Pope Francis today (December 13, 2021) offered condolences and prayers to those who lost family members in tornadoes in the U.S., the Yahoo News website reports.
The pontiff said he was praying for the people impacted by "this immense tragedy" and that he was saddened to hear about it.
He also said he was grateful "for the tireless efforts of the rescue workers and all those engaged in caring for the injured, the grieving families, and all those left homeless."
Fox News anchor Chris Wallace announced today (December 12, 2021) that he is leaving the network, according to the Newsmax website.
Later, CNN confirmed Wallace was joining their network streaming service, CNN Plus.
Wallace, the anchor of Fox News Sunday since 2003, announced his departure on the program this morning.
The second-largest school district in the U.S. is facing mounting woes over its coronavirus vaccine mandate, recently terminating hundreds of employees who refused to comply and vowing to put thousands of unvaccinated students into online classes, the Washington Post website reports today (December 11, 2021).
Board members of Los Angeles Unified School District -- which has one of the strictest vaccine mandates in the nation -- voted December 7 to terminate 496 employees who failed to get vaccinated ahead of the deadline.
"We care deeply about all our employees," interim superintendent Megan Reilly said in a statement following the board's decision. "Parting ways with individuals who choose not to be vaccinated is an extremely difficult, but necessary decision to ensure the safety of all in our school communities."
In a move that could serve as a harbinger to the overthrow of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court today (December 10, 2021) declined to halt Texas' heartbeat abortion ban, according to the Christian Headlines website.
The justices allowed the Texas heartbeat abortion ban to remain in effect, although they also allowed abortion supporters a legal path to block it.
"We are grateful that the Supreme Court practiced judicial restraint today and stopped the Biden administration's pro-abortion campaign against the strongest pro-Life Law being enforced today," said Texas Right to Life director of media and communication Kimberlyn Schwartz.
A Catholic diocese in Michigan has ruled that transgender members and those in same-sex relationships cannot be baptized or receive communion unless they have repented.
It directs the Church's priests on how to develop a pastoral relationship with these people.
The Marquette Diocese says priests should lead them step-by-step "closer to Jesus Christ in a manner that is consistent with the Church's teaching."
A marble statue of Our Lady of Fatima near the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. was vandalized, withMary's hands and nose cut off, her face scratched, and the cross on her crown broken off, the Crux website reports today (December 9, 2021).
A spokesman at the national shrine said that around 10:45 p.m. on December 5, the perpetrator got to the statue by climbing a locked fence that surrounds a rosary walk and garden that includes the statue.
Video footage showed a masked person doing the damage, which was discovered the next morning. Police are investigating the vandalism.
President Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin in a video call yesterday not to mount a new invasion of Ukraine and laid out the economic and security costs Russia would face if the Kremlin chooses to go down that path, the Washington Post reports today (December 8, 2021).
Biden also offered a diplomatic route to end the war scare that has arisen since the Kremlin massed troops and materiel near the border with Ukraine, raising fears of an offensive far larger and more deadly than its invasion eight years ago.
During yesterday's two-hour call, Putin told Biden that NATO is "building up its military potential at our borders" and asked for "reliable, legally fixed guarantees excluding the expansion of NATO in the eastern direction and the deployment of offensive strike weapons systems in the states adjacent to Russia," the Kremlin said in a statement.
