Catholic News

• Pope meets with new French Catholics, stresses importance of Baptism (Dicastery for Communication (French))
  Pope Leo XIV received a group of French neophytes and catechumens on July 29 and reflected on the importance of the Sacrament of Baptism. “Baptism makes us full members of God’s great family,” Pope Leo said. “The initiative always comes from him and we respond to it by experiencing his love that saves us.” “Baptism introduces us into communion with Christ and gives life,” he continued. “It commits us to renounce a culture of death that is very present in our society. This culture of death manifests itself today in indifference, contempt for others, drugs, the search for an easy life, a sexuality that becomes entertainment and objectification of the human person, injustice, etc.” “Baptism makes us witnesses of Christ,” the Pope added. “You are called to share your experience of faith with others, witnessing to Christ’s love and becoming missionary disciples.”
• Let Christ be the compass that guides your work, Pope tells Catholic universities (Dicastery for Communication (Spanish))
  In a message to the International Federation of Catholic Universities for its conference in Mexico, Pope Leo XIV expressed the desire that Christ “may be the compass that guides the work of the university institutions over which you preside,” “There are many ‘siren songs’ that are attractive because of their novelty, their popularity, or, on other occasions, because of the apparent security they inspire,” Pope Leo warned. “Beyond such impressions, which are inherently superficial, Catholic universities are called to become ‘paths of the mind toward God,’ according to the felicitous expression of St. Bonaventure.” St. Thomas Aquinas “understood well that in Christ-Wisdom there is at the same time what is most proper to our faith and what is most universal to human intelligence, and therefore, wisdom, thus understood, is the natural place of encounter and dialogue with all cultures and all ways of thinking,” the Pope added. “Thus, we must not distance ourselves from Christ, nor relativize his unique and proper place, in order to converse respectfully and fruitfully with other schools of knowledge, ancient or recent.”
• Jerusalem's Christian leaders condemn Israeli settlers' attack on Palestinian Christian town (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
  The patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem expressed their “profound concern and unwavering condemnation” after Israeli settlers again attacked the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh in the West Bank. The Christian leaders demanded that the Israeli government protect the town’s residents and hold the perpetrators accountable.
• Cardinal Parolin reiterates call for Palestinian state, decries hunger in Gaza (Vatican News)
  Noting that the Holy See and the State of Palestine have had full diplomatic relations for a decade, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, said that the solution to the crisis in the Holy Land is “the recognition of two states, living side by side, independently but also in cooperation and security.” The prelate also lamented the hunger crisis in Gaza and discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine: “I don’t think the Vatican can be accused of not being neutral. We have always tried—while speaking truthfully—to stand close to both sides and, above all, to help find a path toward a resolution of the conflict.”
• Federal judge bars defunding of Planned Parenthood's non-abortion activities (Religion Clause)
  A federal judge extended her earlier ruling barring the federal government from cutting off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood clinics that do not offer abortions. In her new ruling, Judge Indira Talwani barred Congress from cutting off Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood’s non-abortion activities.
• Cardinal Pell ordered probe of 'potentially illegal' bank transactions (Pillar)
  During his term as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, the late Cardinal George Pell uncovered evidence of “potentially illegal” banking transactions by the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), The Pillar has reported. In a 2016 memo, which The PIllar has obtained, Cardinal Pell instructed Libero Milone, then the Vatican’s auditor general, to investigate APSA transactions that appeared to have been deliberately altered to “shield the true identity of owner/source of funds.” Such alteration of records could be classified as bank fraud, and could support charges that the Vatican was open to money-laundering. The results of Milone’s investigation into Cardinal Pell’s findings have not been made public. Milone, who was forced to resign in 2017, has said that he was fired because he had discovered widespread financial corruption, and has threatened to make public the evidence of what he discovered.
