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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 Fatima I prayed for the whole world," Pope Benedict XVI said on May 14 as he ended a 4-day visit to Portugal and boarded his return flight for Rome.

The Pontiff began the day on Friday by traveling to Porto, in northern Portugal, where he celebrated Mass in a central plaza. In his homily the Pope urged the faithful to evangelize their society.

"We impose nothing, yet we propose ceaselessly," the Pope said. He insisted that Catholics cannot be passive, but must always seek to bring others closer to God. Recalling the words of Peter, who said to the disciples in the Upper Room after the Ascension that one of these men must become with us a witness to His resurrection, Pope Benedict called all people to missionary action, imploring them, to become witnesses with me to the Resurrection of Jesus.

After the Mass he traveled to the Porto airport, where he was joined by Portugal's President Anibal Silva for a short farewell ceremony. "May you live in increasing harmony with one another," the Pope said to the people of Portugal, adding that this was "a prerequisite for genuine cohesion and the only way to address the challenges before you."

I’ll be back with more after this.
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Story 2:
Fr. Federico Lombardi, the spokesman for the Vatican, said it was not a surprise that hundreds of thousands of people were in Fatima for Pope Benedict's Mass at Fatima yesterday. Estimates put the number of pilgrims in Fatima for Wednesday morning's Mass at around half a million between those who filled the enormous esplanade that sprawls before the Church of the Most Holy Trinity and the tens of thousands of others who joined in from the adjacent streets.

Story 3:
Two Moroccan students who attended a university in the central Italian city of Perugia were expelled from the country last month after it was discovered that they were conspiring to kill Pope Benedict. One of them allegedly said he wished to “earn a place in Paradise.” The order for expulsion reportedly included the transcript of a conversation in which one of the students, Mohammed Hlal, said that he wished “death to the head of the Vatican City State” and was "ready to assassinate him to earn a place in Paradise."

Story 4:
Numerous organizations in the Mexican state of Queretaro celebrated a ruling by the State Supreme Court upholding legal protection to the unborn from the moment of conception. The ruling ratified the constitutional reform approved by the Queretaro Legislature last September. In a statement, Rafael Mendoza of the Transforming Forum of the Society of Queretaro, which is an umbrella group of 60 different organizations, said the constitutional protection for the right to life expresses the will of the majority of the forum's members. Mendoza also noted that the reform allows for the exceptions that are established in law and that it is in keeping with the Mexican Constitution and the international agreements ratified by the country.

Story 5:
After a Catholic elementary school was recently corrected by the Boston archdiocese for canceling the admission of an 8-year-old student whose parents are a lesbian couple, Peter Sprigg, Senior Fellow at the Family Research Council, argued on Friday that Christian schools have every right to exclude from the school community those who seek to undermine their religious values. St. Paul Catholic elementary school in Hingham, Massachusetts, withdrew admission for the upcoming year to an 8-year-old whose parents are a lesbian couple.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 6:
Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg, Germany, causing the German government to drop an investigation into sex-abuse charges against Mixa. Ingolstadt prosecutor Helmut Walter said Friday that a preliminary investigation has been closed because "a crime could not be established." The Bishop offered his resignation in April after admitting that he had engaged in physical abuse-- slapping students-- at a school where he worked years ago. The bishop had denied any sex-abuse charges. The government closed its investigation of the sex-abuse claims because there was not sufficient evidence of any crime.

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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:
Pope Benedict departed from Rome this morning and arrived at the Portela International Airport in Lisbon, Portugal, commencing the 15th foreign visit of his pontificate. Speaking at the airport, the Holy Father announced that the goal of his visit is to share wisdom and remind Christians of their mission.

The Holy Father was greeted when he arrived at the airport by president of the Republic of Portugal Anibal Silva and by the Patriarch of Portugal, Cardinal Jose Policarpo, as well as other civil authorities and members of the Portuguese episcopate.

In an address following his arrival, the Pope stated that he was travelling as a pilgrim to Our Lady of Fatima, speaking also of the foundation of a republic in Portugal 100 years ago, saying that distinguishing between the Church and State opened a new space of freedom for the Church within a cultural and ecclesial context deeply marked by rapid changes. He then made a brief visit to the ancient church of “Santa Maria de Belem,” where he prayed before the Blessed Sacrament and visited the cloister of the monastery.

