March 15, 2022

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. www.catholicnewsagency.com - Almost 1,000 Catholic convents in Poland are helping refugees from Ukraine, as hundreds of thousands of people cross the border, fleeing the country. Some religious communities have offered help to a few people, while others have offered assistance to as many as 18,000. The U.N. refugee agency reported that as of March 14, almost 1.8 million people have entered Poland from Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250669/ukraine-war-almost-1000-polish-catholic-convents-are-helping-refugees A Spanish seminary welcomed 60 refugees from Ukraine on Sunday, who arrived accompanied by dozens of volunteers who had helped them make the trip from the Polish-Ukrainian border. The seminary of the Diocese of Tarazona will host the group of refugees consisting of women, children, adolescents, and three men. The group of refugees arrived in Spain thanks to the initiative of several volunteers from Tarazona, who brought food, clothing, and medical supplies to the Polish-Ukrainian border and returned with refugees. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250665/spanish-seminary-takes-in-60-refugees-from-ukraine A German Catholic diocese has commissioned 17 women to administer baptisms, citing a shortfall in the number of priests. The Diocese of Essen, in Germany’s industrial Ruhr area, is the first diocese in the country to commission a group of women to administer the sacrament. Catholic Canon law allows for people other than bishops, priests, or deacons to be designated to perform baptisms if the ordinary ministers are, quote, absent or impeded. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250670/women-commissioned-to-confer-baptisms-in-german-catholic-diocese Saint Teresa of Calcutta’s former secretary has been named the new superior of the Missionarie