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Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church bishops from around the world gathered at the Marian Spiritual Center in Zarvanytsia to discuss the challenges they face.

At the July 6 gathering, bishops who minister in Ukraine discussed the challenges that stem from the Russian invasion. Bishops elsewhere in Europe discussed “integrating newcomers into parish life, providing pastoral care in their new communities, maintaining Ukrainian identity, and educating the younger generation,” while North and South American bishops highlighted “secularization, assimilation, a shortage of vocations, and the need to reconsider pastoral models.”

A 60-year-old Pakistani Catholic died in prison on July 1, nearly a year after he was accused of blasphemy against Islam.

Fides, the news agency of the Pontifical Mission Societies, reported that the allegation against Amir Peter, the brother of a parish priest, was false.

“Amir Peter remained steadfast in his faith until the end,” Archbishop Khalid Rehmat, O.F.M. Cap., of Lahore preached at Peter’s funeral Mass. “He lived his entire life according to the values of the Gospel and remained faithful to the Church. His witness of fidelity to God is an example for his children and for all of us.”

Bishop Fredrik Hansen of Oslo, Norway, announced that he will open the canonization cause of author Sigrid Undset (1882-1949) this fall.

Bishop Hansen said that Undset “lived a faithful Christian life in a world of turmoil. She stood firm in the Catholic faith. She challenged Nazism and strove for Norwegian freedom.”

Undset, a convert to Catholicism, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928. Best known for the trilogy Kristin Lavransdatter, she also wrote lives of saints.

The apostolic nuncio to the Philippines called on the Philippine bishops and faithful to advocate for the right to life from conception to natural death and to combat evils such as corruption.

“We need a society that works to eliminate corruption, sin, crime, discrimination, and all those things that weigh us down and degrade our earthly dreams,” Archbishop Charles Brown said during a July 8 homily in Ozamiz Cathedral, as the nation’s bishops gathered for their summer meeting, and the faithful witnessed the crowning of an 18th-century Marian image, the Blessed Virgin of the Fort.

In a detailed analysis of priesthood statistics between 2013 and 2024, the Vatican newspaper found that the total number of priests worldwide decreased 1.9% over the 11-year period to 407,421. The number of diocesan priests fell by 0.5%; the number of religious priests fell by 4.9%.

In Africa, however, the number of priests soared by 35.8% between 2013 and 2024, and in Southeast Asia, the number of priests increased by 23.2%. In contrast, the number of priests in Europe declined by 17.2%, and the number of priests in North America (classified as the United States and Canada) declined by 14.2%.

In 2024, Europe had 20.2% of the world’s Catholic population, 37.5% of the world’s priests, and only 11.7% of the world’s major seminarians. Africa, with 20.3% of the world’s Catholics, had 13.9% of the world’s priests, but 34.5% of the world’s major seminarians.

Addressing the UN’s Global Dialogue on AI Governance, a Vatican diplomat said that “the necessity for robust governance does not mean placing limits on AI as obstacles for their own sake.”

Robust governance is “a prerequisite for ensuring that technological progress is meaningfully oriented towards a broader horizon, at the service of all humanity, while respecting the inalienable God-given dignity of all persons and the common good,” Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, said on July 7.

“Good governance requires the responsible use of AI, in a way that does not involve outsourcing or surrendering responsibility to an algorithm,” the prelate added. “Therefore, every critical choice made by an automated system must be subject to human oversight.”