In a rare lengthy interview with a German newspaper, retired pope Benedict XVI reflected on his 70 years as a priest and lamented what he said is an increasing institutionalization of the Catholic Church in Germany, making it a functional entity rather than the living body of Christ. In written responses to German magazine Herder Korrespondenz, published in their August edition on the 70th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood, Benedict, 94, said his brief time as a young pastor before getting into academic work made it clear “that many of the functions relating to the structure and life in the church were performed by people who by no means shared the faith of the church.”
Because of this, the Church’s testimony “must appear questionable in many ways,” he said, noting that faith and disbelief “were mixed together in a strange way, and this had to come out at some point and cause a breakdown that would eventually bury the faith.”
Benedict said that in his view, “a divorce was necessary,” in this regard, and cautioned against the idea of thinking of the Church as a body of saints who have already reached perfection.

Catholic bishops in Congo called for an end to attacks on the church and its leaders, acts they believe are linked to the church’s persistent call for democracy and national cohesion. The bishops said the Archdiocese of Kinshasa has been targeted as well as places of worship — including parishes, Marian grottoes, altars and sanctuaries — in the Diocese of Mbujimayi.

The Chinese government has promoted a revival of Confucianism, along with traditional religious practices, as part of its nationalist agenda.  The Chinese Communist Party is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1921. For most of those decades, the party sought to restrict or obliterate traditional religious practices, which it considered part of China’s “feudal” past. But since the late 1970s, the party has slowly permitted a multifaceted and far-reaching revival of religion in China to take place. More recently, current Chinese president and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has endorsed continued party tolerance for religion as filling a moral void that has developed amid China’s fast-paced economic growth. This support does come with caveats and restrictions, however, including the demand that religious leaders support the Communist Party.

When Simone Biles, described as the world’s greatest gymnast, announced July 27 she would not be competing in a team event with the U.S. women’s Olympics gymnastics team and the next day withdrew from the all-around final, many people were shocked, but many supported her decision to prioritize her mental health.
Counsellors and spiritual directors at Catholic colleges and ministries who spoke with Catholic News Service echoed a similar view and also said her action opened up a broader and much-needed discussion about the importance of mental health care.
Biles, the four-time Olympic gold medalist, told reporters she was not in the right state of mind to continue the competition after she completed one fewer than planned mid-air twists in the team’s first event and uncharacteristically stumbled on her landing.
Later, she said she had experienced as a “little bit of the twisties,” an almost quaint term used by gymnasts that belies its meaning of losing control of one’s body while in the air.
That particular sensation is one most Olympics viewers likely can’t even begin to relate to, but the feeling of “fighting all those demons,” which Biles said she had been doing along with a sense of the “weight of the world” on her shoulders, is something non-Olympic stars can grasp on one level.
“Even if we aren’t carrying around the pressure of performing as one of the greatest athletes of all time, we are all susceptible to the undercurrents in our culture that preach grit, grind and pushing through,” wrote Zac Davis, associate editor of America magazine.

Pope Francis’ September trip to Hungary and Slovakia features a jam-packed schedule that shows he has no intention of slowing down despite his recent recovery from colon surgery.
The Vatican July 21 released the pope’s schedule for the trip Sept. 12-15, including the closing Mass of the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest.”
The Pope announced the trip July 4 to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Sunday Angelus address.
“From the bottom of my heart, I thank those who are preparing this journey, and I am praying for them,” he said. “Let us all pray for this journey and for the people who are working to organize it.”
Arriving in Hungary Sept. 12, the Pope will meet with Hungarian President János Áder and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán before meeting with the country’s bishops and re-presentatives of the Ecumenical Council of Churches and several Jewish communities.
After celebrating the closing Mass of the International Eucharistic Congress, the Pope will immediately depart for Bratislava, Slovakia, where he will participate at an ecumenical gathering at the apostolic nunciature before meeting privately with a group of Jesuit priests.
Responding to questions on Twitter July 5 regarding the Pope’s brief stay in Hungary, Eduard Habsburg, the Hungarian ambassa-dor to the Holy See, said the Pope “is doing exactly what he has been invited for — in Budapest, the final Mass of the @iec2021 Budapest (the eucharistic congress), in Slovakia, an extended visit to the country.”
While in Slovakia, the Pope also will visit the cities of Presov and Kosice July 14 where he will preside over a Divine Liturgy, as well as meet with members of the Roma community and young people.
On his final day, July 15, Pope Francis will pray and celebrate Mass with the country’s bishops at the Basilica of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows in Šaštin before returning to Rome.

