The LOOP
The Thursday Loop - February 20, 2025
VATICAN: POPE’S CONDITION SEES ‘SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT’
“The Holy Father's clinical condition is stationary,” the Holy See Press Office announced Wednesday evening. “The blood tests, evaluated by the medical staff, show a slight improvement, particularly in the inflammatory indices.”
WOMAN GIVES BIRTH TO UNRELATED BABY, SUES IVF CLINIC
A Georgia woman is suing an in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic after discovering that the child she gave birth to was not biologically hers due to an embryo mixup. The devastating mistake led to a custody battle, ultimately forcing the woman to hand over the baby to his genetic parents five months after giving birth to him.
MS-13, CARTELS AND GANGS DESIGNATED AS TERRORISTS GROUPS
The State Department officially designated Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and six Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday. The move empowers the government to deploy military force against the groups.
VANCE TELLS ZELENSKYY TO STOP ‘BADMOUTHING’ TRUMP
Vice President JD Vance yesterday took Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to task for "badmouthing" President Donald Trump. Vance's comment came after Zelenskyy accused Trump of spreading Russian "disinformation."
ANOTHER JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF DOGE
Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan this week “declined to block Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing government data or firing federal employees,” reported FOX News. “The decision from Chutkan is a blow to the coalition of 14 Democratic state attorneys general who sued last week.”
CHARITY SUPPORTS CATHOLIC RADIO STATIONS IN WAR ZONES
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) in 2024 facilitated 22 Catholic radio projects in 19 war-torn countries across Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe in 2024, according to a recent report from the global Catholic charity.
RFK: AMERICA IS IN ‘SPIRITUAL CRISIS’
"Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. observed that the nation is not only experiencing 'a health crisis,' but also 'a spiritual crisis – and those things are connected,'" writes Dr. Susan Berry for CatholicVote. READ
SO MUCH NEWS
Here are the stories we couldn’t fit in today’s LOOP: • Catholic charities in Northern California is expanding and rebranding. • Myanmar is mourning a Catholic priest killed amidst unrest. • Brazil is being investigated for speech censorship.
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PRO-LIFERS, PICK UP THE PHONE
Switch to Charity Mobile the pro-life phone company today!
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: SEX IS DETERMINED AT CONCEPTION
The Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance Wednesday stating: “There are only two sexes, female and male.” The guidance added that sex is “determined genetically at conception (fertilization), and is observable before birth.”
STUDENT APPEALS ‘TWO GENDERS’ T-SHIRT CASE TO SUPREME COURT
A Massachusetts student and his parents are appealing to the Supreme Court after his middle school prohibited him from wearing a shirt with a statement affirming that there are only "two genders."
GREGORIAN CHANT: BODY & SOUL
Dr. Alfred Tomatis, an ear specialist, discovered a strange phenomenon in a monastery that stopped chanting the psalms. It turns out that singing had massive physical health implications as well as spiritual ones. Here’s what he discovered.
CATHOLIC 101
From its beginnings, IVF was never about serving women and building families, it was about arrogant men playing God. In the words of Robert Edwards, zoologist and co-inventor of IVF, “I wanted to find out exactly who was in charge, whether it was God Himself or whether it was scientists in the laboratory – it was us!” Here are seven reasons why IVF is a bad idea.
SAINT OF THE DAY
Today we celebrate the Feast Day of Sts. Francisco (1908-1919) and Jacinta Marto (1910-1920), two of the three children that Our Lady appeared to in Fatima. Though these siblings were extremely young when they died (the youngest children to be beatified who were not martyrs), they had great faith.
DAILY PSALM
“From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.” (Psalm 102:20)
DAILY READINGS
Today's Mass readings.
PRAYER
Let us remember to keep Pope Francis in our prayers this week as he continues his hospital stay.