July 20, 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 - Following the kidnapping of two Catholic priests in central Nigeria last week, the local diocese announced July 19 that one of the two priests had escaped, while the other was “brutally” killed. Father John Mark Cheitnum and Father Denatus Cleopas were abducted at around 5:45 pm on July 15 at the rectory of Christ the King Catholic Church, in the town of Lere in Nigeria’s northern Kaduna State. Cleopas escaped with his life, but Cheitnum was “brutally killed” by his abductors on the day of his kidnapping, a letter from the diocese of Kafanchan says. His burial is scheduled for July 21 at the Kafanchan’s Cathedral of Saint Peter. The diocese did not say who the kidnappers were thought to be, or whether any ransom was demanded for the two priests. At least seven Catholic priests were kidnapped in Nigeria in the month of July, according to data compiled by Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic nonprofit organization. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251827/kidnapped-priest-killed-in-nigeria-another-escapes A 76 year-old English grandmother who was fined for praying near to an abortion clinic has successfully overturned her financial penalty. Rosa Lalor, from Liverpool, was issued the fine during the country’s lockdown in February 2021, after a policeman questioned why she was out doors and she replied that she was “walking and praying”. The officer involved said that this was not “a reasonable excuse” and that she was in fact protesting and so she was then arrested, detained and fined. As a result of a legal challenge, Merseyside Police have now conceded that Lalor should not have been detained due to the fact she was firmly within her rights to silently pray while out walking and that her actions were reasonable and acceptable under Covid-19 regulations. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/ne