Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani issued a decree “to appoint Patriarch Louis Raphaël Sako as Patriarch of the Chaldeans in Iraq and in the world”, restoring his “institutional recognition” rescinded last July. Cardinal Sako had refused to return to Baghdad for almost a year since President Abdul Latif Rashid revoked Decree 147, which recognised the cardinal in legislative terms as head of the Chaldean Catholic Church with responsibility for its endowments.
He moved his residence to Erbil, in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, returning to the capital briefly in April on the prime minister’s invitation but leaving disappointed that the decree was not restored. A statement from the patriarchate offered “thanks and gratitude to the Christian and Islamic Shiite and Sunni religious authorities…who supported [the patriarch] in the crisis of with-drawing the decree”, as well as international actors including the US State Department.
In a homily during Mass at Baghdad’s Mar Gorgis Church on 12 June to mark his return to the city, Sako said that Chaldean Christians “are one of the colours of the beautiful fabric of Iraq that must be preserved” and defended their historic place in the region.
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Peace between the Koreas, Seoul abp: ‘The light of prayer, against animosity’
“Even though the situation between the two Koreas may appear bleak we Christians can-not remain in despair. On the contrary, it is precisely in this age of growing animosity that our prayer can illuminate our time with a greater light.” This is the message the Archbishop of Seoul Peter Chung Soon-taick issued on the occasion of Day of Prayer for Reconciliation and Unity of the Korean people, coinciding with the 73rd anniversary of the be-ginning of the war that led to the painful wound of separation bet-ween Seoul and Pyongyang.
The anniversary falls this year at a time particularly marked by tension. Seoul woke up to news of the launch of 350 more balloons carrying waste from the North to South Korea overnight, in what was the fifth such launch since late last month. About 100 balloons, carrying mostly waste paper and rubbish, landed in the capital and the northern part of Gyeonggi province.
For his part, President Yoon Suk Yeol paid a visit to the US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), which called at the naval port in the southeastern city of Busan, ahead of joint exercises between South Korea, the US and Japan that will kick off tomorrow and are aimed at countering the growing threats from North Korea.
Card. Parolin in Lebanon: failure to elect a president weighs heavily on today’s Middle East
At the invitation of Marwan Sehnaoui, President of the Lebanese Association of the Sovereign Order of Malta, the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was in Lebanon on a five-day visit (23-27 June) to see the Order’s humanitarian activities, as well as meet with the country’s authorities, the local Church, and representatives of Islamic religious authorities.
Card. Parolin celebrated Mass on the Solemnity of Saint John the Baptist, Patron Saint of the Order of Malta, in the Church of St Joseph of the Jesuit Fathers, in the presence of the Commander-in-Chief of Lebanon’s Armed Forces, General Joseph Aoun. This provided him with an opportunity to relay the Holy See’s concerns about the detrimental delay in electing a president.
Lebanon has been without a head of state since November 2022, due to a power game by the Shia community, led by Hezbollah, which is seeking to impose its candidate, and the lack of consensus within the Maronite community, from whose ranks the president must be picked in accordance with the constitution.
In his homily on Saint John the Baptist’s Day, the Holy See’s secretary of state echoed the Vatican’s concerns in the matter. “The Church in Lebanon must also bear witness, according to her high mission to keep alive and effective the message of ‘living together’,” he said. “In this regard, allow me to stress that we have felt a great void for months. A Christian voice is missing, one that would undoubtedly make the difference; the voice of the President of Lebanon is missing. This absence weighs heavily at this very serious time for the Middle East.”
EU bishop: Elections show citizens concerned about Ukraine war
Citizens of the European Uni-on want EU politicians to be more actively engaged in inter-national issues such as the Ukraine war, an Italian bishop said after the EU elections earlier this month.
Bishop Mariano Crociata of Latina, president of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), told EWTN News that despite low voter turnout, EU citizens have an expectation that the elected members of the 27 countries’ joint parliament will respond to the problems they are living through, including fear of widespread war in Europe.
