Miami parish: 10 members still missing after building collapse (CNS) It is an understatement to say the people and staff of St. Joseph Parish will be living the crisis of the Surfside condominium collapse in a most intimate way for some time to come. No other Christian house of worship is so close to the ground zero of Champlain Towers South as St. Joseph. The remains of the tower that went down and the still-standing tower can be easily seen in the distance from the church grounds. Then there is the human connection: The parish pastor, Father Juan Sosa, has reported that 10 of its registered families remain missing following the collapse and two families who were not in the building at the time are safe…
Pope meets U.S. Secretary of State at Vatican (Vatican News) Pope Francis on Monday morning received US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, in the Vatican. Responding to questions put to him by journalists, the Director of the Holy See Press Office said the audience took place in a cordial atmosphere. Matteo Bruni explained that it lasted about 40 minutes and that “it offered the Pope the occasion to recall his apostolic visit to the United States in 2015 and to express his affection for the the people of America…”
Francis: ‘Peter and Paul were free because they were set free’ (Vatican News) In his homily for the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Francis reflected on the central point: “Peter and Paul were free because they were set free”. Holy Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica was celebrated in the presence of bishops and cardinals as well as a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, led by Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, who has come to Rome for the traditional exchange of delegations on the feast days of their respective patron saints…
Explosion rips through Catholic church in Congo (CNA) An explosion inside a Catholic church in the Democratic Republic of Congo has left at least two people “seriously injured,” according to the parish priest. The early morning explosion on June 27 at Emmanuel-Butsili Parish in the town of Beni was caused by a homemade bomb that had been placed in the first row after the altar…
As Spokane broils, Catholic Charities opens cooling centers (Spokane Spokesman-Review) Spokane experienced a high of 105 degrees Monday, tying the record set in 2015 for the hottest June 28 in the city’s history, according to the National Weather Service. Meteorologists are projecting temperatures upward of 110 degrees Tuesday, which would surpass the city’s all-time high of 108 measured twice in 1928 and 1961. As unprecedented heat scorches the Spokane area, Catholic Charities opened five new cooling centers downtown on Monday. Some are designated solely for the elderly or those with physical disabilities…
Exhibition marks Benedict’s 70 years as priest (CNA) Benedict XVI’s personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, inaugurated an exhibition in Rome to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Joseph Ratzinger’s ordination to the priesthood and his first Mass, which took place in Bavaria on June 29, 1951. The initiative was promoted by the Vatican’s Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Foundation, the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences and the Museum of the Popes…
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