Saint Joseph Catholic Church

“The explosion at a chemical factory in the state of Telangana once again raises the serious problem of exploitation and disregard for the dignity of workers,” said Father Stephen Alathara, the conference’s deputy secretary general.

Father Alathara noted that “the victims are mostly poor people, members of tribal communities, migrant workers, and daily laborers, who are the most vulnerable.”

“This is a major victory for free speech, religious freedom, and parental rights in Virginia,” stated the Founding Freedoms Law Center, which filed the challenge. The law “silenced licensed counselors from speaking the truth about gender and sexuality, and effectively prevented minors from getting the help they and their parents were seeking to resolve unwanted feelings of same-sex attraction or gender confusion.”

After offering several considerations related to the plight of children in armed conflict, Msgr. Marco Formica said:

The Holy See cannot remain silent in the face of the terrorist attack that took place at the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus on 22 June 2025, and expresses its profound concern and unequivocal condemnation of the attack. The Holy See calls on this Council to address the persecution of Christians and take action against Christianophobia.

A spokeswoman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops emphasized that “the Catholic Church maintains its stance of not endorsing or opposing political candidates,” following a new IRS interpretation of the Johnson Amendment.

Founded in 1850 by Venerable Angelo Ramazzotti, the institute has 400 missionaries in 20 countries. The institute also publishes AsiaNews.

“They are ever closer to us,” said Suhail Abo Dawood. “And inevitably, fragments from these explosions also fall on the roof of our church and in the compound where we are barricaded.”

“We all live in fear, but especially the children are terrified,” he added. “Despite this constant suffering, which has become a horrible routine, only one thing continues to give us some consolation: prayer.”

Recalling a photograph of Pope Leo with a child, Gisotti mused:

Why is this image so striking? Because in that simple act of bending down, the Pope points us toward a direction that all people—especially those who hold the fate of the world in their hands—should follow: to meet children at their level, to look at the world through their eyes.

“Imagine, just for a moment, if children from the nations of the Great Powers sat on the UN Security Council,” Gisotti added. “Who knows how international relations might change.”

The Vatican newspaper has published a front-page commentary on the parable of the Good Samaritan by Lila Azam Zanganeh, a French author whose parents were exiles from Iran.

L’Osservatore Romano devoted the most prominent front-page coverage in its July 8 edition to the “deforestation, heavy metal contamination, and health problems” that are “the main effects of nickel mining” on the Philippine island of Palawan.