“The [election] result denotes …in the citizens of the countries that are part of the European Union, a phase of concern, perhaps one must even say fear,” he said. He explained that there is fear regarding “the presence of a war whose outcome is not foreseen or understood” and voters are looking for greater peace of mind.
EU citizens also have the expectation, he said, that elected officials will “do something, to have their voices heard” and “to have the political strength to become more and more an international subject, a subject that at least operates, is active as much as possible, in the confrontation between the big and medium powers that have responsibilities on so many things and particularly on the war in Ukraine.”
Russia’s Dagestan region mourning after terrorist attacks in churches and synagogues
Panicked-stricken people and police were seen in Russia’s volatile Dagestan region. The area plunged into mourning on June 24 following attacks against houses of worship in the regional capital, Makhachkala and Derbent, with an ancient Jewish community.
The Investigative Committee, the country’s top state criminal investigation agency, said all five attackers were killed after horrific battles. Of the 19 other people killed, 15 were police.
Among the dead was the Reverend Nikolai Kotelnikov, a 66-year-old Russian Orthodox priest at a church in Derbent. Local authorities said the attackers slit his throat before setting fire to the church. The attack came as the Orthodox faithful celebrated their Pentecost, also known as Trinity Sunday.
Shortly after the attacks in Derbent, militants reportedly fired at a police checkpoint in nearby Makhachkala. They attacked a Russian Orthodox Church and a synagogue before being hunted down and killed by special forces. Medical authorities in Dagestan said 16 people, including 13 police, were hospitalized with injuries, including four officers in grave condition. The bloodshed was the latest that officials blamed on Islamic extremists in the predominantly Muslim area in the North Caucasus.
Archbishop Gänswein appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Baltic States
A statement on June 24 released by the Holy See Press Office said Pope Francis has appointed Abp Georg Gänswein, Titular Abp of Urbisaglia, and Prefect Emeritus of the Papal Household, as Apostolic Nuncio to Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. Archbishop Gänswein, who is 67, served as Pope Benedict XVI’s private secretary during his entire pontificate and retirement.
In December 2012, Pope Benedict XVI also appointed him Prefect of the Pontifical Household. He was ordained as archbishop in January 2013. He continued to hold both positions after Benedict resigned from the papacy about seven weeks later, in February 2013. For about seven years, Archbishop Gänswein served both Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict.
Thousands take part in Italy’s pro-life march
Thousands of people from across Italy braved the summer heat to join the national Demonstration for Life in Rome on the afternoon of June 22. “Let’s Choose Life” was the motto of the annual procession, which began at 2 pm in Rome’s Piazza della Repubblica, close to the city’s main Termini train station. The slow march continued almost one mile down the Via Nazionale before reaching the area of the ancient Imperial Forum, where a rally with speeches and musical performances was held.
“There is no compromise on human life!” Pope Francis said in a message sent to organizers ahead of the march. He thanked participants for their “commitment and public witness in defence of human life from conception to natural death” and urged them to “go forward with courage despite every adversity.” “The stakes, namely the absolute dignity of human life, the gift of God the Creator, are too high to be the object of compromise or mediation,” Francis wrote. The pope also invited families to bear witness to “the beauty of life and of the family that welcomes it” in order to build “a society that rejects the culture of waste at every stage of existence: from the most fragile unborn child to the suffering elderly, passing through the victims of trafficking, slavery, and every war.”
Cardinal Parolin: If there was an opening, Pope Francis would go to China
The timing at the moment seems premature, but “if there were openness on the part of the Chinese, the Pope would also go immediately” to China, a land for which he has always shown great appreciation and esteem for its people, history and its culture. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, reiterated Pope Francis’ never-hidden desire to one day visit the great and “noble” Asian country.
