November 30, 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 has recommended a daily examination of conscience as an “indispensable” practice in spiritual life. An examination of conscience is a prayerful reflection on one’s thoughts, words, and deeds that helps to identify moments of sin and ask for God’s mercy. This daily examination can be “an invitation to learn from our experiences” and “not to continue to repeat the same mistakes,” the pope said. Speaking at his general audience on November 30, Pope Francis said that the devil’s temptation “starts from what is most dear to us and then, little by little, reels us in.” The pope noted that prayer during the day should not be viewed as a way to avoid a job or task that needs to be done, as in “every time I have to wash the dishes or clean the house, I have a strong urge to pray!” “Prayer is not an escape from one’s responsibilities,” he said. “On the contrary, it is an aid in realizing the good we are required to do, here and now.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252944/pope-francis-spiritual-life-tip-a-daily-examination-of-conscience-helps-to-avoid-repeating-mistakes The US Catholic bishops strongly condemned in a November 28 statement what they called a “reemergence of antisemitism in new forms.” “Outraged by the deeply hurtful proliferations of antisemitic rhetoric, both online and in person, and the violent attacks on Jewish individuals, homes, and institutions, we wish to convey our sincere support to the Jewish people,” the bishops wrote. The statement was issued on the 60th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Nostrae Aetate, which made clear the Church’s condemnation of hatred and violence against Judaism, beginning a new era of understanding and cooperation between the two faiths. The bishops went on to remind the faithful of Christianity’s shared heritage with Judaism. h