Catholic News

• Papal audience: Church born in 'fire of love' at Pentecost (Vatican Press Office)
  At his general audience on June 19, Pope Francis continued his series of talks on the Acts of the Apostles, concentrating this week on the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire. “The Church is thus born of the fire of love,” the Pope said.
• Ousted Islamist Morsi's rule was 'catastrophic,' priest says upon former Egyptian leader's death (AsiaNews)
  Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s president from 2012 to 2013, died on June 17. “We are sorry for his death and we sympathize with his family, despite the total disagreement on the way he governed the country for a year, in a catastrophic way,” said Father Rafic Greiche, president of the Media Committee of the Council of Churches of Egypt.
• Vatican cardinal calls on Catholic charismatic renewal to share Catholic faith, foster Christian unity (Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity)
  Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said in a recent message that “it is crucial also to share with our [non-Catholic] brothers and sisters what the Holy Spirit has sown in the Catholic Church, which is also intended to be a gift for them ... The communion among Christians can grow only if Christians are true disciples of Christ. It is fundamental to learn from Him how to create the bonds of communion. Therefore, ecumenism is part and parcel of our very identity as Catholics.”
• In Mexico, 26 churches are desecrated per month (Fides)
  Father Omar Sotelo Aguilar, who documents attacks on priests and churches, said that 50 priests have been murdered since 2006, with 80% of murders going unpunished. “Attacks on priests,” he added, “begin with extortion, then kidnapping, torture, and ultimately murder, with a particularly brutal violence.”
• Leading EU prelate sees ecological conversion as a 'matter of life and death' (COMECE)
  Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, of Luxembourg, president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the EU, made his remarks during a reflection day on Laudato si’, Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical letter on care for our common home.
• Father Rosica resigns from Canadian Catholic media network after plagiarism scandal (CNA)
  “I ask forgiveness for errors in not properly acknowledging individuals and attributing sources in my writings,” Father Thomas Rosica, CSB, said in a statement.
• China is harvesting organs from Falun Gong members, expert panel finds (Reuters)
  The panel found that “it was ‘beyond doubt’ that forced organ harvesting from prisoners has taken place ‘on a substantial scale by state-supported or approved organizations and individuals,’” according to the report.
• Canonical trial begins for Italian priest accused of breaking confession seal (Crux)
  Father Orazio Caputo is accused of breaking the seal “to inform members of a controversial lay group in Italy of a police investigation of their leader for the sexual abuse of minors,” according to the report. The priest also faces civil charges of aiding and abetting a criminal conspiracy.
• Kidnapped priest released, but violence continues in northern Nigeria (Fides)
  A kidnapped priest, Father Isaac Agubi, has been released after being held for two days in Nigeria. But violence against Christians continues in the north of the African nation, where more than 150 people have been killed in the past week. The violence is attributed primarily to the Boko Haram terrorist group.
• Calls for 'safeguarding revamp' of Catholic Church in Scotland in wake of abuse scandals (The Scotsman)
  The Independent Review Group, which issued a 34-page report, was chaired by Helen Liddell, a former member of Parliament, cabinet minister, and British High Commissioner to Australia.
• Capuchins choose lay brother as provincial (Crux)
  The Mid-American Province of the Capuchin order has elected a lay friar as their provincial minister. The choice of Brother Mark Shenk violates canon law, which stipulates that a layman cannot exercise control over ordained priests, but that provision has been waived by the Vatican.
• Media has helped Church on abuse, apostolic nuncio in Mexico says (Crux)
  “The attention given to us by the media is very positive, as it forces us to cleanse our Church and our hearts,” said Archbishop Franco Coppola. “It’s a necessary, even if painful purification.”
• California bishops issue pastoral statement on ecology, explore divestment from fossil fuels (California Catholic Conference)
  The bishops issued the statement for the fourth anniversary of Laudato si’, Pope Francis’s encyclical letter on care for our common home.
• Catholic health centers shut by Eritrean government (Premier)
  The East African nation of 6 million (map) has been a repressive one-party state since it gained its independence in 1993.
• Amazon bishops' network decries murder of rural union leader (Fides)
  Carlos Cabral Pereira, 58, was murdered in the northern Brazilian state of Pará (map).
• Vatican official speaks to FAO on eliminating poverty (Vatican Press Office)
  In an address to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, Msgr. Fernando Chia Arellano said that the failure to eliminate extreme poverty is due to “the deteriorating global economic situation, the worsening of environmental conditions, conflicts that disrupt and cause bloodshed in many countries, and extreme climatic phenomena.”
• Church, rights groups demand justice for slain Filipino activists (UCANews)
  “A Christian nation such as ours should promote peace and prosperity, not by killing fellow men and women, but by going to the root of the problem, which is material poverty caused by injustice,” said Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon (map).
• Violence has reached terrifying levels in Colombian city, bishop says (Fides)
  Armed groups are battling for control of Buenaventura, a city of 360,000 on Colombia’s Pacific coast, said Bishop Rubén Darío Jaramillo Montoya. “We have had 54 violent deaths so far this year, but there are many people who disappear.” Residents are being forced out of their homes, and parishioners are hesitant to attend evening Masses for fear of being abducted.
• Themes of Amazon synod's working document: 'the voice of Amazonia,' integral ecology, prophetic Church (Vatican Press Office)
  At a June 17 press conference (video), officials of the Synod of Bishops discussed the instrumentum laboris (working document) of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region, which will take place October 6-27. One official spoke of “a pastoral conversion of the Church, called to take care of the common home as part of its evangelizing mission, to teach its faithful after learning from the native peoples.” The Synod fathers will discuss married priests for areas of the Amazon region.
• Pope praises inclusivity, 'healthy disorder' of Jesuit educational federation (Fe y Alegría (Facebook))
  On June 17, Pope Francis received members of the Bogota-based educational federation Fe y Alegría [Faith and Joy]. In a series of Facebook posts that were posted that day in Spanish, English, and French, the federation made public the Pope’s words of encouragement.
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