CONGRESS AVERTS SHUTDOWN The House and Senate passed a border security spending bill that President Trump said he would sign Friday. The bill provides $1.375 billion for 55 miles of physical barriers on the southern border. READ NATIONAL EMERGENCY President Trump is expected to declare a national emergency and reallocate money from different federal agencies in order to provide $8 billion for barriers on the southern border. READ NEW ATTORNEY GENERAL The Senate confirmed William Barr as attorney general in a 54-45 vote. Barr, a practicing Catholic, previously served as attorney general during the George H.W. Bush presidency from November 1991 to January 1993. READ BIDEN 2020? Joe Biden is close to jumping into the 2020 presidential campaign. A close adviser to Joe Biden said that he is “95% there.” READ “TAKE THE WALL DOWN” Beto O’Rourke, who is considering a presidential run, told NBC News that the existing border barriers between Mexico and the United States should be removed. “I’d take the wall down,” said O’Rourke. READ TRUMP MEETS PRO-LIFE LEADER President Trump met with Melissa Ohden, who survived an abortion attempt in 1977. “Although there were demands made to leave me to die in that hospital room that day, ultimately a nurse rushed me off to the NICU [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit], because, in her words, I ‘just kept gasping for breath,’ and she couldn’t just leave me there to die.” READ HATE CRIME OR HOAX? The Chicago Police Department are investigating whether actor Jussie Smollett staged the attack that he claimed happened to him Jan. 29. Smollett claimed that his attacker yelled “MAGA country” and pouted bleach on him. READ SATANISTS LOSE The Missouri Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge from a Satanic Temple adherent who claimed that the state’s informed consent abortion law violated her religious liberty. READ FARRELL PROMOTED Pope Francis appoints Cardinal Kevin Farrell to the position of camerlengo, which oversees the preparations for a papal conclave when there’s no longer a pope. Farrell lived together with now-disgraced Archbishop Theodore McCarrick for six years. Farrell claims he knew nothing about McCarrick’s crimes. READ ANALYSIS ON VATICAN SUMMIT As abuse summit looms, Cardinal Farrell is appointed and McCarrick’s case still lingers, writes canon lawyer Ed Condon. READ SAINT OF THE DAY Saint Claude de la Colombière met Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque and eventually became her confessor. Together they advanced the devotion to the Sacred Heart at a time when God’s mercy needed emphasis. God raises the right people at the right time to keep his Church on the right path. READ DAILY READINGS “Blessed are those who sins are forgiven.” (Ps 32:1) READ VENERATION St. John Vianney’s relic reminds us true holiness is possible for all. READ ]]>