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Two prominent Finns who were convicted for hate crimes after expressing support for biblical teaching on homosexuality announced they would appeal their conviction to the European Court of Human Rights.

Juhana Pohjola, a bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, and Päivi Räsänen, a member of Parliament since 1995 and the nation’s former interior minister (2011-2015), were convicted by the nation’s Supreme Court in a 3-2 decision.

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At the suggestion of Pope Leo, representatives of the international organization Ending Clergy Abuse held their first structured dialogue with members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Discussions “focused on victims’ rights, institutional responsibility, justice, and mandatory safeguarding principles grounded in lived experience,” according to the pontifical commission.

According to the pontifical commission, Ending Clergy Abuse called for the “adoption of a universal zero-tolerance canon law on clergy abuse, modelled on existing Vatican-approved norms in the United States.” The pontifical commission, in turn, agreed to continue dialogue on the proposal.

The revised Book VI of the Code of Canon Law, promulgated by Pope Francis in 2021, provides for a range of penalties for clerics who sexually abuse minors, from deprivation of office to dismissal from the clerical state (Canon 1398). Book VI, however, does not permanently bar all clerics who sexually abuse minors from active ministry, as has been the case in the United States since 2002.

Cardinal Anthony Poola of Hyderabad, the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, asked his brother bishops to join him in a June 28 national day of prayer ahead of parliamentary consideration of an amendment to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.

The amendment “provides for setting up a government authority to seize properties bought or developed on foreign funds if the government license is canceled or not renewed,” EWTN News reported—thus allowing for the seizure of Church property in some circumstances.

Cardinal Poola called for initiatives such as Eucharistic adoration, the Rosary, and voluntary fasting, as well as the signing of petitions against the legislation.

At the conclusion of his June 17 general audience, Pope Leo XIV met with Blythe Kaufman, founder of the Children’s Rosary, and her son, a seminarian of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut.

“This lay movement, which she founded 15 years ago, is now active in 53 countries and promotes prayer gatherings for children in parishes, schools, and orphanages,” the Vatican newspaper reported. Kaufman and her son “presented the Pope with a book containing testimonies from many children who participate in this experience, as well as from priests who host the initiative in their parishes.”