Vatican astronomer, Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno wins Carl Sagan Medal

Michigan-bred Vatican astronomer and Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno will become the first clergyman awarded one of planetary science's most prestigious awards, when on Thursday in Arizona he receives the Carl Sagan Medal.

And then Consolmagno, for two decades the curator of the Vatican's meteorite collection, plans to head to metro Detroit where he grew up. He has a bittersweet assignment here: to retrieve and return to the Vatican three meteorites he loaned the Cranbrook Institute of Science in 2002.




Pope Francis Hails John Paul II Role in Fall of Berlin Wall

VATICAN CITY:  Pope Francis has hailed St. Pope John Paul II's role in the fall of the Berlin Wall and urged people to build bridges by opening hearts.

Francis marked the 25th anniversary Sunday of the destruction of the wall symbolizing the Cold War by appealing to all those of good will to foster a "culture of coming together" to bring down all barriers still dividing the world.

Greeting people in St. Peter's Square, he paid tribute to those who worked for the Berlin Wall's end, including those paying with their lives. John Paul II's championing of the Solidarity union in his native Poland is credited with helping bring the demise of Soviet bloc communism.



Pope Francis Hails John Paul II Role in Fall of Berlin Wall

Pope mulls removing Catholic church charges for marriage annulments | CTV News

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis on Wednesday denounced the hardships Catholics can face when seeking marriage annulments, revealing he once fired an official who tried to charge thousands of dollars for one.

Francis told participants at a Vatican course for officials dealing with annulments that as bishop of Buenos Aires, he was dismayed to learn that some faithful needed to travel hundreds of kilometres (miles) and lose days of work to reach church tribunals.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/pope-mulls-removing-catholic-church-charges-for-marriage-annulments-1.2088123#ixzz3IUQYL2qF


Raleigh seminarian’s letter to Brittany Maynard

Last week I came across the heartbreaking story of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer one year after her wedding. When doctors suggested that she might only have six months to live, she and her family moved from California to Oregon in order to obtain the prescriptions necessary for doctor-assisted euthanasia. She is devoting her last days to fundraising and lobbying for an organization dedicated to expanding the legality of assisted suicide to other States.

Brittany’s story really hit home, as I was diagnosed with a very similar incurable brain cancer in 2008 at the age of twenty-four. After years of terrible headaches and misdiagnosis, my Grade III brain cancer (Anaplastic Astrocytoma) proved to be inoperable due to its location. Most studies state that the median survival time for this type of cancer is eighteen months, even with aggressive radiation and chemotherapy. I was beginning an exciting career as a naval officer with my entire life ahead of me. I had so many hopes and dreams, and in an instant they all seemed to be crushed. As Brittany said in her online video, “being told you have that kind of timeline still feels like you’re going to die tomorrow.”

I was diagnosed during my second Navy deployment to the Northern Arabian Gulf. After many seizures, the ship’s doctor sent me to the naval hospital on the Persian Gulf island nation of Bahrain, where my brain tumor was discovered. I remember the moment I saw the computer images of the brain scans – I went to the Catholic chapel on base and fell to the floor in tears. I asked God, “why me?” The next day, I flew home to the United States to begin urgent treatment. A few months after radiation and chemotherapy, I was discharged from the Navy and began formation for the Roman Catholic priesthood, a vocation to which I have felt called since I was nineteen years old. Despite all of the hardships and delays in my training and formation over the past six years, I hope to be ordained to the transitional diaconate this Spring and to the priesthood one year later.

Read more.