In the early days of the Olympics, religion played a starring role. Faith leaders had front-row seats to the events and many athletes dedicated their triumphs to the gods. “Even the prizes were religious — crowns of olive leaves made from trees in a sacred grove dedicated to Zeus,” Religion News Service reported in 2016.
Religion still matters to many modern Olympic athletes, but its influence on the Games is harder to spot. You’ll have to pay close attention to Olympics coverage over the next few weeks to catch athletes praying before their events or champions thanking God during their media interviews. I, for one, feel up to the challenge and, to prepare, I did some research over the weekend into what religion-related storylines to follow during the Olympics this year.
Here are my favourite discoveries: Grace McCallum, from the women’s gymnastics squad, and Katie Ledecky, from the swimming team, are two of the many American athletes competing in this year’s Games who have talked about drawing on faith to prepare for competition. Both women are Catholic and believe their church has given them the tools to stay calm and humble in the face of a seemingly overwhelming challenge. “My dad is sending me a couple of prayers to say before each practice in the morning. I think that will be really helpful to keep me at peace,” McCallum said earlier this month.
Speaking of Catholics, the Archdiocese of Tokyo announced last week that Olympic athletes and support staff will not be allowed to attend church in-person during their stay due to COVID-19 concerns. The archdiocese will, instead, offer online worship services and other devotional video content to the athletes, Religion News Service reported.

Bishop Manuel A. Cruz, a Cuban-American and an auxiliary of the Newark Archdiocese, told the congregation at a West New York Catholic church that “the hour has come to say ‘ENOUGH.’” “Our people, the Cuban people, helpless as they are, are being massacred by the tyranny of the Cuban regime. Today we say ‘enough is enough’ to that genocide,” he said.
Cruz joined more than a dozen clergy from the Arch-diocese of Newark and the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, along with the Cuban and Latino community, at St. Joseph of the Palisades Church for a July 18 prayer vigil in solidarity with the people of Cuba.
The service was for the brothers and sisters of the island of Cuba who continue to go through the trials and tribulations of their nation or, as one of the priests mentioned in his prayer, “for the people who cross their desert” to achieve above all the freedom that Jesus promised.
Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark presided. Also in atten-dance were Auxiliary Bishops Gregory J. Studerus and Michael A. Saporito of Newark and Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney of Paterson. The Catholic leaders expressed their support for the Cuban people of the island, along with the Cuban diaspora found in the United States.

German Catholic churches offered spiritual and financial support to survivors of devasta-ting flooding in two regions of the country.
At Masses July 18, bishops, priests and parishioners prayed for those who died, emergency workers who continued to clear mud-lined streets and residents seeking to salvage what they could from damaged and destroy-ed homes, the German Catholic news agency KNA reported.
Officials recorded at least 196 deaths July 19 in western and southern Germany, eastern Bel-gium and parts of the Nether-lands. Hundreds more were missing. In a visit to the region July 18, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the cata-strophe the worst natural disaster in the country in 60 years.
Pope Francis reiterated his sympathy for the victims of the flooding in the three countries, asking that God to receive those who died, comfort survivors, and strengthen rescue workers as he addressed the crowd in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican July 18.

Pope Francis rolled back what some considered his predecessor’s olive branch to traditionalist Catholics by severely restricting celebration of the old Latin Mass. The move essentially reversed a liberalization of the older rite decreed by Pope emeritus Benedict XVI in 2007.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog agency, sent a questionnaire, at the pope’s request, to bishops’ conferences last year.
The survey contained nine questions:
1. What is the situation in your diocese with respect to the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite?
2. If the extraordinary form is practiced there, does it respond to a true pastoral need or is it promoted by a single priest?
3. In your opinion, are there positive or negative aspects of the use of the extraordinary form?
4. Are the norms and conditions established by Summorum Pontificum respected?
5. Does it occur to you that, in your diocese, the ordinary form has adopted elements of the extraordinary form?
6. For the celebration of the Mass, do you use the Missal promulgated by Pope John XXIII in 1962?
7. Besides the celebration of the Mass in the extraordinary form, are there other celebrations (for example Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, Penance, Unction of the sick, Ordination, Divine Office, Easter Triduum, funeral rites) according to the liturgical books prior to Vatican Council II?
8. Has the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum had an influence on the life of seminaries (the seminary of diocese) and others formation houses?
9. Thirteen years after the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, what is your advice about the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite?

Pope Francis seems to be recovering nicely from his July 4 surgery, when the 84-year-old pontiff underwent a three-hour procedure for diverticular stenosis. A Vatican spokesman says he will remain “a few more days in order to optimize his medical and rehabilitation therapy.”
But even with the best prognosis, age is catching up to Francis. Barring a miracle, he will only be expected to continue as pope for five or six years. We may look back at his hospitalization as the moment that marked the beginning of the end of his papacy.
If that’s the case, we will also be able to count incredible achievements.
As a pastor, Francis has caught the imagination of the world with his compassion and openness to all people. He has put love, especially love for the poor, center stage in his preaching of the gospel.
As a world leader, he has put his papacy squarely on the side of migrants and refugees. And he has been a prophetic voice against global warming and the excesses of capita-lism.
And within the church, he has encouraged dialogue and a more consultative style of governance: Put bluntly, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith no longer acts like the Inquisition it once was.
In short, Francis has rebranded the papacy for the 21st century with a pastoral, prophetic and inclusive voice.
Where he has been less successful is in winning over the clerical establishment to his vision for the church. In his eight years as pope, Francis has hardly dented the clerical establishment that he inherited.
Many bishops and priests in the Roman Curia and around the world think his election was a mistake and they are hoping for a return to what they regard as normalcy in the next papacy. They feel he has not emphasized dogma and rules enough, so they are not cooperating.