birthday

U.S. bishops say violence ‘never the answer’ after shooting at White House press dinner #Catholic U.S. bishops said violence is never the answer after a shooter breached the hotel hosting the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, D.C. and injured a Secret Service agent on April 25.Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement, “We are grateful the lives of the President, those who protect him, and everyone in attendance last night were spared from serious harm. Let us all pray for our elected leaders and public officials that they may receive God’s blessings. Because human life is a precious gift, there is no room for violence of any kind in our society.”Attendees heard gunshots shortly after the White House Correspondents' Dinner began at the Washington Hilton hotel. President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and several cabinet members were evacuated by federal agents.  Trump said in a press conference at the White House following the shooting that a lone suspect was taken into police custody and one federal agent was hospitalized after being hit in his bulletproof vest.Bishop David Bonnar of Youngstown, Ohio said the issue of gun violence requires attention.Bonnar said in a statement, “The United States is built on freedom and respect for all. There is no room for violence that endangers the life of any human being. Moreover, the issue of gun violence must be addressed. Violence is never the answer. We all must look deeper into the human heart to build each other up rather than tear each other down. We pray for peace in moments of disagreement and discord. As we celebrate our 250th birthday may we live as a nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”Bonnar also offered a prayer of protection. We all must look deeper into the human heart to build each other up rather than tear each other down. Bishop David BonnarDiocese of Youngstown, Ohio Since 2025, the United States has seen a marked escalation in political violence, including assassination attempts and lethal attacks linked to ideological extremism, threats against elected officials, and armed incidents surrounding political events. High‑profile political actor Charlie Kirk, a conservative commentator, was assassinated in Utah in September 2025. In Minnesota, Rep. Melissa Hortman, the top Democratic leader of the state House of Representatives, was assassinated in her home in June 2025, and her husband was killed in the same attack. Hortman, who had served as Minnesota House speaker, was a Roman Catholic catechist.Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, posted on X on April 26, “Iʼm grateful that the President and his entourage are unhurt after this latest attack. May I raise my voice against the viciousness and tribalism that are so prevalent on the internet and that contribute mightily to the violence we see in our political culture. Can we please remember that it is possible to disagree with a politicianʼs ideas without demonizing and de-humanizing him? Jesus commanded us to love our enemies, and that includes our ideological opponents.”
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U.S. bishops say violence ‘never the answer’ after shooting at White House press dinner #Catholic U.S. bishops said violence is never the answer after a shooter breached the hotel hosting the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, D.C. and injured a Secret Service agent on April 25.Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement, “We are grateful the lives of the President, those who protect him, and everyone in attendance last night were spared from serious harm. Let us all pray for our elected leaders and public officials that they may receive God’s blessings. Because human life is a precious gift, there is no room for violence of any kind in our society.”Attendees heard gunshots shortly after the White House Correspondents' Dinner began at the Washington Hilton hotel. President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and several cabinet members were evacuated by federal agents.  Trump said in a press conference at the White House following the shooting that a lone suspect was taken into police custody and one federal agent was hospitalized after being hit in his bulletproof vest.Bishop David Bonnar of Youngstown, Ohio said the issue of gun violence requires attention.Bonnar said in a statement, “The United States is built on freedom and respect for all. There is no room for violence that endangers the life of any human being. Moreover, the issue of gun violence must be addressed. Violence is never the answer. We all must look deeper into the human heart to build each other up rather than tear each other down. We pray for peace in moments of disagreement and discord. As we celebrate our 250th birthday may we live as a nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”Bonnar also offered a prayer of protection. We all must look deeper into the human heart to build each other up rather than tear each other down. Bishop David BonnarDiocese of Youngstown, Ohio Since 2025, the United States has seen a marked escalation in political violence, including assassination attempts and lethal attacks linked to ideological extremism, threats against elected officials, and armed incidents surrounding political events. High‑profile political actor Charlie Kirk, a conservative commentator, was assassinated in Utah in September 2025. In Minnesota, Rep. Melissa Hortman, the top Democratic leader of the state House of Representatives, was assassinated in her home in June 2025, and her husband was killed in the same attack. Hortman, who had served as Minnesota House speaker, was a Roman Catholic catechist.Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, posted on X on April 26, “Iʼm grateful that the President and his entourage are unhurt after this latest attack. May I raise my voice against the viciousness and tribalism that are so prevalent on the internet and that contribute mightily to the violence we see in our political culture. Can we please remember that it is possible to disagree with a politicianʼs ideas without demonizing and de-humanizing him? Jesus commanded us to love our enemies, and that includes our ideological opponents.”