Later, the Holy Father visited the presidential palace to pay a courtesy visit to the president and meet with him privately. the Pope signed the visitors' book and greeted member's of the president's family. Before having lunch at the apostolic nunciature, the Holy Father spoke to staff members of the presidential palace.

I’ll be back with more after this.
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Story 2:
Tuesday morning, a priest from the Diocese of Tyler, Texas was appointed Phoenix's first auxiliary bishop by the Holy Father. The youngest of five children, the bilingual bishop-elect will bring his rich experience in forming priests and deacons to his new diocese. Fr. Eduardo A. Nevares is currently vice rector of the College of Liberal Arts at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, was born in San Antonio, Texas to a Mexican-American family in 1954.

Story 3:
The U.S. Postal Service has announced that the Postmaster General will dedicate its new stamp honoring Mother Teresa on Sept. 5 at a ceremony at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Post Office looks forward to a “very dignified and successful” ceremony, a spokesman said., adding the stamp program recognizes Mother Teresa for her work as a humanitarian. She was a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and an honorary U.S. citizen. Her work on behalf of the poor is being recognized. And this honor is being bestowed on her, and it is well deserved.

Story 4:
Over the weekend, the Church of England introduced draft legislation putting the country's Anglican communion on the fast track to allowing women's ordination. According to Reuters, the church's revision committee also proposed safeguards for more traditional parishes who have expressed opposition to ordaining women, including the right to request that a male bishop perform blessings and ordinations. However, the committee proposals did not meet the requests by these parishes for new dioceses or a special class of bishops.

Story 5:
The Holy See announced on Monday that the final draft of Pope Benedict second volume of the book "Jesus of Nazareth" has been completed and sent to the publishers. Although the English translation will not be immediately available, the Vatican said it is just a question of months. The second volume is dedicated to the Passion and Resurrection and picks up where the first volume—focused on Jesus' public ministry—left off.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 6:
Professor Paolo Di Lazzaro, who is head of a group of researchers from the National Agency for New Technologies in Italy, said this week that the latest discoveries on the Shroud of Turin are not in contradiction with the theory of the Resurrection of Christ. Di Lazzaro said that scientists have not been able to reproduce an image, similar to the one on the shroud. This failure does not contradict the religious theory of the miracle or the resurrection, he noted, as it could have been the cause of the release of energy that created the image, admitting this is an area outside their competence as scientists.

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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:
A former editor for Newsweek has slammed the New York Times for their recent attempts to link the Pope with the abuse cover up and charged that the paper created its “own version of the scandal as if they had discovered something new.”

Kenneth Woodward, the former religion editor of Newsweek, argued in a Commonweal article that the NY Times has not been “fair” in its “all-hands-on-deck drive to implicate the pope in diocesan cover-ups of abusive priests.”

Woodward began his commentary by suggesting that that lawyer Jeff Anderson, the “nation's most aggressive litigator,” who has a financial interest in prosecuting the Church and who provided documents to the NY Times on the Fr. Murphy abuse case in Milwaukee, should not have had a “co-byline” in the paper's coverage of the scandal.

Not only did the Times fail to mention that Anderson has already received more that 60 million dollars in settlements from the Church to date, said Woodward, they have also unfairly zeroed in on abuse committed by Catholics priests over other groups. Recent stories on sex abuse scandals within other organizations were given much less coverage and were buried “deep inside” the paper as opposed to the front page, Woodward noted.

Woodward clarified that he is not suggesting that the scandal is merely media-driven, as some at the Vatican have argued, but noted that the Times has created its own version of the scandal as if they had discovered something new.

I’ll be back with more after this.
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Story 2:
In a case which has disturbed religious freedom advocates, a preacher in the English town of Workington was reportedly arrested for describing homosexual conduct as sinful after a public sermon. 42-year-old Dale McAlpine, a Baptist street preacher was speaking in public in the town on April 20. He was arrested and charged him with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” contrary to Section 5 of the Public Order Act in the United Kingdom.

Story 3:
The Holy See’s Saturday statement regarding the Legionaries of Christ is extremely significant, Vatican expert Sandro Magister says and in his view, Cardinal Juan Íñiguez will likely be appointed as commissioner of the Legion. The cardinal is titular archbishop of the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Rome, which belongs to the Legionaries and is about to resign from his diocese because he is past retirement age and would be able to dedicate himself to the matter full time. A member of several Vatican congregations, he is also on the commission supervising Institute for Works of Religion.

