In a statement, the pastor of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan said the church was not aware of Ms. Gentili’s background when it agreed to host the Thursday service.
What to do when Ash Wednesday, a solemn reminder of human mortality, falls on the same day we gorge on chocolate and romance? Pass out candy hearts that say “Dust 2 Dust.”
The pope said that an unborn child must not be “turned into an object of trafficking,” expanding his condemnation of a practice already illegal in Italy and some other European countries.
It is out of step with the continent’s values, many bishops say, and threatens to derail expansion in the church’s fastest growing region in the world.