Catholic News
- Ousted Vatican auditor appeals for justice (CWN)
News analysis by Phil Lawler - Pope says God does not 'keep us at a distance,' warns against labeling others (Vatican Press Office)
God does not “keep us at a distance” in the face of “bodily and spiritual sufferings, of the wounds our souls bear, of the situations that crush us, and even in the face of sin,” Pope Francis said on June 30. Reflecting on the Gospel reading of the day (Mark 5:21-43) during his Angelus address, the Pope asked pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, “Do we believe that God is like this? Do we let ourselves be touched by the Lord, by His Word, by His love? Do we relate to our brothers and sisters by offering them a hand to lift them up, or do we keep our distance and label people based on our tastes and preferences?” “Brothers and sisters, let us look to the heart of God, so that the Church and society may neither exclude nor treat anyone as ‘impure,’ so that each person, with their own particular past, is welcomed and loved without labels, prejudices, or adjectives,” the Pope continued. “Let us pray through the Holy Virgin,” he concluded. “May she who is the Mother of tenderness intercede for us and for the whole world.” - Vatican demands changes to new Church body in Germany (Crux)
Representative of the German Bishops’ Conference met with the Pope’s Secretary of State and the heads of six dicasteries of the Roman Curia to discuss the bishops’ Synodal Council—a proposed body composed of bishops and laity that would govern the Church in Germany. The Vatican’s representatives at the meeting asked for a change in the name of the proposed body and made clear that it should be “neither above nor at the same level as the bishops’ conference.” The wording of the joint statement “suggested that the initiative in the five-year battle over the synodal way has shifted — perhaps decisively — in Rome’s favor,” according to a Pillar analysis. - Pope Francis recalls contemporary martyrs, urges prayers to the Sacred Heart for peace (Vatican Press Office)
At the conclusion of his June 30 Angelus address, Pope Francis recalled the first martyrs of the Holy Roman Church and said that “we too live in a time of martyrdom, one that is even more so than in the early centuries.” “Many of our brothers and sisters in various parts of the world suffer discrimination and persecution because of their faith; they thus bring fecundity to the Church,” the Pope continued. “Others face a ‘white-glove’ martyrdom. Let us support them and be inspired by their testimony of love for Christ.” At conclusion of the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart, the Pontiff also called for prayers for peace. “Let us implore the Sacred Heart of Jesus to touch the hearts of those who desire war, that they may be converted to plans of dialogue and peace,” he said. “Brothers and sisters, let us not forget martyred Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, and many other places where there is so much suffering due to war!” - Vatican 'foreign minister': Listen to Philippine bishops on divorce (CBCP News)
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, has begun a five-day visit to the Philippines. Asked at a press conference about legislation that would permit divorce—legislation that a number of bishops have opposed—he said that “the teaching of the Catholic Church with regard to marriage is very clear and very well known.” “At the pastoral level, the question is within the competence of the bishops’ conference of the Philippines and the individual bishops,” he continued. “We, as the Holy See, would obviously encourage Filipino Catholics, particularly their political leaders, to listen to their pastors and to try and offer whatever is the best approach to this. But it is essentially a matter for the bishops.” The nation of 116 million is 91% Christian (69% Catholic) and 6% Muslim. The Philippines ranks third in the world, after Brazil and Mexico, in Catholic population. - Ecumenical Patriarch lauds papal emphasis on synodality, advocacy for peace (Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity)
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who holds a primacy of honor among the Orthodox churches, praised Pope Francis for his efforts to promote synodality in the Catholic Church and peace and dialogue in the world. “We have rejoiced at Your Holiness’ efforts to strengthen and deepen the theological and practical understanding of synodality in the life of the Church,” the Ecumenical Patriarch wrote in a message to the Pope for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. “We pray fervently that the second and concluding Synod on Synodality, to be held later this year in Rome, will yield abundant fruit, and help to draw us ever closer to one another.” “We stand with Your Holiness in Your desire for ‘an entirely synodal Church,’” added the Ecumenical Patriarch, who also praised the Pope for his “witness as an instrument of dialogue, peace, and reconciliation throughout the world,” especially in Ukraine and the Middle East. “We pray that Our Lord grant You perfect health and strength, inspiring Your every step in the exercise of Your ministry, and we look forward with eagerness and spiritual joy to our joint commemoration in 2025 of the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council held at Nicaea,” the Ecumenical Patriarch concluded. - Southern Lebanon is 'in a state of war,' archbishop warns (Aid to the Church in Need)
