Catholic News
- Pope Leo: Saints Peter and Paul show us how to build unity and serve the truth (CWN)
Saints Peter and Paul can help us understand how to be “apostles and builders of unity, and generous servants of the truth in charity,” Pope Leo XIV preached at Mass this morning in St. Peter’s Basilica (booklet, video). - Love of Christ entails detachment, loss, and hospitality, Pope tells pilgrims (CWN)
Love of Christ entails detachment, loss, and hospitality, Pope Leo said today during his midday Angelus address (video). - Papal solidarity, prayer for Venezuelan earthquake victims (CWN)
At the conclusion of today’s Sunday Angelus address, Pope Leo XIV expressed solidarity with the victims of recent earthquakes in Venezuela. - DDF prefect condemns just-war justifications for preventive wars (Vatican News (Italian))
In an address to the extraordinary consistory of cardinals, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said that Catholic social doctrine has been misused to provide justifications for what are described as preventive wars. In attempting to justify preventive wars, leaders invoke “unproven preparatory actions for external aggression,” said Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, as “we continue to see in Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine, and elsewhere.” “The destruction of entire cities cannot be considered a proportionate defensive action,” Cardinal Fernández added, as he lamented “the enormous disproportion of military interventions in Gaza and southern Lebanon.” - Vatican diplomat calls for institutional support for motherhood (Holy See Mission)
Lamenting discrimination that women face because of motherhood, a Vatican diplomat agreed with a UN official’s assessment that motherhood “remains largely undervalued and mischaracterized as a private choice rather than a public good requiring recognition and support from society and institutions.” “Valuing motherhood means supporting families and particularly mothers,” Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, said during a June 22 meeting with the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women and girls. “They are entitled to special care, assistance, and protection before and after childbirth, including paid leave and adequate social security.” “The Holy See has consistently raised concern about institutional and cultural tendencies that disregard the family and penalize or stigmatize motherhood as an obstacle to women’s advancement, rather than as an irreplaceable contribution to the life and future of every society,” Archbishop Balestrero added. “The Holy See calls on States to stand with mothers and fathers through concrete actions that protect and support them and their children.” - Catholics, Protestants, and Muslims in Chad establish joint forum (Fides)
The National Council for Islamic Affairs of Chad, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Chad, and the Alliance of Evangelical Churches and Missions in Chad established a joint forum at a June 25 ceremony chaired by the nation’s deputy prime minister. “We will continue to work so that everyone can contribute to human development and to achieving our common goal of building a united, prosperous Chad that looks confidently to the future,” said Archbishop Edmond Djitangar of N’Djamena, the nation’s capital. Located in Central Africa, the nation of 19.7 million (map) is 61% Muslim, 31% Christian (17% Catholic), and 6% ethnic religionist. - USCCB issues urgent action alert on Kids Online Safety Act (USCCB)
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued an urgent action alert on the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), scheduled to be voted upon by the House of Representatives today. The bishops’ conference asked the faithful to “tell your member of Congress: any final House bipartisan agreement on KOSA must include the Senate’s duty of care standard.” The suggested message to members of Congress begins: As a constituent and a Catholic, I urge you to oppose the KIDS Act legislative package that does not include the “duty of care” standard. The current House package explicitly rejects the “duty of care,” but this provision is essential for the legislation to be meaningful. The Senate’s version of the Kids Online Safety Act, S.1784, rightly demands that digital companies treat children not as data points or revenue sources, but as vulnerable human beings with real needs and rights. - Vatican AI commission holds 1st meeting (Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development)
The Vatican’s Interdicasterial Commission on Artificial Intelligence, established last month, held its first meeting on June 17. At the meeting, a “broad consensus emerged regarding the need for a twofold service: on the one hand, fostering internal coordination, information sharing, and reflection on the use of AI within the institutions of the Holy See; on the other, providing a point of reference for discernment and support for the many initiatives promoted in this field,” according to the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. - Fire set to altar of Italian church (Il Cittadino di Lodi)
A vandal attempted to set fire to the altar of the Church of Saints Bassiano and Fereolo in Lodi, a city of 45,000 in Lombardy, in northern Italy. “Fortunately. I think the fire went out by itself,” Father Elia Croce, the parish priest, said after the June 16 incident. He said that an altar cloth was burnt, but “there was no serious damage” to the altar. - Relics of St. Margaret Mary brought to US for veneration (OSV News)
