{A photograph} of a Ukrainian breast-feeding her child in Kyiv underground station has impressed a non secular “Madonna and Child” type portray. The picture of Tetyana Blizniak feeding her two-month outdated daughter, by journalist and photographer András Földes from Kyiv, went viral on social media in February 2022. This led the Ukrainian artist Marina Solomennikova to supply an icon-style portray primarily based on the {photograph}, exhibiting Blizniak sporting a halo. She mentioned the mom and daughter had been “a symbol of every Ukrainian mother obliged to hide from Russian missiles in anti-airraid shelters,” she mentioned. When Solomennikova’s portray reached Italy, a Ukrainian Jesuit ensured it was positioned in a chapel in a ladies’ faculty run by Franciscan nuns in Naples. Coincidentally, Blizniak had studied the artwork of icon portray earlier than motherhood. 

Portugal has briefly withdrawn from the European Union’s 1985 Schengen Agreement on free motion and reimposed controls on its borders, forward of a mass inflow of younger individuals for the Catholic Church’s 1-6 August World Youth Day pageant. The restrictions, operating from final Saturday, had been introduced by Socialist premier Antonio Costa, as Church organisers confirmed that 600,000 individuals from 184 nations had confirmed their attendance however warned that precise numbers may exceed 1.5 million. Applying at ports and airports, in addition to at 21 border crossings from neighbouring Spain, the curbs shall be accompanied by no-fly zones over Lisbon and the sanctuary of Fatima, the place three shepherd youngsters obtained a message about humanity’s future from the Virgin Mary in May 1917, in time for the arrival of Pope Francis by helicopter, for his second go to to the shrine, on 5 August. More than 20,000 individuals have registered as helpers on the week-long pageant, hosted by the Lisbon, Setubal and Santarem dioceses, which is able to embrace music, theatre and sports activities occasions, in addition to Masses and catechesis periods. A particular Youth Day hymn, “Há Pressa no Ar” (There’s a rush within the air) has been launched in 13 languages for individuals, whose largest exterior contingents are anticipated from France, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United States.

The Brussels-based fee representing the European Union’s Catholic bishops has deplored strikes to have the precise to abortion written into the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, 18 months after this was first proposed by President Emmanuel Macron of France.“Respect for the dignity of every human being in every stage of its life, especially in situations of complete vulnerability, is a fundamental principle of a democratic society,” Comece mentioned in a press release. “EU member-states have very different constitutional traditions on the legal regulation of abortion, so constituting a fundamental right to abortion would go against the general principles of EU law.” The fee was reacting to calls for for all 27 member states to enshrine the precise to abortion, according to Macron’s February 2022 suggestion, which was backed by a June 2022 European Parliament decision.

The Texas Catholic Conference, which represents the bishops of that state, strongly condemned new anti-migrant measures as leading to “horrific tragedies”. Texas governor Greg Abbott, who’s Catholic, despatched in police and different state personnel with orders to push migrants again into the river, arrange concertina wire alongside the riverbanks, and refuse to offer water to dehydrated migrants regardless of file temperatures within the area. “The fact that [the migrants] were born in a place which could not provide these basic human rights does not give anyone the right to treat them inhumanely,” the bishops mentioned. 

Poland’s newly nominated cardinal has warned in opposition to makes an attempt to “instrumentalise” the Catholic Church within the marketing campaign for late autumn parliamentary elections, and criticised the chief of the governing Law and Justice get together for utilizing Church occasions for “political speeches”. “The Church should be developing evangelical methods, not political tools – preaching the word, celebrating the sacraments and building a community on works of love,” mentioned Archbishop Grzegorz Rys of Lodz, who shall be made a cardinal with 20 others on 30 September. “Some consistency is needed here. If we ask politicians not to draw us into a political struggle, we shouldn’t then invite them to express political views at religious ceremonies. There’s no place for this in the Church”. The 59-year-old cardinal-elect spoke amid campaigning for Poland’s 460-seat Sejm decrease home and 100-seat Senate, by which neither Law and Justice nor the liberal opposition Civic Platform are forecast to achieve a decisive majority.

A choice by Rome’s metropolis council to call a road, public sq. or park after Venerable Chiara Corbella has been attacked by Italy’s Union of Atheists and Rational Agnostics. They described the choice as “a tribute to an icon of anti-abortion fundamentalists.” The 28-year-old Roman died of most cancers in 2012, having postponed chemotherapy till after she had given beginning to her son Francisco. By then, Corbella’s most cancers had metastised. 

