U.S.

Bishops launch letter campaign urging Trump to protect religious freedom

WASHINGTON — Saying "religious freedom in America has suffered years of unprecedented erosion," the U.S. Catholic bishops have posted an online letter for Catholics to send to President Donald Trump urging him to sign an executive order promoting religious freedom. The letter, found at www.votervoice.net/USCCB/Campaigns, says the president can "restore the federal government's respect for the religious freedom of individuals and organizations" with an executive order that establishes a "government-wide initiative to respect religious freedom." Individuals can sign the letter and hit a link to submit it to Trump. A leaked draft version of a potential religious freedom order was circulating in the media and among federal staff and advocacy groups at the end of January.

Louisiana Bishop Herzog retires; Coadjutor Bishop Talley succeeds him

WASHINGTON — Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Ronald P. Herzog of Alexandria, La. Coadjutor Bishop David P. Talley of Alexandria succeeds him. The changes were announced in Washington Feb. 2 by Archbishop Christopher Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States. Bishop Herzog, 74, had headed the 11,108-square-mile diocese in central Louisiana since 2005. Bishop Talley, 66, was named coadjutor of the diocese by Pope Francis last September. When he was appointed coadjutor, Bishop Talley was an auxiliary bishop of the Atlanta Archdiocese, where he was vicar general and director of priest personnel. He was ordained a priest of the archdiocese in 1989.

Clergy differ on repeal of Johnson Amendment

WASHINGTON — People of goodwill can disagree on matters of public policy — even if they're ordained clergy, and the public policy under debate has the potential to affect the way they conduct their ministry. The issue is the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 rider inserted by then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson into that year's version of the tax code banning all federally recognized nonprofit organizations — including religious organizations — from endorsing candidates and otherwise participating in partisan political activity at the risk of losing their tax-exempt status. The Republican Party made repeal of the amendment a plank in its 2016 convention platform, and President Donald Trump vowed Feb. 2 at the National Prayer Breakfast to "get rid of and totally destroy" the Johnson Amendment.

Spiritual, not monetary, success defines America, President Trump says

WASHINGTON — "Spiritual success" is a more accurate measure for the United States than wealth, according to likely billionaire President Donald Trump in remarks Feb. 2 at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. "America is a nation of believers," Trump said. "In towns across the land, we see what we so easily forget: The quality of our lives is not defined by our material success but by our spiritual success. I speak that as someone who has had great material success and who knows many people who have had great material success. ... Some of them are very miserable, miserable people." Compared to people who have money but no happiness, the people who have no money but happiness "are the successful people, let me tell you," Trump said at the 65th annual breakfast.

WORLD

Experts tell Australian abuse panel Church must look at clerical culture

SYDNEY — Catholic experts told an Australian government commission that the Church needed to re-examine its culture of clericalism if it wanted to help put an end to clergy sexual abuse. Several experts also told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that the Church needed the commission's help to get on the right track. Dr. Michelle Mulvihill, psychologist and former Sister of Mercy who has worked with religious orders, and three others testified Feb. 7 before the Royal Commission as it wraps up more than three years of investigation into the Australian Catholic Church's response to child sexual abuse. During the initial hearings Feb. 6, the commission reported on summary data showing that between January 1980 and February 2015, 4,444 people made allegations of child sexual abuse that related to more than 1,000 institutions. The statistics did not differentiate between allegations and proven cases.

Pope: Culture of life the only answer to throwaway logic

VATICAN CITY — A culture that protects life from conception to natural death is the only answer to the idea that some lives are expendable due to inconvenience or population control, Pope Francis said. Following in the path of St. Teresa of Kolkata, Christians are called to stand up and defend the lives of the unborn and the vulnerable, the pope said Feb. 5 in his remarks after the recitation of the Angelus prayer. "We are close to and pray together for the children who are in danger with the termination of pregnancy, as well as for people who are at the end of their lives; every life is sacred," he said.

— Catholic News Service