Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit took the occasion of the first Mass in Notre Dame cathedral since its 15 April fire to remind the French that the now closed building was a house of prayer and not just a national heritage monument.

Aupetit and about 30 worshippers wore white hard hats during Mass in the Chapel of the Virgin at the cathedral’s eastern end, where light streaming through the stained glass windows showed no damage there from the blaze that destroyed the cathedral’s roof.

Much of the cathedral’s fragile glass has been removed and its window frames bolstered by wooden supports. The fire prompted an outpouring of public support and President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to have it reopened in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In his sermon, Aupetit pushed back against the overwhelmingly secular discourse about the cathedral, insisting that “the profound reason for which Notre Dame cathedral was built (was) to show the desire of man for God.”

Its only purpose was to be a house of worship and it “cannot be reduced to a national heritage monument,” he said, adding that France’s secularist policies had resulted in “the abysmal religious ignorance of our contemporaries.”

According to Culture Minister Franck Riester, total pledges to reconstruct the cathedral amount to about 850 million euros, of which about 80 million have been paid so far.

In a remarkably frank and detailed speech, the Vatican official heading the department charged with reviewing clergy sexual abuse allegations told an assembly of Catholic journalists on June 19 that his investigators and the press “share the same goal, which is the protection of minors, and we have the same wish to leave the world a little better than how we found it.” Msgr John Kennedy, who since 2017 has headed the discipline section for the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, described the personal toll on the 17 people in his office as they have reviewed an ever-growing tide of cases involving clergy sexual abuse or related crimes.

“I can honestly tell you that, when reading cases involving sexual abuse by clerics, you never get used to it, and you can feel your heart and soul hurting,” Msgr Kennedy said. “There are times when I am poring over cases that I want to get up and scream, that I want to pack up my things and leave the office and not come back.”

Requests to officially renounce the Catholic faith, known traditionally as apostasy, have been on the rise in France, a sample survey by La Croixconfirms. And the survey suggests that the practice is linked to publicity over controversial issues such as clerical sex abuse.

But the numbers involved are relatively small compared to some media reports suggesting there had been a “flood” of requests by people to have their names removed from baptismal registers.

To measure the real extent of the phenomenon, it is necessary to solicit information directly from dioceses, since the French Bishops’ Conference (CEF) does not keep national records.

“We are sometimes accused over this, but we are not an association with membership lists,” said Father Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, spokesperson for the conference.

Among the 15 dioceses surveyed by La Croix, some did not respond or stated that they did not wish to provide figures.

All the others confirmed an increase in requests to renounce membership of the Catholic Church since August 2018, with a further acceleration since the beginning of 2019.

In Bordeaux, the counter is already at 40. In 2018, it totalled 57, including 35 in September-and October, says Marc Ruellan, an archivist in the archdiocese.

In Paris, last year’s figure of 76 requests was almost reached in the first five months of 2019 with 70 individuals seeking to leave the Church. In Strasbourg, with 174 requests in 2019, the previous figures have already been exceeded: the diocese had recorded 104 apostasies in 2018, and only 37 in 2017.

Franco Zeffirelli, the famed film director and film, television and opera producer, died on June 15, 2019, in Rome at the age of 96. He was born out of wedlock near Florence, Italy, in 1923. His mother, a widow, was not able to give him her married surname or that of his father, so she gave him the name “Zeffirelli.” The story of him being named after a word in a Mozart opera seems to be one of those myths that grows up around famous people.

Zeffirelli was raised by a close relative after the death of his mother when he was just 6 years old. He graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence in 1941 and enrolled in the University of Florence to study architecture. He learned to speak English well. His education was interrupted by World War II when he fought as a partisan and then became an interpreter for the British army. After the war, he decided to study theater and became a scene painter and assi-stant director for Luchino Visconti’s 1948 “La Terra Trema.” He and Visconti had a long love affair and lived together for several years. Zeffirelli worked with directors Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini and continued to design sets for plays, some of which he directed. He then redirected his efforts to cinema.

Zeffirelli, a Catholic whose faith influenced his work, was an enigma. He was sexually abused by a priest at a young age but said, even though the priest asked forgiveness, he was unharmed by the abuse. He was also an active homosexual who rejected the term “gay” as vulgar. Notwithstanding his lifestyle, Zeffirelli was friends with Pope Paul VI and met with Pope Francis in 2016 to present a copy of his book Francesco with photos from the set of the film “Brother Sun, Sister Moon.” According to the Associated Press, Zeffirelli was “one of the few Italian directors close to the Vatican and the church turned to Zeffirelli’s theatrical touch for the live telecasts of the 1978 papal installation and the 1983 Holy Year opening ceremonies in St Peter’s Basilica.”

On May 28, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution establishing on August 22 as the Day to Commemorate Victims of Violence Based on Religion.

The resolution invites all member states, relevant organisations, civil society, individuals and the private sector to observe the international day and show appropriate support for victims of religiously motivated violence.

In the wake of recent religiously motivated terrorist attacks, the resolution notes a serious concern for “continuing acts of intolerance and violence based on religion or belief against individuals, including against persons belonging to religious communities and religious minorities around the world, and at the increasing number and intensity of such incidents.” Poland initiated work toward the commemorative day, but united with Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, and the United States to co-draft the resolution.

Ultimately, 88 UN member states voted to co-sponsor the resolution.

