Catholic News
- Laity are not permitted to deliver homilies at Mass, Vatican affirms (CWN)
The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments affirmed that only clergy are permitted to preach homilies during Mass. - Schedule, agenda released for June 26-27 extraordinary consistory of cardinals (CWN)
The Holy See Press Office released the program of Pope Leo XIV’s second extraordinary consistory of cardinals, which will take place June 26-27. - Dobbs at risk from 'massive influx of abortion pills,' USCCB committee chairman warns (USCCB)
In a statement for the fourth anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision (CWN coverage), the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities warned that the “victory of the Dobbs decision risks being undone by the massive influx of abortion pills.” “While the Dobbs decision gave states the freedom to pass pro-life laws and protect preborn children, these laws are now being undermined,” said Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo, Ohio. He added that the Food and Drug Administration “has enabled a nationwide mail-order abortion industry by allowing abortion pills to be prescribed in telemed appointments and sold both at neighborhood pharmacies and online, circumventing state laws that protect life in the womb.” After calling for prayer and action, Bishop Thomas concluded: On this Anniversary of the Dobbs decision, we praise God for the historic overturning of Roe v. Wade, and we beg the intercession of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in building a culture of life. - Myanmar sister faces military tribunal after procuring medicines for the poor (Catholic Connect)
A religious sister appears before a military tribunal in Myanmar today after procuring medicines for the poor, according to Catholic Connect, a website of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India. “Sr. Benedetta Nya Moe has been held in military custody for the past two weeks after undertaking what fellow religious described as a mission to obtain essential medicines for impoverished patients,” according to the report. In 2023, Mission World reported that “together with her fellow Sisters of Charity, Sr. Benedetta Nya Moe runs a hostel in the small town of Hsipaw in Northern Myanmar.” Located in Southeast Asia, the nation has been under military rule since a 2021 coup d’état. - Cardinal Koovakad says concept of fraternity is not utopian idea (Vatican News)
Speaking at a conference at the Angelicum, Cardinal George Koovakad, the prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, said that brotherhood is not a utopian ideal, even amid “crimes against humanity, wars, violence, conflicts, divisions, discrimination and hatred in various parts of the world.” Cardinal Koovakad called on Europeans to have the “conviction that cultural, religious, and social diversity is a human richness and not a threat.” “The more we, people of different religious traditions meet and exchange views while respecting the uniqueness of each other’s contexts, traditions, and religions, the more we will grow not only in fraternal love and mutual esteem, but also in our commitment to work and contribute together for the good of all in society,” he added. - Christian Brothers' province to cease to exist (EWTN News)
The Christian Brothers Oceania Province announced that it will “inevitably come to an end” as it disburses its assets to sexual abuse victims. The province comprises residences in Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. The Christian Brothers began to work in Australia in 1843; the current average age of its members is 80. In 2014, a royal commission examined abuse in Christian Brothers institutions in Australia. The province said it has already paid “in excess of $480 million” to abuse victims. - Kentucky bishop ends diocese's sole traditional Latin Mass (Ad Vaticanum)
Stating that Pope Leo has not modified Traditionis Custodes, the bishop of Owensboro, Kentucky, instructed a priest to cease offering Mass in the extraordinary form at the end of the month. Bishop William Medley asked the priest to “obtain the appropriate Missal of Paul VI in Latin” and added, “I will grant the singular permission to offer this Mass ad orientem.” - Vatican newspaper highlights Gaza tailor's work (CWN)
L’Osservatore Romano devoted the most prominent front-page article in its June 23 edition to the work of Amir al-Rantisi, a young Gaza tailor who turns waste fabrics into formal dresses. - Franciscan sisters sell Wisconsin property to Ojibwe as reparation (U.S. Catholic)
Last October, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration sold their two-acre Marywood Franciscan Spirituality Center in Wisconsin to the Lac du Flambeau Band of the Ojibwe people for its 1966 purchase price of $30,000, well below the market value of $2.6 million. In a new article, U.S. Catholic described the transaction as “the first instance of Catholics in the United States returning land to the original Indigenous tribes in the name of reparations.” “We dived into the aspects of what has happened to the Indigenous people, all of the treaties, and our part in the boarding school that was part of their forced assimilation and losing their culture, as well as our white dominance,” said Sister Sue Ernster, the religious institute’s president. “There are opportunities for us to disrupt the current system with all the adversarial energy,” Sister Ernster added. “Hopefully, the intergenerational trauma can start to dissipate. It’s a real opportunity for others to see there is another way.” - Archbishop Hicks hails ministry of deacons (USCCB)
The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations praised the ministry of deacons as the bishops’ conference released its annual survey on the permanent diaconate (CWN coverage). “Deacons continue to bring a spirit of renewal and encouragement to the missionary ministry of the Church through their service in the liturgy and works of charity expressed in everyday life,” said Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York. “With nearly 15,000 active deacons in ministry in 2025, the permanent diaconate plays a vital role in bringing the Gospel to life through their witness as icons of Christ the Servant.” - Pope hails example of Venerable Jérôme Lejeune, laments 'programmed death' of embryos, elderly (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV marked the centenary of the birth of Venerable Jérôme Lejeune (1926-1994) by receiving staff of the Jerome Lejeune Foundaton, members of his family, and persons with Down syndrome. - American novelist Strout lauds Pope's encyclical (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
