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NY archdiocese warns priests not to grant religious vaccine exemptionsThe Archdiocese of New York has instructed priests not to grant religious exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines, saying that do so would contradict the pope.“There is no basis for a priest to issue a religious exemption to the vaccine,” stated a July 30 memo from the archdiocese’s chancellor, John P. Cahill, to all pastors, administrators, and parochial vicars in the archdiocese.“Pope Francis has made it very clear that it is morally acceptable to take any of the vaccines and said we have the moral responsibility to get vaccinated. Cardinal Dolan has said...

Bp. Schneider: Today’s public worship bans are like ‘times of systematic Christian persecution’ Editor’s note: Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana, one of the signers of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s “Appeal for the Church and the World,” responds to sharp criticism that the Appeal has generated. May 14, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — On May 8, 2020, a document titled “Appeal for the Church and the World: to Catholics and all people of good will” was published. Its initial signatories included, among others, three cardinals, nine bishops, eleven doctors, twenty-two journalists, and thirteen lawyers. It is...

[Catholic Caucus] An Empty Apostolic Square: The Wolf Came, the Sheep Scattered It was impossible for us not to think of the empty squares, churches, chapels today with the words of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on this Good Shepherd Sunday. The governmental wolves ordered churches closed, as if they were not essential. The bishops (the "shepherds" in name only) fled, and the sheep scattered and left the field. O tempora!... At that time Jesus said to the Pharisees: I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. But the hireling, and he...