First-class relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque have been brought to the United States for public veneration in various cities through September. The saint is renowned for receiving private revelations of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The bishops of the United States consecrated the nation to the Sacred Heart on June 11. S - In consistory's 3rd session, cardinals discuss societal fractures, common good (Vatican News)
During the third session of the two-day extraordinary consistory (program), which concludes today, members of the College of Cardinals discussed the topic, “Building the Good: The Worksites of Our Time.” According to the Vatican News’s summary of the confidential deliberations, “the antidote to individualism and to fractures, many groups agreed, is the Gospel: a Church that offers a sense of belonging, that is able to soothe the wounds of our time, and that is renewed while avoiding forms of integralism and polarization; a Church that makes visible its Samaritan face, with Christians who are not spectators of social ruin, but wise architects who rebuild the city of all.” According to the summary, the cardinals also discussed the following topics, among others: “the deep fractures of our time: among peoples and nations, within societies, and within families themselves; and on how these generate wounds, especially among the poorest, the weakest, young people who lack a sense of newness, and adults lacking the wisdom of years” “the danger posed by a lack of meaning, meaningful relationships, and identity, which pushes people toward a tribal attitude” “the call to give names to living beings, and not to reduce them to numbers and statistics; to experience and accept the human sense of limits, which AI tends to deny; and to defend the dignity of work” the common good, with its “its origin in faith: faith in God and in the transcendent dimension present in every person, which leads human beings to go beyond every frontier, beginning with the one that takes them beyond themselves; to live solidarity with the poor as a response to individualism; to live catholicity fully; to build gratuitous relationships, not institutions, at every level; and to seek a language capable of engaging with settings distant from the Christian faith” - Synodality is not about power, but about guarding the Gospel, Pope says at consistory's conclusion (CWN)
At the conclusion of the June 26-27 extraordinary consistory of cardinals (program), Pope Leo XIV said that synodality is not about power, nor about the multiplication of meetings, but about guarding the Gospel with fidelity. - Cardinals discuss Synod, priesthood in consistory's final session (Vatican News)
During the fourth and final session of the two-day extraordinary consistory (program), members of the College of Cardinals devoted their discussions to the topic of “The Path of Synod Implementation,” before an open conversation with Pope Leo. Vatican News’s summary of the confidential deliberations hinted that some of the cardinals are tiring of synodal meetings: the agency reported that “the cardinals addressed the risk that the complexity of consultation could weigh down the Church at a time when it is called to give its witness.” “Some of the themes that emerged included deepening the ascetical and historical dimensions of synodality, while offering the faithful an image of the priesthood that is both evangelical and non-clerical,” the summary added. - In consistory's 1st session, 178 cardinals ponder the contemporary world (Vatican News)
178 of the 241 members of the College of Cardinals took part in the first session of the two-day extraordinary consistory (program), during which they pondered the question, “In what kind of world are we called to proclaim the Gospel?” According to the Vatican News’s summary of the confidential deliberations, the cardinals, gathered in groups, spoke about the following topics, among others: “increasing polarization within societies and communities, generating political tensions and violence and fueled by social divisions, misinformation and forms of communication that fail to foster encounter” “the suffering caused in many parts of the world by the lack of respect for religious and ethnic minorities, undermining religious freedom and giving rise to hostility, and at times violence, particularly against the Church” “excessive individualism, the crisis of the family, and the growing loneliness experienced by both elderly people and young people, identifying these as contributing factors to even more serious problems, including rising suicide rates and drug use” “the awareness of a widespread sense of distrust, fatalism and powerlessness towards institutions, democracy and the future, linked also to declining birth rates, the growth of criminal organizations, youth delinquency and drug trafficking” “the need to address migration in a humane and Christian way, recognizing how it is reshaping peoples, societies and communities while making effective integration policies increasingly urgent amid new forms of exclusion” - Cardinal Brislin addresses fellow cardinals on Magnifica Humanitas (Vatican News)
