Hate crimes in United States

WASHINGTON (CWN): A total of 69 people were victims of 59 hate-crime offences motivated by anti-Catholic bias in the United States of America during 2015, a report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation says.

No word for cardinal

ROME (SE): Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, from Bangui in the Central African Republic—the first cardinal ever from that nation—reports that the country’s main language, Sango, does not even have a word for his new title, Rome Reports says.

Canon law dictionary in Korean

SEOUL (UCAN): Father Joseph Rhee Chan-woo received the 20th Catholic Academic Award at a ceremony held at Francis Hall in Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul, South Korea, on November 10 for his work in compiling a dictionary on canon law.

Cuba responds to pope’s jubilee request

HAVANA (SE): The government of Raul Castro in Cuba has announced the release of 787 prisoners on November 16 as a response to a request issued by Pope Francis for the Jubilee Year.

Earthquakes are God’s punishment

ROME (SE): Father Giovanni Cavalcoli earned himself a rap over the knuckles from the Vatican when he told La Zanzara talk-back radio on November 4 that he believes two devastating earthquakes in central Italy that claimed almost 300 lives were the result of human sins, such as civil unions between gays.

Coadjutor named for troubled Guam

AGANA (CWN): Bishop Michael Byrnes, an auxiliary from Detroit, has been named as coadjutor of Agana in Guam; where Hong Kong-born Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-fai has been standing in for Archbishop Anthony Apuron, who has been charged with multiple sex-abuse complaints.

Archives on Argentine dictatorship to be opened

VATICAN (SE): The Vatican has completed the cataloguing and digitising of the archival material of the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina, the apostolic nunciature in Buenos Aires and the Vatican Secretariat of State in regard to the Argentine Military Dictatorship Period (1976 to 1983).

Excommunicate Mugabe

HARARE (SE): Pastor Phillip Mugadza petitioned Pope Francis on October 12 to excommunicate the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, for running down the country’s economy and exposing the country’s citizens to poverty.

No saints’ names on hospitals

HAMMOND (CWN): The Franciscan Alliance hospital system in the mid-west of the United States of America has announced that it will remove references to saints from the names of its hospitals.

Abu Sayyaf abducts three Malaysians

MANILA (UCAN): Gunmen suspected to be from the Abu Sayyaf abducted three Malaysian fishermen off the coast of Semporna in Malaysia on September 10.