Catholic News

• UK report finds that worldwide persecution of Christians is growing in scope, severity (ChristianPersecutionReview.org.uk)
  The report was commissioned by British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and written by the Rt. Rev. Philip Mounstephen, Anglican bishop of Truro. The final report’s publication follows an interim report issued in May. As the report was issue, Hunt pledged a “sea change in our approach” to persecuted Christians.
• USCCB president condemns threat of widespread immigration enforcement actions, new rule drastically limiting asylum (USCCB)
  On July 14, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched a nationwide deportation sweep that President Donald Trump had announced, delayed, and re-announced. On July 16, an interim final rule on asylum, announced the previous day, went into effect; under the rule, “asylum-seeking immigrants who pass through a third country en route to the US must first apply for refugee status in that country rather than at the US border,” NPR reported. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo commented, “It is contrary to American and Christian values to attempt to prevent people from migrating here when they are fleeing to save their lives and to find safety for their families.”
• Survivors of religious persecution speak at Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom (US Department of State)
  Participants in the 2nd Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom heard from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Yezidi survivors of religious persecution, as well as from ambassadors, cabinet ministers, and other officials.
• Vatican official: Christians face 'complete purge' in some countries, discrimination in democracies (Vatican News)
  The Under-Secretary for Relations with States, Msgr. Antoine Camilleri, spoke at the Rome release of the UK report on the worldwide persecution of Christians. “Even in established democracies,” the prelate said, there is an increasing tendency “to criminalize or penalize religious leaders for presenting the basic tenets of their faith, especially regarding the areas of life, marriage, and the family.”
• Russian Orthodox Church considers ban on blessing weapons of mass destruction (RNS)
  The report comes as the United States and Russia discuss nuclear arms limits. Comparing nuclear weapons to guardian angels, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, chairman of the Synodal Department for the Cooperation of Church and Society of the Moscow Patriarchate from 2009 to 2015, said, “Only nuclear weapons protect Russia from enslavement by the West.”
• Abbey Psalms and Canticles will gradually be incorporated into Lectionary, Liturgy of the Hours (USCCB)
  The translation, prepared by the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey, will be “more accurate and more conducive to singing and recitation,” according to US Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Holy See approved the translation of the Psalms in 2010 and the translation of the canticles in 2016; the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has purchased the copyrights; the Abbey Psalms were formerly called the Revised Grail Psalter.
• Leading Venezuelan prelate renews criticism of Maduro regime (Vatican News)
  The president of the bishop’s conference, Archbishop Jose Luis Azuaje Ayala of Maracaibo, told Vatican News that Nicolás Maduro rules Venezuela illegitimately because the 2018 presidential election was “full of irregularities.” The prelate added, “In Maracaibo [the second-largest city], the lights go out every 5 or 6 hours. There is no water ... We continue to insist on the need for political change in the country, because without it there will be no change in the economic or social system.”
• Secretary Pompeo convenes 2nd Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom (US Department of State)
  The 2nd Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom brings together 1,000 foreign ministers, religious leaders, and others from 115 nations. “77% of world’s population, 5.5 billion, live in 83 countries with high or very high restrictions on the practice of religion,” said Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Military Services, who chairs the US bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace. “I am pleased to participate in this Ministerial, and support our government’s efforts to promote freedom of conscience and religion for all.”
• Cardinal-patriarch fears Iraq could be caught in middle of a US-Iran conflict (CNS)
  Born in 1948, Cardinal Louis Raphaël I Sako has led the Chaldean Catholic Church since 2013. The church is among the Eastern Catholic churches in full communion with the Holy See.
• 'We must honor the humanity and basic needs of migrants,' 3 leading US prelates declare (The Hill)
  Cardinal Daniel DiNardo (president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops), Archbishop José Gomez (USCCB vice president), and Bishop Joe Vásquez (chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration) called on “Congress and the administration to work together to reach a rapid and just solution to this crisis that does not involve eviscerating US refugee and asylum law.”
• A closer look at how religious restrictions have risen around the world (Pew Research Center)
  “Since 2007, increasing number of countries have high/very high levels of government restrictions on religion [and] social hostilities involving religion,” according to the report.
• Vatican spokesman discusses Teutonic Cemetery investigation (Vatican News)
  36 years after the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, the Vatican’s decision to open two tombs is “a sign of particular attention and human and Christian closeness to the Orlandi family,” said Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication. “It is certainly not—as has been said—an admission by the Vatican of a possible involvement in the concealment of a corpse.”
• Catholic Charities USA 'strongly opposes' ICE deportation raids (Catholic Charities USA)
  “The threats of deportation and family separation are causing anxiety and fear within the vulnerable communities our agencies serve, endangering immigrant rights and safety,” said Sister Donna Markham. “Most significant is the lasting psychological damage family separation inflicts upon children. Such cruel behavior will impact children for the rest of their lives.”
• Vatican dicastery issues statement on death of Vincent Lambert (Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life)
  “The world has once again been stunned by the inexplicably relentless suppression of innocent and fragile human life,” the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life said in a statement lamenting “an ever-increasing number of exceptions to the fundamental legal principle of the protection of human life.” Pope Francis and the Vatican newspaper also mourned the French accident victim’s death by starvation.
• Bishop offers to mediate as Dominican Republic faces constitutional crisis (Fides)
  Danilo Medina, the president of the Caribbean nation, is seeking a change to the nation’s constitution so that he may run for a 3rd consecutive term.
• Iconic glass-paned California church converted to Catholic cathedral (AP)
  “It would have cost hundreds of millions to build from scratch, and this was a godsend when we were able to get this in bankruptcy,” Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Freyer said of Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral, now Christ Cathedral.
• Peruvian bishops appeal for calm, dialogue after president revives copper project (Fides)
  Opponents fear that the proposed Tia Maria mine will pollute water supplies and harm regional agriculture, the Reuters news agency reported.
• In Iraq, a new Catholic hospital and university bring hope to an embattled Christian community (Aid to the Church in Need)
  The institutions are located in Erbil, a city of 2 million that is the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan (map).
• Vincent Lambert dies of starvation (Vatican Press Office)
  Vincent Lambert died early on July 11 in a hospital in Reims, France, nine days after he was deprived of food and water as the result of a French court order. The Vatican released a statement promising prayers for the deceased and “those who, up to the end, were committed to assisting him with love and devotion.”
• 'It is necessary to revitalize democracy,' Argentine religious leaders say in interfaith statement (Fides)
  “Democracy atrophies, loses representativeness, becomes disenchanted if it leaves people out of their daily struggle for dignity and to build their future,” the religious leaders said in their July 9 statement. “Politics collaborates so that the people can become protagonists of its history, and so it avoids that the so-called ‘ruling classes’ believe they can fix everything.”
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