Catholic News
- Pray so as to witness to Christ, Pope tells pilgrims (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV encouraged pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Sunday Angelus address (video).to pray so as to witness to Christ. - Pope recalls World Refugee Day, greets Catholic-Pentecostal dialogue participants (CWN)
At the conclusion of today’s Angelus address (video), Pope Leo recalled World Refugee Day and the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. - Pope prays for Day for Life participants in UK, Ireland (CBCEW)
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, sent a message in Pope Leo’s name for the Day for Life, commemorated by bishops’ conferences in the United Kingdom and in Ireland on June 21. “His Holiness was pleased to learn of the theme chosen for this year, focused on the wonder of the full humanity of the child in the womb, as well as of your efforts to support mothers and fathers who have suffered the loss of an infant,” Cardinal Parolin wrote. “His Holiness prays that all parents grieving the loss of a child, especially an infant, may find comfort and peace in the knowledge of God’s love for them and for their child.” “It is likewise his hope that these parents find the support they need in the Church community and especially in a life nourished by prayer and by the Sacraments,” Cardinal Parolin continued. “In thanking you for your continued commitment to bear witness to the marvelous gift of life in all its grandeur and inherent dignity, the Holy Father assures all taking part of his prayerful closeness.” - European court upholds right to peaceful missionary activity (OIDAC Europe)
The European Court of Human Rights, in a June 9 decision, upheld the right to peaceful missionary activity. The court ruled that a ban on door-to-door evangelization in Shumen, Bulgaria, violated the European Convention on Human Rights. - 41% of world's permanent deacons serve in United States (CWN)
An estimated 21,562 of the world’s permanent deacons serve in dioceses of the United States, which has 6% of the world’s Catholic population, according to a newly-released survey conducted for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. - Over 1 million venerate Virgin Mary's cincture in Belgrade (Greek City Times)
Over 1.1 million people in Belgrade, Serbia, recently venerated the cincture of the Blessed Virgin Mary over a ten-day period. It was the first time in 650 years that the cincture, housed at Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos, was venerated in Serbia. Other Marian cincture relics are venerated in Syria and in Prato, Italy. Reflecting on the extraordinary outpouring of devotion in Belgrade and the enthusiasm for Pope Leo’s visit in Spain, Serbian politician Jovan Palalić contributed an article to the Vatican newspaper in which he asked, “Could the scenes witnessed on the streets of Belgrade and in Spanish cities perhaps be signs of a new era [of Christian faith]?” - Vatican diplomat calls for 'rigorous assessment' of AI (Holy See Mission)
A Vatican diplomat called for a “rigorous assessment” of AI as the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence prepares to present its first annual report. “A rigorous assessment of both the opportunities and the risks associated with AI should be seen not as an obstacle to progress, but as an act of responsibility,” said Msgr. Marco Formica, counselor of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations. “This is especially important given the widening gap between the rapid pace of technological change and the slower development of national and international norms, institutional frameworks, and safeguards needed to address its implications.” - Change in Constitution could trigger civil war, DR Congo bishops warn (ACI Africa)
The bishops of the Democratic Republic of the Congo warned that a constitutional amendment permitting President Félix Tshisekedi to seek a third term could trigger a civil war. “We believe that any attempt to force through such a process carries enormous risks, including the balkanization of the country,” the bishops said in a June 20 statement. “In a context where political rivalries increasingly take on ethnic and tribal dimensions, the outbreak of another civil war is a real possibility.” The nation has experienced numerous internal conflicts, including the Second Congo War (1998-2003), the deadliest conflict since World War II. - French bishops begin novena ahead of euthanasia vote (Conférence des évêques de France)
The French bishops’ conference announced a novena ahead of a June 30 National Assembly vote on legislation that would legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide. “Since the first debates, the bishops of France have been keen to recall forcefully that one does not take care of life by putting an end to it, but by accompanying it attentively, until the end,” the bishops’ conference said in a statement announcing the June 21-29 novena. - New Mexico diocese fights to save Mount Cristo Rey from 'desecration' for border wall (OSV News)
The Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, continued its legal efforts to prevent the confiscation of some of its land for a US-Mexico border wall. The 14 acres of land include a mountaintop shrine to Christ the King that tens of thousands of pilgrims visit each year. “This affront to religious liberty cannot stand,” the diocese said in a June 19 court filing. - Justice Department sues New York for requiring Catholic nursing facilities to house men with women (Department of Justice)
The U.S. Department of Justice lent its support to the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne’s legal challenge to a New York State gender identity law. “States should take notice that they cannot require Americans to abandon their religious beliefs in the name of woke gender ideology,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon. “For more than a century, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne have provided free palliative care to indigent cancer patients in their last days. New York’s law would force these religious women to choose between their faith and their license if they wish to continue serving the dying.” - Priest killed in Sudan; remained with his people despite violence (Aid to the Church in Need)
Father Youhanna Al-Amin, a priest who remained at his parish in Kauda, Sudan, despite tribal violence, was killed on June 19. “There’s been very severe intertribal fighting for the past six weeks but not clear who the perpetrators are,” said Dr. Tom Catena, an American medical missionary who works six miles away. - USCCB's 2026 Religious Freedom Week begins (USCCB)
The U.S. bishops’ annual Religious Freedom Week begins today, the memorial of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More. Themes for daily prayer, reflection, and action include anti-religious violence, immigration enforcement, gender identity, and Nicaragua. - Court invalidates most of Missouri's abortion regulations (Religion Clause)
A Missouri judge ruled that over two dozen state statutes and regulations on abortion violate the state’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative, approved by voters in 2024. The ruling struck down licensing, admitting-privilege, and complication-plan requirements, as well as pre-abortion requirements, abortion-report requirements, and a physician-only law. - Caritas is sole provider of food at Chad refugee camp (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
A local Caritas agency is the sole provider of food and other services at a refugee camp on the Chad-Sudan border, the Vatican newspaper reported. “If we were to stop our aid, there would be no one left to provide assistance, even just food, to these people,” Brother Fabio Mussi, P.I.M.E., treasurer of the vicariate apostolic of Mongo, Chad, said of the refugees at the Tiné camp. “It is a facility built by the United Nations for initial reception, where people are registered solely as asylum seekers before being relocated to long-term camps. But there are no actual support services in place.” L’Osservatore Romano reported that over 1.2 million have fled Sudan for Chad since the Sudanese civil war began in 2023, and that Caritas Mongo “has provided 250,000 meals at the Tiné camp, serving an average of nearly 1,900 people daily.” Caritas Mongo receives support from Caritas Ambrosiana in Milan, the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) Foundation, and private donors. - Pope encourages Pavia's citizens to seek the common good (CWN)
After venerating St. Augustine’s relics in Pavia this afternoon, Pope Leo XIV visited Pavia Cathedral, where he adored the Blessed Sacrament and prayed before the relics of St. Syrus. He then addressed citizens of the northern Italian city in the Piazza della Vittoria (video). - Pope, in Pavia, venerates St. Augustine's relics, urges faithful to focus on Christ (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV began a brief pastoral visit to two cities in the northern Italian region of Lombardy this afternoon. - Imitate St. Frances Cabrini's service to migrants, Pope says as he venerates her heart (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV visited the hometown of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini this evening and called upon the faithful to imitate her missionary service to migrants. - Help build the New Jerusalem, Pope tells participants in Borgo Dialogues (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV today asked participants in the Borgo Dialogues to help build the New Jerusalem. - Shalom Catholic Community's founder discusses charism with Pope (Shalom Catholic Community)
Moysés Azevedo, founder and moderator of the Shalom Catholic Community, met with Pope Leo XIV on June 19. Azevedo “presented to the Holy Father aspects of Shalom life and charism, as well as some of the main initiatives carried out by the Community in favor of the evangelizing action of the Church, with emphasis on the work aimed at youth and human promotion,” the community said in a statement. Members of the community, according to the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, “feel united by the call to be disciples and ministers of peace, on a journey of contemplation, unity and evangelization, marked by spousal love for Jesus Christ and an experience of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.” Founded in Brazil in 1982, the community attained Vatican recognition as an international association of the faithful in 2007. - More...