CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News

Vatican releases preparatory document for extraordinary meeting on Amoris Laetitia (CWN)

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 05:07:43 GMT

The Holy See Press Office, General Secretariat of the Synod, and Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life released the preparatory document for the upcoming Vatican meeting on the tenth anniversary of Amoris Laetitia.

Pope begins 3-week stay in Castel Gandolfo (Vatican News)

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 05:07:22 GMT

Pope Leo XIV began a three-week stay at the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo on the evening of July 5.

“I am very happy to be here among you and to spend the next few weeks with a little rest, a little prayer, a little reading, and, hopefully, a little sport here in Castel Gandolfo,” Pope Leo said to local residents upon his arrival. “Coming together is always an important moment, and I am happy that you are all here. Thank you for your welcome, and thank you for being brothers and sisters.”

For centuries, the popes have customarily spent at least part of their summers in Castel Gandolfo. Pope Francis abandoned the custom after 2013; Pope Leo resumed it last year, to the delight of local residents.

Vatican's Archbishop Gallagher has 'frank and illuminating' meeting with Nigerian sultan (The Sun (Lagos))

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 06:07:23 GMT

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, met in Nigeria with Sa’adu Abubakar, the sultan of Sokoto and president of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.

“We had a very frank and illuminating conversation,” Archbishop Gallagher told journalists after the July 6 meeting. “It was good to hear that many of our positions regarding the role of religious leaders, both on the Catholic side and the Muslim side, coincide. For me, this is a reason for optimism regarding the religious cohesion of the country and our shared commitment to working for the good of all Nigerians.”

Salisu Shehu, the council’s deputy-secretary general, said that “there was a strong call for all religious and faith communities to work together to combat hate speech, especially the growing and unfortunate phenomenon whereby some individuals openly insult religious leaders who are highly respected within their various faith communities.”

Nigeria, a nation of 243 million (map)--the most populous in Africa and sixth most populous in the world—is 47% Muslim, 46% Christian (11% Catholic), and 7% ethnic religionist.

4 attacks reported on Christians in West Bengal (Matters India)

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 06:07:44 GMT

On July 5, at least four incidents of anti-Christian violence took place in the Indian state of West Bengal (map).

Matters India, based in Delhi, reported that

a mob attacked the home of a Christian widow in Murshidabad, “demanding she abandon her faith and donate her property for conversion into a [Hindu] temple”
activists “seized Bibles and briefly detained worshippers” at a Protestant prayer meeting in Bankura
attackers “broke windows, desecrated the altar, and damaged musical instruments” at a Mizo Synod [Presbyterian] church in Suvas Gram
a mob attacked Grace Church at Faridpur during a Sunday service, assaulting the pastor and members of the congregation

Matters India linked the attacks against Christians—as well as recent intimidation of Muslims—to a new Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal. The state is 71% Hindu, 27% Muslim, and 0.7% Christian.

Lebanese Christian villages deny they wish to be annexed by Israel (France 24)

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 07:07:34 GMT

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told Fox News that “Christian villages in Lebanon, some of them have actually asked to be annexed to Israel, because we protect them against the Hezbollah.”

Hanna al-Amil, mayor of the Christian village of Rmaish, responded that “15 Christian towns had issued a statement two days ago denying these allegations.” France 24 reported that most Christian villages in southern Lebanon “have remained inhabited despite Israeli evacuation orders, with residents choosing to stay to protect their homes, churches and farmland.”

The prime minister made his remarks four months after the beginning of the Lebanon war, during which Israel has occupied part of southern Lebanon.

US State Department demands release of detained Nicaraguan bishop (Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs)

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 07:07:49 GMT

The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs called for the release of Bishop Abelardo Mata, 80, following his detention by the Nicaraguan regime.

“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Nicaraguan Bishop Abelardo Mata who has been arbitrarily detained by the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship,” the Bureau stated. “80-year old Bishop Mata poses no threat to the regime and his health is fragile.”

Archbishop Coakley calls for simpler presentation of synodality (CNS)

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 07:07:54 GMT

Following a recent synodal planning meeting in Rome, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops called for a simpler presentation of synodality.

