality is present in all of her prayers.
However, he argued, this does not prevent the media campaign from dragging with it things that will never be accepted: marriage for priests, the ordination of married men, and other modern and unsustainable demands.

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

Story 2:
Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Havana has said that his country is facing a political crisis because of the open pressure for rapid change after years of Communist rule. Writing in Palabra Nueva, the cardinal said that a form of national consensus has developed, calling for an end to the era of rule by government bureaucracy, and the urgent calls for a change in the government's mode of operation are producing impatience and unease among the people.

Story 3:
The former vicar general of the Munich archdiocese has denied published reports that he was pressured to assume sole responsibility for giving a parish assignment to an accused pedophile priest during the tenure of then-Cardinal Ratzinger as archbishop. Responding to a report in Spiegel magazine, Msgr. Gerhard Gruber repeated that he had made the parish assignment without consulting the future Pontiff. The German cleric, who is now retired, said that he was not pressured by the Vatican or the Munich archdiocese to protect the Pope.

Story 4:
George Weigel writing in First Things magazine, has taken dissident theologian Hans Küng to task for his vituperative personal attacks on Pope Benedict XVI, calling it a mean-spirited condemnation of an old friend. Weigel notes that Küng single-handedly invented a new global personality-type-- the dissident theologian as international media star. However, he argues, the dissident's timing is poor saying quote: “Kung relentlessly pursues a fifty-year quest for a liberal Protestant Catholicism, at precisely the moment when the liberal Protestant project is collapsing from its inherent theological incoherence. “ Unquote

Story 5:
Bishop Malcolm McMahon of Nottingham England is warning Catholics that a victory by the Liberals in the May 6 general election could threaten the existence of Catholic schools. The party has pledged to make it illegal for religious schools to select students on the basis of their faith.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 6:
The body of St. Padre Pio was moved from its 42-year resting spot in the shrine of San Giovanni Rotondo to a new church inaugurated by Pope Benedict when he visited the location last year. The new Church of St. Pio of Pietrelcina offers more space for pilgrims and easier access to the disabled. Padre Pio's tomb is the third most visited Catholic site in the world, after the Vatican and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. The transfer of Padre Pio's body was authorized by the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

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

Newscast for 8, 9, and 10PM tonight.
Click on link in the top box under Catholic Information Network at the right to listen. This will open up a new window with an embedded player.

--
(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)

Lead:
It was 5 years ago today. The scene was St. Peter’s Square. Anticipation was at an all time high: there was white smoke wafting skyward from the temporary smokestack leading to the Sistine Chapel where the Cardinals of the Church were in conclave to elect the successor to John Paul the second.

Out on the balcony came Chilean Cardinal Jorge Estevez…he smiled…and we heard these words:
(insert Habemus.mp3)

But who was it?
(insert Ratzinger.mp3)

Whom we know today, 5 years into a remarkable pontificate, as Benedict the Sixteenth.
Ad multos annos, Sancte Padre.

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

Story 2:
The Virginia Catholic Conference has urged the passage of a proposed budget amendment to restrict state funding of abortions, saying it is an “unprecedented opportunity” to eliminate the vast majority of state-funded abortions. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell proposed the amendment, which will be considered by the Virginia General Assembly on Wednesday. A press release from the VCC said that Virginia has funded abortions “for reasons that go well beyond even what federal and state statutes require.”The Catholic bishops of Virginia “strongly support” the amendment, urging Catholics to ask their legislators to vote in favor of the amendment and to alert other Virginians to the need to pass it.

Story 3:
A survey taken in the Republic of Ireland shows that 70 percent of Irish people support the constitutional protection for the unborn, including the prohibition of abortion. One pro-life leader said the “hugely reassuring” results show “overwhelming public support” for unborn children and their mothers.

The survey asked respondents if they favor or oppose “constitutional protection for the unborn.” Seventy percent supported the constitutional protections while only 13 percent opposed it.

Story 4:
The Pope's clear line against sexual abuses of minors will help the Church resolve the "delicate problem” of homosexual pedophilia, said Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone in an interview upon his return from an official visit to Chile. The cardinal highlighted the major elements of the Pope's strategy for preventing further abuses within the Church and for protecting young people and highlighted the historic presence of the Church in Latin America and emphasized the importance of maintaining the centrality of the human person in economics.

Story 5:
A 47-year-old priest has become the first bishop ordained in China since 2007. Bishop Paul Qinglu, who is active in the government-approved Catholic Patriotic Association, has received a papal mandate for his ordination as Bishop of Hohhot, a city of 2.6 million in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 6:
On his 5th anniversary, Pope Benedict told a gathering of cardinals that he doesn't feel alone in the midst of the difficulties and attacks that he and the Church have received in recent weeks. According to L’Oservatore Romano, Benedict acknowledged that in "the Church there are two principles: one personal and one of communion. The Pope has a personal responsibility, which he cannot delegate; but the bishop is surrounded by his priests and must depend on them for assistance in carrying out their evangelical mission.

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