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A 16-year-old Spanish World Youth Day pilgrim says she miraculously recovered her sight after receiving the Eucharist at Fátima, Portugal, during a Mass there. This possible miracle has moved hearts and filled with hope all those who have been following the events at WYD, which brought together more than a million young people in the Portuguese capital last week. For two and a half years, Jimena has suffered a loss of sight due to a myopia problem that left her with a 95% vision loss. On the morning of Aug. 5, when the Holy Father was also praying the rosary at the Fátima shrine, Jimena received what she herself describes as a “great gift” from the Virgin Mary. For two and a half years, Jimena has suffered a loss of sight due to a myopia problem that left her with a 95% vision loss. On the morning of August 5, when the Holy Father was also praying the rosary at the Fátima shrine, Jimena received what she herself describes as a “great gift” from the Virgin Mary. The archbishop of Barcelona and president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference referred to the possible miracle as “a grace from God”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255031/miracle-at-fatima-world-youth-day-pilgrim-receives-her-sight-after-communion-at-mass

The Vatican announced Tuesday that Pope Francis’ annual peace message for 2024 will focus on artificial intelligence (AI). A statement from the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development on August 8 described an “urgent need” to guide the development and use of artificial intelligence in a responsible way, requiring that “ethical reflection be extended to the sphere of education and law.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255036/vatican-announces-that-artificial-intelligence-will-be-theme-of-next-world-day-of-peace

A Louisiana priest who was killed in a car accident last Wednesday is being remembered in his home diocese for his commitment to the truth as taught by the Catholic faith as well as his unwavering devotion to the Blessed Mother. Father Mark Beard, 62, was pastor of Saint Helena Catholic Church in Amite City, Louisiana, about an hour northeast of Baton Rouge. Bishop Michael Duca announced Beard’s death on August 2. During what was to be his final Sunday Mass on July 30, Beard preached about not being “on the fence” when it comes to faith in Christ, telling the congregation that “the only thing that matters is your soul.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255033/baton-rouge-priest-killed-in-a-car-crash-remembered-for-his-holiness-and-passion-for-truth

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Dominic Guzman, who helped the cause of orthodoxy in the medieval Church by founding the Order of Preachers, also known as Dominicans. Born in Caleruega, Spain around the year 1170, Dominic was the son of Felix Guzman and Joanna of Aza, members of the nobility. After his ordination to the priesthood, Dominic was asked by Bishop Diego of Osma to participate in local church reforms. Dreading the spread of heresy, Dominic began to think about founding a religious order to promote the truth. He obtained the bishop's approval of his plan for an order dedicated to preaching. Dominic obtained papal approval for his plan in 1216, and was named as the Pope's chief theologian. The Order of Preachers expanded in Europe with papal help in 1218. The founder spent the last several years of his life building up the order and continuing his preaching missions, during which he is said to have converted some 100,000 people. After several weeks of illness, St. Dominic died in Italy on August 6, 1221. He was canonized in 1234 by Pope Gregory IX.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-dominic-556

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The next World Youth Day will be held in Seoul, South Korea, in 2027, Pope Francis announced at the conclusion of the final Mass of World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal. More than 1,000 Korean Catholics attended WYD 2023 in Lisbon. South Korea has nearly 6 million Catholics, 11% of the total population, according to 2022 statistics from the country’s Catholic bishops’ conference. Pope Francis visited South Korea in 2014. During the five-day trip, he beatified 124 Korean martyrs and took part in the sixth Asian Youth Day.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255018/next-world-youth-day-to-be-in-south-korea-in-2027

Pope Francis celebrated Mass for an estimated 1.5 million participants in Tejo Park in Lisbon, concluding the six-day youth festival and his own five-day trip to Portugal. Echoing the well-known call of his predecessor and the founder of the international youth gathering, Saint John Paul II, Pope Francis told the young people: “Be not afraid.” Jesus, Pope Francis told young people, “knows your hearts. He sees our hearts. And he tells you today here in Lisbon, on this World Youth Day: ‘Be not afraid, be not afraid, take heart, be not afraid.’”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255019/be-not-afraid-pope-francis-tells-young-people-at-end-of-world-youth-day

Mother Elvira Petrozzi, who founded Comunità Cenacolo in 1983 to provide hope and healing to those suffering from addiction, died on August 3 in the formation house and residence of her congregation in Saluzzo, Italy. She was 86. In the decades since she founded Comunità Cenacolo, the community has grown to encompass 72 Cenacolo houses in 20 countries, including four in the United States. Mother Elvira called the Cenacolo a “School of Life” because it took people off the streets and gave them a “rebirth” that was “based on a simple, family-oriented, orderly life” with the foundation of prayer, physical labor, discipline, and fraternal sharing.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255015/mother-elvira-who-shared-god-s-love-with-those-struggling-with-addiction-dies-at-86