“Synodality is often presented and perceived by many as a cumbersome and complicated process with language and terminology that is unfamiliar to most Catholics,” said Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City. “Unless we can simplify how synodality is presented, it risks becoming the exclusive domain of specialists or ‘the initiated’ rather than a way of simply living our faith together.”

The Church in the United States is “very accustomed to welcoming and fostering lay involvement, from both men and women, at every level of Church life,” Archbishop Coakley added. “We need to continue to deepen our practice of discernment within those bodies and to develop and deepen an appropriate spirituality based on discernment and rooted in prayer.”

New nuncio begins mission in Ecuador (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 05:07:43 GMT

Archbishop Dagoberto Campos Salas, the new apostolic nuncio to Ecuador, recently began his mission there.

During a June 16 meeting with President Daniel Noa, the nuncio “conveyed the greetings of the Holy Father, Leo XIV, to the Ecuadorian people,” the Vatican newspaper reported on July 6. “For his part, the Head of State expressed his willingness to keep channels of collaboration and dialogue open with the Holy See and the local Catholic Church.”

Archbishop Campos, a native of Costa Rica, previously served as apostolic nuncio to Liberia, Gambia and Sierra Leone (2018-2022) and to Panama (2022-2026).

Located in South America, Ecuador, a nation of 18.5 million (map), is 95% Christian (83% Catholic). Pope Francis made an apostolic journey there in 2015.

Writer Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt reflects on meeting with Pope Leo (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 06:07:55 GMT

In an interview with the Vatican newspaper, Franco-Belgian author Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt reflected on his writing, as well as on a recent papal audience with writers in which he took part.

Schmitt, a convert from atheism to Catholicism, said that he was most struck by Pope Leo’s reference to empathy. Schmitt commented:

For a writer, whether a believer or not, the defining characteristic of a storyteller, novelist, or playwright is the ability to become all the characters in one’s story and to enable the spectator or reader to become those characters as well. It is the fundamental experience of shared humanity, of approaching otherness, of desire, and of engaging with the “other” and its mystery.

I truly believe that empathy is the primary quality a writer must possess. The Pope hit the nail on the head.

Texas bishop: SSPX schism an 'occasion of mourning' (Diocese of San Angelo)

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 07:07:42 GMT

Bishop Michael Sis of San Angelo, Texas, described the ordination of four SSPX bishops without a papal mandate as “ a serious rupture to the unity of the Church” and “an occasion of mourning and sadness even in our diocese in West Texas.”

Bishop Sis encouraged Catholics who wish to attend the traditional Latin Mass to do so at the diocesan parish where it is celebrated, and assured those associated with the SSPX of his “pastoral concern as a shepherd” and “desire to assist in this difficult time.”

Recalling 1st Mass in Florida and American saints, Pope praises USA's Eucharistic heritage (CWN)

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 08:07:05 GMT

Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to the “strong, though largely unknown, Eucharistic heritage of the United States of America” in a video message for the conclusion of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.

Pope pays tribute to newly beatified Vietnamese martyr, prays for Venezuelan earthquake victims (Dicastery for Communication)

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 08:07:03 GMT

At the conclusion of his July 5 Angelus address, Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to Blessed Trương Bửu Diệp (1897-1946), who was beatified in Vietnam on July 2.

The priest, slain by Japanese soldiers, “was killed in 1946 in hatred of the faith,” Pope Leo said. “Amid oppression and violence, he defended the rights of the people and did not abandon his parishioners. May his intercession and prayers strengthen all those who proclaim the Gospel in situations of persecution today.”

The Pontiff also said that he continued to “remember in my prayers the victims of the earthquake and all the Venezuelan people. May the Lord sustain them in this time of great hardship.”

Planned Parenthood to receive Medicaid funds again as defunding provision expires (OSV News)

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 07:07:39 GMT

A one-year federal ban on Medicaid funding for abortion providers expired on July 4, paving the way for Planned Parenthood to receive Medicaid funds again.

