Catholic News

• Pope departs from Rome on 4th apostolic journey, arrives in Madrid (CWN)
  Pope Leo XIV departed this morning from Rome Fiumicino Airport for Spain on his fourth international apostolic journey (program), following previous trips to Turkey and Lebanon (November 27-December 2), Monaco (March 28), and Algeria, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea (April 13-23).
• Help lead society to a God-centered life, Pope tells German Catholic students (CWN)
  Pope Leo XIV told members of German Catholic student associations today that “human beings are always seeking God, and he has revealed himself to us as our Saviour.”
• Vatican spokesman previews themes of papal trip to Spain (Vatican News)
  In an editorial, Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication, discussed what he sees as the major themes of Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic journey to Spain: a correct understanding of the Church’s role in public life; evangelization through beauty; and the Christian response to migrants. The trip “will be an important opportunity to recall the perspective from which the Church views politics and commitment to the common good,” Tornielli wrote on June 5, the day before the trip began. “Today, this perspective is far removed both from any form of political alignment and from any attempt, encouraged by secularist ideology, to reduce Christian faith to a purely private and interior experience.”
• What the June consistory reveals about Pope Leo's style of governance [New Analysis] (CWN)
  The program for consistory of cardinals scheduled for June 26-27 reveals several things about how Pope Leo XIV intends to govern the Church.
• Indian prelate warns against 'Ecumenical Catholic Church of Christ' (Archdiocese of Bombay)
  Archbishop John Rodrigues of Bombay (Mumbai), India’s largest city, warned in a recent pastoral letter that the “’Ecumenical Catholic Church of Christ’ is not in full communion with the Catholic Church under the leadership of the Successor of St. Peter, Pope Leo XIV.” “In an age of confusion and misinformation, we must remain rooted in the authentic teaching, sacramental life, and ecclesial communion of the Catholic Church under the leadership of Pope Leo XIV,” Archbishop Rodrigues added. Based in Detroit, the Ecumenical Catholic Church of Christ was founded by Karl Rodig, an Austrian priest who was automatically excommunicated in 1999 when he received episcopal consecration from an Old Catholic bishop. The church established a presence near Mumbai in 2021, under the leadership of a former priest of the Archdiocese of Bombay.
• Philippine cardinal defends priest accused of receiving kickbacks (CBCP News)
  A Philippine cardinal today came to the defense of Father Flavie Villanueva, S.V.D., after 18 former soldiers accused the priest, a human rights activist, of receiving kickbacks. “I have known Fr. Flavie for many years and have witnessed firsthand his unwavering commitment to the human dignity of the poorest of the poor, especially the families of victims of violence and those who often have no one else to accompany them in their suffering,” said Cardinal Pablo Vigilio David of Kalookan. “No person’s good name should be destroyed by unsubstantiated accusations.”
• German diocese investigates alleged apparitions (CWN)
  The Diocese of Aachen, Germany, has established a commission to investigate alleged apparitions of Our Lady (2001-2005) and Our Lord (since 2018) in the small town of Sievernich.
• Appeals court rules that sexual assault suit against Father Rosica may proceed (Pillar)
  The Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled that a sexual assault lawsuit filed against Father Thomas Rosica, C.S.B., by a younger priest may proceed. In a 2024 suit, Father Michael Bechard alleged that Father Rosica assaulted him in 2002, when Father Rosica was organizer of World Youth Day in Toronto. The Congregation of St. Basil argued that because both are priests, a canonical court should have exclusive jurisdiction. The appellate court, upholding a lower court ruling, held that civil courts do have jurisdiction in the case. Father Rosica has denied the allegations. After organizing World Youth Day, Father Rosica helped lead Salt + Light Television, a Canadian Catholic network. He resigned in 2019 amid a plagiarism scandal.
• Young missionary dioceses will need to become more financially self-sufficient, Vatican official warns (CWN)
  A Vatican official told national directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies that younger missionary dioceses will need to become more financially self-sufficient because of a decrease in donations from Catholics in the West.
• Sydney archbishop, in pastoral letter on Eucharistic adoration, emphasizes importance of kneeling (The Catholic Weekly)
  Archbishop Anthony Fisher, O.P., issued a pastoral letter on Eucharistic adoration for the feast of Corpus Christi. In “Adoring the Eucharistic Lord: ‘Let us kneel before the God who made us,’” Archbishop Fisher wrote that kneeling is the posture that “most clearly reveals what we believe about God and our relationship to Him.” Receiving Communion while kneeling, he said, is “a perfectly valid option envisaged in the current Missal.” Archbishop Fisher asked priests to “offer at least one holy hour each week in each parish, and to collaborate with adjoining parishes to increase availability of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, including a Perpetual Adoration chapel in each deanery.”
