December 2, 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’ prayer intention for the month of December is for volunteer not-for-profit organizations. The pontiff called volunteers who work with not-for-profit organizations “artisans for mercy.” He said: “Being a volunteer who helps others is a choice that makes us free; it opens us to other people’s needs — to the demands of justice, to the defense of the poor, to the care of creation. It means being artisans of mercy: with our hands, with our eyes, with our attentive ears, with our closeness…Let us pray that volunteer not-for-profit and human development organizations may find people willing to commit themselves to the common good and ceaselessly seek out new paths of international cooperation.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252961/this-is-pope-francis-prayer-intention-for-december Two Catholic priests captured by Russian troops are “being tortured without mercy,” the leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church said Thursday. Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk issued an appeal to international authorities on December 1 to help facilitate the release of Father Ivan Levytskyi and Father Bohdan Heleta, who have been held in captivity for more than two weeks. The Ukrainian archbishop asked Catholics around the world to pray for the release of the priests. In an interview published earlier this week, Pope Francis described Ukrainians as “a people who are martyred.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252969/ukrainian-archbishop-appeals-for-release-of-catholic-priests-captured-by-russian-troops The second victim in a Louisiana double homicide that also claimed the life of a local Catholic priest, Father Otis Young, has been identified. Ruth Prats, a 73-year-old former staff member who worked for Young when he was pastor at Saint Peter Catholic Church in Covington, was identified