Currents News Staff
A happy update on a miraculous story – the Pope himself has baptized two formerly conjoined twins in his own chapel.
The baby girls were separated at the Vatican’s children hospital, Bambino Gesu, in early June.
They are currently still hospitalized there, but their mother “really wanted the pope to baptize them.”
Currents News Staff
Pope Francis is calling on the world to come to Lebanon’s aid in its time of crisis.
He’s also urging the country’s religious to step up in a special way.
The Holy Father is doing his part to help – sending a donation of almost 300-thousand dollars to Lebanon.
Currents News Staff
Charity organizations around the world are stepping in to help Beirut, nearly a week after the explosion.
One of them, the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, is helping those in need despite their own office being damaged by the blast.
The agency’s Regional Director, Michel Constantin, joins Currents News from his home in Beirut.
By Emily Drooby
Planes, a faceless nun, a safe house, and a ladder — these are all images crafted into a mural on the corner of Catherine Street and Metropolitan Avenue in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It was created by artist Steve Powers, also known as Espo.
It’s not just art, it’s a public face in a fight against evil being done by nuns who are part of the Talitha Kum organization that fights human trafficking around the globe.
John McCaffrey is the President of the Galileo Foundation which supports Vatican initiatives. He was first asked by Pope Francis himself to help raise support and money for Talitha Kum. However, there was a problem: keeping the identities of the nuns and the survivors they help secret.
“The nature of their work is pretty confidential and pretty sensitive, so it’s impossible to show their faces in many cases,” John explained.
Staying out of the public eye makes it hard for them to share their success stories and in turn, makes it difficult to fundraise. But they need the help because their work is expensive – it can cost between two-thousand and ten-thousand dollars to rescue a survivor.
This not only includes getting them home, but also providing shelter, recovery treatment and education to get them integrated back into society.
“How we can find a different way of speaking about the reality in the respect of the dignity and the identity of the people also to protect them,” Sister Gabriella Bottani of Talitha Kum asked.
That’s how the idea of the “Super Nuns” initiative was born.
“Ideally it is an animation project that tells the story in real time of these real-life situations that the nuns find themselves in around the world,” John told Currents News.
The initiative uses comic-book-like art to tell their stories safely. It all points people to the SUPER NUNS community on Patreon, where you can donate online at https://www.patreon.com/SuperNuns.
This website allows people to make monthly donations and in return they receive access to special pieces of art and stories.
ESPO helped launch the campaign with prints and the mural.
“It’s drops in a bucket,” ESPO said. “It’s just a little bit at a time it’s not really big changes, but it’s little changes until the bucket is full.”
ESPO is a life-long Catholic. His art made it all the way to the Vatican, and was even signed by the Holy Father back in February.
“This dedication to the Talitha Kum sisters and his ability to stop everything he was doing — really multi-task — I’m sure with his many duties, to stop and talk to us and give us a little bit of strength was super humbling and super gracious,” ESPO said of the visit and opportunity to meet the Holy Father.
Over the past two years, Talitha Kum has helped protect more than 15,000 survivors. Money raised on the Patreon site will help fund on the ground work they’re currently doing.
Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.
Some of the top stories on this newscast:
New York City’s schools get the green light, and teachers in the Diocese of Brooklyn are ready to go.
President Trump signed new pandemic relief orders; but what do they really mean for the average American?
Sadness turned to anger as protests break out in Beirut. We’ll speak with a Catholic leader who’s in the city right now.
By Jessica Easthope
Brendan Moloney is an eighth grade teacher at St. Patrick Catholic Academy in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and he can’t wait to get his students back in the classroom.
“This building was built to fit 60 students a class, two classes a grade and we have about 15 to 20 students in a class, so we’re able to safely social distance and stay six feet apart,” he explained of the school’s layout.
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the weekend of August 7 that New York’s infection rate is low enough to give schools the green light to reopen.
“Our schools are facing unprecedented challenges, they must now not only educate our students but keep them safe from this deadly virus,” said Gov. Cuomo.
But how schools reopen will be left up to each school district, and parents.
“They have real issues, and real concerns, and there has to be a dialogue, and there has to be a discussion,” the governor added. “Several school districts have sent in plans. Several school districts have updated their plans.”
St. Patrick has already made its plan public, with “some staircases that will only be ones that you walk up and not so students aren’t passing each other,” said Brendan. “Students will wear masks at all times and teachers will wear face shields.”
