Catholic News

• Pope concludes weekly audiences on the Our Father (Vatican News)
  “Jesus has revealed to us that Christian prayer begins with the audacity to call God ‘Father,’” Pope Francis said during his May 22 general audience (video). The Pontiff devoted most of his 2018 Wednesday general audiences to the sacraments and the commandments (April 11 —November 28) and the Lord’s Prayer (beginning December 5). In his 2019 audiences, he has continued to reflect on the Our Father.
• Indian police investigating Cardinal Gracias on abuse cover-up charge (Crux)
  Police in Mumbai have opened a full investigation into charges that Cardinal Oswald Gracias covered up evidence of sexual abuse in 2015. The investigation was ordered by a special court set up for cases involving the abuse of children. Cardinal Gracias is a member of the Council of Cardinals.
• Christians bear life's burdens without losing peace, Pope preaches at weekday Mass (Zenit)
  At a Mass celebrated in the chapel of Domus Sanctae Marthae on May 21, Pope Francis preached on John 14:27-31, the Gospel of the day.
• Amazon synod's working document approved (Vatican News)
  “Amazonia: new pathways for the Church and for an integral ecology” is the theme of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, which takes place October 6-27. The text of instrumentum laboris, or working document, has not yet been published in English.
• Pontifical council, World Council of Churches issue joint document on education for peace (Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue)
  The document (Education for Peace in a Multi-Religious World: A Christian Perspective) was issued at a May 21 conference (Promoting Peace Together). 350 Protestant and Orthodox communities are members of the World Council of Churches, and Pope Francis made an ecumenical pilgrimage to Geneva in 2018 for the World Council of Churches’ 70th anniversary.
• Holy Land bishops: Mutual respect, not international diplomacy, offers a true path to peace (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
  “Even those who once presented themselves as guardians of democracy and promoters of peace, have become power-brokers and partisan participants in the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict,” the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land said in a statement, as Palestinian leaders criticized the Trump administration’s nascent peace proposal.
• US withdrawal will leave power vacuum, Iraqi archbishop warns (CNA)
  “We are gravely concerned regarding the recent draw down of the U.S. presence in Iraq,” said Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil. “The 2011 pullout by the last administration created the vacuum which allowed ISIS to emerge. A new vacuum created by American disengagement will likely meet with a similarly unhappy result.”
• Spanish nun beheaded in Central African Republic (Burgos Conecta (Spanish))
  The brutal murder of Sister Inés Nieves Sancho, 77, took place in the village where she served for 23 years.
• Brazilian bishop accused of theft, covering up abuse resigns (CNS)
  
• Anglican-Catholic dialogue turns to ethical teaching (Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity)
  The Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) recently concluded a six-day meeting in Jerusalem. The commission has been engaged in dialogue for over five decades and is now in its third phase.
• Congolese priest murdered in Mozambique (Fides)
  Father Landry Ibil Ikwel, 34, directed an institute for the blind.
• Vatican diplomat urges US, Russia not to abandon nuclear treaty (Holy See Mission)
  At a recent UN committee meeting, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, called on the US and Russia not to let the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty lapse. The prelate also discussed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (which the US and Russia have not signed), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and the situation in Korea.
• Caritas leaders gather to discuss 'one human family, one common home' (Caritas Internationalis)
  The general assembly of Caritas Internationalis, the Church’s confederation of relief and development agencies, takes place every four years. “The sheer number of displaced people, the spread of conflict and the environmental disaster which is becoming more and more evident, together threaten to overwhelm us—unless we urgently act together against these problems as one family with one home,” said Caritas’ President, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.
• New attitudes, rather than planning, will reinvigorate Church in Italy, leading prelate says (SIR)
  Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference emphasized the importance of humility, generosity, and joy; he also offered comments on the EU elections (video). In his opening address to the Italian bishops’ meeting, Pope Francis spoke about synodality and collegiality, annulment reform, and the relationship between priests and bishops.
• As Church in Thailand marks 350th anniversary, Vatican cardinal urges faithful to be missionary disciples (Vatican News)
  The Southeast Asian nation of 68.6 million (map) is now 95% Buddhist and 4% Muslim.
• French court orders resumption of feeding for Vincent Lambert after UN intervention (AP)
  Responding to a last-minute intervention by the UN’s Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a French court has ordered doctors to resume the supply of food and water to Vincent Lambert, the quadriplegic at the center of a contentious legal debate. The court ruling came on May 20 after doctors had cut off food and water, on the basis of an earlier court ruling.
• Mexican bishops deplore murder of 2 young people in front of church (Fides)
  The shooting took place in Fortín de las Flores, a city of 19,000 in the state of Veracruz (map).
• As Ramadan ends, Coptic communities distribute food to poor Muslims (Fides)
  The Islamic festival of Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting.
• Vatican dicastery sees 'grave violation' in Vincent Lambert case (Vatican Press Office)
  A court order allowing the end of nutrition and hydration for Vincent Lambert is a “grave violation of the dignity of the person,” according to a May 20 statement from the Vatican’s dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life. The statement noted that “to nourish a sick person never constitutes form of unreasonable therapeutic obstinacy, as long as the person is able to receive nutrition and hydration” without intolerable suffering. To stop such care, the statement said, is “a form of abandonment of the patient.”
• Vatican reports new strides toward financial transparency (Vatican News)
  The Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (FIA) has reported significant new progress toward full transparency, in its annual report for the past year. René Bruhart, the president of FIA, said that in 2018 the agency flagged 56 instances of suspicious financial activity, and sent 11 reports to Vatican prosecutors for further investigation; one such report resulted in the first-ever conviction for money-laundering at the Vatican. The FIA also expanded its cooperation with financial regulators in other countries, and completed the process of entering the Vatican into the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).
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