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Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, condemned violence, and Bishop David Bonnar of Youngstown, Ohio said the issue of gun violence must be addressed.

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10 powerful quotes from Mother Angelica about faith and the love of Jesus #Catholic Mother Angelica was a Poor Clare nun and the dynamic foundress of EWTN, whose bold faith and candid teaching style brought millions closer to Christ through her television ministry. Born on April 20, 1923, she would have turned 103 years old this year.In honor of her birthday, here are 10 quotes from Mother Angelica about the love of Jesus and the beauty and challenge of living a life of faith:“Faith is often most alive when everything feels dark. That is when you choose to believe that God is there, even when you cannot see him or feel him. That kind of faith pleases God the most — because it is pure trust.”“Holiness is not for wimps and the cross is not negotiable, sweetheart — it’s a requirement.”“Jesus asks me to go to him when I am overburdened. He did not promise to take away those burdens, for I must carry mine as he carried his.”“Every Christian who strives for holiness of life experiences dryness of soul. It is to most people a heartrending experience. It is a paradox, for the soul becomes confused when it realizes the harder it strives the further away Jesus seems to be.”“The heart of Jesus is compassionate and understanding. It has felt the sting of ingratitude, and when my heart suffers from that same offense, I can turn to him, and he understands my feelings.”“Jesus feels my sorrow greater than I, for his love is infinite, and he suffers in an infinite way.”“Sometimes my worst day — one filled with pain and suffering — in the eyes of God, is my best day if Iʼve born it cheerfully and Iʼve born it with love.”“Faith is what gets you started. Hope is what keeps you going. Love is what brings you to the end.”“Faith is one foot on the ground, one foot in the air, and a queasy feeling in the stomach.”“You see, God expects his people to do the ridiculous so he can do the miraculous.”
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10 powerful quotes from Mother Angelica about faith and the love of Jesus #Catholic Mother Angelica was a Poor Clare nun and the dynamic foundress of EWTN, whose bold faith and candid teaching style brought millions closer to Christ through her television ministry. Born on April 20, 1923, she would have turned 103 years old this year.In honor of her birthday, here are 10 quotes from Mother Angelica about the love of Jesus and the beauty and challenge of living a life of faith:“Faith is often most alive when everything feels dark. That is when you choose to believe that God is there, even when you cannot see him or feel him. That kind of faith pleases God the most — because it is pure trust.”“Holiness is not for wimps and the cross is not negotiable, sweetheart — it’s a requirement.”“Jesus asks me to go to him when I am overburdened. He did not promise to take away those burdens, for I must carry mine as he carried his.”“Every Christian who strives for holiness of life experiences dryness of soul. It is to most people a heartrending experience. It is a paradox, for the soul becomes confused when it realizes the harder it strives the further away Jesus seems to be.”“The heart of Jesus is compassionate and understanding. It has felt the sting of ingratitude, and when my heart suffers from that same offense, I can turn to him, and he understands my feelings.”“Jesus feels my sorrow greater than I, for his love is infinite, and he suffers in an infinite way.”“Sometimes my worst day — one filled with pain and suffering — in the eyes of God, is my best day if Iʼve born it cheerfully and Iʼve born it with love.”“Faith is what gets you started. Hope is what keeps you going. Love is what brings you to the end.”“Faith is one foot on the ground, one foot in the air, and a queasy feeling in the stomach.”“You see, God expects his people to do the ridiculous so he can do the miraculous.”

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Born on April 20, 1923, Mother Angelica would be turning 103 years old this year. There is nothing she liked better than to share about faith in Jesus Christ.

