Marking 400 years since arrival of Marian image in Philippines
MANILA (SE): Marian devotees gathered at Manila’s Quirino Grandstand, in Luneta Park on May 4, for the Salubong at Traslacion (Welcome and procession), the reenactment of the arrival in the Philippines of the image of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel de San Sebastian from Mexico 400 years ago, CBCP News reported.
 

New document on Roman Curia imminent
VATICAN CITY (CNS): Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals have reviewed a complete draft of the apostolic constitution that would govern the Roman Curia, Greg Burke, director of the Vatican press office, said. 
 

 
 
English and Welsh bishops concerned over gender ideology
MANCHESTER (CNS): The bishops of England and Wales have raised concerns over the rise of gender ideology, saying it is creating confusion among people about the truth of human nature.
 

Amnesty International reports decline in capital punishment
VATICAN (SE): Encouraging statistics are contained in Amnesty International’s latest report, released on April 12, according to Vatican News. The numbers show at least 993 recorded executions in 23 countries throughout 2017, down by four per cent from the previous year and down by 39 per cent from 2015.
 

Euthanasia push robs friends and family of joy says dying mother
SYDNEY (CNS): In March, as 50-year-old former nursing educator Anna Corry, lay dying from an aggressive type of breast cancer, she sent out a request to speak publicly about her opposition to euthanasia. She was diagnosed in January 2016. 
 

Taiwanese ambassador to Holy See awarded papal knighthood
Hong Kong (UCAN): The Vatican has bestowed a papal knighthood on Matthew Lee, Taiwan’s ambassador to the Holy See at a ceremony on March 15, in recognition of his diplomatic work.
 
Lee was awarded the Knight Grand Cross, which is the second class of five orders of knighthood founded by Pope Pius IX in 1847. The honour is typically awarded to ambassadors to the Holy See.
 

Irish bishop resigns over abusive priest
DUBLIN (CNS): Bishop John McAreavey of Dromore, Northern Ireland, resigned on March 1 after increased criticism over how he dealt with revelations of an abusive priest. 
 
The bishop came under fire in a programme on BBC Northern Ireland on February 28, after it emerged that he concelebrated an anniversary Mass with a priest he knew had stepped down after being sent for treatment following complaints of abuse. 
 

Meeting with Vatican abuse investigator intense 
SANTIAGO (CNS): Juan Carlos Cruz, a former Chilean seminarian who accused an incumbent bishop of abuse cover-up, met with Vatican investigator, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, a longtime expert on clergy sex abuse, and said he finally felt he had been heard. 
 
The two met for nearly four hours on February 17 at Manhattan’s Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, in the United States of America. 
 

Official miraculous healing at Lourdes
ROME (CNS): On February 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, Bishop Jacques Benoit-Gonnin of Beauvais, France, announced  the 70th officially recognised miraculous cure of a pilgrim to the Lourdes grotto where the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous 160 years ago. 
 

Apple shifts iCloud services in China to local firm
BEiIJING (SE): Apple will move the operation of its iCloud services in China to its partner company, the government-owned Guizhou-Cloud Big Data Industry (GBCD) on February 28. 
UCAN reported that the tech giant made the move to comply with new cybersecurity regulations laid out by Beijing.