Biden Awards Pope Francis with Nation’s Highest Civilian Honor WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – President Joe Biden awarded Pope Francis with the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction, the nation’s highest civilian honor, officials with the White House said on Saturday, January 11, adding that Biden spoke with the pope to name him a recipient of the award. It marked the only time in his presidency Biden bestowed that award “with distinction.” On Wednesday, January 8, Biden canceled a trip to Italy that would have included an audience with Pope Francis. The cancellation came in the wake of the devastating wildfires raging in California. Pope Francis is the second pontiff to receive the award. President George W. Bush awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction to Pope St. John Paul II in 2004. Pope Appoints 3 U.S. Experts to Vatican Dicastery VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis has named three U.S. experts – two women and an abbot – to be members of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, a position once reserved for cardinals and bishops. The three whose appointments were announced by Vatican officials on Saturday, January 11, were: Mary Healy, a biblical scholar and professor of Scripture at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit; Donna Orsuto, a theologian and co-founder and former director of the Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas in Rome; and Benedictine Abbot Jeremy Driscoll of Mount Angel Abbey in Oregon. All three had been serving as consultors of the dicastery and become the first non-bishops to join the more than 40 cardinal- and bishop-members. People of Gaza Dying ‘Slow Death,’ Caritas Official Says GAZA CITY (OSV News) – Gaza is facing a devastating health crisis after Israeli forces destroyed the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza on December 28. Anton Asfar, head of Caritas Jerusalem, said the situation is beyond dire with basic medical supplies running out and deadly diseases spreading fast. “It’s a slow death, one way or another,” Asfar told OSV News. With hospitals in ruins and resources scarce, Gaza’s people are being forced to flee south for any chance of treatment. The international community has responded, with the United Nations and Pope Francis condemning the attacks: “No more striking schools, hospitals; no more hitting workplaces!” the pope said. The World Health Organization slammed Israel’s actions as a “systematic dismantling” of Gaza’s health infrastructure, putting 75,000 lives at risk. Mourners Celebrate President Carter as Man of Faith, Ideals WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – Mourners including all five living U.S. presidents attended the late President Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Thursday, January 9, at the Washington National Cathedral. President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald Trump, and former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, as well as living former vice presidents, members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices, and some foreign heads of state, joined the Carter family to remember the 39th president. Carter, who died on December 29 at the age of 100, served a single term in the White House from 1977-81. He was a devout Baptist, and speakers at the state funeral highlighted how faith played a large role in his life, including teaching Sunday school and working with Habitat for Humanity in his retirement. During his administration, Carter hosted Pope St. John Paul II at the White House on October 6, 1979, while the pontiff was on his first papal trip to the United States, making him the first pope to ever visit the White House. March for Life Speakers to Include DeSantis, Bishop Thomas WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, will be among the speakers at the 52nd annual March for Life, the officials with the organization reported on Thursday, January 9. Other scheduled speakers include Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey, professional surfer Bethany Hamilton, and Lila Rose, president of Live Action. Also expected to speak are Jeanne Mancini and Jennie Bradley Lichter, president and president-elect of March for Life Education and Defense Fund. The 2025 March for Life Rally is scheduled for Friday, January 24, on the Washington Monument grounds in Washington, D.C. Slain U.S. Sister Honored at Rome ‘New Martyrs’ shrine ROME (CNS) – One of her sweaters and a cross containing dirt stained with the blood of Sister Dorothy Stang, a U.S. member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, who was shot and killed in the Amazon 20 years ago, were placed on the altar of the “new martyrs of the Americas” in Rome’s Basilica of St. Bartholomew on Friday, January 10. Sister Stang was sent on mission to the Brazilian Amazon in 1966 and worked closely with the Brazilian bishops’ Pastoral Land Commission in favor of land rights for the poor and for sustainable development in the region. The work she did angered many large landowners, and she had received death threats. A rancher and three others were convicted of plotting her death and killing her in 2005. The relics were added to the shrine during an evening prayer service led by Archbishop Fabio Fabene, secretary of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. The service followed a symposium at Rome’s Gregorian University on Sister Stang’s life and ministry. Pope: Best Gift a Child Can Receive Is Faith VATICAN CITY (CNS) – When children are baptized, their parents and the Church are giving them the greatest gift ever: the gift of faith, Pope Francis said before baptizing 21 infants in the Sistine Chapel. “Let us ask the Lord that they grow in the faith, a true humanity, (and) in the joy of family,” he said in his brief homily at Mass on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord on Sunday, January 12. Like last year, Pope Francis led the baptismal prayers and poured the water over the heads of the infants. When an infant was accompanied by an older sibling, the pope would help the older child make the sign of the cross on the infant’s forehead after he and the parents performed the ritual. The pope told the parents to always keep their child’s baptismal candle in their homes as a reminder of the day. “And when there is some kind of problem or difficulty, light the candle to ask the Lord for grace for your family,” he said. A firefighter works near homes during a weather-driven windstorm in Altadena, Calif., Jan. 8, 2025, that fueled ferocious wildfires. The fires tore across the Los Angeles area with devastating force Jan. 8 after setting off a desperate escape for residents from burning homes through flames, ferocious winds and towering clouds of smoke. (OSV News photo/David Swanson, Reuters) The post News Briefs: January 19, 2025 appeared first on Today's Catholic.