January 20, 2023

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 - Pro-life Americans from across the country attending the March for Life — which calls itself the largest annual human rights demonstration in the world — today, January 20, in Washington, DC. This is the first March for Life held in a post-Roe v Wade America. Catholic pro-life leaders agree that this year’s demonstration is more important than ever, to provide a prayerful witness to the sanctity of life in the face of a push for abortion legalization at the federal level and in many states. Stay tuned to Catholic News Agency dot com for the latest updates today from the March for Life. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253393/live-updates-the-march-for-life-2023 Like the two years’ prior, Pope Francis and the Roman Curia will again do the Vatican’s annual Lenten retreat on an individual basis. The Vatican said Friday that Pope Francis had invited cardinals living in Rome and the heads of dicasteries to participate in the spiritual exercises “in a personal way” during the first full week of Lent, February 26 to March 3. During that week, all of Pope Francis’ appointments will be canceled, including the Wednesday general audience of March 1, the Vatican announced. The pope asked the superiors of the Roman Curia to suspend their work activities and to use the five days for prayer. This is the third year the Lenten spiritual exercises, formerly organized as a group retreat, will take place in a private manner. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253405/pope-francis-to-do-private-lenten-retreat-in-2023 The bishops of the Church of England plan to maintain a prohibition on same-sex marriage but intend to add certain prayers that would allow same-sex couples to have a ceremony to recognize stages within a same-sex relationship. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253401/church-of-englan