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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 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.
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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.

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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.

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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 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.
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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.

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And that’s top news 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:
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.
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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.

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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.
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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:
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:
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But who was it?
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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.
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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.

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And that’s top news 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:
During a meeting with sexual abuse victims while on his apostolic visit to Malta this weekend, Pope Benedict expressed his sorrow and underscored the Church's commitment to justice for victims and prayed for their healing.

The victims, for their part, expressed their feelings of "peace" after the encounter.
Pope Benedict met with eight victims in Malta's Apostolic Nunciature in Rabat after Mass in the Granaries Square Sunday morning. A statement from the Vatican reported that the Holy Father was "deeply moved" upon hearing the victims' stories. Expressing his "shame and sorrow" for the suffering caused to them and their families, he prayed with them, asking that they would be experience healing and reconciliation and be able to look to the future with renewed hope.

The Holy Father also provided his assurance of the Church's commitment, now and into the future to do everything possible to investigate allegations of sexual abuse, bring justice to perpetrators and implement effective measures for the protection of young people.

Following the meeting, the Times of Malta reported that the victims were pleased with the meeting. Each of the victims met with the Pope individually and then they prayed as a group in the encounter which lasted a total of 20 minutes.

I’ll be back with more after this.
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Story 2:
Hartford Archbishop Henry Mansell made an impassioned plea to employees of the Archdiocese of Hartford to petition legislators to reject a bill that he said would harm the Catholic Church in Connecticut.

The Archbishop spoke at the Chancery in Hartford and at the Archdiocesan Center at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield against H.B. 5473, that would eliminate the statute of limitations for sexual abuse of a minor. The bill unfairly targets the Catholic Church, he said.

Story 3:
A German court has fined Bishop Richard Williamson of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) 10,000 Euros, almost $14,000, for denying the Holocaust. The 70-year-old bishop had denied the magnitude of the Holocaust. It is a hate crime in Germany to deny the Holocaust, Reuters reports. A court spokesman said the judge reduced the penalty slightly because the bishop’s lawyer argued he had been unaware that his comments would spread outside of Sweden on the internet, leaving him open to prosecution in Germany.

Story 4:
Servant of God Terence Cardinal Cooke's cause for sainthood has advanced with the delivery of the relevant documents to the Holy See. Investigations into the life of the much loved former Archbishop of New York have begun the "Roman phase" of his path to canonization. Following Pope Benedict’s general audience in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday, Archbishop Timothy Dolan delivered documents that could help his predecessor be declared a saint. The next step in the process is the review of the documents by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. If Cardinal Cooke is declared to have displayed "heroic virtue" in his life, by Papal decree he will be designated as venerable.

Story 5:
Benedict XVI sent a telegram of condolence to the superior general of the Society of Jesus, on the occasion of the death of Cardinal Tomas Spidlik, who died in Rome on Friday at the age of 90. The Czech cardinal, a Jesuit, was a specialist in Eastern theology and spirituality and founded the Aletti Center, which is attached to the Pontifical Oriental Institute.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 6:
A survey of US seminarians who will be ordained this year has found that 31% were born outside the United States, with most coming from Mexico, Colombia, the Philippines, Poland and Vietnam. Among the other findings of the survey are the average age is 37, less than 50 percent attended Catholic schools, 92 percent held full time jobs previously, and more than 50 percent were discouraged from pursuing ordination by parents or family members. More than two thirds prayed the Rosary regularly. Our Lady must be pleased by this last statistic.

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