April 21, 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 - The personal secretary of Pope Emeritus Benedict the sixteenth has been in isolation for the past ten days after testing positive for COVID-19, according to German media. Archbishop Georg Gänswein has been in isolation since April 11, a time period that included all of the Easter Triduum and Benedict’s 95th birthday. Benedict has tested negative for COVID-19, according to Gänswein, as have all other residents of the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, the retired pope’s residence inside of Vatican City. Both Benedict and Gänswein have received three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251023/benedict-xvis-secretary-in-isolation-after-testing-positive-for-covid-19 Pope Francis has joined the head of the United Nations and the leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in a call for a four-day truce in Ukraine for the Triduum and Easter. The Eastern Orthodox churches and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church follow the Julian calendar, meaning they will celebrate Easter on April 24 this year. The Vatican announced on April 21 that Pope Francis had joined the UN chief's appeal, after the pope had called for an Easter truce in Ukraine during Palm Sunday Mass on April 10. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251024/pope-francis-joins-un-chief-s-appeal-for-ukraine-war-easter-truce A West Virginia priest is speaking publicly about his role in providing a funeral Mass and dignified burial for more than 100 aborted babies that pro-life activists say they rescued outside of a Washington, DC, abortion clinic in March. Father Bill Kuchinsky, 62, a longtime advocate for the unborn who also runs the Catholic prison ministry for the entire state of West Virginia, declined to disclose the burial location other than to say it was in a private cemetery. CNA also found that Kuchinsky’