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106-year-old nun continues serving in the cloister and sharing the Gospel on YouTube #Catholic Sister Anna Maria of the Sacred Heart, an Italian nun, turned 106 on March 14 at her monastery near Milan, where she continues to serve her sick sisters and share reflections on the Gospel on YouTube.Still lucid “in thought and word,” and with 36 years of life in cloister, the nun belongs to the Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament, the Italian newspaper Il Giorno reported. Despite her advanced age, she continues to participate daily in Eucharistic adoration even during the night and assists in the monastery’s infirmary, caring for elderly or ailing nuns.Her birthday celebration took place with a Mass of Thanksgiving and a gathering with family members, experienced through the grilles of the cloister where Sister Anna Maria remains dedicated to prayer.“I do this like so many other things, out of love for Jesus who continually asks me to love my neighbor,” the religious, whose name before entering the convent was Anna Perfumo, said in a video shared by her community.“The years are many, but … with patience, God’s will shall be fulfilled. Pray for me, and I will always remember you on earth and in heaven,” she added.According to Il Giorno, the nun’s life was marked by hardships from the very beginning. At 4 months old, she contracted bronchopneumonia — a condition that was practically fatal in 1920 — and at age 4 she came down with scurvy, a disease that was incurable at that time. “The doctor told my mother: ‘I won’t be coming back tomorrow, because the child will be dead.’ Yet I was miraculously healed,” she said.Before entering the monastery, she worked for years as a governess and schoolteacher in addition to caring for elderly and infirm priests. Nevertheless, she always harbored in her heart the desire to consecrate herself to God in the contemplative life.That longing was finally realized at the age of 70, following the death of her mother. After several attempts, she was admitted to the Adorers’ monastery in Genoa, from where she would be transferred years later to Seregno, where she currently lives.In a video, Sister Anna Maria expressed her gratitude for the expressions of affection she had received and spoke about her late vocation: “It’s true; I had to wait quite a long time before fulfilling God’s will. But when it is God who desires something, it will always come to pass. That’s why one must have great confidence, great faith, great hope, and great patience.”In her message, she also shared a reflection on the passage of time and on faithfulness: “My grandfather used to tell us that it’s faithfulness that keeps us young and that it’s necessary to keep our eyes and souls open to what is beautiful, good, and true; in this way, one will experience a serene old age. Love keeps the heart young.”Finally, she extended a greeting for the Easter season: “Life is Christ — the Way, the Truth, and the Life. May the Lord grant you peace and joy… and also peace among peoples, for the sake of fraternity among nations.”The Perpetual Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament are a contemplative, cloistered order of women whose life is centered on the continuous adoration of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Their mission is to intercede for the Church and the world from the silence of the monastery, offering their lives as a constant prayer.The congregation was founded in 1807 in Rome by Blessed Maria Magdalena of the Incarnation (Caterina Sordini) with the charism of Eucharistic adoration.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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106-year-old nun continues serving in the cloister and sharing the Gospel on YouTube #Catholic Sister Anna Maria of the Sacred Heart, an Italian nun, turned 106 on March 14 at her monastery near Milan, where she continues to serve her sick sisters and share reflections on the Gospel on YouTube.Still lucid “in thought and word,” and with 36 years of life in cloister, the nun belongs to the Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament, the Italian newspaper Il Giorno reported. Despite her advanced age, she continues to participate daily in Eucharistic adoration even during the night and assists in the monastery’s infirmary, caring for elderly or ailing nuns.Her birthday celebration took place with a Mass of Thanksgiving and a gathering with family members, experienced through the grilles of the cloister where Sister Anna Maria remains dedicated to prayer.“I do this like so many other things, out of love for Jesus who continually asks me to love my neighbor,” the religious, whose name before entering the convent was Anna Perfumo, said in a video shared by her community.“The years are many, but … with patience, God’s will shall be fulfilled. Pray for me, and I will always remember you on earth and in heaven,” she added.According to Il Giorno, the nun’s life was marked by hardships from the very beginning. At 4 months old, she contracted bronchopneumonia — a condition that was practically fatal in 1920 — and at age 4 she came down with scurvy, a disease that was incurable at that time. “The doctor told my mother: ‘I won’t be coming back tomorrow, because the child will be dead.’ Yet I was miraculously healed,” she said.Before entering the monastery, she worked for years as a governess and schoolteacher in addition to caring for elderly and infirm priests. Nevertheless, she always harbored in her heart the desire to consecrate herself to God in the contemplative life.That longing was finally realized at the age of 70, following the death of her mother. After several attempts, she was admitted to the Adorers’ monastery in Genoa, from where she would be transferred years later to Seregno, where she currently lives.In a video, Sister Anna Maria expressed her gratitude for the expressions of affection she had received and spoke about her late vocation: “It’s true; I had to wait quite a long time before fulfilling God’s will. But when it is God who desires something, it will always come to pass. That’s why one must have great confidence, great faith, great hope, and great patience.”In her message, she also shared a reflection on the passage of time and on faithfulness: “My grandfather used to tell us that it’s faithfulness that keeps us young and that it’s necessary to keep our eyes and souls open to what is beautiful, good, and true; in this way, one will experience a serene old age. Love keeps the heart young.”Finally, she extended a greeting for the Easter season: “Life is Christ — the Way, the Truth, and the Life. May the Lord grant you peace and joy… and also peace among peoples, for the sake of fraternity among nations.”The Perpetual Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament are a contemplative, cloistered order of women whose life is centered on the continuous adoration of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Their mission is to intercede for the Church and the world from the silence of the monastery, offering their lives as a constant prayer.The congregation was founded in 1807 in Rome by Blessed Maria Magdalena of the Incarnation (Caterina Sordini) with the charism of Eucharistic adoration.This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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Sister Anna Maria shares about her late-in-life vocation, some wisdom on living a long life, and how her advanced age has not stopped the elderly nun from keeping active.

