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July 2014

July 1

Thankful for Canada, warts and all

July 1, 2014

As we celebrate Canada Day we may not have a team in the exciting World Cup soccer tournament this month, but events surrounding it remind us that we’re so fortunate to live here. One news story really drove this point home: people in soccer-mad Africa are being killed by Islamist extremists for watching the games on television.

Chaldean bishop says Iraqis returning home, despite tough conditions

July 1, 2014

AMMAN, Jordan - Thousands of Iraqi Christians who fled recent shelling by extremist militants and sought refuge in the neighboring autonomous Kurdistan region are now returning home, said a Catholic archbishop responsible for their care.

July 2

New nuncio to U.N. is Filipino prelate who helped quake-struck Haiti

July 2, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis named a Filipino archbishop, who helped lead and rebuild the church in Haiti after its devastating earthquake, as the Vatican representative at the United Nations in New York.

Pope phones rabbi, offers condolences over murder Israeli teens' murder

July 2, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis telephoned Rome's chief rabbi to personally express his sadness over the murder of three kidnapped Israeli teens whose bodies were found June 30 in Hebron, West Bank.

Vatican’s UN envoy says bishop’s defrocking shows church takes abuse seriously

July 2, 2014

VATICAN CITY - The defrocking of a former Vatican ambassador is a “sign of the seriousness” with which Pope Francis and the Vatican are approaching the clergy sexual abuse scandal, according to the Holy See’s representative to United Nations agencies in Geneva.

July 3

Italian archbishop calls for 10-year ban on godparents to stop Mafia infiltration

July 3, 2014

ROME - After a pledge by Pope Francis to “excommunicate” mobsters from the Catholic Church, an archbishop in southern Italy has proposed a 10-year ban on naming godparents at baptisms and confirmations as a way to stop the Mafia from spreading its influence.

God’s word is at work worldwide

July 3, 2014

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) July 13 (Isaiah 55:10-11; Psalm 65; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23) When is a word more than a word? We usually associate words with the squiggles on a page or a discrete unit of speech. In the case of the Scriptures this view can lead to narrow, overly literal and superficial understanding.

Pope urges complete ban on producing, using landmines

July 3, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Landmines wound innocent civilians, "prolong war and nurture fear" long after conflicts have ended, Pope Francis told delegates working on the full implementation of an international treaty banning the production and use of anti-personnel mines.

July 4

Divine Mercy is focus of official logo, prayer of World Youth Day 2016

July 4, 2014

VATICAN CITY - The official logo and prayer for World Youth Day 2016 were unveiled in the event's host city -- Krakow, Poland -- by the city's archbishop, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz.

Whither thou goest: Pope speaks openly of ways his pontificate may end

July 4, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Sympathizing with all the unknowns facing young people today, Pope Francis -- half joking -- said it is easier for a pope because he knows where his earthly life will end.

Pope sends delegation to Paraguay to investigate Pa. priest accused of molesting boys

July 4, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis is sending a cardinal and a bishop to Paraguay to investigate the activities of a priest previously accused of sex abuse in Pennsylvania, the Vatican’s diplomatic envoy to the Latin American country said.

July 5

Vatican formally recognizes international association of exorcists

July 5, 2014

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican formally recognized an international association of exorcists founded by Pauline Father Gabriele Amorth, an Italian priest renowned for his work in dispelling demons.

July 6

Ukrainian Catholic Church welcomes plan to add military chaplaincy

July 6, 2014

OXFORD, England - The Ukrainian government plans to re-establish military chaplaincies in the country's embattled armed forces, nine months after they were abolished under Soviet rule.

July 7

Pope Francis meets sex abuse victims, says clergy actions cloaked in complicity

July 7, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Asking for forgiveness, Pope Francis told abuse survivors that "despicable actions" caused by clergy have been hidden for too long and had been "camouflaged with a complicity that cannot be explained."

Jerusalem patriarch denounces wave of retaliations after teen murders

July 7, 2014

JERUSALEM - Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal strongly denounced the increasing wave of violent retaliations following the murders of Israeli and Palestinian teens and called on political and religious leaders to act to calm the atmosphere.

Pope: Migrants' deaths should provoke sadness, action, not indifference

July 7, 2014

VATICAN CITY - The tragic deaths of thousands of men, women and children who die while searching for a better future should trigger compassion and action, not indifference, Pope Francis said.

Irish abuse victim who met with pope calls it 'huge vindication'

July 7, 2014

DUBLIN - One of the Irish survivors of clerical sexual abuse who met Pope Francis July 7 described the encounter as a "huge vindication" for her.

Religious procession past Mafia boss’ home irks Italy’s Catholic clergy

July 7, 2014

ROME - Only two weeks after Pope Francis announced he was excommunicating the Mafia, a religious procession in southern Italy has provoked uproar after paying homage to a convicted mobster.

Lorraine Williams lived a life with purpose

July 7, 2014

Lorraine Williams was never just passing through during her 81 years on the planet. She knew life had a purpose and she was ever-ready to work, fight and pray for it.

July 8

Iraq facing perhaps its 'darkest and most difficult period,' says patriarch

July 8, 2014

AMMAN, Jordan - The patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad called the current situation in his country "perhaps the darkest and most difficult period in (the Church's) recent history."