Catholic News

• Pope and Netanyahu talk after attack on Gaza church (Vatican Press Office)
  Pope Leo XIV spoke at length with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 18, the day after shells from and Israeli tank killed three people and injured several others at the only Catholic parish in Gaza. During the telephone conversation, which lasted more than an hour, the Pope renewed his appeal for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations to end bloodshed in Gaza. “He again expressed his concern about the tragic humanitarian situation of the population in Gaza, whose children, elderly and sick are paying an agonizing price,” the Vatican reported. He also stressed the need to protect the security of sacred sites and houses of worship throughout the Holy Land. Pope Leo placed a call the same day to Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who was visiting the devastated Holy Family parish in Gaza.
• Jerusalem's Christian leaders deplore 'heinous' Israeli attack on Gaza's Catholic parish (CWN)
  The patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem denounced the Israeli military attack on Gaza’s sole Catholic parish.
• Catholic parish, Christian homes set aflame in Syria (CWN)
  Fire was set to a church and dozens of Christian homes in As-Sawra al-Kabira (Al-Sura al-Kabira), a small village in southern Syria, according to multiple media reports.
• Israeli forces hit Catholic parish in Gaza; two killed (Vatican News)
  Two people were killed when an Israeli tank fired on Holy Family parish church in Gaza on July 17. Four people were injured in the morning attack, including the pastor, Father Gabriel Romanelli. Holy Family Church is the only Catholic parish in Gaza. During the last months of his life, Pope Francis had made it his practice to speak with Father Romanelli every day, offering encouragement to the little Catholic community. The Latin-rite Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem condemned the attack as “a flagrant violation of human dignity and a blatant violation of the sanctity of life and the sanctity of religious sites.” The patriarchate noted that the parish complex is now sheltering “approximately 600 displaced persons, the majority of whom are children, and 54 people with special needs.” Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, reporting on the shelling, said: “What we know for sure is that a tank—the IDF says by mistake, but we are not sure of this—they hit the church directly.” Pope Leo XIV issued a statement expressing his “spiritual closeness” to the parish, entrusting the souls of the deceased to God, and renewing his call for an immediate ceasefire.
• Vatican official jailed for child pornography returns to work in Secretariat of State (Pillar)
  A Vatican diplomat who completed a five-year prison sentence for child pornography returned to work in the Secretariat of State and is listed as an official there in the new edition of the Annuario Pontificio, the Holy See’s annual directory. Father Carlo Alberto Capella, an Italian priest who worked in the nunciature in Washington, was sentenced by a Vatican court in 2018 and released in 2023. His return to work at the Vatican after his release “was clearly presented as an act of mercy,” an official of the Secretariat of State told The Pillar. “The intention was that this man, who had not been laicized but clearly could not return to his diocese or serve in a parish, could collaborate in the office, and remain in the Vatican where he is effectively secluded, but without a formal office.”
• Vatican diplomat calls for immediate debt relief, says poverty is 'central' international priority (Holy See Mission)
  Addressing a UN forum, a Vatican diplomat said that “my Delegation reaffirms that poverty must remain the central and urgent priority of the international community. Poverty eradication is not merely an economic exercise; it is a moral imperative.” Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, said earlier this week that “efforts to eradicate poverty are undermined by the unbearable burden of repaying sovereign debts. It is impossible to eradicate poverty when 3.4 billion people live in countries that spend more on interest payments than on healthcare and education combined.” “Accordingly, my Delegation calls for immediate debt relief” for impoverished nations, “including cancellation and debt restructuring, as well as access to concessional financing,” he added.
• EU, US bishops lament attack on Gaza parish (CWN)
  The presidents of COMECE (the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union) and the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued statements mourning the Israeli military attack on Gaza’s sole Catholic parish.
• Benedictine abbey in Belgium temporarily dissolved following abuse allegations (CNA)
  Citing abuse allegations involving adults, the abbot president of the Benedictine Subiaco Cassinese Congregation temporarily dissolved community life at Keizersberg Abbey in Belgium and dispersed its monks to other monasteries. The ministry of a deacon at the abbey was also suspended because of “defects of form in his ordination to the diaconate,” CNA reported. In addition, Abbot President Ignasi Fossas, OSB, suspended the abbot of a Dutch abbey, barred him from public ministry, and referred his case to the Vatican. In doing so, he cited “transgressive behavior between adults.”
• Mexico City projects anti-Catholic images on cathedral facade (CNA)
  Officials of the Mexico City archdiocese have protested a show arranged by the city’s government, which projected pro-abortion images onto the facade of the city’s cathedral. The show—announced as a tribute to the city’s history—used the cathedral and the national palace as giant screens, showing images of events such as the Mexican revolution. Church officials objected to images that included the first LGBT Pride march and the decriminalization of abortion. The archdiocese said that it had not been informed about these controversial scenes.
• Two convicted of money-laundering in Caritas Luxembourg scandal (Pillar)
  Two Bulgarian men have been convicted for their role in transferring about €61 million ($67 million) from Caritas Luxembourg to accounts in Spain. The fraudulent withdrawal of those funds from the Catholic charity drove Caritas Luxembourg into bankruptcy. The two men, who were sentenced to prison terms of 18 months (with 15 months suspended), were described by prosecutors as “passive participants” in a wider scheme to defraud the charity. They are now cooperating with prosecutors.