The third session of the extraordinary consistory of the College of Cardinals (program) opened today with Mass celebrated by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re and an address by Cardinal Stephen Brislin of Johannesburg, South Africa. During the Mass, celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica, Cardinal Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, preached about the Blessed Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross. Reflecting on Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo’s encyclical on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence, Cardinal Brislin said that for believers, contributing to the common good “takes on the form of synodality.” “Cardinal Brislin described synodality as the concrete trace of the communion from which the Church is born and grows, enabling Christians to enter the building site of history without fear,” Vatican News reported in its summary of the prelate’s remarks. - In consistory's 2nd session, cardinals discuss just war, faith in Christ (Vatican News)
During the second session of the two-day extraordinary consistory (program), members of the College of Cardinals discussed the topic, “The Culture of Power and the Civilization of Love.” According to the Vatican News’s summary of the confidential deliberations, “all the groups [of cardinals] reaffirmed the centrality of faith in Christ and of the Gospel, which has the power to transform the world when it is lived rather than treated as mere theory.” “Many participants stressed the need to move beyond the logic of just war, since the Gospel cannot be imposed by force, and instead to speak of the right to proportionate self-defense,” according to the summary. Vatican News reported that the cardinals also discussed the following topics, among others: “the challenges of the present time, highlighting the dehumanizing force of the culture of power, its universal reach, the temptation to conform to the logic of the powerful, and the normalization of war and polarization” “the responsibility to build peace and a civilization of love” “the importance of offering a credible witness—beginning within the Church itself—through a language centered on people: one of listening, forgiveness, reconciliation, restorative justice, and concrete gestures” “unity within the Church is essential to its credibility, as is dialogue with other faiths and religions, particularly Islam” “the role of political authority, calling for it to be freed from what was described as its toxic link with economic power” - Confirmed: Cardinal Müller calls for Vatican response to SSPX [updated] (CWN)
An Italian journalist reported today that Cardinal Gerhard Müller “shook up” the extraordinary consistory of the College of Cardinals by calling for a formal response to the Society of Saint Pius X’s latest statements ahead of its scheduled episcopal consecrations. - The Good Samaritan is a model for the Church, Cardinal Ryś says at consistory (Vatican News)
In a biblical meditation on the first day of the extraordinary consistory (program), Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś of Kraków, Poland, upheld the Good Samaritan as a model for the Church today. In summarizing the prelate’s biblical meditation, Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, reported that Cardinal Ryś said that “the Samaritan’s mercy, closeness and generosity reveal that charity is not the exclusive preserve of Christians but a place where the Church and the world can meet in genuine dialogue.” Vatican News also reported—inaccurately—that the prelate is the archbishop of Łódź. Pope Leo transferred Cardinal Ryś from Łódź to Kraków last year. - Cardinal Re calls on cardinals to unite around Pope, thanks Pope for AI encyclical (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
In his opening address on the first day of the extraordinary consistory (program), Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said that the cardinals had gathered at a “difficult moment for humanity, to seek to face, viribus unitis [with forces united] around the Successor of Peter, the challenges of this historical era of ours.” Cardinal Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, praised Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo’s encyclical on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence, as part of the “living tradition of the great documents of the Pontifical Magisterium regarding the Church’s social doctrine, analyzing today’s reality with faith and depth.” Cardinal Re concluded by thanking the Pope for his “strong words condemning the war, which for everyone is nothing but a loss and a grave, inhumane tragedy.” - Holy See laments use of children in armed conflict (Holy See Mission)
Addressing a UN Security Council discussion of children and armed conflict, a Vatican diplomat said that the Holy See “remains particularly concerned by the continued recruitment, abuse and abduction of children.” “These grave violations rob children of their childhood, separate them from their families and communities, and expose them to violence and exploitation, resulting in lasting consequences,” Msgr. Marco Formica, interim chargé d’affaires of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, said on June 25. “Such suffering is a grave affront to the God-given dignity of every child, who deserves protection and care, and can never be considered as mere collateral damage in the prosecution of war.” Msgr. Formica also said that the Holy See “encourages States that have not yet done so” to endorse the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas. - More...