Story 4:
The Mexican Bishops’ Committee on the Family, Youth and the Laity, called on Mexicans this week “to commit themselves before God” to protecting the “life and dignity of children, and their integrity in the family, the Church and society.” The statement, signed by Bishop Francisco Ramos, was released for Children's Day. The message recalled the value that the Gospel gives to children. “The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, was very severe with those who harm a child, no matter who they are.”

Story 5:
The Holy Father remembered the life and legacy of the recently deceased Cardinal Paul Mayer on Monday morning. During his remarks, the Pontiff noted that in dying we achieve the "most profound desire of mankind," in being reunited with God.

The funeral Mass for the 98-year-old cardinal, who died last Friday, was concelebrated by members of the College of Cardinals led by their dean, Cardinal Angelo Sodano. The Holy Father gave the homily.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 6:
When Héctor Mojica decided to respond to false and misleading press reports with a Facebook group in support of priests, he never anticipated the response. The group, at over 37000 members as this item is being broadcast, is growing by thousands of members a day. Mojica, 27, created the group one day after watching a TV report that criticized priests because of the cases of sexual abuse. He said that, reflecting on his own experience, he knew priests are not as they were presented in the media. He created the Facebook group anticipating that it would be for his friends in Mexico, but has now spread worldwide.

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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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Lead:
Following the apostolic visitors' meeting on Saturday, the Legionaries of Christ expressed gratitude and promised to embrace the provisions of the visitors' statement with faith and obedience.

The statement resulted from nearly a year of investigations by the five bishops involved in the apostolic visitation. It was released on May 1 after their findings were officially presented during two days of meetings at the Vatican.

The vistors’ statement highlights the Pope's support for the Legion and provides three observations based on the results of their investigations.

They first noted the need to redefine the charism of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, preserving its true core.

Next, they specify the need to review the exercise of authority, which must be joined to the truth, to respect the conscience, and develop itself in the light of the Gospel as authentic ecclesial service.

Lastly, they say it is necessary to preserve through appropriate formation the enthusiasm of the faith of young members, their missionary zeal and their apostolic dynamism.

In their brief Saturday statement acknowledging the arrival of the message, the Legionaries wrote that they thank the Holy Father and “embrace his provisions with faith and obedience."

I’ll be back with more after this.
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Story 2:
Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Havana led 12 wives and mothers of political prisoners in a small street protest in Cuba’s capital on May 2. The march by the “Ladies in White” took place after the cardinal announced he was able to convince the Communist government to reverse its recent ban on the organization’s protests.

Story 3:
Responding to the designation of Archbishop Jose Gomez as the next head of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the archdiocese’s paper has explained the role of the bishop in the Catholic Church. It explains that the local church, called a diocese, is a “community of faithful” with and under the authority of their bishop. This bishop in turn is in union with the Pope and other Catholic bishops throughout the world. This global union of bishops is known as the College of Bishops, and is in contrast to other Christian groups which see individual church communities as autonomous and independent, joined in a voluntary association of similar communities.

Story 4:
In an analysis in the National Review Online, Kathryn Jean Lopez argues that the Associated Press coverage of the Church's sexual abuse scandal is about more than “protecting children and bringin] justice to pedophile priests. Lopez’s piece begins by referring to an April 18 article run in the Washington Post which takes its information from a PBS interview with Cardinal Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The AP article, simplifies and caricatures the Church — teachings, governance, and people — and ignores a key element of the scandals that has to be acknowledged, she wrote.

Story 5:
The president of the group Laity for Colombia, Carlos Otalora, noted this week that those attacking Pope Benedict over cases of pedophilia are doing so because they do not support Christian sexual morality.

Citing an article that appeared on March 26 in the French weekly, “Rivarol,” Otarola recalled that those individuals and groups who accuse the Pope of covering up clerical sex abuse with minors, directly reject Christian morality on sexuality, which is the foundation for the universal condemnation of pedophilia.

This is Catholic Information News.

Story 6:
Noted pro-life thinker Dr. Hadley Arkes, the Edward N. Ney Professor in American Institutions at Amherst College, has announced that he was received into the Church on April 24. He stated when making this announcement quote “The Church has become the main enclave to preserve the sobriety of moral and natural law reasoning, when the currents of relativism have inundated and corroded other institutions, and cannot be understood apart from the one who planted the Mustard Seed from which it grew and took its shape and character” unquote.

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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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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.
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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.

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