News Briefs

BISHOPS AND FAITHFUL LAUNCH ROSARY CRUSADE ON TODAY’S EVILS

MADISON, WI – In August, bishops and Catholics in several U.S. dioceses prepared for intensifying spiritual battle with massive rosary rallies on August 15, with the crusade continuing for over a month (as part of a 54-day rosary novena) to appeal to heaven and the Blessed Mother’s much-needed help for America.

Archbishop Samuel Aquila led the crusade in the Archdiocese of Denver, telling faithful … “the coronavirus epidemic [and] civil unrest that has broken out [across] our nation … have made the need for Mary’s intercession abundantly clear.” A huge street march of thousands also launched in Madison, WI as part of “Unite Wisconsin”(spearheaded by Men of Christ), visibly endorsed by Madison’s Bishop Donald Hying leading a patriotic rosary rally and Eucharistic procession there on August 15, joined by Archbishop Jerome Listecki of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee; a crusade also kicked off in Wichita on August 1 under Bishop Carl Kemme.

CONSERVATIVE LEADERS CALL ON CONGRESS TO EXPAND FAMILY TAX CREDITS DUE TO COVID-19

WASHINGTON — A group of conservative intellectuals have called on Congress to expand the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit to ease the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for families.

“These two tax policies are proven to be the most effective programs at lifting Americans out of poverty and expanding them now would provide much-needed aid to America’s working families,” read the July letter signed by 16 scholars and leaders.

The letter called for a second EITC in the fall to be based on 2019 earnings but with a higher threshold for married workers, and an additional, fully refundable CTC of $2,000 to all families, with any income threshold set to minimize any “marriage penalty” in the credit.

RECONVERSION OF HAGIA SOPHIA AS MOSQUE IS AN ASSAULT ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: EXPERTS

ISTANBUL, Turkey — As Christians and world leaders lament Turkey’s reconversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque, some experts warn that the act could signify a religious resurgence as much as a nationalist action.

“This is as much a religious statement as it is a geopolitical statement, and I think it needs to be read as such,” said Elizabeth Prodromou, director of the Initiative on Religion, Law, and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Built in 537, Hagia Sophia was the cathedral of the Patriarch of Constantinople. In 1453, Turkish armies sacked Constantinople and the church was turned into a mosque. In 1934, the Turkish government converted it into a public museum. In July, a Turkish court ruled that the conversion to a museum was unlawful. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan then announced it would be reconverted to a mosque.

BOSNIAN PRIEST SAYS TRUTH REGARDING 1995 MASSACRE IN SREBRENICA MUST BE TOLD

OXFORD, England — A Bosnian church spokesman said commemorations of the Srebrenica massacre, Europe’s worst since World War II, are still marred by denials, impeding reconciliation 25 years after the Balkan war.

Father Drazen Kustura, spokesman for the Sarajevo archdiocese, said it was “essential the general public knows the truth about events at Srebrenica, as well as about the many other places where terrible crimes took place.” He called “the horrific crime of Srebrenica” an “act of genocide.”

More than 8,100 men and boys — mostly Muslims — were shot and thrown into pits during a 10-day killing spree in July 1995, after Bosnian Serb forces seized Srebrenica, a United Nations-declared safe zone, from Dutch peacekeepers.

SOURCES: Catholic News Agency, Catholic News Service, Angelus News, Crux