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Picture of the day Famous sanctuary of the temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel, Egypt. The Great Temple at Abu Simbel, which took about twenty years to build, was completed around year 24 of the reign of Ramesses the Great (which corresponds to 1265 BC). It was dedicated to the gods Amun, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah, as well as to the deified Ramesses himself. It is generally considered the grandest and most beautiful of the temples commissioned during the reign of Ramesses II, and one of the most beautiful in Egypt. In the sanctuary are rock cut sculptures of four seated figures: Ra-Horakhty, the deified king Ramesses, and the gods Amun Ra and Ptah, the main divinities in that period. It is believed that the axis of the temple was positioned by the ancient Egyptian architects in such a way that on October 22 and February 22 (allegedly the king’s birthday and coronation day, respectively), the rays of the sun would penetrate the sanctuary and illuminate the sculptures on the back wall, except for the statue of Ptah, a god connected with the realm of the dead, who always remained in the dark. People gather at Abu Simbel on these days to witness this. #ImageOfTheDay
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Picture of the day Famous sanctuary of the temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel, Egypt. The Great Temple at Abu Simbel, which took about twenty years to build, was completed around year 24 of the reign of Ramesses the Great (which corresponds to 1265 BC). It was dedicated to the gods Amun, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah, as well as to the deified Ramesses himself. It is generally considered the grandest and most beautiful of the temples commissioned during the reign of Ramesses II, and one of the most beautiful in Egypt. In the sanctuary are rock cut sculptures of four seated figures: Ra-Horakhty, the deified king Ramesses, and the gods Amun Ra and Ptah, the main divinities in that period. It is believed that the axis of the temple was positioned by the ancient Egyptian architects in such a way that on October 22 and February 22 (allegedly the king’s birthday and coronation day, respectively), the rays of the sun would penetrate the sanctuary and illuminate the sculptures on the back wall, except for the statue of Ptah, a god connected with the realm of the dead, who always remained in the dark. People gather at Abu Simbel on these days to witness this. #ImageOfTheDay

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Picture of the day
Famous sanctuary of the temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel, Egypt. The Great Temple at Abu Simbel, which took about twenty years to build, was completed around year 24 of the reign of Ramesses the Great (which corresponds to 1265 BC). It was dedicated to the gods Amun, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah, as well as to the deified Ramesses himself. It is generally considered the grandest and most beautiful of the temples commissioned during the reign of Ramesses II, and one of the most beautiful in Egypt. In the sanctuary are rock cut sculptures of four seated figures: Ra-Horakhty, the deified king Ramesses, and the gods Amun Ra and Ptah, the main divinities in that period. It is believed that the axis of the temple was positioned by the ancient Egyptian architects in such a way that on October 22 and February 22 (allegedly the king’s birthday and coronation day, respectively), the rays of the sun would penetrate the sanctuary and illuminate the sculptures on the back wall, except for the statue of Ptah, a god connected with the realm of the dead, who always remained in the dark. People gather at Abu Simbel on these days to witness this.
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Best of 2025: Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) Projected on Washington Monument – Images depicting NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket are projected onto the Washington Monument as part of an event to kick off the nation’s 250th birthday year, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Washington.
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Best of 2025: Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) Projected on Washington Monument – Images depicting NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket are projected onto the Washington Monument as part of an event to kick off the nation’s 250th birthday year, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Washington.

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Images depicting NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket are projected onto the Washington Monument as part of an event to kick off the nation’s 250th birthday year, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Washington.

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Picture of the day Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth and current Dalai Lama, is the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1959, he escaped from Tibet to India following the Tibetan uprising against Chinese occupation of Tibet, and established the Tibetan government-in-exile, which continues to function in Dharamsala, India, where he resides. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Today is his 90th birthday. #ImageOfTheDay
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Picture of the day Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth and current Dalai Lama, is the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1959, he escaped from Tibet to India following the Tibetan uprising against Chinese occupation of Tibet, and established the Tibetan government-in-exile, which continues to function in Dharamsala, India, where he resides. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Today is his 90th birthday. #ImageOfTheDay

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Picture of the day
Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth and current Dalai Lama, is the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1959, he escaped from Tibet to India following the Tibetan uprising against Chinese occupation of Tibet, and established the Tibetan government-in-exile, which continues to function in Dharamsala, India, where he resides. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Today is his 90th birthday.
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