But it won’t be easy for every school in the Brooklyn Diocese to go back as COVID-19 poses a greater threat in some neighborhoods. Right now, schools are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.
“I think we really need to give parents hope and our teachers hope,” said Dr. Thomas Chadzutko, Superintendent of Schools for the diocese. “Let’s plan for full reopening and if we have to kick it down a notch to hybrid, I think that’s acceptable.”
According to a new poll that surveyed more than 500 teachers, 82 percent were concerned about returning to in-person learning.
Brendan says he does fear for his health.
“We’ll do our best to wear our masks and face shields but you never know what’s going to happen,” he said.
Though he’s eager to teach in front of his classroom, Brendan says Catholic schools in the Brooklyn Diocese are well equipped for online learning in case schools close again.
“We wouldn’t miss a step, just like we didn’t miss a step back in march because our kids are so used to learning digitally,” he explained.
In order to reopen in September, Catholic schools must have their plans approved first by the diocese, then by the state.
Currents News Staff
Humanitarian organization Amnesty International is demanding an independent investigation into the Beirut blast that devastated the country Aug. 4. It wants to ensure the probe is free from any domestic political bias by calling for a worldwide group of investigators to be assembled.
The explosive, ammonium nitrate, was stored unsafely in a Beirut warehouse and could be the cause for the blast, but the organization believes the world needs to know for certain. It argues that it’s the only way to ensure truth, justice and reparations for the victims.
One might wonder what exactly is ammonium nitrate? Scientifically speaking, it’s the ammonium salt of nitric acid, and it’s highly explosive. The material is used in fertilizer and to produce explosives such as bombs. It can explode by adding energy, such as heat or shock, especially when contaminants are present.
Lebanese officials knew for six years that thousands of tons of the volatile material were stored at the Beirut port but didn’t act to remove it or make it safe.
Records show that Lebanese customs officials wrote letters to the courts at least six times from 2014 – 2017 seeking guidance on how to dispose of the highly combustible material.
Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.
Some of the top stories on this newscast:
The dig for survivors continues this weekend in Beirut, and so does the search for answers.
A cathedral in Nicaragua is in ruins after it was firebombed.
Social media usually shows our best days, but for one Catholic teen, she lets it see her worst.
By Melissa Butz
Piazza del Popolo — the “People’s Square,” one of Rome’s biggest urban plazas. It’s now known for hosting concerts and political gatherings. But from the Middle Ages on, this square was the very first place Christian pilgrims saw as they entered the gates of Rome.
It was through this grand doorway that the early Christians fulfilled their dream of coming to the Eternal City. One of its most famous pilgrims was Queen Christina of Sweden, a seventeenth century royal who created a scandal when she abdicated her throne and converted to Catholicism.
To prepare for her visit, Roman expert and tour guide Livia Galante explains, the arch was completely redone by Pope Alexander VII, who baptized Queen Christina into the Catholic faith.
“This was a big victory for the papacy,” said Livia. “She was welcomed with all the possible honors and Gian Lorenzo Bernini was requested to refurbish the arch in order to welcome the queen in the most grand style.”
Upon their arrival, early pilgrims like Queen Christina stopped at the church of Santa Maria del Popolo. Built by Pope Pasqual II in 1099, and expanded by Pope Sixtus IV in the fifteenth century, it’s where believers thanked the Blessed Mother for their safe travels.
“The most venerated image of Our Lady is above the main altar,” said Livia. “It’s one of the most venerated icons of Rome, the ‘Madonna del Popolo.’ It is this image the pilgrims revered after their pilgrimage. After they arrived in the Eternal City on the footsteps of the saints and the martyrs.”
Once in the square, the obelisk now stands as the centerpiece. It was transferred from Circus Maximus in 1589.
“From there, a pope named Sixtus V moved the obelisk to decorate the square that welcomed the pilgrims,” said Livia.
This towering pillar witnessed the persecution of Christians in Circus Maximus, to only later embrace the city’s newcomers, who were exhausted from their journey to the Eternal City.
Throughout the centuries, Piazza del Popolo has seen new additions and dramatic changes, but the sole element that has remained untouched since the 15th century is its namesake, the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, the original welcoming site for Christian pilgrims.
Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.
Some of the top stories on this newscast:
The people of Beirut are demanding answers on why their city blew up.
The fierce storm that whipped the city is forcing a local church to call out for help.
The COVID crisis is hitting everyone in the wallet – especially at the grocery store.