September 18, 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 - A Catholic priest reputed for rescuing homeless and impoverished children on the streets of Omaha, Nebraska, is expected to soon be declared Venerable by the Vatican, placing him on the path to canonization. Father Edward J Flanagan, who died in 1948, was an Irish-born priest whose saintly life has been narrated in a recent documentary, “Heart of a Servant — the Father Flanagan Story.” In a follow-up interview after the film’s premiere on July 26 in Sligo, Ireland, Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin, Ireland, told CNA that there is a good reason to hope that Flanagan will soon be declared Venerable by the Vatican. Reflecting on the life of the heroic Catholic priest, Doran told CNA that Flanagan “rescued children from homelessness and poverty in Omaha and provided a place for them that they could call home.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255370/irish-born-founder-of-boys-town-father-flanagan-may-soon-be-declared-venerable Three pro-life activists who took part in an October 2022 “rescue” in a Washington, DC, abortion facility were each found guilty of felonies that could land them up to 11 years in prison and fines as much as $350,000. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255394/three-more-pro-lifers-guilty-on-face-act-charges-face-up-to-11-years-in-prison A Catholic priest in China was convicted of “fraud” and “impersonating religious personnel” on September 13. Father Joseph Yang Xiaoming of the Wenzhou Diocese in Zhejiang, China — south of Shanghai — was found to be in violation of the law after he refused to register with the state-sanctioned Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255391/chinese-priest-convicted-of-fraud-for-refusal-to-recognize-state-sanctioned-church A Christian legal group has filed a petition with the Inter-American Commi