Catholic News

• 'With war, everything is lost,' Pope Francis says in Italian TV interview (EWTN Vatican)
  An estimated 1.66 million viewers watched a June 4 broadcast of an interview with Pope Francis on RAI, the Italian public television network.
• Leading Chinese political philosopher, Ratzinger scholar named to pontifical academy (CWN)
  On June 5, Pope Francis named three scholars, including a Chinese critic of political equality and a leading Australian theologian, to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
• Pope prays for victims of India train accident, remembers victims of war (Vatican News)
  “I assure my prayer for the many victims of the railway accident that occurred two days ago in India,” Pope Francis said on June 4, in reference to an Odisha train collision that killed 275 people. “I am close to the wounded and their families. May the heavenly Father welcome the souls of the deceased into his kingdom.” The Pope also entrusted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, “caring Mother, the populations afflicted by the scourge of war, especially the dear and beleaguered Ukraine.”
• Penitential rite held at St. Peter's Basilica following desecration of Altar of Confession (CWN)
  Two days after a naked man jumped on the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, OFM Conv, led a penitential rite in reparation for the act of desecration.
• Cardinal Zuppi, papal envoy, in Kyiv for peace talks (Vatican Press Office)
  Cardinal Matteo Zuppi is making a two-day visit to Kyiv, June 4-5, as the personal representative of Pope Francis, hoping to lay the groundwork for a ceasefire in Ukraine. The Vatican press office said that the purpose of his visit is “to listen in depth to the Ukrainian authorities about possible ways to achieve a just peace and to support gestures of humanity that will help ease tensions.” Cardinal Zuppi is expected next to travel to Moscow for similar talks with Russian officials.
• Pope warns Pontifical Mission Societies of 'alleged corruption' (CWN)
  In an address to participants in the general assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies, Pope Francis spoke of “alleged corruption having occurred in the name of the Church’s missionary work.”
• Mongolian foreign minister holds talks with Vatican counterpart (AKIpress)
  Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, is visiting Mongolia from June 4-6. Archbishop Gallagher and Mongolian Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh “reaffirmed that they will work together to overcome the challenges of desertification, climate change and soil degradation facing the world,” according to the Kyrgyz news agency AKIpress. Pope Francis will begin a five-day apostolic journey to Mongolia on August 31.
• Papal master of ceremonies ordained an archbishop (CWN)
  Msgr. Diego Ravelli, Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations since 2021, was ordained an archbishop in St. Peter’s Basilica on June 3 (video).
• Pope who's a 'slow food' advocate meets with CEO of fast food empire (Crux)
  On June 5, Pope Francis received Chris Kempczinski, president and CEO of McDonald’s since 2019 (photograph).
• English bishops' annual pro-life message is written by woman who regrets her abortion (CBCEW)
  “Voices of women who have had an abortion are often silent in Church and in society,” the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales stated at the beginning of its annual Day for Life message. “This year’s message for Day for Life is written by a woman and hopes to break this silence and offer opportunities for hope, healing and reconciliation.”
• Cardinal Parolin: Current crises demand global and fraternal responses (Vatican News)
  Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s Secretary of State, addressed a conference marking the 30th anniversary of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice (CAPP) Foundation.
• Spanish biblical scholar named president of AVEPRO (CWN)
  Pope Francis has named Father Armand Puig i Tàrrech, 70, as the president of the Holy See Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of Quality in Ecclesiastical Universities and Facilities (AVEPRO).
• 30 Nobel winners to gather in St Peter's Square for human fraternity event (Vatican News)
  At a June 5 Vatican press conference, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti (archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica) and Filippo Grandi (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) discussed an international meeting on human fraternity that will take place on June 10 in St. Peter’s Square.
• Moscow: no plans yet for papal envoy's visit (Tass)
  While Cardinal Matteo Zuppi is in Kyiv this week for peace talks, a Russian government spokesman says that the papal envoy has not yet scheduled a visit to Moscow. The spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that the Russian leader expected to hear from Cardinal Zuppi after the prelate’s visit to Kyiv. As for a subsequent trip to Moscow, he said: “We will inform you if it is penciled in.”
• Confirmed: Pope Francis to make apostolic journey to Mongolia (Vatican Press Office)
  Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See Press Office, announced on June 3 that Pope Francis will make an apostolic journey to Mongolia from August 31 to September 4. The nation is home to only 1,300 Catholics, but is strategically important, as it is surrounded by Russia and China. The Pontiff discussed the possibility of a trip to Mongolia at a February in-flight press conference, and more recently, during a similar press conference at the end of April.
• 'God is a communion of love,' Pope tells pilgrims on Trinity Sunday (Vatican Press Office)
  During his Angelus address on Trinity Sunday, Pope Francis reflected on John 3:16-18, the Gospel reading of the day. “Do we bear witness to God-as-love?” the Pope asked pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square. “If God is love, do our communities bear witness to this? ... Do we keep the door open always, do we know how to welcome everyone – and I emphasize, everyone – to welcome them as brothers and sisters?” “God is love, God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and he gave his life for us, for this cross,” the Pope concluded. “And may Mary help us to live the Church as that home where one loves in a familiar way, to the glory of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
• 'Love your roots,' Pope tells pilgrims from hometowns of Saints John XXIII, Paul VI (Vatican Press Office)
  Pope Francis received pilgrims from Sotto il Monte and Concesio, the small northern Italian towns in which Pope St. John XXIII (1881-1963) and Pope St. Paul VI (1897-1978) were born. Pope Francis addressed the pilgrims on June 3, the 60th anniversary of the death of Pope John XXIII. “Let us give thanks to the Lord that he gave them, in your towns, a land that is fertile and rich in holiness in which to set down their roots and grow, and because he made you too, as he did your parents, your grandparents, and the many who lived, loved, worked, sowed and harvested, rejoiced and cried in your towns and in your countryside before you, a good and generous soil in which small seeds of goodness can germinate and grow for the future,” the Pope said. “Love your roots, do not detach the tree from its roots: it will not bear fruit,” the Pope added. “Always try to progress in harmony with your roots, in tune with your roots.”
• Mexican bishops, Pope discuss migration, sociopolitical challenges (Vatican News)
  On June 2, Pope Francis received a group of bishops from central Mexico, who were in Rome for their ad limina visit.
• Climate-change action 'cannot be postponed,' Pope says (Vatican News)
  On June 5, Pope Francis met in a private audience with the promoters of the Green and Blue Festival, a celebration of World Environment Day. In his remarks the Pope remarked that “the first great United Nations Conference on the Human Environment” took place more than 50 years ago: in Stockholm on June 5, 1972. He went on to say that action to stop climate change “is urgent; it cannot be postponed.” The Stockholm conference and its successors, the Pope said, have “increased our sense of responsibility before God, who entrusted the care of creation to us, before our neighbor and before future generations.”
• Opus Dei leader meets with Pope (CWN)
  Pope Francis received Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz, the Prelate of Opus Dei since 2017, on June 3.
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