• James Hitchcock, Catholic historian and commentator, dead at 87 (CNA)
  James Hitchcock, a noted historian and leading figure in an American Catholic intellectual revival of the late 20th century, died on July 14 at the age of 87, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Raised in St. Louis, Hitchcock earned his undergraduate degree from St. Louis University and a doctorate from Princeton. He returned to St. Louis University to join the history department, teaching there for decades before his retirement in 2013. With his books—including Recovery of the Sacred, Catholicism and Modernity, and The Decline and Fall of Radical Catholicism, Hitchcock earned wide following among American Catholics searching for stability during tumultuous years following Vatican II. He was a key figure in the growth of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, and a regular contributor to orthodox Catholic journals. James and his wife Helen Hitchcock—herself a key figure in American Catholic history, as the founder of Women for Faith and Family—had four daughters. Helen Hitchcock died in 2014.
• Memo calls for 'generous' religious accommodations in US executive branch (Religion Clause)
  The US Office of Personnel Management issued a memorandum on July 16 calling on executive branch agencies to “adopt a generous approach to approving religious accommodations” requested by the over two million civilian federal employees. Accommodations include allowing remote work, otherwise frowned upon by the Trump administration.
• 9 people sentenced for murder of Myanmar priest (CWN)
  Nine people have been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the February murder of Father Donald Martin Ye Naing Win, a priest of the Archdiocese of Mandalay in Myanmar (map).
• Vatican slow to authorize use of papal image (Katholisch)
  Shopkeepers in Rome are restlessly waiting for Vatican approval to sell souvenirs featuring the image of Pope Leo XIV: approval that has been delayed. The Vatican carefully controls the use of the Pontiff’s portrait and coat of arms, to prevent various forms of exploitation. Under tight tight new rules issued by the Vatican Secretariat of State, in 2018 Italian police confiscated 18,000 illegal souvenirs. Vatican officials have been especially careful to guard against illicit use of the papal image during the current Jubilee Year, with its extraordinary influx of tourists in Rome. The Vatican took only a week to authorize use of the image of Pope Francis after his election in 2013. More than two months after the election of Pope Leo XIV, no authorizations have been issued.
• Historian examines wartime record of Vatican radio, newspaper under Pius XII (CWN)
  In its July 16 and July 17 editions, L’Osservatore Romano published a two-article series by Italian historian Sergio Favretto examining, in depth, the record of Vatican Radio and the Vatican newspaper during World War II, when Venerable Pius XII was pope.
• Gaza crisis has reached breaking point, Caritas warns (Caritas Jerusalem)
  Caritas Jerusalem warned that “the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached an unprecedented level of devastation” and that “as hostilities escalate and essential supplies remain blocked, every sector of civilian life is collapsing.” “Acute hunger has gripped the entire population,” the Catholic charity stated. “Fuel shortages have crippled water production, sewage treatment, and waste removal ... Hospitals are overwhelmed and under-resourced.” Warning that “lives are hanging by a thread,” the organization called on “governments, humanitarian organizations, faith-based institutions, and people of conscience around the world” to “demand an immediate ceasefire; guarantee unhindered humanitarian access; [and] ensure the protection of civilians, especially children and displaced families.”
• Support pro-family policies along with gender equality, Vatican diplomat says at UN (Holy See Mission)
  Addressing a UN forum on gender equality, a Vatican diplomat said that gender equality “is rooted in the equal God-given dignity of every man and woman” and called for “conditions that enable the integral development of women and girls, including access to quality education and healthcare, and decent work and participation in every sphere of life.” “At the same time, the roles that women and men play within families and communities must be protected,” said Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations. “All too often, the international community’s development efforts treat gender equality primarily as a matter of individual autonomy, detached from relationships and responsibilities.” The prelate added: It is crucial to emphasize the relational understanding of the human person, valuing the complementarity of women and men and affirming the family as a place of relationships. Policies that support and protect families, motherhood, and maternity, need to be implemented alongside the promotion of equality between women and men.
• Pope welcomes ecumenical pilgrims (Vatican News)
  Pope Leo XIV met on July 17 with participants in an ecumenical Orthodox-Catholic pilgrimage to the Holy Land, led by Cardinal Joseph Tobin on Newark and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elpidophoros. “It is my hope that your pilgrimage will confirm all of you in the hope born of our faith in the risen Lord,” the Pope told the group. He remarked that their pilgrimage was a “return to the sources” of early Christian history, with stops in Rome, Constantinople, and Nicea.
• Chilean cardinal calls on presidential candidates to respect human dignity, eschew violence (Fides)
  Cardinal Fernando Chomalí Garib of Santiago, Chile, called upon presidential candidates in the November general election to “respect the dignity of their opponents” and “never to use violence, in any form, as a political method.” The prelate also urged candidates to “be an example of civic culture, generosity, and mutual respect for young people” and to “promote ideas, not hatred.” The South American nation of 18.7 million (map) is 87% Christian (61% Catholic).
• 'It is always possible to come together': papal message to charity soccer match (Vatican News)
  Pope Leo XIV sent a four-minute video message to “Partita del Cuore” [Match of the Heart], a charity soccer match to raise funds to assist sick children. “It is still possible, it is always possible, to come together, even in a time of divisions, falling bombs, and war,” Pope Leo said. “It is necessary to create the opportunities to do this.” The Pope said he was “reminded of another game—the one told in a film, Joyeux Noël, and in a song by Paul McCartney—played on December 25, 1914, by some soldiers (German, French and English) in the so-called Christmas truce, near the town of Ypres, in Belgium.”
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