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone on Friday revealed that it was “very likely” that the archdiocese would be filing for bankruptcy in the near future due to the hundreds of clerical abuse lawsuits that have been filed against it. The “vast majority of the alleged abuse occurred in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and involved priests who are deceased or no longer in ministry.” More than two dozen dioceses have filed for bankruptcy in the United States, the vast majority of them in the last decade.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255016/archbishop-cordileone-chapter-11-bankruptcy-for-san-francisco-very-likely

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Cajetan, one of the great reformers of the Church during the period of the Reformation, remaining loyal to the Church regardless of the corruptions and excesses that led many others to betray Her.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-cajetan-562

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Pope Francis met with 13 survivors of clerical sex abuse on his first day in Portugal and urged the Church to listen to “the anguished cry of the victims.” The emotional private meeting at Lisbon’s apostolic nunciature, or Vatican embassy, on Wednesday night was a moment of “intense listening” by the pope and lasted more than an hour, according to the Vatican. Representatives from Catholic institutions working for the protection of minors in Portugal accompanied the victims. In a speech to Portuguese clergy immediately before the pope’s encounter with the abuse survivors, Francis acknowledged the “anger with which some people view the Church” due to “the scandals that have marred her face.” Pope Francis called for “a humble, ongoing purification, starting with the anguished cry of the victims, who must always be accepted and listened to.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254988/pope-francis-meets-with-clerical-abuse-survivors-urges-church-to-hear-victims-anguished-cry

Church attendance has dropped off since the pandemic for Generation X more sharply than for other age groups, according to a new survey. The survey of 2,000 adults conducted by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University found that the percentage of people ages 39 to 57 who attended a worship service during the week, either in person or online, fell to 28% in 2023, down from 41% in 2020, the Wall Street Journal reported this week. Gen Xers saw the largest percentage drop among the age groups surveyed. The percentage of Gen Xers who worship weekly is now as low as among millennials, at 28%, the survey posits. In fact, the oft-maligned millennial generation experienced during the pandemic the least amount of change in their perspectives about the Christian faith and their participation in biblical practice, the researchers assert. Among baby boomers, the results of this survey suggest a slight upward trend in church attendance in the past three years, the only age group for which this was true. Participation among the elderly fell only slightly.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254992/generation-xers-church-attendance-drops-to-millennial-levels-survey-suggests

The shooter who killed nearly a dozen in an antisemitic 2018 massacre was sentenced to death Wednesday by a federal jury. He is the first person to be condemned to death under the Biden administration, which placed the federal death penalty under moratorium in 2021. The October 2018 shooting saw Robert Bowers, 50, enter Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue during morning Shabbat prayer services. He killed 11 and injured several, including police officers. Bowers’ attorneys argued that he suffers from mental illness, a suggestion that prosecutors disputed. As a candidate for president, Joe Biden, a Catholic, called for the elimination of the death penalty.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254986/tree-of-life-synagogue-shooter-handed-federal-death-penalty

Today, the Church celebrates Saint John Vianney, patron of priests. As a parish priest in 19th century France, he prayed and worked for the conversion of his parishioners. Although he saw himself as unworthy of his mission as pastor, he allowed himself to be consumed by the love of God as he served the people. His reputation as a confessor grew rapidly, and pilgrims traveled from all over France to come to him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Firmly committed to the conversion of the people, he would spend up to 16 hours a day in the confessional.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-john-mary-vianney-322

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Acknowledging the discouragement that can be experienced by Catholic leaders in secularizing societies, Pope Francis on Wednesday urged a gathering of Portuguese clergy, consecrated people, and pastoral workers to stay in the boat with Jesus and revive their “restless” enthusiasm for spreading the Gospel. The pope delivered the encouraging message in his homily for Wednesday vespers, or evening prayer, to bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated persons, seminarians, and pastoral workers gathered in the church of Lisbon’s iconic Mosterio dos Jerónimos, a former monastery now used as a public ceremony hall and museum space. The official welcoming ceremony for World Youth Day with Pope Francis will take place at Meeting Hill (Eduardo VII Park) later today.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254976/pope-francs-world-youth-day-lisbon-vespers-evangelization

The chairman of the US bishops’ peace committee this week urged Catholics to pray fervently for progress in nuclear arms control, warning of the thousands of nuclear weapons in the world today and the “horrors” that would result from a nuclear exchange, ahead of the 78th anniversary of the US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those attacks brought about an end to World War II at the cost of upwards of 200,000 Japanese civilian lives; they remain to date the only use of nuclear weapons in war. “With the wars and threat of wars today, the menace of over 10,000 nuclear weapons in our world must not recede further from the public consciousness of today’s generation,” the bishops said. The bishop in his statement urged the world to “remain vigilant never to lose sight of the extraordinary dangers these weapons pose to humanity” and to “be attentive to the differences between just and unjust considerations of statecraft.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254979/bishop-s-peace-chairman-warns-of-menace-of-nuclear-weapons