“We are urging the House and the Senate to pass a reconciliation bill that keeps our Medicaid dollars out of the hands of big abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood,” said Kelsey Pritchard of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

Pope visits with US ambassador on July 4 (@USinHolySee)

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 09:07:49 GMT

On July 4, Pope Leo XIV visited with Brian Burch, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, and his family.

The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See stated that “Ambassador Burch and the Holy Father discussed President Trump‘s bold leadership and American efforts to pursue peace, religious freedom, and the need for moral clarity and courage around the world.”

The embassy also stated that “the Ambassador and his family presented the Holy Father a USA World Cup jersey, a commemorative Freedom 250 baseball, and a homemade apple pie,” and that “Pope Leo confirmed he is rooting for the country of his birth in the World Cup.”

Vatican diplomat laments plight of Sudanese civilians (Holy See Mission)

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 10:07:27 GMT

A Vatican diplomat lamented the plight of civilians in El Obeid, Sudan, who are at risk of atrocities amid the nation’s civil war.

“My delegation is particularly concerned by the tightening obstruction of humanitarian access, and the siege-like conditions in which food, water and fuel are scarce, and essential city services are under attack,” Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, said during a UN Human Rights Council meeting on July 3.

“Starving civilians can never be a method of warfare,” Archbishop Balestrero continued. “All parties must comply with international humanitarian law, protect and uphold human rights, step back from any assault upon El Obeid, open safe corridors for those in need, and ensure unimpeded humanitarian access.”

The Lord carries the cross with us, Pope tells pilgrims (CWN)

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 08:07:22 GMT

Giving of oneself, out of love, “constitutes Jesus’ yoke, which is the essence of his teaching and the heart of his wisdom,” Pope Leo XIV said during his July 5 Angelus address (video).

Bishops, in pastoral letter, link America's founding principles to Ukraine's fight for freedom (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church)

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 10:07:18 GMT

In the joint pastoral letter, the bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the United States paid tribute to the nation’s founding ideals and to the Ukrainian Catholic contribution to American life.

The bishops also applied the principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence to Ukraine today:

Ukrainians are not fighting for territory alone. They are fighting for the same truths that the Founders called self-evident: that human beings are created equal, that their rights come from God and not from governments, and that no empire has the authority to extinguish them.

Freedom is not free. Americans have known this and have paid for it in blood throughout their history. Today Ukrainians are paying the same price in their own blood. Their struggle, however, is not for Ukraine alone. It is a witness to the world that the principles of the American founding are not the property of one nation or one moment in history. They are universal, and they are always worth defending.

Washington, DC cardinal reflects on patriotism (Catholic Standard)

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 09:07:29 GMT

In his July 5 homily, “The Meaning of Patriotism As We Celebrate Our Nation’s Birth,” Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington preached that “we stand in awe of the vision” that the nation’s founders “emblazoned on this new continent, and of the community and nation that have been built during these past two and a half centuries.”

“As we celebrate this great moment that marks our nation’s past and calls us to its future, let us as people of faith embrace a patriotism rooted both in the founding vision of our nation and in our deep love for the specific culture and society in which we live,” Cardinal McElroy preached. “And let us also as people of faith constantly reform both of these foundations of patriotism in the light of the Gospel and the Beatitudes which are the template for our transformation of the world.”

“For we must always, in patriotism, be moving forward, never complacent, always aspirational and called to the greatness, the true greatness to which our country should move,” he concluded.

Papal praise for Columbanus Day, celebrated in honor of Irish saint (CWN)

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 08:07:05 GMT

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, sent a letter in the Holy Father’s name to the bishop of Lodi, Italy, for the 27th celebration of Columbanus Day.

Pastor freed from prison in China, weeks after President Trump requested his release (AP)

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 09:07:04 GMT

A prominent Chinese Protestant pastor, Jin Mingri, was freed from prison and arrived in Los Angeles, his family announced on July 4.

However, at least eight other members of the Beijing Zion Church, which Mingri founded, remain in prison.

During his recent visit to China, President Donald Trump advocated for Jin’s release, along with the release of lay Catholic Jimmy Lai, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February.