Southern Lebanon is “in a state of war,” overshadowed by the conflict in Gaza, Maronite Archbishop Charbel Abdallah told Aid to the Church in Need. The Associated Press reported that the “low-level conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border.” Bombing, the prelate said, has destroyed fields and fruit trees in ten parishes, depriving farmers of their livelihood. The villages of Aalma ech Chaab and Qaouzah, he added, are “nearly empty, because they lie entirely in the area of the air strikes; a large number of houses there have been completely destroyed.” Despite the danger of bombing, Archbishop Abdallah has visited at least one affected parish weekly. “We try to keep the spiritual life of the parishes going by celebrating all the usual festivals: the festivals of the liturgical year, the festivals of patron saints, and First Communion,” he said. - Orthodox Church of Bulgaria elects new Patriarch (Reuters)
The ecclesial electoral council of the Orthodox Church of Bulgaria (CNEWA profile) has elected Metropolitan Bishop Daniil of Vidin as the church’s new Patriarch. He succeeds Patriarch Neophyte, who died in March. After the June 30 enthronement ceremony, Daniil, 52, said that “in the modern world in which we live, we witness how the rebellion of many people against God leads to the legalization and imposition of sin as a norm in human society.” He earlier sided with the Russian Orthodox Church in its opposition to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople’s 2019 decision to grant recognition to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The ecclesial electoral council, composed of 140 clergy and lay delegates, chose Daniil from three candidates proposed by the church’s 14 metropolitan bishops. When no candidate received two-thirds of the votes in the first round, a runoff vote was held in the second round, in which Daniil defeated Metropolitan Gregory of Vratsa, the church’s temporary head, in a 69-66 vote. The Vatican delegation at the enthronement ceremony included the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, the apostolic nuncio, and an official of the Secretariat of State. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who holds a primacy of honor among the Orthodox churches, was also present. - USCCB committee chairman laments Supreme Court decision on criminalization of homeless (USCCB)
The chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development said that “criminalizing homeless is not the response to caring for those in need” after the Supreme Court upheld an Oregon city law that banned outdoor sleeping in public places (AP coverage). Archbishop Borys Gudziak, the Ukrainian Catholic archbishop of Philadelphia and chairman of the committee, said that the 6-3 decision failed to “affirm the inherent dignity of a person, which is properly recognized by the Constitution.” “Instead of punishing the most vulnerable among us, government should help provide shelter and economic and social programs that uphold and enhance the dignity of homeless persons,” he added. In an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops had argued that “homeless people should not be punished merely because they lack shelter.” The Los Angeles Catholic Worker also filed a brief in the case. - Nebraska priest to represent Holy See in Vienna (Vatican Press Office)
Pope Francis has named Msgr. Richard Gyhra, a priest of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, as the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to United Nations Office and Specialized Agencies in Vienna. Msgr. Gyhra will represent the Holy See at the UN Industrial Development Organization, International Atomic Energy Agency, Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization, and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Ordained to the priesthood in 1999, Msgr. Gyhra was earning a doctorate in theology in Rome when—to his surprise—he was asked to enter the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He was serving as counselor in the nunciature in Tanzania at the time of his appointment to Vienna. Msgr. Gyhra succeeds Archbishop Janusz Urbańczyk, who was appointed apostolic nuncio to Zimbabwe in January. - 63-year-old German missionary bishop resigns (ACI Prensa (Spanish))
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Reinhold Nann, 63, who has led the Territorial Prelature of Caravelí, Peru, since 2017. In a statement on his blog, Bishop Nann said he was suffering from stress and high blood pressure brought on by his multiple roles, including president of Caritas Peru and member of the Episcopal Commission for the Protection of Minors, as well as declining physical and mental health “since the time of Covid.” Despite his membership in the Episcopal Commission for the Protection of Minors, Bishop Nann accepted a priest accused of sexual abuse elsewhere for ministry in his prelature, according to a 2020 report. The priest, according to the prelature, had been cleared by a Vatican investigation, but was still under civil investigation. In 2020, Bishop Nann also offered strong public criticism of Archbishop Georg Gänswein, a seminary classmate. That same year, Bishop Nann permitted telephone confessions until a Vatican intervention led him to declare his permission null and void. Bishop Nann said that he would return to Germany and spend time in prayer and reflection at his parents’ home and at a retreat house. He asked forgiveness for his “impatience and impetuosity,” which have “probably caused some damage.” - Cardinal Czerny: Church's digital mission may become an 'ecclesial ministry' (Thinking Faith)
The prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development wrote in a recent article that the communication theory of the Canadian Jesuit philosopher Father Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984) can help Catholics better understand the Church’s digital mission—and suggested that the Church might recognize the mission in the digital world as a “true ecclesial ministry.” Cardinal Michael Czerny—also a Canadian Jesuit—said that last October, synod participants learned that “the digital mission is not merely a tool for evangelization, but it is ‘a space, a territory… a new world for the Church of communion and mission.’ This discovery (astonishing for the majority of Synod delegates) triggered in all of us—beginning with Pope Francis—deep and lively feelings of faith, hope, love and zeal.” “A great majority of Church leaders and Church members have no idea about the digital continent waiting to be evangelized and ministered to, or of what digital missionaries and pastoralists—whether priest, religious or layperson, male or female, young or adult—are and do,” Cardinal Czerny continued. “Traditionally, missionaries have always been sent by their bishop or superior who accompanies them from afar and occasionally visits them. On the other hand, “today many Catholic influencers (wherever ‘on earth’ they reside, whatever their age and background) need to meet their respective bishops to begin to dialogue and to discover the ecclesial dimension, the indispensable basis, of their ministry,” Cardinal Czerny added. “The digital mission is born of the faith and of the Church, but in spontaneous and dispersed ways. Now both the Holy Father and the Synod are asking for the digital mission to be recognized and incorporated into the visible Church, and become a true ecclesial ministry and mission.” - Vatican spokesman calls on cities to organize tourism opportunities for the homeless (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
Alessandro Gisotti, vice director of the Editorial Directorate at the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, encouraged “every city, small or large,” to organize tourism activities for the homeless during the summer vacation. In his signed editorial in the Vatican newspaper, Gisotti cited the example of Pope Francis, who hosted a group of homeless people in the Sistine Chapel, and Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, who took a group of homeless people to the seaside. “We would thus discover that even among these ‘discarded’ there is so much richness not only of humanity, but also of professional experiences, of cultures, of intelligences,” Gisotti wrote. Gisotti added that “alongside the poor, there is another ‘population’ who suffer particularly in the summer and who are very close to Bergoglio’s heart: the elderly ... Since the beginning of his pontificate, the Pope has strongly called for the need for an alliance between young and old, to open the future to a wounded humanity.” - Bl. Carlo Acutis to be canonized (Vatican News)
Blessed Carlo Acutis will be canonized, most likely during the Jubilee Year 2025, the Vatican has announced. At an ordinary consistory on July 1, Pope Francis approved plans for the canonization of the first “millennial” saint, along with 14 others: The “martyrs of Damascus”—8 Franciscans and 3 Maronite Catholic laymen who were killed in 1860; Father Giuseppe Allamano, an Italian priest who founded the Consolata missionaries; Sister Elena Guerra, the Italian founder of the Oblates of the Holy Spirit; and Sister Marie-Leonie Paradis, the Canadian founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family. - New cardinal 'protodeacon' would announce next Pontiff (Vatican Press Office)
French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, has become the Protodeacon of the College of Cardinals, and would have the role of announcing the newly elected Pontiff at the next papal conclave. That task is given to the senior prelate among the ranks of cardinal-deacons present at a conclave. Cardinal Mamberti gained that status on July 1, when Pope Francis promoted three cardinal-deacons— Cardinals James Harvey, Lorenzo Baldisseri, and Gerhard Müller— from cardinal-deacons to cardinal-priests. Cardinal Renato Martino is actually the senior cardinal-deacon, having held that title since 2003. However, at the age of 91 he is ineligible to participate in a conclave. - Peter's Pence receipts up for 2023 (Vatican News)
