Catholic News

• Welcome the fire of God's love, Pope Francis tells pilgrms (Zenit)
  In his August 18 Sunday Angelus address (video), Pope Francis reflected on Luke 12:49-53, the Gospel reading of the day.
• Ukrainian Catholic leader rules out 'appeasement' as fighting flares again (CNS)
  Born in 1970, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk was elected and installed as head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in 2011. The church (website, CNEWA profile) is among the Eastern Catholic churches in full communion with the Holy See.
• 'Mary walks with us, struggles with us,' Pope says in message to Paris (Vatican News)
  Four months after the fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral, Pope Francis “asks God, through the intercession of Our Lady, that the reconstruction of her architectural jewel might be a powerful sign of the rebirth and revitalization of the faith of those who have faith in Him,” in the words of a papal message to the archdiocese.
• Church must be prudent judging Medjugorje apparitions, Vatican official says (CNS)
  “I think that for the moment it is necessary to evaluate the richness of the work in Medjugorje,” said Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization. “We need to understand all of this together: why there is such a huge number of pilgrims, of prayers and to understand also how the possible apparitions in Medjugorje (relate) to the life of the Church. For that we should await the judgment the Holy Father will give. To rush this delicate matter is a mistake.”
• Pope sends well wishes to Communion and Liberation's Rimini meeting (Vatican News)
  The theme of the lay movement’s 40th Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples is “Your Name Was Born From What You Gazed Upon.”
• Iraqi Christians fear appointment of Muslim clerics as voting members of nation's highest court (Aid to the Church in Need)
  “The move, which is under consideration by the Iraqi Parliament, would bring Iraq a step closer to an Iran-like theocracy, in which non-Muslims are forced to live under Islamic Sharia law,” the article explains.
• Pope, in letter, praises 'Pope Francis Hospital Ship' initiative in Amazon (Vatican News)
  The Diocese of Óbidos, Brazil, has built a hospital boat to bring spiritual and medical care to 11 remote communities.
• Cardinal Bo: Myanmar is in desperate need of love, justice, mercy (Vatican News)
  The Southeast Asian nation of 56 million (map) is 88% Buddhist, 6% Christian, and 4% Muslim. Pope Francis made an apostolic journey to Myanmar and Bangladesh in 2017.
• Pope sends video message to new abuse prevention center in Chile (Vatican News)
  The center was created by the Catholic University of Chile and by victims of the notorious abuser Fernando Karadima.
• Court temporarily enjoins New Jersey's assisted suicide law (Religion Clause)
  An Orthodox Jewish physician filed suit to block enforcement of the law, which took effect on August 1. Bishop James Checchio of Trenton said that the law “points to the utter failure of government, and indeed all society, to care truly, authentically and humanely for the suffering and vulnerable in our midst.”
• Retired Albany bishop denies abuse allegations, steps back from ministry role (Schenectady Daily Gazette)
  “With full and complete confidence, I can say this allegation is false,” Bishop Howard Hubbard said after he was accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy in the 1990s. “I have never sexually abused anyone in my life.”
• Analyst sees population bust, demographic decline (Foreign Affairs)
  “The potential consequences of plateauing and then shrinking populations in the decades ahead are almost wholly ignored,” writes Zachary Karabell, former head of global strategies at Envestnet,. “The mismatch between expectations of a rapidly growing global population (and all the attendant effects on climate, capitalism, and geopolitics) and the reality of both slowing growth rates and absolute contraction is so great that it will pose a considerable threat in the decades ahead.”
• Hanoi denies medical care to jailed Catholic activist (AsiaNews)
  Ho Duc Hoa, 45, was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2013.
• 'Imagining leadership in a global community' is theme of LCWR keynote address (Leadership Conference of Women Religious)
  The religious superiors who belong to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious represent nearly 80% of the 44,000 religious sisters in the United States. Irish Sister Pat Murray, IBVM, the executive secretary of the International Union of Superiors General, delivered the keynote address.
• PA bishop: 'It is hard to say what reality is worse: the priests who abused children or the leaders who failed to protect them' (Diocese of Greensburg)
  Bishop Edward Malesic of Greensburg issued this statement on the first anniversary of the release of the landmark Pennsylvania grand jury report. Veteran journalist Peter Steinfels later described the report as “misleading” and “irresponsible.”
• Capuchin priest found guilty of sexually abusing girls (Washington Post)
  Father Urbano Vazquez, 47, was convicted of three counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a child and one count of misdemeanor sex abuse of a child. The incidents took place while he was assigned to a DC parish in 2015 and 2016.
• Illinois bishop issues pastoral reflection on gun violence (Diocese of Belleville)
  “Many Catholics have told me that they truly want to do something,” said Bishop Edward Braxton of Belleville. “They can see that there are no easy answers or solutions. As your Bishop and pastoral leader of a community of people who proclaim publicly that we are the disciples of the Prince of Peace, I share this uncertainty and frustration. I am convinced that we must do something as difficult and seemingly ineffective as our modest efforts might be.”
• Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church officially ceases to exist (Kyiv Post)
  Until recently, Ukraine’s Orthodox faithful were divided into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchate), and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, with only the first canonically recognized by other Orthodox churches. In December 2018, the latter two bodies united to form the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, who holds a primacy of honor among the Orthodox churches, granted canonical recognition to the OCU in January—a decision condemned by the Russian Orthodox Church.
• Proclaim and rejoice: Pope Francis reflects on the Blessed Virgin Mary's Assumption (Zenit)
  During his August 15 Angelus address (video), Pope Francis reflected on two verses from the Gospel reading of the day.
• Apostolic Penitentiary issues note on inviolability of Confession, confidentiality of spiritual direction (L'Osservatore Romano (p. 6))
  The document, dated June 29, has been published in the English edition of the Vatican newspaper.
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