Democrats celebrate Gavin Newsom’s victory in California recall vote – live
‘We rejected cynicism and bigotry and chose hope and progress,’ says governor as esounding win boosts party nationwideSign up to receive First Thing – our daily briefing by email 5.20pm BST Pope Francis warned bishops against allowing politics to determine who is offered communion, as Catholic leaders in the US debate whether Joe Biden should be reprimanded for supporting abortion rights.The AP reports from “aboard the papal plane,” per the outlet’s dateline: Francis was asked en route home from Slovakia about the debate in the U.S. church about whether President Joe Biden and other politicians should be denied Communion because of their stances on abortion. U.S. bishops have agreed to draft a ‘teaching document’ that many of them hope will rebuke Catholic politicians, including Biden, for receiving Communion despite their support for abortion rights.Francis declined to give a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, saying he didn’t know the U.S. case well enough. He repeated that abortion was ‘homicide,’ and that Catholic priests cannot give the Eucharist to someone who is not in communion with the church. He cited the case of a Jew, or someone who isn’t baptized or who has fallen away from the church. 4.59pm BST The US treasury department released a report today that said the country’s childcare system fails to serve families because of market failures that make it too expensive for families and force providers to keep costs low, leaving workers barely able to make ends meet. The report found that the average family with at least one child under age 5 would need to devote about 13% of their income to pay for child care. It also highlighted the burden on people who work in early childhood education and care – one in every 110 US workers and one in every 55 working women. Related: Finding childcare has always been hard for US workers. Today, it’s harder Continue reading…
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