- God works humbly in little things, Pope says as he warns against discouragement, doubt (Vatican Press Office)
During his June 13 Sunday Angelus address, Pope Francis reflected on Mark 4:26-34, the Gospel reading of the day. - Put priority on help for poor, Pope urges FAO (Vatican News)
In a June 14 message to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Pope Francis called for “dedication to a more just world, at the service of our defenseless and needy brothers and sisters.” He said that as the world economy opens up following the Covid lockdown, higher priority should be given to the poor. He mentioned in particularly the poor living in rural areas that depend on agriculture for income. - Papal plea for 150 million victims of forced child labor (Vatican Press Office)
“Yesterday, [the] World Day Against Child Labour was celebrated,” Pope Francis said on June 13. “It is not possible to close our eyes before the exploitation of children, deprived of the right to play, to study and to dream. According to the estimates of the International Labour Organization, more than 150 million children are exploited by labour: this is a tragedy! . . . Let us all together renew the effort to eliminate this slavery of our times.” (See related CWN article.) - Pope demands food aid reach starving people of Tigray (AP)
Ethiopian and Eritrean troops are fighting against the regional government and local rebels in the Tigray War, which began in November 2020. Pope Francis prayed for Tigray, and made his appeal, at the conclusion of his June 13 Sunday Angelus address. - Vatican sets term limits for leaders of lay associations (CWN)
The dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life has released a canonical decree that limits the terms of leaders of lay associations. - Pope Francis mourns migrant dead in Mediterranean, 'Europe's biggest cemetery' (AFP)
Pope Francis recalled the deadliest Mediterranean shipwreck in 2015. He made his remarks on June 13, the day the ship was dedicated as a memorial in Augusta, Sicily. - Nearly 800,000 have fled brutal Islamist advance in Mozambique (CWN)
An estimated 70,000 residents of Palma, a city of 75,000 in northern Mozambique, have fled the city in the past three months, the UN refugee agency announced on June 11—bringing to nearly 800,000 the total of those displaced by the Islamist insurgency in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado Province (map). - Order closing religious schools during lockdown was unconstitutional, Wisconsin Supreme Court rules (Religion Clause)
Wisconsin’s capital, Madison, is also the county seat of Dane County (map), whose local health officer ordered the closing of schools. “[T]hose portions of the Order restricting or prohibiting in-person instruction are unconstitutional because they violate a citizen’s right to the free exercise of religion guaranteed in Article I, Section 18 of the Wisconsin Constitution,” the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision. - Myanmar bishops call for humanitarian corridors, respect for sanctuary churches, and an end to violence (AsiaNews)
The bishop issued “their urgent demand after churches were attacked in the Diocese of Loikaw, resulting in deaths and thousands fleeing into the jungle, where they are now in danger of starving,” AsiaNews reported. Loikaw is the capital of Kayah State (map), which is at risk of mass starvation. - Priests arrested, released in Myanmar as troops raid parish (Fides)
Six Catholic priests and a layman were arrested in Chan Thar, Myanmar, over the weekend, as troops raided a parish rectory. The priests were soon released, but residents of the visit fled into the surrounding forest, fearful of another military attack. The raid was apparently motivated by reports that pro-democracy activists are being sheltered by Catholic parishes and Buddhist monasteries. - Nation's largest archdiocese lifts Mass dispensation as churches fully reopen (Angelus News)
Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles discussed his decision in a https://lacatholics.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Archbishop-Jose-H.-Gomez-Letter-to-the-ADLA-Sunday-Mass.pdf and issued new Covid-related guidelines. - Pope Francis rejects Cardinal Marx's resignation (CWN)
Pope Francis has declined to accept the resignation of Cardinal Reinhard Marx as Archbishop of Munich. - In Pakistan, priests and religious combat child slavery (CWN)
Over 12 million Pakistani children are victims of debt slavery, despite the practice’s illegality, the Vatican newspaper reported in the most prominent story in its June 12 edition. - Man arrested for vandalizing Florida Catholic school (NBC 2)
The school is located in Charlotte County, Florida (map). - Parish in Vancouver defaced with words 'killers' and 'release the records' (Global News)
Archbishop J. Michael Miller of Vancouver has apologized for the Church’s role in residential schools. - Missouri's Down-Syndrome abortion law blocked (Wall Street Journal)
A federal appeals court has blocked enforcement of the Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act, which would have banned physicians from killing unborn children with Down syndrome, as well as most abortions after the eighth week of pregnancy. The ruling was 3-0 against the latter provision, and 2-1 on the Down syndrome provision. - Reform is key to ending abuse crisis, says Vatican editorial director (Vatican News)
Andrea Tornielli, the editorial director of the Vatican’s dicastery for Communications, said that thorough reform is needed in the Church to recover from the sex-abuse scandal. In a June 14 editorial for Vatican News, Tornielli called attention to the letter in which Pope Francis declined the resignation of Cardinal Reinhard Marx, agreeing with the German cardinal on the need for thorough reform. - Korean bishop to head Vatican Congregation for Clergy (Vatican News)
Pope Francis has named Bishop Lazarus You Heung-sik of Dejeon, South Korea, to become the new prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy. He will replace Cardinal Beniamino Stella, who is retiring at the age of 79. Bishop You, who is 69, was ordained as a priest in Daejeon in 1979, named coadjutor bishop in 2003, and assumed the leadership of the diocese in 2005. He is likely to become a cardinal after taking his new role. Earlier this week the Pope appointed Bishop Egidio Miragoli on Mondavi, Italy, to conduct an apostolic visitation of the Congregation for the Clergy, the Vatican body that supervises the world’s priests. The Pontiff had ordered a similar complete review of the work of the Congregation for Divine Worship after the resignation of Cardinal Robert Sarah, who had been prefect of that dicastery. - 3 bishops disinterred from beneath demolished New Zealand cathedral (Stuff.co.NZ)
The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch was damaged in a 2011 earthquake. Demolition began in December 2020. - Pope renews warnings against rigid priests, clericalism (National Catholic Register)
On June 10, Pope Francis received seminarians from Ancona in Italy’s Marche region (map). “Clericalism is a perversion of the priesthood: it is a perversion. And rigidity is one of the manifestations,” the Pope said. “When I find a rigid seminarian or young priest, I say ‘something bad is happening to this one on the inside.’ Behind every rigidity, there is a serious problem, because rigidity lacks humanity.”