More than 45,000 pilgrims gathered at the St Anthony of Padua Pilgrim Centre in Vietnam’s Nghe An province for the feast day of the saint on 13 June. Bishop Alfonse Nguyen Huu Long of Vinh and Auxiliary Bishop Peter Nguyen Van Vien concelebrated a special Mass, joined by 40 priests. St Anthony devotees, standing in the scorching sun, were urged to follow the saint's examples in evangelisation.
Sri Lankan bishops have urged the government to provide a relief package for a population struggling with the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. "People are stranded without the basic needs such as food, fuel and gas," Bishop Harold Anthony Perera of Kurunegala said last week. "We do not see an organised plan by the government to monitor the situation on a daily basis and come up with speedy solutions and the failure of the system has compelled the entire population to clamour for radical change," he added. Nationwide demonstrations over the past few weeks have demanded the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his government over the mismanagement of the economy.
The president of the Colombian Bishops’ Conference Archbishop Luis José Rueda Aparicio of Bogota on Sunday evening congratulated Gustavo Petro on his election victory in Sunday’s second-round runoff. "To the President elect, Gustavo Petro and the Vice President-elect, Francia Márquez,” he said, “may they have the wisdom of God to lead the destinies of Colombia… fighting for peace, reconciliation, and fraternity among all Colombians.” Gustavo Petro, 62, will become Colombia’s first left-leaning President.
US President Joe Biden will travel to the Middle East from 13-16 July, where he will visit Israel, Palestine and Saudi Arabia. Hosam Naoum, Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Jerusalem, Jordan and the Middle East, reports that on 10 June, Hadi Amr, the US State Department official in charge of the Israeli-Palestinian file, was presented with a document from the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches of Jerusalem, offering information about “factors, processes and events that weigh negatively on the ordinary life of local Christian communities”. Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, hopes President Biden will, “encourage the search for solutions to the emergencies facing Palestinians, Christians and Muslims, including violations against churches and monasteries perpetrated by extremist groups, amidst silence of the official Israeli authorities”.
A Catholic church and several civilian homes in eastern Myanmar’s Kayah state have been destroyed by junta troops. St Matthew Church in Dognekhu Parish of Loikaw diocese was set ablaze on 15 June. Soldiers encamped inside the church set it alight when leaving the area. Some 16 parishes out of 38 in Loikaw Diocese have been abandoned following intensified fighting.
Retired Ghent Bishop Luc Van Looy has declined his elevation to cardinal at a consistory in late August because of accusations of poor handling of sex abuse cases in the diocese he led from 2004 to 2019. The announcement of the Belgian’s nomination aroused criticism from victims’ groups, who said Van Looy, who turned 80 last year, had not addressed cases in his diocese energetically enough. “In order to prevent victims of such abuses from being hurt again following his cardinalate, Mgr Van Looy asked the Pope to exempt him from accepting this appointment. Pope Francis accepted his request,” the Belgian bishops conference said in a statement supporting his decision. Criticisms focused on his decisions to return a convicted sexual abuser priest to ministry, failure to inform police about other abusive priests and payment to a victim of a paedophile priest while knowing the latter ran an orphanage in Rwanda. Bishops’ conference spokesman Fr. Tommy Scholtes said Pope Francis has known Bishop Van Looy for decades. “I know the Pope, at some point, wanted to make Bishop Van Looy a cardinal but I don’t know who knew what precisely,” he said. “I don’t know what the Pope knew.”
The Church is supporting tribal people who are resisting attempts by Hindu nationalists to rob them of reservation benefits. Reservations form a system of affirmative action that provides representation in education, employment and politics for historically disadvantaged groups such as tribal people and Dalits. Fr Vincent Ekka, who heads the department of tribal studies at the Jesuit-run Indian Social Institute in New Delhi, suggests the delisting move is “a conspiracy hatched at the highest level to wipe out the tribal population from the protected forest areas” which are rich in natural minerals and deposits.
Religious persecution, ethnic conflicts, economic pressures and political crises are among the main driving factors that have forcibly displaced millions of Christians across the globe, says a report from Christian advocacy group Open Doors. Released for World Refugee Day on 20 June, the report reveals that displacement of many people is a “deliberate strategy” to weaken, silence or completely eradicate Christian populations.
The Philippines Catholic Bishops’ Conference has announced the setting up of a new watchdog to ensure political accountability after recent elections. The Church’s social arm Caritas will lead the initiative. Bongbong Marcos, 64, son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, is to assume the presidency in July.
A Catholic church outside Bologna bestowed a public blessing on a gay couple last week with the permission of Bologna’s Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, a leading candidate for the next papal election. On 11 June, Pietro Morotti and Giacomo Spagnoli were joined civilly in the Municipality of Budrio in the province of Bologna, after which they processed from the Town Hall across the square into the Church of San Lorenzo for a special Mass concelebrated by seven Catholic priests. In March 2021, the Vatican’s doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), reiterated the Church’s prohibition of blessings for same-sex couples, insisting that God Himself “does not and cannot bless sin.”
The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops has said Kenyans should not vote for politicians proposing to destroy lives of youths through the liberalisation of drug abuse. Their criticism comes after Roots Party presidential candidate George Wajackoyah, a lawyer and law professor, promised to legalise bhang should he win the presidency, citing medicinal and economic benefits. Use of bhang is outlawed in Kenya. Wajackoyah, who went from living on the streets of the capital, Nairobi, as a child to become a respected lawyer, has said he will turn acres of farmland into bhang plantations. Nyeri Archbishop Anthony Muheria, in a statement on behalf of the bishops made at Our Lady of Consolata Catholic Cathedral in Nyeri on Sunday, said voters must also reject people supporting abortion and those with the agenda of liberalising outlawed sexual behaviours, including pornography. He advised voters to seek leaders who commit themselves to fighting corruption and offer concrete action on how to do so. The battle for the presidency is likely to be a two-horse race between Deputy President William Ruto and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
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