“The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, which is commonly referred to as the right to freedom of religion or belief, is a universal right of every human being and the cornerstone of many other rights,” Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Jacek Czaputowicz said in his keynote speech before the vote.

In response, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom in Washington issued a statement praising the resolution.

Discussing the Syrian civil war on June 10, Pope Francis said God hears the cry of orphans and widows, and that His wrath will be visited on those who deal in arms trafficking while speaking of peace.

“I think with sadness, once again, of the drama of Syria and the dense clouds that seem to thicken above it in some areas that are still unstable and where the risk of an even greater humanitarian crisis remains high. Those who have no food, those who do not have medical care, who have no school, orphans, the wounded and widows raise their voices up high,” the Pope said on June 10 to participants in the plenary assembly of the Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches.

“The hearts of men may be insensitive, but that of God is not: wounded by the hatred and violence that can be unleashed among his creatures, always able to be moved and take care of them with the tenderness and strength of a father who protects and guides. But sometimes I also think of the wrath of God that will be unleashed against the leaders of countries that talk about peace and sell weapons to carry out these wars. This hypocrisy is a sin.”

Francis’ meeting with ROACO was at the Vatican’s Consistory Hall. The organization unites funding agencies to provide services to members of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

A total of 35,141 people die from gun violence in the United States each year, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which averaged deaths over a five-year period through 2018. That’s 96 people each day.

According to the centre:

1,24,760 people are shot every year;

17,207 children and teens are shot every year;

Seven children and teens die from gun violence in the United States every day.

Between 2000 and 2017, 250 FBI-designated “active shooter” incidents occurred in the United States.

There are more guns than people in the United States.

At the start of June, which is Gun Violence Awareness Month, the United States received its latest tragic reminders of the gravity and magnitude of the gun violence problem. In Virginia Beach, Virginia, a gunman killed 12 people while firing indiscriminately in an office building. In Chicago, 10 people were killed and 52 wounded in gun violence across the city during the week-end.

Since 1994, the U.S. bishops’ conference has supported a number of “reasonable measures to address the problem of gun violence,” including an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, and limitations on high-capacity weapons and ammunition magazines. With each successive mass shooting, bishops are quick to offer prayers and statements of their condolences.

However, as gun violence continues to affect and take thousands of lives each year, some Catholics are expressing a desire for a broader and more prophetic denouncement of American gun culture from the church across the board, laity and clergy alike.

The Bishop of Springfield, Illinois, has decreed that state legislative leaders may not be admitted to Holy Communion within his diocese, because of their work to pass the state Reproductive Health Act. The bishop also directed that Catholic Legislators who have voted for legislation promoting abortion should not present themselves to receive Holy Communion until they have first gone to confession. “In accord with canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law… Illinois Senate President John Cullerton and Speaker of the House Michael J. Madigan, who facilitated the passage of the Act Concerning Abortion of 2017 (House Bill 40) as well as the Reproductive Health Act of 2019 (Senate Bill 25), are not to be admitted to Holy Communion in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois because they have obstinately persisted in promoting the abominable crime and very grave sin of abortion as evidenced by the influence they exerted in their leadership roles and their repeated votes and obdurate public support for abortion rights over an extended period of time,” Bishop Thomas Paprocki wrote in a June 2 decree.

“These persons may be readmitted to Holy Communion only after they have truly repented these grave sins and furthermore have made suitable reparation for damages and scandal, or at least have seriously promised to do so, as determined in my judgment or in the judgment of their diocesan bishop in consultation with me or my successor,” the bishop added.

Pope Francis told Jesuits in Romania that tensions and struggles within the Church have left it wounded and that the only path forward is through humble dialogue, not futile arguments. “I think of the Church as a field hospital. The Church is so wounded, and today it is also so wounded by tensions within it,” the Pope told the Jesuits during a meeting on May 31 in Bucharest.

“Meekness, it takes meekness! And it takes a lot of courage to be meek! But you have to go forward with meekness,” the Pope said. “This is not the time to convince, to have discussions. If someone has a sincere doubt, yes, one can dialogue, clarify. But don’t respond to the attacks.”

As has become customary when the Pope meets Jesuits during a foreign trip, a transcript of his remarks was released weeks later by the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica.

According to the text published on June 13, Francis told the 22 Jesuits that in moments of “tribulation and fury,” Christians must imitate Jesus who “didn’t argue with the Pharisees and the Sadducees as he had done before when they tried to set traps.” Instead, “Jesus remained silent.”

“There’s no talking at the moment of fierce fury. When persecution is taking place, what remains to be lived is witness and loving closeness, in prayer, in charity and in goodness,” he said. “You embrace the cross.”

Francis met with the Jesuits at the apostolic nunciature in Bucharest at the end of his first day in the country. According to La Civilta Cattolica, the Pope spent nearly an hour with the group answering their questions “in a relaxed and family atmosphere.”

Asked about where he finds consolation in moments of trial, the Pope said he seeks it in prayer and especially in meeting with “God’s people.”

“God’s people understand things better than we do. God’s people have an under-standing, the sensus fidei, (sense of faith) that corrects your line and puts you on the right path,” the Pope said. “You should hear what people say to me when I meet them! They have a nose for understanding situations.” Another Jesuit asked the Pope his thoughts regarding marriage annulments and the difficulties faced by many couples who “are unable to make it to the end of the process” because “the tribunals don’t work.”