The Cardinal’s comments were made on 20 June, at Rome’s Pontifical Urban University at the presentation of the book “Cardinal Celso Costantini and China – Constructor of a ‘bridge’ between the East and West” – The volume was edited by Msgr. Bruno Fabio Pighin, an Italian historian and Episcopal Delegate in the postulation of the cause of beatification and canonisation of Cardinal Celso Costantini (1876-1958), the first Apostolic Delegate to China, and published in Italian by Marcianum Press.
Once again, a month after the conference held at the Urbaniana for the 100th anniversary of the Concilium Sinense, which Cardinal Costantini inspired, promoted and organized, Cardinal Parolin found himself evoking the figure of the First Apostolic Delegate to China who laid the foundations for a dialogue, of which one of the fruits, after decades, can be considered the signing of the Agreement with the Holy See on the appointments of Bishops. That agreement was signed for the first time in 2018 and then renewed twice in 2020 and 2022.
Pope on AI: Welcome its benefits to humanity, but mitigate its risks
Slightly more than a week after Pope Francis addressed the G7 Session in Bari, Italy, on artificial intelligence, the Holy Father is reaffirming that the powerful technological advancement must be used ethically, to serve humanity, and that its inherent risks must be mitigated. The Holy Father’s latest words on AI came during his audience on 22 June in the Vatican with participants in the international convention on ‘Generative Artificial Intelligence and Technocratic Paradigm,’ organized by the Vatican’s Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice.
In his remarks, the Pope thanked those before him for their commitment to exploring how AI can help promote human dignity and be at the service of the disadvantaged.
“I appreciate,” he expressed, “that the Centesimus Annus has given ample space to this subject, involving scholars and experts from different countries and disciplines, analysing the opportunities and risks related to the development and use of AI.” The Pope likewise warned against the tool acting autonomously, stressing AI “is, and must remain a tool” in human hands. Moreover, the Holy Father warned against artificial intelligence perpetrating a ‘throwaway culture,’ favouring inequality, and making decisions outside of its purview.
As he encouraged them to continue examining the true purpose of AI, he asked: “Does it serve to satisfy the needs of humanity, to improve the well-being and integral development of people?” Or does it, rather, “serve to enrich and increase the already high power of the few technological giants despite the dangers to humanity?”
This, he said, is the basic question. Since the future of humanity will be played out on the front of technological innovation, he stated, “We must not miss the opportunity to think and act in a new way, with mind, heart and hands,” in order to “direct innovation toward a configuration centered on the primacy of human dignity.” This, he underscored, is not up for discussion.
Cardinal supports pro-Hindu coalition govt in southern Indian state
Indian Cardinal Anthony Poola has pledged the Christian com-munity’s support for the new government in southern Andhra Pradesh state that unseated a Christian-led government in the recently concluded polls.
N. Chandrababu Naidu was sworn in as state chief minister on June 12 for the fourth time. He heads a coalition government com-prising his Telugu Desam Party (TDP), regional Jana Sena party, and the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In a letter to the new chief minister, Cardinal Poola assured “support of the Catholic Church and the Christian com-munity” to make the state “inclusive and sustainable.” The 62-year-old cardinal, archbishop of Hyderabad in the neighboring Telangana state, also promised “prayers for prosperity, peace and harmony in Andhra Pradesh.” He was made a cardinal in 2022. His Telangana state was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014. The cardinal heads the regional Telugu Catholic Bishops’ Council, which includes all the Catholic bishops of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu is the official language of both the states.
“We hope the alliance partners will keep a check on the BJP,” said Father Anthony Thumma, advisor to the Telugu Federation of Churches. Nadu’s alliance came to power after defeating the YSR Congress, a regional party headed by Jagan Mohan Reddy, a Church of South India member. He led the state government for five years and kept friendly terms with the BJP. Both Naidu and Reddy “always worked for the welfare of the people, especially for minorities in the state,” said Fr Thumma, also secretary of the Indian bishops’ Office of Dialogue and Ecumenism.