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Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church elects a new patriarch with pro-Russian views

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(AP News).

Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church on Sunday elected Daniil, a 52-year-old metropolitan considered to be pro-Russian, as its new leader in a vote that reflected the divisions in the church and wider society since Russia invaded Ukraine more than two years ago. Growing divisions between pro-Russian and anti-Russian factions within the senior clergy began after some of them attempted to warm relations with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople in 2019. Russian and most other Orthodox patriarchs refused to accept the designation that formalized a split with the Russian church.mUnlike his late predecessor, who in his last prayers criticized Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Daniil has taken the side of the Moscow Patriarchy in its dispute with the Ecumenical Patriarch over the independence of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church.

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Ex-Missionaries of Charity allege culture of abuse and neglect

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(Crux. Elise An Allen).

Almost three decades after her death, Saint Teresa of Kolkata, commonly and affectionately referred to as “Mother Teresa,” remains an international icon of charity and among the most beloved figures in the world, probably the Catholic Church’s most celebrated 20th century personality who wasn’t a pope. Named Time’s “Person of the Year” in 1975, Mother Teresa also founded a religious order, the Missionaries of Charity, which has become one of the Catholic Church’s most celebrated institutions, almost universally hailed for its service to the “poorest of the poor.”

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An insider’s guide to the Vatican’s inner workings

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(National Catholic Reporter. Christopher White).

The antiquated and often secret inner workings of the Vatican’s bureaucracy have been compared to the government of North Korea in its difficulty to make sense of and understand.  That challenge, however, is a bit easier now thanks to a new book penned by a true Vatican insider that has made the complicated web of Vatican operations much more accessible to outsiders. In The Roman Curia: History, Theology, and Organization, just out by Georgetown University Press, Msgr. Anthony Ekpo admits that for centuries, the work of the Vatican’s governance has often perplexed Catholics and non-Catholics alike, leaving some to ask: “Can anything good come from the Roman Curia?”

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Indonesian island set to become an international Catholic pilgrim destination

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(CNA. Kristina Millare).

Flores, Indonesia’s most Catholic island located in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), is set to become an international pilgrim destination following government support to boost religious tourism. Initial efforts will concentrate on attracting tourists to participate in Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebrations held each year in the Larantuka Diocese as well as the annual festivities organized by the Ruteng Diocese in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary from Aug. 10–15. “Flores Island is famous for its history and Catholic heritage. Flores is also often referred to as Missionary Island; this island has extraordinary potential and attraction for religious tourism, especially through the enculturation of the Catholic Church and the local community’s culture,” stated Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, Indonesia’s minister for tourism and creative economy, during a webinar held in May organized by the Labuan Bajo Flores Authority Implementing Agency (BPOLBF). 

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Coming Out Is To Be Touched by Jesus’ Hand

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(New Ways Ministry. Gregory Greiten).

Before attending the theater with a friend last March, we enjoyed dinner at the Saint Kate-The Arts Hotel in Milwaukee. As we wandered the lobby, enjoying the art decorating the walls, we stumbled upon an exhibit room entitled, “The Closet.” Taking a peek inside the small room, I lightheartedly said to my friend, “I am going to step back into the closet. Would you take my picture to capture this moment?” As I momentarily stepped into the closet exhibit, my friend snapped the picture. I quickly leaped out of the closet remarking to him, “I spent way too many years of my life locked up in the closet. I don’t ever wish to go back.” After coming out of the closet publicly as a Roman Catholic priest in December 2017, I have finally been able to live authentically and with integrity, no longer being silenced by our Church leaders, but being truthful about who I am. As we end Pride Month, I want to offer love and support to those in the LGBTQ+ community who let their lights shine brightly for others to see, especially to those who may have stepped out of the closet, but also to those who are unable to come out because of the real negative consequences they would have to endure.

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“Seeds of Synodal Church already sprouting all over Africa”: African Member of Theological Commission of Synod

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(Jude Atemanke. ACI Africa).

The spirit of the Synod on Synodality has been introduced in Africa and is spreading across the world’s second-largest and second-most populous continent, an African member of the Vatican Theological Commission of the Synod has said. 

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India faces ‘crisis and conflict’ under influence of Hindu nationalist, priest says

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(Crux. Nirmala Carvalho).

A Catholic priest in India says “crisis, conflict and violence are becoming the way of life” in the country, after it suffered a rebuke in the U.S. State Department’s 2023 religious freedom report issued this week. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. government is concerned about the increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship of members of minority faith communities in India.

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Churches in Holy Land denounce ‘coordinated attack’ against Christians by Israeli authorities

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(CNA. Diego López Marina).