A Brazilian often known as the “Angel Surfer” has been declared “venerable” by the Vatican. Guido Schäffer drowned in May 2009, whereas browsing off the coast of Rio do Janeiro. A former GP  who was a seminarian when he died, Schäffer supplied medical care alongside the Missionaries of Charity within the favelas of Rio. 

The Vatican’s chief skilled on sexual abuse is to research abuse allegations regarding a lay affiliation in Peru. Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna is to report on the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (Sodality of Christian Life) which was based in 1971, by Luis Fernando Figari, a Peruvian  layman. In 2018, Scicluna, the  assistant secretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, was despatched by the Vatican to Chile in 2018 to unpack accusations of clerical abuse.

A 40-year-old Argentinian priest is to change into Pope Francis’s new private secretary. Fr Daniel Pelizzon will take up the submit in August. During 2011-2012, he helped the Pope (then Archbishop of Buenos Aires) to organise his private archives. 

Indian Catholic ladies within the Diocese of Kerala have held a sit-in to protest in opposition to the gang rape of two ladies in Manipur. Protesters from the Kerala Latin Catholic Association described the incident – which noticed the victims paraded bare by means of the streets – as “diabolical”. Meanwhile, the Keralan Catholic Bishops’ Council have referred to as for the chief minister of Manipur to resign. They mentioned Biren Singh had didn’t take accountability for persevering with violence within the area. 

The Pope urged the younger and the outdated to “grow together” at a Mass on July 23, marking the Third World Day of the Elderly and the Grandparents.  Observing the day occurred near World Youth Day, the Pope mentioned each celebrations had been a reminder of “ the “haste”  with which Mary got down to go to Elizabeth.” He defined: “In this way, they invite us to reflect on the bond that unites young and old. The Lord trusts that young people, through their relationships with the elderly, will realise that they are called to cultivate memory… For the elderly, the presence of a young person in their lives can give them hope that their experience will not be lost.” 

A brand new sound system, together with greater than 80 high-tech audio system has been put in in St Peter’s Basilica. This replaces the analogue system put in place almost 25 years in the past in preparation for the Jubilee 2000 celebrations. The improve is the results of an acoustic examine of St Peter’s and has improved the standard of sound for Mass-goers on the Basilica. “The system provides for the activation of the speakers with a progressive and very slight delay – milliseconds as [people] move away from the altar,” mentioned the Italian architect Carlo Carbone. 

Blood stains discovered on a corporal – the linen sq. on which the chalice and paten relaxation throughout Mass – have been declared miraculous by the Church in Honduras. On June 9, 2022, a rare minister of the Eucharist within the rural city of San Juan found the blood stains. “I was amazed,” mentioned José Elmer Benítez. Unconvinced, the native bishop, Walter Guillén Soto of the Diocese of Gracias, despatched the corporal for evaluation at a toxicological centre in Tegucigalpa. Tests discovered the blood stains to be human, blood sort AB and with a optimistic RH issue, just like the blood discovered on the Shroud of Turin.

Russia is demanding that Ukraine ought to launch the abbot of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, often known as the “monastery of the Caves.” In April, Metropolitan Pavlo was arrested on suspicion of justifying the Russian invasion. A Russian Foreign Office spokesman outlined the detainment of Metropolitan Pavlo of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as “the systematic and flagrant violation by Kyiv of the rights of Orthodox Christians”. Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery is probably the most revered Orthodox shrine within the Ukraine.

More than 60 Christian, Jewish, Muslim and secular teams within the United States have signed a letter to Congress urging members to help a invoice to oblige the FBI and the US State division to research the killing of the Catholic journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. The Palestinian-American reporter was shot and killed in May 2022 whereas reporting on an invasion by the Israeli military of a refugee camp in Jenin on the occupied West Bank. 

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Papal envoy for peace within the Ukraine, met final week on the White House with the US president. During a 2.5 hour assembly on July 18, Cardinal Zuppi and Joe Biden mentioned the Holy See’s efforts to offer humanitarian assist to the Ukraine. The White House mentioned the President “shared his wishes for Pope Francis’s continued ministry and global leadership and welcomed the recent nomination of a US archbishop as Cardinal”.