Saint Joseph Catholic Church

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Fides News Agency, the agency of the Pontifical Mission Societies, reported on recent efforts by Latin American and Caribbean dioceses to advocate for communities adversely affected by mining.

“Our only concern is to safeguard the life of every human being,” said Bishop Rafael Valdivieso of Chitré, Panama. “Anything that endangers human health and life represents a serious risk.”

Echoing an appeal he made last week, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the former prefect of the Papal Household and private secretary of the late Pope Benedict, renewed his repeal for the lifting of restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass.

Archbishop Gänswein, now apostolic nuncio to three Baltic nations, said in an interview that Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict’s 2007 document permitting wider celebration of the extraordinary form, bore fruit “especially for young people, and this can be seen first of all in the increasing numbers of the Paris-Chartres pilgrimage every year.”

“These young people are nourished by the beauty of the liturgy; they are not at all opposed to the Second Vatican Council,” he continued. “It is not true that those who have a traditional liturgical sensibility and participate in the Tridentine Masses are anti-conciliar.”

In 2021, Pope Francis repealed the provisions of Summorum Pontificum when he issued Traditionis Custodes, his 2021 document restricting the extraordinary form of the Mass.

Caritas Venezuela, the charitable agency of the Church in Venezuela, reported that it has distributed 4,031 tons of water and 3,247 tons of food to more than 8,000 families affected by the recent earthquakes.

The agency also report that it has received 14,700 tons of humanitarian aid.

Citing Pope Leo’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, a Vatican diplomat called upon the international community to “move beyond development metrics tied to gross domestic product,” especially with regard to Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Addressing a UN discussion on SIDS, Msgr. Marco Formica, interim chargé d’affaires of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, said on July 9 that small island nations’ “exposure to climate-related disasters, environmental degradation, and external economic shocks repeatedly unmask deep structure vulnerabilities that GDP-metrics fail to capture.”

Archbishop Augustine Akubeze, the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria from 2018 to 2022, died on July 9 at the age of 69.

“He firmly stood as a pillar of orthodox truth,” said Father Michael Banjo, secretary general of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, the administrative arm of the bishops’ conference. “His voice did not tickle ears but fed souls, bringing to light his episcopal motto: ‘Ut Testimonium perhibeam veritati’ (Jn 18:37), which means ‘That I may bear witness to the Truth.’”

“He demonstrated always by his gentleness and quiet disposition that genuine authority in the church is not measured by power but by service and this was a result of his deep level of spirituality,” Father Banjo added.

Archbishop Akubeze was appointed founding bishop of Uromi in 2005 and archbishop of Benin City in 2011.