The annual Peter’s Pence collection saw an 11% increase in 2023 over the previous year, the Vatican has disclosed. In a statement released as this year’s collection took place, the Vatican reported €48.4 million ($52 million) in donations, which will be supplemented by €3.6 million in profits from sales of existing assets. The 2022 collection yielded €43.5 million in donations, which was supplemented by the sale of more than €60 million in Vatican real-estate holdings. The Peter’s Pence fund reported expenses of €103 million in 2023, easily outstripping the revenues. Of that figure €90 million went to the expenses of the Holy See and €13 million to charitable causes. In the 2023 collection, American donors accounted for slightly more than 28% of the worldwide receipts, contributing €13.6 million. Italy (€3.1 million) and Brazil (€1.9 million) supplied the next-largest contributions. Contributions to the Peter’s Pence collection had sagged in recent years, amid reports of financial scandals at the Vatican, notably including the disastrous investment of funds from Peter’s Pence in a London real-estate project. - Ukrainian Catholic priests freed from Russian captivity (Our Sunday Visitor)
Two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests who refused to leave behind their flocks during the Russian invasion were freed after over 18 months in captivity. Fathers Ivan Levitsky and Bohdan Geleta ministered in Berdyansk, which was captured by Russian forces shortly after the invasion began in February 2022. The priests were taken captive in November of that year. “We have managed to free 10 more of our people from Russian captivity, despite all the difficulties,” tweeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said that the priests “were captured in Berdyansk for resisting the occupiers ... I thank our team that works on freeing the captives. I would also like to recognize the Holy See’s efforts to bring these people home.” - New rules for employees at St. Peter's basilica (Crux)
Pope Francis has issued new rules for employees at St. Peter’s basilica. The new rules, issued on June 29, require all employees—including maintenance staff and ceremonial ushers—to “commit to adhering to principles of exemplary religious and moral conduct.” The rules also discourage the hiring of relatives—a clear break from Vatican tradition, in which families passed down ceremonial roles. Also, employees must... be baptized Catholics, make a profession of faith, and produce a pastor’s endorsement; promise to respect the “secret of the office,” refrain from giving interviews without permission, and also refrain from removing documents from their workplaces; have no criminal record, visible tattoos, or body piercings; and avoid “taking part in activities, or attending rallies, which are inappropriate for a Vatican employee.” - Open the Church's doors to evangelization, Pope tells new archbishops (CNS)
Pope Francis presided at Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on June 29, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, and bestowed pallia on 33 metropolitan archbishops who have been appointed during the past year. In his homily, Pope Francis reflected on the liberation of St. Peter from prison and the holy door of the upcoming 2025 jubilee year. The Pontiff said that the archbishops “are called to be zealous shepherds who open the doors of the Gospel and, through their ministry, help to build a Church and a society of open doors.” The Pontiff also took a swipe at some ecclesial movements. St. Paul’s encounter with Christ, the Pope preached, “does not lead to a consoling, inward-looking religiosity – like that found in a few movements in the Church today – on the contrary, the encounter with the Lord ignites in the life of Paul a burning zeal for evangelization.” (The Vatican’s English translation omitted the Pope’s description of the spirituality of these movements as “una spiritualità da salotto”: “a spirituality of the drawing room.”) Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the 90-year-old Dean of the College of Cardinals, was the principal celebrant at the Mass. - Cardinal O'Malley urges Vatican not to use Rupnik artwork (Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors)
Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who head the papal sex-abuse commission, has asked Vatican officials not to feature the artwork of the disgraced ex-Jesuit, Father Marco Rupnik. In a letter to leaders of the Roman Curia, Cardinal O’Malley said that “pastoral prudence would would prevent displaying artwork in a way that could imply either exoneration or a subtle defense” of an accused abuser, and also could “indicate indifference to the pain and suffering of so many victims of abuse.” On the same day that Cardinal O’Malley’s letter was made public, the VaticanNews site displayed Rupnik’s work to illustrate a post on the saint of the day, St. Irenaeus. “We must avoid sending a message that the Holy See is oblivious to the psychological distress that so many are suffering,” wrote Cardinal O’Malley in his letter to Vatican leaders. The letter could be the last official act of Cardinal O’Malley as president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Tomorrow, June 29, he will celebrate his 80th birthday. Prelates are required to submit their resignation upon reaching the age of 75, and although the Pope is not required to accept their resignations, in recent years no leaders of the Roman Curia have remained in office beyond the age of 80. - More...