April 26, 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 - Pope Francis urged Sri Lankan authorities on Monday to clarify who was responsible for the bombings that claimed more than 200 lives on Easter Sunday, 2019. The pope made the appeal in an April 25 address to Italy’s Sri Lankan community in St. Peter’s Basilica marking the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Eight suicide bombers targeted two Catholic churches, one evangelical church, three luxury hotels, and other locations on April 19, 2019, killing an estimated 269 people and injuring more than 500. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, suggested last month that there was evidence that Sri Lankan officials ignored warnings of the attack. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251054/pope-francis-urges-sri-lanka-s-authorities-to-shed-light-on-2019-easter-bombings Pope Francis canceled his engagements on Tuesday due to ongoing knee pain. The 85 year old pope has been suffering from pain in his right knee, causing him to take smaller roles in some liturgies and to remain seated more often. His agenda was cleared on April 22 for medical checkups, and he preached at, but did not preside over, Mass for the Octave Day of Easter on April 24. The pope’s movements have been visibly more limited since the start of the year. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251063/pope-francis-cancels-day-s-activities-due-to-knee-pain-says-vatican Pope Francis on Tuesday named Archbishop Laurent Ulrich as the new Catholic archbishop of Paris. Ulrich, the archbishop of Lille, northern France, succeeds Archbishop Michel Aupetit, who resigned in December. Among the challenges facing the 70-year-old archbishop will be to heal the divisions exposed in the Paris archdiocese during Aupetit’s tenure from 2017 to 2021. He will also oversee the restoration of the interior of Notre-Dame Cathedral follow