Catholic News

• Archbishop Gomez, in letter to the faithful, defends St. Junípero Serra (Angelus News)
  “Unfortunately, we will probably have to relocate some statues to our beloved saint or risk their desecration,” the archbishop of Los Angeles said. “Fray Junípero is a saint for our times, the spiritual founder of Los Angeles, a champion of human rights, and this country’s first Hispanic saint.”
• New Amazon ecclesial conference will 'carry forward synodal journey' (Vatican News)
  The new Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon is an outgrowth of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, which was held last October and resulted in the Pope’s February apostolic exhortation, Querida Amazonia.
• Msgr. Georg Ratzinger dies at 96 (Vatican News)
  Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, the older brother of Pope-emeritus Benedict, died on July 1, at the age of 96. The retired Pontiff had traveled to Regensburg, Germany, just two weeks ago, to visit his ailing brother for the last time.
• Cardinal Pell: no excuse for financial inefficiency, corruption (CNA)
  “To say that the Church is not a business provides no justification for us to be inefficient much less for us to be corrupt.” Those were the words of Cardinal George Pell, the former prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, in a video address to a conference on church management. Cardinal Pell recalled that Mother Teresa had said that clerics face temptations on two major fronts, sexuality and money, and “she thought that the danger from money was greater and stronger than that from errant sexuality.”
• Guam archdiocese cuts support for convicted archbishop (CNA)
  The Archdiocese of Agana, Guam, will cut off its financial support for former Archbishop Anthony Apuron, who was removed from office last year after the Vatican found him guilty on sex-abuse charges. Ordinarily a diocese is obligated by canon law to provide lifetime support for a retired bishop, but the Vatican had stripped Archbishop Apuron of his office. The Agana archdiocese is now in bankruptcy due to abuse judgments.
• Cardinal Zen has 'no confidence' in future for religious freedom in Hong Kong (CNA)
  Cardinal Joseph Zen says that he has “no confidence” the Chinese government will respect religious freedom under Hong Kong’s new security laws. The retired prelate’s stand contrasts with that of his successor, Cardinal John Tong Hon, who has said that he does not foresee dangers for religious freedom in Hong Kong.
• Cardinal Barbarin 'content' with new duty as convent chaplain (CNS)
  Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who resigned in March from his post as Archbishop of Lyon, says that he is “contented and happy” to take up a new assignment as a convent chaplain. Cardinal Barbarin was first convicted, then acquitted, of charges that he covered up sexual abuse. Despite his ultimate acquittal he resigned, saying that popular hostility toward him might make it impossible for the Lyon archdiocese to “open a new chapter.”
• Orthodox Patriarch fears conversion of Hagia Sophia into mosque (AsiaNews)
  Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople has warned that the conversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque—a project favored by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan—would raise tensions between Christians and Muslims in Turkey.
• Kenyan government to demolish Catholic hospital to reclaim forest land (CNS)
  “There is no institution like it which serves the poor and less fortunate,” said Father Maloba Wesonga of the Archdiocese of Nairobi.
• Myanmar bishops call for end to conflicts, investment in peace (Vatican News)
  Buddhism is the official religion of the Southeast Asian nation of 56.1 million (map); the nation is 76% Buddhist, 8% ethnic religionist, 8% Christian, and 4% Muslim. Pope Francis made an apostolic journey there in 2017.
• In Rome, religious superiors unveil anti-abuse initiatives (Vatican News)
  The initiatives, according to the International Union of Superiors General, “form a world-wide initiative to join with those who are focusing on moving children from institutional-based care to family-based care.”
• Clash of jihadists unsettles West Africa (Wall Street Journal)
  Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, and their affiliates, are active in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Chad.
• 383 new permanent deacons ordained in US in 2019 (USCCB)
  “At the same time, 334 deacons retired from active ministry and another 289 deacons died,” the USCCB said at it released its annual survey on the permanent diaconate. “As is the case with priests in the United States, there are not enough new permanent deacons being ordained to make up for the numbers who are retiring from active ministry or dying each year.”
• Black Catholics reflect on fight against racism (Angelus News)
  “Both abortion and racism are part of the culture of death,” said Louis Brown, executive director of the health care nonprofit Christ Medicus. “The right to life beginning with the unborn is the preeminent social issue of our time because of its gravity. But fighting against racism is an outgrowth of fighting to advance the right to life.”
• 2 Texas bishops test positive for CO19 (National Catholic Register)
  Retired Galveston-Houston Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza, 89, was president of the US bishops’ conference from 1998 to 2001. Retired Auxiliary Bishop Vincent Rizzotto, who also has contracted the virus, is 88.
• Indiana priest under fire for comments on Black Lives Matter (Indianapolis Star)
  “They are wolves in wolves clothing, masked thieves and bandits, seeking only to devour the life of the poor and profit from the fear of others,” Very Rev. Theodore Rothrock, VF, of the Diocese of Lafayette (Indiana) wrote in his weekly message. “They are maggots and parasites at best, feeding off the isolation of addiction and broken families, and offering to replace any current frustration and anxiety with more misery and greater resentment.”
• Missionary fears Congo's CO19 lockdown will lead to Pygmy hunger deaths (Aid to the Church in Need)
  Father Franck Bango is the pastor of the first parish for Pygmies in the Congo Republic (map).
• Texas bishop laments Supreme Court decisions on abortion, death penalty (Diocese of El Paso)
  “One decision hands the administration the keys to the death chamber by clearing the way to the resumption of federal executions,” said Bishop Mark Seitz, whom Pope Francis recently praised for his protest of George Floyd’s death. “The court’s other decision devastatingly furthers the acceptability of abortion in our culture, elevating a tragically flawed and destructive notion of autonomy over even basic medical standards for women.”
• July papal prayer intention: our families (Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network)
  The Pope’s July prayer intention, disseminated by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostleship of Prayer), is “that today’s families may be accompanied with love, respect, and guidance.”
• Priest 'thoroughly surprised' to have asteroid named after him (CNA)
  Father Christopher Corbally, SJ (biography) is president of the National Committee for Astronomy (International Astronomical Union) for the Vatican City State.
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