Weekly News Roundup: Fatima Anniversary, Communion on the Tongue Under Siege, Update on Viganò "Appeal"

In this episode, CFN’s editors discuss the following news items:

COVID-19 Dampens Fatima Anniversary
- This year’s procession and Mass at the Shrine of Fatima was quite desolate due to COVID-related restrictions.
- Professor Roberto de Mattei wrote a reflection on the closure of the Shrine, which is available in English from Rorate Caeli.
- Next week, Professor de Mattei will join a host of other familiar speakers for an online version of the annual Rome Life Forum, the theme of which is “Coronavirus in the Light of Fatima” (May 20-22, 2020).
Communion on the Tongue Under Siege as Public Masses Return
- Bishop Richard Stika of Knoxville, Tennessee has mandated Communion in the hand throughout his diocese (in violation of universal Church law) and has warned that anyone who “makes a scene” about wanting to receive on the tongue will be removed and banned from Mass.
- Roughly a week before the Bishop Stika story appeared, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski anticipated the development with a comprehensive rebuttal to those who want to impose Communion in the hand under the pretext of COVID-19.
- The 1916 apparitions of the Angel of Peace at Fatima emphasize the need for Eucharistic reparation.
High-Profile Signatories Defend “Appeal” Initiative
- Last week, CFN’s editors reported on the “Appeal for the Church and the World” launched on May 7 by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò and a core group of ecclesiastical and lay signatories, including Cardinals Joseph Zen and Gerhard Muller as well as Bishops Athanasius Schneider and Joseph Strickland (sadly, Cardinal Robert Sarah changed his mind shortly after the Appeal was made public and asked that his signature be removed).
- This week, some of the more high-profile signers have been in the media defending the Appeal against various criticisms.
David vs. “Goliath”: Daleiden Sues Planned Parenthood, Kamala Harris
- In 2015, citizen journalist and pro-life activist David Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), began releasing undercover video evidence of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) leaders admitting to the practice of selling the body parts of aborted babies, which is illegal.
- Since releasing his videos, Daleiden has been ruthlessly persecuted by PPFA, along with the organization’s powerful friends (including Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California), via civil and criminal lawsuits.
- Daleiden and CMP are now turning the tables by suing PPFA, Harris (former Attorney General of California), and current California AG Xavier Becerra “for conspiracy to violate First and Fourteenth Amendment civil rights,” according to a May 13 press release (see here for more details).