In the midst of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, the patriarchs and leaders of ancient Christian churches in Jerusalem have signed a joint document in which they denounce that four Israeli municipalities have sought to levy municipal taxes on church properties in violation of “centuries” of historical agreements. The church leaders, including Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, and Franciscan Father Francesco Patton, custos of the Holy Land, accuse local authorities of launching a “coordinated attack” against the Christian presence in the Holy Land.

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New Essay Highlights Voices of Queer Catholic Women Celebrating Pride

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(New Ways Ministry. Ariell Watson Simon).

LGBTQ+ Catholics are “the church’s future saints,” says Angela, a woman interviewed in a National Catholic Reporter article that featured the voices of queer Catholic women. Angela says of the LGBTQ+ faithful, “Every voice around them in the church and outside of the church tells them that they don’t really belong ….[T]o be able to ignore that and stay focused on Christ is saintly, I think.”

Reporter Emily Claire Schmitt gathered the stories of queer women who, like Angela, understand and live their sexuality in a variety of ways, showcasing the spectrum of experiences among LGBTQ+ Catholic women. “Without exception,” Schmitt, who is a queer Catholic, concludes, “every woman I spoke with had read the catechism — as well as additional church documents on the subject — and understood that the church does not view sex-same desire as inherently sinful, but considers same-sex acts sinful. However, the women differed on whether or not they accepted this teaching.” Those interviewed include women in queer partnerships, living celibately, and in mixed-orientation marriages.

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New York Priest Celebrates ‘Pride Mass’ Outside of Gay Monument — on LGBT Flag

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(NCR. Joe Bukuras ).

A New York City Catholic church, previously caught up in LGBT controversy, hosted a “Pride Mass” Thursday evening using an altar shrouded with a gay and transgender “pride” flag at a local federal monument with sculptures of two same-sex couples and decorated by dozens of LGBT rainbow flags. The federal monument enshrining a gay bar, The Stonewall Inn, and its surroundings, memorializes the location of a June 28, 1969, LGBT uprising. “When you think about it, the altar servers during the summer go to the amusement park or Yankee Stadium, the senior group will go to the shrine or they’ll go to the slots in Atlantic City. Where is Out at St. Paul supposed to go for their summer pilgrimage?” Father Eric Andrews, pastor of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, said in a homily at the Stonewall National onument in the city.  “Out at St. Paul” is St. Paul the Apostle church’s ministry “to the Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Trans and Queer community,” which is made up of “mostly gay men,” Paul Snatchko, a spokesman for the Paulist Fathers, told CNA, the Register’s sister news outlet, last year.

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Cardinal Burke: Biden should not receive Holy Communion

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(CNA. CNA Staff).

Cardinal Raymond Burke, a canon lawyer and formerly the prefect of the Church’s highest court, has said that Catholic politicians supporting abortion should not receive Holy Communion, including pro-choice Catholic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Biden “is not a Catholic in good standing and he should not approach to receive Holy Communion,” Burke said in an Aug. 31 interview with Thomas McKenna, who as head of an organization called Catholic Action for Faith and Family periodically conducts interviews with the cardinal. “This is not a political statement, I don’t intend to get involved in recommending any candidate for office, but simply to state that a Catholic may not support abortion in any shape or form because it is one of the most grievous sins against human life, and has always been considered to be intrinsically evil and therefore to in any way support the act is a mortal sin.

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Is LGBT Persons’ Mental Health Improving?

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(National Catholic Register. Jennifer Roback Morse).

The social acceptance of homosexual behavior has greatly increased over the past 30 years. In that time, the United States has changed the definition of marriage, the structures of the military, the curriculum of our public schools and the objectives of our foreign policy. Many people supported these changes because they thought this greater social acceptance would make self-identified gays and lesbians feel better. I propose that we stop and ask: Have these changes actually improved the mental health of the people who were supposed to be helped? No serious researcher in this arena denies that the rates of psychological distress are higher for self-described gay men and lesbian women than for everyone else. The measures that have been studied include substance abuse disorders, affective disorders, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, self-harm, eating disorders and suicidal tendencies. Researchers across the board agree on these basic facts. The only question is why.

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The Eclipse of John Paul II?

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(WHAT WE NEED NOW. Jayd Henricks).

