1. Pope names St Louis archbishop to replace retiring Carlson, By Associated Press, June 10, 2020, 7:08 AM
Pope Francis has named Springfield, Massachusetts Bishop Mitchell Rozanski as the next archbishop of St. Louis, Missouri, a diocese long associated with the conservative wing of the U.S. church.
Rozanski replaces Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 last year and submitted his resignation to the pope. The Vatican said Wednesday that Francis had accepted it and named Rozanski to succeed him.
Rozanski, 61, is considered a moderate and is taking over an archdiocese that has long been led by conservatives: Prior to Carlson, St. Louis was headed by now-Cardinal Raymond Burke, a leading point of reference for conservatives in the U.S. and beyond.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/pope-names-st-louis-archbishop-to-replace-retiring-carlson/2020/06/10/ade12fae-ab0a-11ea-a43b-be9f6494a87d_story.html ___________________________________________________________
2. Pope sends strong message to US Catholics after Floyd death, By Nicole Winfield and Elana Schor, Associated Press, June 10, 2020, 3:00 AM
Pope Francis called George Floyd by name, twice, and offered support to an American bishop who knelt in prayer during a Black Lives Matter protest.
Cardinals black and white have spoken out about Floyd’s death, and the Vatican’s communications juggernaut has shifted into overdrive to draw attention to the cause he now represents.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pope-sends-strong-message-to-us-catholics-after-floyd-death/2020/06/10/098cdeca-aae8-11ea-a43b-be9f6494a87d_story.html ___________________________________________________________
3. Sen. McConnell condemns First Amendment ‘double standard’ for churches, By Catholic News Agency, June 9, 2020, 12:30 PM
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that a “constitutionally dubious” double standard is being applied to religious communities and protestors during a Senate session on Tuesday.
“I have no criticism for the millions of Americans who peacefully demonstrated in recent days. Their cause is beyond righteous,” said McConnell. “It is the inconsistency from leaders that has been baffling.”
The senator said that while he supports the recent large protests and the goals they seek, there is also “a different pressing problem that concerns Americans’ Constitutional rights.”
It has become “clear,” he said, that there is a “double standard” present in society: large protests are both allowed and praised, but many Americans are not presently allowed to go to religious services or run their small businesses as a precaution against spreading the coronavirus.
…
“A month ago, small protest demonstrations were condemned as ‘reckless and selfish,’” he said. “Now, massive rallies that fill entire cities are not just praised, but, in fact, are called ‘especially brave’ because of the exact same health risks that brought condemnation when the cause was different.”
McConnell singled out local leaders, including Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), who have praised large-scale protests yet have not allowed for the resumption of basic activities like church services.
“Here in the District of Columbia, the mayor celebrates massive street protests. She actually joins them herself. But on her command, churches and houses of worship remain shut,” McConnell said.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/senator-mitch-mcconnell-condemns-first-amendment-double-standard-for-churches-98298
___________________________________________________________
4. Federal appeals court axes Satanic Temple abortion lawsuit, By Associated Press, June 9, 2020, 7:04 PM
The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday filed by a member of the Satanic Temple against a Missouri abortion law.
At issue is a law requiring women, before they can get an abortion, to receive a pamphlet that states: “The life of each human being begins at conception. Abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being.”
…
The court wrote that the case demonstrates why Missouri wasn’t wrong to promote viewpoints on life that Doe argued align with the Catholic religion.
“Any theory of when life begins necessarily aligns with some religious beliefs and not others,” the court wrote. “So under Doe’s theory, Missouri’s only option would be to avoid legislating in this area altogether.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/federal-appeals-court-axes-satanic-temple-abortion-lawsuit/2020/06/09/95a56b2c-aaa5-11ea-a43b-be9f6494a87d_story.html ___________________________________________________________
5. Pope Francis Starts Fund of 1 Million Euros for Rome’s Unemployed After Pandemic: Pope Francis said it was very close to his heart to protect the dignity of those hit hardest by the effects of the pandemic., By Hannah Brockhaus, Catholic News Agency, June 9, 2020
As Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis has started a fund with 1 million euros ($1.1 million) to help those in the Diocese of Rome who are facing economic difficulty because of the coronavirus.
In a June 8 letter to Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, Rome’s vicar general, Pope Francis said “there are many fathers and mothers of a family who are fighting with difficulty to be able to set the table for their children and to guarantee there will be the minimum needed.”
“As Bishop of Rome, I decided to institute in the diocese, the ‘Jesus the Divine Worker’ Fund, to recall the dignity of work…” he said.
The 1 million euros will go to the Diocese of Rome’s charitable organization, Caritas, and is intended to help those who are most gravely impacted economically because of the coronavirus and the measures put in place to control its spread. Especially, the pope said, the fund is for those who are likely to be excluded from institutional sources of support.
https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/pope-francis-starts-fund-of-1-million-euros-for-romes-unemployed-after-pand ___________________________________________________________
6. Catholic churches vandalized during march against police repression in Mexico, By David Ramos, Catholic News Agency, June 9, 2020, 1:49 PM
The Xalapa Cathedral and the Expiatory Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Mexico’s Veracruz state were vandalized June 8 during a march protesting local police repression.
According to La Silla Rota, the incident that sparked the demonstration was the death in police custody of Carlos Andrés Navarro. Family and friends of the young man, who had demonstrated peacefully, disavowed and condemned the violence, the media reported.
Graffiti spray painted on church walls included the messages “pedophiles,” “oppressive state,” “rapists,” “war on the state and capitalism,” and the anarchist symbol.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/catholic-churches-vandalized-during-march-against-police-repression-in-mexico-97070
___________________________________________________________
7. Cardinal Becciu: Torzi Arrest is No ‘Earthquake’: Cardinal Becciu’s interview concluded with his declaration that “[Torzi] will have to answer for a specific crime for which he alone is responsible. And the Vatican will continue as before.”, By Catholic News Agency, June 9, 2020
Cardinal Angelo Becciu has said that the arrest of a businessman at the center of a Vatican property deal will have no wider repercussions and that business in the Vatican “will continue as before.”
Commenting on the June 5 arrest of Gianluigi Torzi, the former sostituto at the Secretariat of State said that he did not know the Italian businessman charged by Vatican prosecutors with fraud, extortion, money laundering and other crimes. Becciu also defended the investment of hundreds of millions of euros in the London property at 60 Sloane Avenue, and said it still represented good value for money.
“I don’t know Torzi, I was no longer sostituto when the facts that are attributed [Torzi] happened,” Becciu told Adnkronos after the announcement of Torzi’s arrest.
Before he was made a cardinal in June, 2018, Cardinal Becciu was the second-ranking official at the Vatican Secretariat of State, which invested hundreds of millions of euros in the London property between 2014-2018. Torzi acted as a broker, a commission-earning middleman, for the Secretariat of State as it finalized the purchase in 2018 and 2019.
https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/cardinal-becciu-torzi-arrest-is-no-earthquake
|
|
