Saint Joseph Catholic Church

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A group of Christians was attacked, and a Christian cemetery was desecrated, in Lahore, Pakistan, on April 18.

“The attack occurred when a young Christian man, Pervez Masih, intervened to defend several young Christian women who were being insulted and harassed by young Muslim men,” Agenzia Fides, the news agency of the Pontifical Mission Societies, reported. “At least nine individuals stormed the cemetery, vandalized graves and crosses, repeatedly stabbed Pervez Masih, and assaulted Christian women, beating and stripping them.”

Islam is the official religion of the South Asian nation of 257 million (map), the fifth most populous in the world. 95% of Pakistan’s people are Muslim, 2% are Christian, and 1% are Hindu.

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Addressing an Asia-Pacific regional conference of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a Vatican diplomat said that “a paradigm shift based on the inalienable human dignity conferred by God is essential, so that innovation and progress contribute to ensuring that everyone has sustainable access to food.”

“This entails the introduction of cutting-edge technologies, the adoption of sustainable practices, and the development of strategies that optimize the use of natural resources throughout the entire production chain,” said Msgr. Fernando Chica Arellano. “However, innovation is not limited to the application of new technologies; it also implies a transformation of the way in which we produce, distribute, and consume food.”

Msgr. Chica Arellano, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the FAO, also said that “a paradigm shift based on the inalienable human dignity conferred by God is essential, so that innovation and progress contribute to ensuring that everyone—particularly the poor and the most vulnerable, including newborns—has sustainable access to healthy, nutritious, and sufficient food.”

The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) praised the efforts of the EU, under the six-month presidency of Cyprus, to “sustain political, humanitarian and economic support to Ukraine and its people.”

“We call on the EU and its Member States to maintain unity and to intensify diplomatic efforts towards a just, comprehensive and lasting peace, grounded in international law,” COMECE added, as it offered 13 policy recommendations, including:

• “embed EU security and defense efforts within a broader strategy that clearly affirms peace as the ultimate objective of European action”
• “develop a coherent EU approach to water resilience, prioritizing access to safe drinking water, sustainability and solidarity”
• “promote inclusive economic policies that combine competitiveness with social cohesion”

Today is the Optional Memorial of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr (1577-1622). Fidelis was born at Sigmaringen in Swabia in 1577. He practiced at first as a lawyer and so took to heart the cause of the needy that he was known as the poor man's lawyer. Then he joined the Capuchin Friars Minor and was sent by the Holy See to the Grisons in order to bring back the inhabitants of this canton from Protestantism to the Catholic faith. His great influence earned him enemies; he was murdered at Seewis on April 24, 1622.

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