For the better part of three plus decades the Catholic Church was known in part as a faith community led by the charismatic figures of John Paul II and his deputy, Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger). Their leadership was defined by many things that can be summed up as the authoritative interpreters of Vatican II, which included things like the New Evangelization, clarity in teaching, new ecclesial movements, reform of seminaries, the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the 1983 Code of Canon Law, forceful diplomacy that reshaped the geopolitical world, the empowerment of the laity, and so much more. George Weigel’s monumental biography of John Paul II, A Witness to Hope, is an important reminder of the expansiveness of the pontificate of John Paul II, which continued with Benedict XVI. It is well documented, however, that a hallmark of the Francis pontificate is the neglect of John Paul II. From the relative lack of reference to John Paul’s teachings in the writings of Pope Francis, to the dismantling of the John Paul II Institute, to appointments to the College of Cardinals, dicasteries, and metropolitans, and beyond, there is plenty of evidence of our current Holy Father’s desire to go in a starkly different direction. This is not news to anyone paying attention. Although the Holy Spirit provides particular charisms for different eras, I would levy leaving John Paul II in the past as one of my sharpest criticisms of this current pontificate.

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This Pride Month, celebrate Queer Youth of Faith Day

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(National Catholic Reporter. Emma Cieslik).

Sid High wants Beloved Arise — the five-year-old organization dedicated to empowering queer youth of faith — to be available in every school, therapist’s office, mental health website and worship space across the country. With Queer Youth of Faith Day and National Day of Prayer for LGBTQ+ Youth right around the corner on June 30, it seems like a lofty goal, but trans Christian and Beloved Arise youth ambassador High, who organized the first day of prayer with fellow ambassador Sabrina Hodak, argues that this organization is essential suicide prevention for queer young people across the United States. According to a 2009 Statista research study, 47.1% of gay men and 46.5% of lesbian women report growing up in a moderately or somewhat religious environment, and many of these religious spaces and values their families attend and hold influence the queerphobia they encountered at home.

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Vatican demands changes to new Church body in Germany

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(Crux. Elise An Allen).

As part of an ongoing tug of war with the German bishops over the country’s controversial reform path, the Vatican has asked that several changes be made to a new national ecclesial body which curial officials have said has no foundation in Church law. In a June 28 statement after a day-long workday with representatives of the German Episcopal Conference (DBK), the Vatican said the discussion lasted the entire day and “was again characterized by a positive, open and constructive atmosphere.”

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Bishops’ conference defends funding cuts to justice, peace and development

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(Crux. John Lavenburg).

Days after the U.S. bishops announced layoffs and a reorganization to their Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, setting off a firestorm in both the media and in Catholic circles, the conference has written a memo to bishops to explain its decision and to announce staff reductions to other departments. The June 28 memo to American bishops, obtained by Crux, states that four of 17 staff within JPHD were let go, as well as three of the six staff members within the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. The memo states that the changes were due to several factors, “mostly related to funding.”

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Rupnik artwork must come down, says top US cardinal as he breaks ranks with Rome

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(Catholic Herald).

American Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston issued a statement saying he has asked the heads of all offices in the Roman Curia to take down the artwork of a famed priest and artist accused of abusing dozens of adult women. The statement came from the Pontifical Commission for Protecting Minors (PCPM), for which O’Malley serves as President, and said in that capacity, the cardinal has written to the heads of all Vatican departments asking that “pastoral prudence would prevent displaying artwork in a way that could imply either exoneration or a subtle defence” of alleged abusers “or indicate indifference to the pain and suffering of so many victims of abuse.” In his letter to Vatican prefects, dated June 26, O’Malley said, “We must avoid sending a message that the Holy See is oblivious to the psychological distress that so many are suffering.”

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Ukrainian Greek Catholic Priests Released from Russian Captivity

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(ACN International. Maria Lozano).

It is with immense gratitude that Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) informs about the release from Russian captivity of Fathers Ivan Levitsky and Bohdan Geleta, on June 28, 2024, as has been confirmed by the Information Department of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), to which they belong. The priests are members of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer and were arrested in occupied Berdyansk on November 16, 2022. Despite the danger, following the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Fathers Ivan Levitsky and Bohdan Geleta chose to stay in the occupied territories, ministering to both Greek and Roman Catholic communities and providing hope under occupation. During their captivity, Fathers Levitsky and Geleta were accused of illegal possession of weapons, charges fabricated to justify their imprisonment. Their prolonged detention was marked by a lack of concrete information about their whereabouts and wellbeing, despite reports of torture and abuse. Despite this, their faith and hope persisted.

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Cardinal urges world help Ukraine so ‘nonsense of war’ stops

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(UCA news. Paulina Guzik).

In what he said was the most dramatic moment of his eight visits to Ukraine, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, papal almoner, appealed from a Ternopil cemetery that the world needs to help Ukraine without further delays so that the “nonsense of war” stops. Without mentioning Russia by name, he also said that for those who cause war, “if only someone will go down to his knees and ask for forgiveness, Jesus won’t be tired of our sins. He will forgive everything.” Cardinal Krajewski arrived June 25 in the western city of Lviv, Ukraine, and on June 26, he left for Ternopil at dawn, as he recounted in a voice message sent to OSV News.

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