• Flood Peru with the Good News of Christ, Pope asks young people (Dicastery for Communication (Spanish))
  In a Spanish-language address to a group of Peruvian pilgrims attending the Jubilee of Youth, Pope Leo reflected on the parables of the mustard seed and of leaven, mentioned in the Gospel reading of the day. “In these days of joy of the Jubilee of Young People, all of you will have the beautiful experience of feeling part of the People of God, part of the universal Church, which encompasses and embraces the whole earth, without distinction of race, language or nation; spreading like the mustard bush and fermenting like yeast,” Pope Leo said to the pilgrims during the July 28 audience in Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace. “I would like you to keep everything you experience during these days in your hearts, but not to keep it only for yourselves,” the Pope continued. “I would like you to flood those lands with the joy and strength of the Gospel, with the Good News of Jesus Christ, when you return to Peru.”
• Pontiff renews call for peace negotiations (Vatican Press Office)
  At the conclusion of his July 27 Angelus address, Pope Leo XIV called for “negotiations aimed at securing a future of peace for all peoples, and for the rejection of anything that might jeopardize it.” After offering prayers for victims of the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict and of violence in southern Syria, Pope Leo said, “I am following with great concern the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the civilian population is suffering from severe hunger and remains exposed to violence and death. I renew my heartfelt appeal for a ceasefire, the release of hostages, and the full respect of humanitarian law.” “Every human person possesses an inherent dignity, bestowed by God himself,” he added. “I urge all parties involved in conflicts to recognize this dignity and to end every action that violates it.”
• Use social media with faith and love, Cardinal Parolin tells Catholic influencers (CWN)
  Leading Vatican officials, including the Secretary of State of His Holiness and the prefects of two curial dicasteries, addressed participants in the Jubilee of Digital Missionaries and Catholic Influencers on July 28.
• Build a culture of peace, Pope urges 'digital missionaries' (Vatican News)
  Speaking on July 29 to participants in the Jubilee for Digital Missionaries, Pope Leo XIV exhorted them to “work together to develop a way of thinking and a language of our time, that gives voice to love.” The Pope spoke of the role that every Christian can play in promoting peace: Peace needs to be sought, proclaimed, and shared everywhere; both in the tragic places of war and in the empty hearts of those who have lost the meaning of existence and the taste for interiority, for spiritual life.” Pope Leo spoke at a Mass at which the celebrant, Cardinal Luis Tagle, said in his homily that the social media could promote a culture of peace. “Daily life is a tapesty of criss-crossing influences,” the cardinal observed, and participation the social media have an impact on families, neighborhoods, schools, and communities.
• Russian Orthodox official meets with Pope Leo (Moscow Patriarchate)
  Pope Leo XIV received Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, the chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, on July 26 (photographs). Metropolitan Anthony conveyed best wishes and congratulations to Pope Leo from Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, for Leo’s election as Pope. The Pontiff, in turn, “expressed gratitude to Patriarch Kirill for his good wishes and emphasized the importance of strengthening relations with the Russian Orthodox Church,” according to the Moscow Patriarchate. “The discussion touched on numerous issues, including the state of Orthodox-Catholic dialogue and ongoing global conflicts, particularly in Ukraine and the Middle East,” the Patriarchate added. The Russian Orthodox Church, with 164.1 million members, is the largest of the Orthodox churches (CNEWA profile).
• USCCB files brief in suit challenging Washington Confession law (USCCB)
  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops filed an amicus curiae [friend of the court] brief in Etienne v. Ferguson, a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of SB 5375. a Washington state law that requires clergy to violate the seal of Confession when child abuse or neglect is confessed. After recalling St. John Nepomucene, who suffered martyrdom rather than violate the seal of Confession, the brief stated: As a court in the Western District of Washington recently held, this affront to a core tenet and essential practice of the Catholic faith blatantly violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, as well as binding Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit precedent.
• Vatican 'foreign minister,' in Mexico, notes Pope's commitment to multilateralism, pays tribute to martyrs (CWN)
  Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, underscored Pope Leo XIV’s commitment to multilateralism during an address delivered at the apostolic nunciature in Mexico.