• Record 14 bishops to attend March for Life UK (National Catholic Register)
  March for Life UK announced that a record 14 bishops, led by Archbishop Richard Moth of Westminster, will take part in the march this year. “It is hard to think of another event, or cause, that receives this level of support from the hierarchy of the Church,” organizers said in a statement. “Their presence demonstrates the primary importance that the Church places on this key and fundamental issue.”
• Jihadists trying to establish a caliphate in northern Mozambique, says bishop (Aid to the Church in Need)
  Jihadists in Mozambique are attempting to establish a caliphate, a local bishop warned. “The signs are all there,” Bishop António Juliasse of Pemba told Aid to the Church in Need. “They speak openly of a caliphate. When they find people, when they kidnap victims, that is what they say, that they are working for a caliphate.” A brutal Islamist insurgency in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province began in 2017. The Southeast African nation of 34.2 million (map) is 57% Christian (32% Catholic), 18% Muslim, and 24% ethnic religionist.
• Sri Lanka bars travel by former leader as investigation into Easter bombings accelerates (AsiaNews)
  A court in Sri Lanka has imposed a travel ban on the country’s former president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, as part of a renewed investigation into the Easter Sunday Bombings that killed 269 people and injured more than 500 others in 2019. Rajapaksa, who was forced to resign in 2022, is one of several prominent political figures who have come under suspicion in the probe. The court placed also placed travel restrictions on an army colonel and a former intelligence officer. Earlier this year the former head of the government’s intelligence bureau was arrested on conspiracy charges. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo, who in the past had charged that leading government officials were blocking any effective investigation into the Easter bombings, said in April that the new government was more interested in “searching for the truth,” although “some officials of the so-called ‘deep state’ are trying to obstruct the smooth conduct of the investigation.”
• Survey: 55% of US adults view Pope Leo favorably (The Economist/YouGov Poll)
  A survey of 1,604 U.S. adult citizens, conducted between May 29 and June 1, found that 55% had a favorable opinion of Pope Leo XIV. 23% expressed an unfavorable opinion, and 21% said they “don’t know.” Kamala Harris voters (84%), liberals (79%), Democrats (79%), and college graduates (65%) were more likely to have a favorable opinion of the Pontiff than Trump voters (37%), conservatives (42%), Republicans (42%), and those with no degree (50%).
• Catalonian parish church bricked up after vandalism (OIDAC Europe)
  Authorities in Òdena, a small town in Catalonia, Spain, bricked up a parish church after vandals ransacked it, the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe reported. “The attack caused strong indignation among residents and parishioners, particularly because the response ultimately focused on sealing the church rather than immediately prosecuting those responsible,” the Observatory reported. “To prevent further break-ins or acts of desecration, authorities decided to brick up the church, the rectory and the lower parish premises.”
• In Spain, 7 cardinals, 61 bishops implicated in covering up abuse, newspaper charges (El País )
  On the eve of Pope Leo’s apostolic journey to Spain, a leading Spanish newspaper reported that since 1952, “94 senior Church officials have covered up complaints, protected clerics or silenced victims.” “Of those, seven are cardinals, 61 are bishops and 26 are superiors of religious orders,” El País reported. “Two other cases are particularly striking because the accused [i.e., those accused of covering up abuse] are in the process of beatification.”
• Pope Leo encourages Corpus Christi processions (CWN)
  At the conclusion of his June 3 general audience, Pope Leo XIV encouraged Corpus Christi processions.
• Miami archbishop ordains 12 FSSP priests (Archdiocese of Miami)
  Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, Florida, ordained 12 members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter on May 28 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Nebraska. The priests of the institute offer the Latin Mass in the extraordinary form. Founded in 1988, the institute, in 2024, had 139 religious houses, 567 members, and 375 priests, according to the Annuario Pontificio.
• Syrian refugee athletes, 104-year-old WWII vet, ping pong executive meet with Pontiff (CWN)
  At the conclusion of his June 3 general audience, Pope Leo XIV met with seven Syrian refugee girls who left the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan to compete in a tae kwon do tournament in Rome.
• Leading Italian prelate deplores gruesome murder of migrants (CWN)
  The vice president of the Italian Episcopal Conference deplored the gruesome murder of four migrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan who were working in slave-like conditions in Amendolara, a small town in Calabria.
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