Catholic News

• Pope Francis assures Russian Orthodox leader of his prayers (ANSA)
  On May 24—the day on which many Orthodox Christians commemorate Saints Cyril and Methodius according to the Julian calendar—Pope Francis sent name-day greetings to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. “The feast of Saint Cyril, the great apostle of the Slavs, gives me the opportunity to send you my best wishes and to assure you of prayers for Your Holiness and for the Church entrusted to your pastoral care,” Pope Francis said. “In these days I pray to our heavenly Father that the Holy Spirit will renew us and strengthen us in the ministry of the Gospel, especially in our efforts to protect the value and dignity of every human life,” the Pope added.
• Vatican newspaper sounds alarm about 'specter of a disastrous global food crisis' (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))
  L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, devoted the most prominent coverage in its May 24 edition to the “specter of a disastrous global food crisis,” especially in the nations of the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia that rely on Ukrainian grain exports. The Vatican newspaper article (“Grain: A War in the War”) cited remarks made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, statistics from the Italian agricultural agency Coldiretti, and reports from CNN, The Guardian, and The Times on the grain shortage and a possible military response to the Russian blockade of Ukrainian grain exports.
• Life 'is always sacred and inviolable,' Pope Francis says (CNA)
  “I thank you for your dedication in promoting life and defending conscientious objection, which there are often attempts to limit,” Pope Francis said to participants in Italy’s national Scegliamo la vita [Let’s Choose Life] event. “Sadly, in these last years, there has been a change in the common mentality, and today we are more and more led to think that life is a good at our complete disposal, that we can choose to manipulate, to give birth or take life as we please, as if it were the exclusive consequence of individual choice,” the Pope added. “Let us remember that life is a gift from God! It is always sacred and inviolable, and we cannot silence the voice of conscience.”
• Hong Kong diocese will not hold Tiananmen Square memorial Mass (Hong Kong Free Press)
  On June 4, 1989, the Chinese government cracked down on protestors in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. After some diocesan staff expressed concern that the Mass might violate the national security law, the Mass was canceled.
• Chinese bishop's whereabouts remain unknown a year after his arrest (CNS)
  Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu of Xinxiang, a city of 6.2 million in (map), was arrested in May 2021. AsiaNews and UCA News have also reported on the anniversary of his arrest.
• Gunmen invade Nigerian church, kidnap priests, others (Punch (Nigeria))
  The abductions took place in Katsina State (map), in the Diocese of Sokoto. Recently, in the words of the report, “rampaging hoodlums torched and vandalized some parishes” there after Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah condemned the gruesome murder of a student who was accused of blasphemy against Muhammad.
• North Macedonian leader meets with Pope (Vatican News)
  Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski of North Macedonia met privately with Pope Francis for 15 minutes on May 23. North Macedonia, a nation of 2.1 million (map), is 64% Christian (62% Orthodox) and 31% Muslim; the Pope made an apostolic journey there in 2019.
• 'God have mercy': bishops respond to Texas school shooting (USCCB)
  The US Conference of Catholic Bishops and Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio have issued statements following the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas. “There have been too many school shootings, too much killing of the innocent,” said USCCB spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi. “Our Catholic faith calls us to pray for those who have died and to bind the wounds of others, and we join our prayers along with the community in Uvalde and [San Antonio] Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller.” “As we do so, each of us also needs to search our souls for ways that we can do more to understand this epidemic of evil and violence and implore our elected officials to help us take action,” she added. “God have mercy on our children, their families, their communities,” said Archbishop García-Siller. “Darkness is dense with one more shooting in our country. Let us help one another to spark light and warmth. May we keep each other in company. Prayers are needed.”
• Almost 12,000 people attend the beatification of Pauline Jaricot (CNA)
  Blessed Pauline Jaricot (1799-1862), a laywoman from Lyon, France, founded the Society of the Propagation of the Faith and the Association of the Living Rosary. “She was a courageous woman, attentive to the changes taking place at the time, and had a universal vision regarding the Church’s mission,” Pope Francis said on the day of her beatification. “May her example enkindle in everyone the desire to participate through prayer and charity in the spread of the Gospel throughout the world.” Prior to her beatification, the Pontiff encourage the Pontifical Mission Societies to follow her example.
