U.S.

Toxic contamination of water sources poses long-term hazards

WASHINGTON — On March 14, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed enforceable limits on “forever chemicals” known as PFAS (Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances). PFAS are linked to cancer, suppressed immune responses and other health concerns. The new EPA rule requires public water system monitoring to strictly limit six PFAS chemicals, instead of the previously unenforceable guidance of just two. The EPA’s action signals heightened concerns about drinking water quality and safety. A Feb. 16 TIME Magazine article informed readers that “the 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, released by the American Society of Civil Engineering, gave a dismal D+ grade to the country’s more than 16,000 wastewater treatment plants.” Advocates and agencies in Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Flint, Michigan, said their cities continue to experience clean water issues due to pollution respectively from chemicals, nuclear waste or lead. (OSV News)

McCarrick faces new sexual assault charge in Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. — Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick faces a new charge of sexual assault in Wisconsin, in addition to those he is currently battling in a Massachusetts court. On April 16, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and Walworth County District Attorney Zeke Wiedenfeld announced McCarrick, 92, has been charged with one count of fourth-degree sexual assault for an incident that occurred in April 1977. According to the complaint, which emerged from a report made to Wisconsin Department of Justice’s (WDOJ) Clergy and Faith Leader Abuse initiative, McCarrick allegedly abused the victim while staying as a guest at a Geneva Lake, Wisconsin, residence and “engaged in repeated sexual abuse of the victim over time.” McCarrick’s attorney Barry Coburn — who along with attorney Daniel Marx filed a Feb. 27 motion to have the Massachusetts charges dismissed due to his client’s alleged dementia — said he had no comment on the latest charges. McCarrick was laicized by Pope Francis. (OSV News)

WORLD

Insinuations against St. John Paul called ‘offensive and unfounded’

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis called insinuations that St. John Paul II played a role in the 1983 disappearance of Vatican schoolgirl Emanuela Orlandi “offensive and unfounded.” After reciting the “Regina Coeli” prayer April 16, the pope said, “Certain I am interpreting the feelings of the faithful around the world, I express a thought of gratitude to the memory of St. John Paul II, who in these days has been the object of offensive and unfounded insinuations.” Emanuela’s brother, Pietro Orlandi, in a television interview April 11 alleged that St. John Paul was involved in his sister’s mysterious disappearance. Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican usher, disappeared in Rome June 22, 1983, when she was 15. In the television interview, Pietro Orlandi played an audio recording of someone he said was close to a mafia group allegedly linked to his sister’s disappearance. The speaker said that St. John Paul was involved in bringing young girls to the Vatican to be sexually exploited. (CNS)

Pope Francis confirms trip to Mongolia in September

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis confirmed he will travel to Mongolia in September, becoming the first pope to visit the Asian nation, which is home to a cardinal and some 1,300 Catholics. In an audience April 14 with executives and staff of ITA Airways, the airline that has taken the pope on his international trips since 2021, he said that he will visit Mongolia, a country sandwiched between Russia and China, after traveling to Hungary in late April and Marseille, France, in September. During an airborne news conference on his return flight from South Sudan in February, the pope told journalists there was a “possibility that from Marseille I will fly to Mongolia.” To the airline workers, Pope Francis said that “God willing” he will leave for his 41st apostolic trip, traveling to Hungary April 28-30 “and then there will be Marseille and Mongolia, and all the others that are on the waiting list.” In August 2022, Pope Francis named Italian Bishop Giorgio Marengo, apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to be the first cardinal based in Mongolia. The cardinal, 48, is the youngest member of the College of Cardinals. (CNS)

Papal academy launches study center to evaluate Marian apparitions

ROME — The Pontifical International Marian Academy has created a commission to study and monitor cases of alleged Marian apparitions and other mystical phenomena. The new “observatory” or monitoring body was officially inaugurated at the academy in Rome April 15 and will study cases that have not yet received an official Church pronouncement regarding their authenticity. Its purpose is “to provide concrete support to the study, authentication and correct disclosure of such events, always in harmony with Church teaching, relevant authorities and applicable norms of the Holy See,” Franciscan Father Stefano Cecchin, president of the Marian academy, said April 13. It will specialize in cases such as alleged Marian apparitions, “weeping” statues of Mary, private revelations and stigmata. “It is important to provide clarity because often presumed messages generate confusion, spread anxiety-inducing apocalyptic scenarios or even accusations against the pope and the Church,” he said in a written press release. (CNS)