- Vatican responds to Pennsylvania grand jury report, says Pope is on the side of the victims (Vatican News)
“The abuses described in the report are criminal and morally reprehensible,” said Greg Burke, director of the Holy See Press Office. “The Church must learn hard lessons from its past, and there should be accountability for both abusers and those who permitted abuse to occur ... Victims should know that the Pope is on their side. Those who have suffered are his priority, and the Church wants to listen to them to root out this tragic horror that destroys the lives of the innocent.” - USCCB president announces effort to address 'moral catastrophe' of McCarrick scandal, PA grand jury report (USCCB)
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo has announced an investigation into the McCarrick scandal and “new and confidential channels for reporting complaints against bishops,” with “proper independence, sufficient authority, and substantial leadership by laity.” - Venezuela's bishops decry grave violations of justice under Maduro regime (Zenit)
The bishops cited arbitrary detentions, cruel and inhuman treatment, torture, and forced disappearances. - Pennsylvania attorney general: lift statute of limitations for child sexual abuse (Time)
“Given what the grand jury produced in the 884-page report, I don’t know how any lawmaker in Pennsylvania could possibly be against those reforms,” said Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. - Boston cardinal cancels Ireland trip to focus on St. John's Seminary investigation (Boston Globe)
Cardinal Sean O’Malley had been scheduled to speak at the World Meeting of Families. - Abortion advocate appointed to top UN human rights slot (C-FAM)
Michelle Bachelet served two terms as president of Chile (2006-2010, 2014-2018). - Former priest alleges Erie bishops ignored his abuse reports (NPR)
James Faluszczak alleges that his pastor abused him for three years, beginning when he was 16, and that Bishops Donald Trautman and Lawrence Persico did not act upon his reports of abuse. - Cardinal Burke: Church in US in 'possibly the worst crisis that it's ever experienced' (LifeSite News)
“I’ve never heard so much anger, so much disappointment, so much frustration from good Catholic faithful,” said Cardinal Raymond Burke. He added that “it doesn’t seem reasonable to me to think that other prelates didn’t know” about ex-Cardinal McCarrick’s deeds. - Australia senate defeats bill legalizing assisted suicide (LifeNews.com)
- Roundup: bishops react to sexual abuse scandal (National Catholic Register)
- Myanmar's persecuted Christians have been forgotten, Canadian journalist says (Kingston Whig-Standard)
Newspaper journalist Geoffrey P. Johnston covers international affairs. Myanmar is 88% Buddhist, 6% Christian, and 4% Muslim. - Colorado commission rules against cake baker following transgender complaint; baker files suit (Religion Clause)
Weeks after his Supreme Court victory, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission determined that Jack Philips of Masterpiece Cakeshop likely discriminated against a transgender person when he declined to bake a cake celebrating “gender transition surgery.” Philips filed suit against the Commission, alleging that it has violated his constitutional rights. - Wall Street Journal op-ed laments 'the Catholic bishops who failed us' (Wall Street Journal)
The op-ed was written by C. C. Pecknold, a theology professor at the Catholic University of America and frequent contributor to First Things. - Vietnamese court jails Catholic activist for 20 years (UCANews)
Seventeen priests concelebrated at a special Mass for Le Dinh Luong, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison. - Ukrainian Catholic leader recalls Soviet repression (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church)
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, 48, served for two years in the Soviet army. He said that “today, nobody knows, or doesn’t remember well, that the Soviet Union was a very aggressive country with a messianic vision,” in which there was “instrumentalization of religion, especially the Russian Orthodox Church.” - USCCB president: we are 'shamed and sorry' for sins of priests and bishops (USCCB)
Reacting to the landmark grand jury report on the sexual abuse of minors in six Pennsylvania dioceses, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, joined by a USCCB committee chairman, said that “we are grateful for the courage of the people who aided the investigation by sharing their personal stories of abuse. As a body of bishops, we are shamed by and sorry for the sins and omissions by Catholic priests and Catholic bishops.” - India's bishops lament 'unprecedented' Kerala floods, pray for victims (Catholic Bishops' Conference of India)
88 inches of rain have fallen in the southwestern Indian state since June 1—the worst local flooding in nearly a century. - Ecumenical Patriarch: we desire 'with all our heart' the restoration of Ukrainian Orthodox unity (Ecumenical Patriarchate)
Ukraine’s Orthodox faithful are divided into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate), and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. Only the first is canonically recognized by other Orthodox churches; the second body is the largest of the three. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who holds a primacy of honor in Eastern Orthodoxy, made his remarks in a message to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada, which is under his jurisdiction. - Pennsylvania dioceses react to release of landmark grand jury report (Religion Clause)
Religion Clause has gathered links to statements issued by the Dioceses of Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and Scranton, in response to the release of the landmark grand jury report. - Pope appoints Venezuelan prelate as Sostituto (Vatican Press Office (Italian))
The Sostituto (officially, the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State) coordinates the internal affairs of the Roman Curia and reports to Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State. Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, a 58-year-old Venezuelan prelate, has served as apostolic nuncio to Pakistan (2011-2015) and Mozambique (since 2015). The former Sostituto, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, was appointed prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.