The Vatican newspaper published a reflection by American author Elizabeth Strout on Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo’s encyclical on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence. L’Osservatore Romano explained that the contribution by Strout, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, is part of a series of reflections by “people who do not belong to—or have no close ties with—the Catholic Church.” “How heartening it was to read the words of the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas by Leo XIV; and how grateful I am to this leader of kindness for explaining to us—and even warning us—what it means to be human, not only now but also for future generations,” Strout began. “How grateful I am for his sincerity and his insights. Especially at this moment in history when, with a faltering step, our poor world draws ever closer to a terrifying and potentially catastrophic place.” - Synod staff, leading bishops prepare for 2027-28 Synod assemblies (General Secretariat of the Synod)
As the implementation phase of the 2021-2024 Synod on synodality continues, leaders of continental bishops’ assemblies began three days of meetings in Rome today to prepare for the synodal assemblies of 2027-2028. The implementation phase culminates in an ecclesial assembly in Rome in October 2028. Prior to that, diocesan assemblies are scheduled to take place during the first half of 2027; national assemblies, during the second half of 2027; and continental assemblies, during the first four months of 2028 (Towards the Assemblies 2027-2028, p. 5). - Cardinal Pizzaballa, Greek Orthodox Patriarch make pastoral visit to Gaza (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, O.F.M., the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem began a joint pastoral visit to Gaza on June 22. “The visit expresses the pastoral responsibility of the Churches of Jerusalem toward the local churches and toward the whole population of Gaza, where families continue to endure grave humanitarian suffering, fear, loss and uncertainty,” the Latin Patriarchate said in a statement. The prelates’ presence “carries the prayer of Jerusalem to Gaza’s wounded faithful and to all who suffer, in a ministry of consolation, mercy and steadfast Christian witness rooted in the Gospel and in the sacred vocation of the Holy City,” the statement added. - Priestly ordinations continue to decline in Poland (Pillar)
196 priests are expected to be ordained in Poland this year—down from 208 in 2025 and 235 in 2024. Seven Polish dioceses will have no ordinations this year. “Poland’s fertility rate fell to a new low of 1.068 in 2025, well below the replacement level of 2.1,” The Pillar added in its report. “The country’s state statistics agency has projected that the population could fall from around 37.3 million currently to 29.4 million by 2060, a decline of more than 20% over the next 35 years.” - Cardinal McElroy: The Church has 'frequently wounded the LGBT community' (Outreach)
The Church “has so frequently wounded the LGBT community through judgmentalism and exclusion,” Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington preached at a conference organized by Outreach, founded by Father James Martin, S.J. In his June 20 homily, Cardinal McElroy said that he found hope in a Synod study group report on doctrinal issues, as well as in Pope Leo’s remark in a press conference that “the unity or division of the Church should not revolve around sexual matters.” (The Pope went on to say that “the Holy See has made it clear that we do not agree with the formalized blessing of couples, in this case, homosexual couples, as you asked, or couples in irregular situations.”) - Scottish bishop warns against illicit episcopal consecration of Transalpine Redemptorist (Diocese of Aberdeen)
Bishop Hugh Gilbert, O.S.B., of Aberdeen, Scotland, warned against attendance at the episcopal consecration of Father Michael Mary, a priest of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (Transalpine Redemptorists). The traditionalist community reconciled with the Holy See in 2008 but adopted a sedevacantist position last month. Father Michael Mary will be ordained a bishop by Bishop Pierre Roy, a former SSPX priest who traces his episcopal lineage to a bishop ordained by Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục. - Archbishop Paglia criticizes pontifical academy, JPII Institute before his leadership; Bishop Barron weighs in (CWN)
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the retired president of the Pontifical Academy for Life (2016-2025) and grand chancellor of John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences (2017-2025), offered strong criticism of the two institutions before he assumed leadership. - 1st national ecumenical congress held in Philippines (Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity)
The Focolare Movement and the Commission for Ecumenism of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines held the First National Ecumenical Congress in the Philippines on June 10-12. The theme of the congress, held in Tagaytay City, was “Called to Unity: Grow in Mission.” Members of ten Christian traditions were present. Located in Southeast Asia, the Philippines (map) is the 13th most populous nation in the world. The nation of 120.1 million is 90% Christian (69% Catholic), 6% Muslim, and 2% ethnic religionist. - Cardinal Parolin ordains Pontifical Academy for Life's president to the episcopate (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, ordained Archbishop Renzo Pegoraro, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, to the episcopate on June 21. The ordination Mass took place at a Marian shrine in Padua, where, as a seminarian, the future prelate provided voluntary medical care to persons with disabilities. (Pegoraro studied medicine before entering seminary.) Courage “does not spring spontaneously from our own fearless spirit; rather, it is anchored in the unshakable certainty that the lives of Jesus’ disciples are guarded by the Father’s unfailing faithfulness,” Cardinal Parolin preached. “Jesus is certain that God is the jealous guardian of human life and knows that no human force can tear it away from His care.” Born in 1959 and ordained a priest of the Diocese of Padua in 1989, Pegoraro was named chancellor of the pontifical academy in 2011 and its president in May 2025, shortly after Pope Leo’s election. - More...