• Ukrainians expect 'proper assessment' of war from Holy See, Major Archbishop tells Vatican foreign minister (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church)
  During his three-day visit to Ukraine, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, met with Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Major Archbishop Shevchuk welcomed the visit as “a very powerful diplomatic sign of support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people from the Apostolic See.” At the same time, the prelate conveyed “the expectations of Ukrainians regarding the role of the Apostolic See in the current situation of Russia’s war against Ukraine.” Major Archbishop Shevchuk told Archbishop Gallagher that Ukrainians expect the Vatican “to give a proper assessment of this war in terms of both international law and Christian morality” and to “play its role in stopping aggression.”
• USCCB action alert: Ask Congress to strengthen the Child Tax Credit (USCCB)
  “Last year, more than 36 million families received a monthly payment through the expanded Child Tax Credit program,” the US Conference of Catholic Bishops stated in its action alert. “The expanded credit proved to be extremely effective at reducing child poverty, lifting 3.7 million children above the poverty line. Unfortunately, the expansions expired at the end of the year.”
• Archbishop named Detroit auxiliary bishop (USCCB)
  In an unusual move, Pope Francis has appointed an American archbishop as an Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit. Archbishop Paul Russell, 63, was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston in 1987 and ordained to the episcopate in 2016. From 2016 to 2021, he was Apostolic Nuncio to Turkey and Turkmenistan, and from 2018, concurrently Apostolic Nuncio to Azerbaijan. He was previously the Vatican’s leading diplomat in Taiwan.
• Ukrainian Orthodox parishes breaking ties with Moscow patriarchate (Pillar)
  As a May 27 meeting of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate looms later this week, many Orthodox parishes are leaving that body to ally themselves with the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev Patriarchate. One survey shows that since February, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine commenced, the number of Ukrainians allied with the Moscow patriarchate has dropped from 15% to 4% of the Orthodox community.
• Cardinal Zen enters not-guilty plea (AP)
  Cardinal Joseph Zen appeared in a Hong Kong court on May 24, to answer a charge that he and five co-defendants violated Chinese law by failing to gain government approval for an organization that helped democracy activists with their legal costs. Cardinal Zen and his associates entered not-guilty pleas, and face a September trial. If convicted they could face a heavy fine, but the government may also add further charges under a tough new national-security law.
• Papal telegram for Michigan tornado victims (Vatican Press Office)
  Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s Secretary of State, has sent a telegram of condolence in the Pope’s name to Bishop Jeffrey Walsh of Gaylord following a deadly tornado in the northern Michigan city.
• Vatican must support Ukraine, Polish archbishop says (CNS)
  Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, the president of the Polish bishops’ conference, argues that it is “crucially important that the Holy See supports Ukraine” in the current conflict. The Polish archbishop said that current Vatican policy betrays a “naive and utopian” approach, and places an undue emphasis on continued friendly ties with Russia.
• Pelosi and the archbishop(s): what next? [News Analysis] (CWN)
  by Phil Lawler
• German bishops' leader presses Pope for changes in Church teaching (CNA)
  The chairman of the German bishops’ conference has expressed disappointment that Pope Francis has not endorsed changes in Church teaching on homosexuality and women’s ordination, but allowed that the Pontiff is “doing what he can.” Bishop Georg Bätzing said that the Church’s doctrine must change, and praised the Pope for “initiating a process where all these questions are put on the table.” In a May 22 interview, Bishop Bätzing said that he would consider leaving the Catholic Church—as did another prominent German cleric, Father Andreas Sturm—if he “got the impression that nothing would ever change.”
• Orthodox churches trade accusations as war continues in Ukraine (Church Times)
  The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) said that the formation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) helped provoke the Russian invasion—prompting strong criticism from the OCU’s13-member Synod. The OCU, which was granted canonical recognition by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 2019, was formed from the 2018 union of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchate) and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, neither of which had received canonical recognition. “One of the main creators, inspirers, and propagandists of this fascist ideology, now dominant in Russia, is the head of the Moscow Patriarchate; it was and remains the basis for the occupation of our land, murder of our citizens, and destruction of our cities and villages, as well as for attempts to destroy our statehood and very identity,” the OCU said in its response. “Yet these hierarchs cannot find courage in their public statements to condemn the ideology, or the actions of their Patriarch.”
• Pelosi receives Communion despite ban (Religion News)
  Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi attended Mass and apparently received Communion on Sunday, May 22, despite the order by San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone barring her from the Eucharist. Pelosi attended Mass in Washington, DC, at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown, a Jesuit-administered parish where President Joe Biden often worships. The Washington archdiocese has announced that Cardinal Wilton Gregory will not instruct priests to adhere to Archbishop Cordileone’s order.
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