Saint Joseph Catholic Church

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The United States celebrates Independence Day, the national celebration of our Nation's independence, the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The Church in the United States of America incorporates this observance into the liturgy with a special Mass asking for peace, justice and truth. As we celebrate let us remember to pray that God will strengthen and bless America and make our nation a haven of liberty and justice for all--born and unborn.

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The General Secretariat of the Synod announced that “Pathways for the Implementation Phase of the Synod” will be published on July 7. The four-chapter document will offer guidance for the implementation phase (2025-28) of the synod on synodality (2021-24).

In February 2024, Pope Francis created ten study groups to examine some of the issues raised in the October 2023 synod session, including “shared discernment of controversial doctrinal, pastoral, and ethical issues.” The groups were scheduled to submit their reports by June 2025; the General Secretariat, citing the death of Pope Francis and election of Pope Leo, announced the extension of the deadline to December 31.

Diane Montagna, an American journalist accredited to the Holy See Press Office, reported that she has obtained the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s overall assessment (PDF) of its 2020 questionnaire to bishops on the traditional Latin Mass, as well as the congregation’s collection of quotations drawn from the responses received from the dioceses (PDF).

“The documents suggest that the majority of Catholic bishops who responded to a 2020 Vatican survey about the Latin Mass had expressed general satisfaction with it, and warned that restricting it would ‘do more harm than good,’” the Associated Press noted.

In a July 2021 letter to the world’s bishops, Pope Francis linked his decision to impose drastic limits on the traditional Latin Mass to the bishops’ responses to the questionnaire. The documents published by Montagna, if genuine, call into question the veracity of Pope Francis’s claim.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, joined by the Colorado Catholic Conference and the Catholic University of America, has a brief in support of Kaley Chiles, the plaintiff in Chiles v. Salazar, a case under consideration by the Supreme Court.

Chiles, a counselor who is a Christian, is challenging a 2019 Colorado law that forbids counselors from encouraging minors to change their “sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions.” Her legal counsel states that “many of Chiles’s clients are also Christian and specifically seek her help because of their shared faith-based convictions and biblical worldview.”

In its brief, the USCCB argues that the Colorado law violates the right to freedom of speech recognized by the First Amendment. The argument has three parts: “seeking counsel to live virtuously is a profound human concern,” “sexual morality and virtue are matters of intense contemporary discussion,” and “the First Amendment must certainly protect the ability to seek and give counsel on such fundamental matters.”

At a recent session of the UN Human Rights Council, a Vatican diplomat spoke about “the urgent need to address the underlying limits of current legal and policy frameworks that facilitate conditions for the trafficking of migrant domestic workers.”

Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, said that these workers “should be guaranteed fair wages, just labor conditions, and the protection of their fundamental rights.”

“My Delegation would like to draw attention to the typically hidden nature of domestic work, which leaves migrant workers more vulnerable to abuse, debt bondage, and trafficking, with limited access to justice and effective remedies,” he added.

Pope Leo XIV received Emine Erdoğan, the wife of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in a July 2 audience.

The Istanbul-based Hürriyet Daily News reported that the two discussed “the human tragedy in Gaza, efforts to combat climate change, the fight against Islamophobia and racism, and the importance of the family’s existence in society.”

“We discussed the crucial need for the Christian community to adopt a more assertive position in order to secure a lasting ceasefire and guarantee the full provision of humanitarian aid,” the first lady said after the meeting.

“We are in agreement that the climate crisis is a shared concern for all of humanity, irrespective of their faith or region,” she added. “In this context, I have observed that there is significant potential for collaboration between Türkiye and the Vatican in addressing climate change.”

The Pope reportedly told the first lady that he wishes to visit Turkey in November—a visit already announced by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, but not officially confirmed by the Vatican.

The nation of 84.1 million (map) is 98% Muslim. Pope Francis made an apostolic journey there in 2014.

Pope Leo XIV received Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in a July 2 audience (video). Meloni subsequently described the meeting as “a pleasure and an honor.”

Following the audience, Meloni met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations.

The parties, according to the Holy See Press Office, discussed “the good existing relations between the Holy See and Italy,” as well as “the joint commitment to peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, and humanitarian aid in Gaza.”

Italy, a Southern European nation of 61.0 million (map), is 75% Christian (71% Catholic) and 6% Muslim.