The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops (FCCB) last week requested that Governor Ron DeSantis “choose life” and stay the execution of James Phillip Barnes, who is scheduled to die Thursday, and commute his sentence to life without parole. Barnes, 61, strangled his wife, Linda, to death in 1997. While serving a life sentence for that crime, he confessed in 2005 to the 1988 murder of Patricia “Patsy” Miller, a Melbourne, Florida, nurse. Barnes himself has dropped all legal appeals after doctors declared him competent to understand his legal situation and has said he wants to accept his punishment. “Simply put, no one should be executed in our modern penal system, even if they willingly accept it. The alternative punishment of life in prison without parole is a severe penalty that still provides closure to victims and protects society,” the bishops said.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254977/florida-bishops-request-clemency-for-death-row-inmate

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Nicodemus, a secret disciple of Jesus. As a member of the Sanhedrin, he would meet Jesus by night so that the others would not see him with Jesus. Eventually, it was Nicodemus who reminded the Sanhedrin that Jesus had the right to a trial. Together with Saint Joseph of Arimathea, he prepared Jesus' body and placed him in the tomb. Tradition holds that Saint Nicodemus was martyred, though no record remains.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-nicodemus-552

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World Youth Day 2023 kicked off in Lisbon, Portugal, August 1 with an opening Mass before a crowd of hundreds of thousands. Cardinal Manuel Clemente, the patriarch of Lisbon, was the main celebrant for the Tuesday evening outdoor liturgy, held at Eduardo VII Park. “Let us learn from Mary to greet each and every person. Let us intensely put it to practice this World Youth Day,” he said. “The new world begins in the newness of every encounter and in the sincerity of the greeting we exchange, so that we may be people among people, in a mutual and constant visitation. “I wish you all a happy and inspiring World Youth Day,” he said. Pope Francis is expected to arrive for the festivities today, Wednesday the second.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254967/world-youth-day-2023-lisbon-patriarch-greets-attendees-at-opening-mass

The first-ever perpetual eucharistic adoration chapel in Manhattan, New York, has been installed at the Dominican-led Church of Saint Joseph in the Greenwich Village neighborhood. The idea for the chapel was that of Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who desired opportunities for perpetual eucharistic adoration in the city, where there was none, according to Father Boniface Endorf, OP, pastor of the Church of Saint Joseph. The chapel will only be accessible to those who have a key card, which they can sign up for at the parish during office hours. The chapel, which can seat approximately 25 adorers with eight choir stalls for the Dominican friars, is located in the rectory next to the church. The chapel is on the first floor, where the parish offices are also located.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254965/first-ever-perpetual-adoration-chapel-in-new-york-city-installed-at-greenwich-village-parish

The incorrupt body of Saint Benedict the Moor, a 16th-century son of slaves who joined the Franciscans and would become the patron saint of African missions, has been all but destroyed after a wildfire engulfed the Sicilian church where he had been interred. A post shared by the parish of Santa Maria di Gesù showed that the body of the saint, whose dark skin and devotion to the enslaved has made him especially beloved among descendants of slaves, has been mostly incinerated, with only a few bone fragments remaining. The body of Blessed Matthew Agrigento, another Sicilian Franciscan whose body had been kept in the church, was also seriously damaged. Located in the Sicilian capital of Palermo, the Church of Santa Maria di Gesù caught fire on July 25 after a wildfire spread down the slopes of Monte Grifone. Wildfires have scorched the Italian island in the midst of searing summer heat, killing at least three people. Benedict the Moor was canonized in 1807. He is the patron of African missions and African Americans, and several historically African-American Catholic churches in the US bear his name.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254959/body-of-saint-patron-of-african-americans-significantly-damaged-in-sicilian-church-fire

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Peter Julian Eymard, who helped many Catholics - both clergy and laypeople - to rediscover the importance of the Eucharist. He is also considered a pioneer in involving laypeople more actively in the life of the Church. In 1851, he answered a call to establish a community of men dedicated to Eucharistic Adoration, called the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. Its mission was to promote the importance and significance of the Eucharist. The congregation also worked with the poor and helped them to prepare for first Communion. Peter Julian died in 1868 and was canonized in 1962.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-peter-julian-eymard-551

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World Youth Day begins today in Lisbon, Portugal. Pope Francis arrives on August 2 in the morning and returns to Rome on August 6 in the afternoon. Over the five days, some of the events he will attend are public while others will be more institutional or by invitation only. Follow all the action at Catholic News Agency dot com.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254921/8-unique-things-to-know-about-wyd2023-in-lisbon

