POPE FRANCIS TO TAKE SUMMER BREAK AS OF JULY 1 – POPE FRANCIS IS SENDING CARDINAL MATTEO ZUPPI AS HIS ENVOY TO MOSCOW – CARDINAL KRAJEWSKI VISITS UKRAINE ON “EVANGELICAL EXPEDITION” – POPE ACCEPTS RESIGNATION OF BISHOP STIKA OF KNOXVILLE

POPE FRANCIS TO TAKE SUMMER BREAK AS OF JULY 1

In keeping with custom during the summer season, all of Pope Francis’ audiences – including the general audiences and those with particular groups – will be temporarily suspended throughout the month of July. This was announced today by the Prefecture of the Papal Household through a statement from the Holy See Press Office. Papal audiences will resume in August, with the first general audience scheduled for Wednesday, 9 August. Pope’s audiences temporarily suspended in July for summer break – Vatican News

POPE FRANCIS IS SENDING CARDINAL MATTEO ZUPPI AS HIS ENVOY TO MOSCOW

Cardinal Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, will embark on a visit June 28-29, 2023, that aims to strengthen “gestures of humanity that can contribute to promoting a solution to the current tragic situation and find paths toward a just peace.”

Accompanied by an official from the Secretariat of State, he will likely uphold Pope Francis desire for a resolution to the war on the European continent. The Pope has been a vocal advocate for peace, consistently calling on world leaders and individuals alike to work towards resolving conflict through peaceful means. He has made countless appeals for prayers for people suffering due to the war in Ukraine. Cardinal Zuppi visited Kyiv June 5-6 June, during which he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other high-level government officials. Cardinal Zuppi to visit Moscow as Pope Francis’ peace envoy – Vatican News

CARDINAL KRAJEWSKI VISITS UKRAINE ON “EVANGELICAL EXPEDITION”

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the Papal Almoner, is currently visiting the Ukrainian city of Kherson for his sixth mission to provide aid and solace to the war-torn country and its affected population. In recent weeks, the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson experienced the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, resulting in the flooding of more than 80 villages and towns, the devastation of 20,000 hectares of farmland, and the spilling of over 150 tons of oil. Cardinal Krajewski arrived in Kherson, driving a truck laden with food supplies (mainly sourced from South Korea, including over 100,000 freeze-dried soups). He also brought with him vital medicines from the Vatican, Gemelli Hospital, and a solidarity fund based in Naples. (Vatican media)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Departing from Rome on June 22, the Cardinal embarked on a journey of over 3,125 kilometers. “So many roads, so many kilometers,” he recounted. After spending Sunday night in the Ukrainian city of Odessa, Cardinal Krajewski visited Drohobyč on Monday, the area’s second-largest economic center located nearly 100 kilometers from Lviv. He toured a Greek Catholic humanitarian center that extends aid and refuge to those in need. The Cardinal then visited a local hospital, a center for alcoholics, and a children’s center, which now serves as a sanctuary for refugees during vacations. On Tuesday, Cardinal Krajewski traveled to Mikołajów, where he visited an active parish that remarkably remains open despite extensive Russian bombardment.  https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2023-06/cardinal-konrad-krajewski-ukraine-kherson-interview.html

POPE ACCEPTS RESIGNATION OF BISHOP STIKA OF KNOXVILLE

The Vatican announced today that Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Richard Stika of the diocese of Knoxville. Bishop Stika also announced on his Facebook page that the Pope had accepted his resignation letter,  sent a month ago to the Holy Father. Stika turns 66 on July 4. Bishops rarely retire before the mandatory age of 75 unless a health issue intervenes. On a bishop’s 75^th birthday he is required by law to submit his resignation to the Pope. The diocese announced that Archbishop Shelton Fabre of Louisville, will be the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Knoxville and serve until the appointment and installation of a new bishop.

Stika wrote on Facebook, “I recognize that questions about my leadership have played out publicly in recent months. I would be less than honest if I didn’t admit that some of this has weighed on me physically and emotionally. For these reasons, I asked the Holy Father for relief from my responsibilities as a diocesan bishop.

In recent years, in fact, Stika has led the diocese amid accusations of pastoral and governing mismanagement and, in particular, questions about protecting a former seminarian who had been accused of raping a diocesan employee. Lawsuits are pending in several cases.  The Vatican has been investigating the accusations against Stika and his management of the diocese.

He also spoke of many illnesses that had plagued him in recent years. He has been in Knoxville since 2009 but said on Facebook today that both he and Cardinal Justin Rigali, who has lived with him in Knoxville for 12 years, will be moving to St. Louis, the home diocese of both.