• Wounded Gaza Catholic, a Vatican newspaper contributor, writes about Israeli strike on parish (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
  Suhail Abu Dawood, a young Gaza Catholic who writes regularly for L’Osservatore Romano, described the recent Israeli military strike on his parish, during which he was severely wounded. “The bomb was so strong that I couldn’t protect myself from the shrapnel, so unfortunately I was injured in the lower back; the shrapnel came out of my right leg, causing serious injuries inside my stomach and abdomen,” he wrote. “I felt excruciating pain, fell facedown to the ground, and my body began to bleed profusely.” “I will never forget what the priests told me when my pain became excruciating,” he added. “They said: Remember Calvary! Jesus was there on the Cross, suffering and dying, and you too placed all your suffering and pain on the Cross.”
• Economists worry about 'depopulation bomb' (Wall Street Journal)
  Two economists at the University of Texas at Austin warned of depopulation in a new book, After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People. Dean Spears and Michael Geruso warned “fellow liberals and progressives” that after peaking in 2080, population “will not fall to 6 billion or 4 billion or 2 billion and hold there” if birth rates remain below replacement levels in much of the world. Rather, “humanity could hasten its own extinction if birth rates stay too low for a long time.”
• Pope mourns Congo church attack (Vatican Press Office)
  Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, sent a French-language telegram in the Holy Father’s name to the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s episcopal conference following a terrorist attack on a parish there. Pope Leo, said Cardinal Parolin, learned of the attack “with consternation and profound sorrow” and assured local Christians of his closeness and prayers. “This tragedy further calls upon us to work for the comprehensive human development of the wounded population of this region,” Cardinal Parolin wrote in his July 28 telegram. “His Holiness implores God that the blood of these martyrs may be a seed of peace, reconciliation, brotherhood, and love for all the Congolese people.”
• New Holy Land custos makes solemn entrance into Cenacle, Holy Sepulchre, Bethlehem (Custody of the Holy Land)
  On July 24-26, Father Francesco Ielpo, OFM, the new custos (custodian) of the Holy Land, made his solemn entrance into the Cenacle and the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem. As head of the region’s Franciscan province, the custos is responsible for pastoral care at these and other shrines in the Holy Land, as well as in 17 schools and in the parishes entrusted to it by the Latin Patriarchate.
• Vatican News director: In the face of Gaza horror, we cannot look away (Vatican News)
  In an editorial, the Vatican official who leads Vatican Radio and Vatican News warned against indifference to suffering in Gaza. “In Gaza, death comes not only from bombs or bullets, but from hunger,” said Massimiliano Menichetti, deputy editorial director of the Editorial Directorate of the Dicastery for Communication. “Children no longer cry. The elderly cease to sustain. Adults no longer walk. Hearts stop beating: exhausted, breathless, depleted.” “In a world that is informed and connected, where every event is documented and broadcast in images and sound, people are dying of deprivation,” he added. “Technology records suffering but does not cure it. Faced with such inhumanity, indifference is not an option.”
• Holy See, Azerbaijan sign agreement on interreligious dialogue (Vatican News)
  Representatives of the Holy See and Azerbaijan signed a memorandum of understanding on interreligious dialogue on July 28. Cardinal George Koovakad, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, expressed hope that the “friendly bilateral relations” will “receive renewed impetus to progress and be further strengthened, as we seek to promote truth, justice, and peace for all humanity.” Azerbaijan, a Caucasus nation of 10.7 million (map), is 97% Muslim and 2% Christian (primarily Orthodox). Seven priests minister to 600 Catholics in two parishes.
• Detroit archbishop fires seminary professors (CWN)
  Detroit’s Archbishop Edward Weisenburger has fired two prominent teachers at the archdiocesan seminary, apparently because they had been critical of Pope Francis.
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