 

VATICAN INSIDER: WHEN WOMEN PRAY – CARDINAL PAROLIN TO TRAVEL TO MOSCOW IN SEPTEMBER

This weekend I offer some great websites (not for the first time!) for your visit to Vatican City. You may know these already but if you don’t, you’ll probably discover they have the answers to your questions about getting tickets for and attending papal functions, reserving tickets for the Vatican Museums so you can skip the long lines, how to visit the Vatican Gardens and Castelgandolfo, get papal blessings, etc.

Visiting the gardens, museums, buying coins and stamps, etc: http://www.vaticanstate.va/content/vaticanstate/en/stato-e-governo.html

For papal audiences and events: http://www.vatican.va/various/prefettura/index_en.html

The Papal Almoner – for papal blessings: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/elem_apost/index.htm

VATICAN INSIDER: WHEN WOMEN PRAY

I am finally back at the helm and rarin’ to go again with “Vatican Insider,” my segments on “At Home with Jim and Joy” and my Wednesday radio conversations with Teresa Tomeo on “Catholic Connection,” not to mention this column which I resumed on Monday.

Be sure to tune in to Vatican Insider this weekend for my conversation with Kathleen Beckman whom most of you know as a prolific author, engaging speaker and retreat master, and founder of Foundation of Prayer for Priests. Kathleen and I collaborated on the newly-released book, “When Women Pray” and that is what we’ll talk about today – prayer. This was a totally off-the-cuff conversation – one Kathleen suggested after we had just taped an interview about her experience in Rome attending a course on exorcism. So stay with us –and maybe pray with us!

In the United States, you can listen to Vatican Insider (VI) on a Catholic radio station near you (there is a list of U.S. stations at www.ewtn.com) or on channel 130 Sirius-XM satellite radio. Outside the U.S., you can listen to EWTN radio on our website home page by clicking on the right side where you see “LISTEN TO EWTN.” Vatican Insider airs Saturday mornings at 9:00am (ET). On the SKY satellite feed to the UK and parts of Europe, VI airs on audio channel 0147 at 11:30 am CET on Saturdays, and 5:30am and 10pm CET on Sundays. It’s also available on demand on the EWTN app and on the website. CHECK YOUR TIME ZONE. Here’s a link to download VI to your iTunes library:  http://www.ewtn.com/se/pg/DatService.svc/feed/~LE.xml   For VI archives: http://www.ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/file_index.asp?SeriesId=7096&pgnu=

CARDINAL PAROLIN TO TRAVEL TO MOSCOW IN SEPTEMBER

(Vatican Radio) The Holy See has confirmed that the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin will travel to Moscow in September.

Parolin’s journey to Russia comes in the wake of his visits to Belarus and to Ukraine in the past two years signaling the Vatican’s continuing engagement with eastern Europe and its desire to continue supporting the Christians in the region.

In an exclusive interview with the Italian newspaper “Il Sole 24 ore, Cardinal Parolin pointed out that the Holy See’s support for Christians in Eastern Europe has never waned, not even in the darkest of years.

Holy See’s historical relationship with Russia

He said the Vatican has always given great value to its relationship with Eastern Europe and with Russia and he recalled the Tsar, Nicholas I’s two meetings with Pope Gregorius XVI in 1845, and how the the Pontificate of Pius IX began in 1847 with an agreement by which both the government and the Holy See played a part in filling vacant Latin Church episcopal sees in Russia and in its Polish provinces.

Parolin described the continuing relationship between the Vatican and Russia as a “patient, constructive and respectful dialogue”.

Diplomacy of peace

It is crucially important, he said, especially regarding those issues that are at the root of current conflicts or that risk triggering further tensions.

“In this sense, the question of peace and the quest for solutions to the various crises should be placed above any national or partial interest. There cannot be winners or losers, Cardinal Parolin stressed, I am convinced that it is the mission of the Holy See to insist on this fact”.

In the article the Vatican Secretary of State also touched on the global issue of violence perpetrated in the name of religion and spoke of the need to protect religious freedom and at the same time protect Christians – or any other community –  at risk of persecution.

He also spoke of the need to continue to work to protect and care for creation expressing his hope that the United States – and other international actors – do not ignore their international responsibility to care for our common home, work to reduce poverty and inequality, and open their hearts to forced migrants and refugees.

“The Catholic Church’s diplomacy is a diplomacy of peace” – Parolin explained – it is not driven by political, ideological or economic interests, and for this reason it is free to pursue the path to common good and to denounce the catastrophic effects a self-referenced vision can have on all.