Johnny Johnson, a Saint Louis-area man and convicted murderer, is scheduled to die this evening. Catholics in St. Louis and across Missouri — as well as Pope Francis himself — had advocated for a stay of Johnson’s execution, citing the Church’s teaching on the admissibility of the death penalty as well as arguments from Johnson’s attorneys that he is not mentally fit to understand his punishment. Johnson, 45, was convicted of first-degree murder for killing 6-year-old Casey Williamson in 2002. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, reflecting an update promulgated by Pope Francis in 2018, describes the death penalty as “inadmissible” and an “attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254955/update-missouri-death-row-inmate-to-be-executed-tuesday

Among Americans who donate to charity, religious charities and nonprofits are the most popular, with about 1 in 5 Americans giving to these groups over the last year, a consumer research firm reported. While some Americans say they never give to charity, many say they can’t donate because they don’t have money. Religious charities were the first choice of all generations except Gen Z. For Gen Z, religious charities fell in sixth place behind human rights, animal-related, children’s health causes, and environmental causes. About 15% of Gen Z said they gave to human rights groups. To learn more about the results of the survey, visit Catholic News Agency dot com.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254956/survey-religious-non-profits-lead-americans-charitable-choices-except-for-gen-z

Extremist Israeli groups have on several occasions in recent weeks attempted to storm the Melkite Catholic Church and Monastery of St. Elias in the northern port city of Haifa, Israel, prompting Christians to take measures to protect the holy site. After several attempts last week, intruders managed to infiltrate the outer courtyard of the monastery and disrupt the prayer session taking place, causing fear and anger among the Christian community. In an effort by the church to deter any future attacks, work began today to install an iron fence around the monastery. The monastery was founded by the Carmelites, who have been practicing their faith from Mt. Carmel in Haifa since the 12th century. Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who was just named a cardinal by Pope Francis and serves as the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, has raised concerns that Christians are increasingly enduring persecution in the Holy Land.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254952/israeli-extremists-attempt-to-storm-catholic-church-in-northern-israel

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Alphonsus Liguori, a doctor of the Church who is widely known for his contribution to moral theology and his great kindness. A man of great culture and a lawyer, he resigned the practice of law to become a priest in 1726, founding the Redemptorists, a preaching order. He was a great moral theologian and his famous book, “Moral Theology”, was published in 1748. Thirty years later, he was appointed bishop, and he retired in 1775. He died just over 10 years later in 1787, and was canonized in 1839.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-alphonsus-liguori-550

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Pope Francis made a direct call to Russia on Sunday to renew the deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain to countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. “I appeal to my brothers, the authorities of the Russian Federation, that the Black Sea Initiative be restored and grain be transported safely,” the pope said July 30 at the end of his weekly Angelus prayer and address. The Kremlin announced July 17 that the wartime grain deal would be suspended until “the part of the Black Sea deal related to Russia is implemented.” Russia has also bombed Ukraine’s Black Sea ports since quitting the agreement. The move by Russia has sparked fears for even higher food prices and increased poverty in countries already suffering from hunger. Pope Francis also repeated Sunday his regular request for prayers for Ukraine.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254941/pope-francis-calls-russia-to-renew-ukraine-grain-deal

World Youth Day (WYD) 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal, will take place in a few days, from August 1–6, and it promises to be unique in many ways. This is the first time WYD will take place in Portugal, the westernmost country in Europe with the oldest borders on the continent. It will be the second time that Pope Francis will visit Portugal; in 2017, he went to Fátima, one of the most visited Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world, for the centenary of the apparitions there. He will pay another visit on this trip. The organizers of World Youth Day 2023 committed to promoting sustainability from the outset and are striving to fulfill this pledge. For those who can’t travel to Lisbon and want to participate in WYD2023 virtually, there will be various ways to do that. Vatican News YouTube channel will be following all the events with the pope live. (Be aware of time zone differences.) WYD2023 social networks will also show, at every moment, everything that is happening. Be sure to follow the hashtags #WYD, #Lisboa2023, and #WYD2023.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254921/8-unique-things-to-know-about-wyd2023-in-lisbon

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The Spanish saint is known for founding the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, as well as for creating the “Spiritual Exercises” often used today for retreats and individual discernment. Ignatius was born into a noble family in 1491 in Guipuzcoa, Spain. He served as a page in the Spanish court of Ferdinand and Isabella. He then became a soldier in the Spanish army and wounded his leg during the siege of Pamplona in 1521. During his recuperation, he read “Lives of the Saints.” The experience led him to undergo a profound conversion, and he dedicated himself to the Catholic faith. The Jesuits remain numerous today, particularly in several hundred universities and colleges worldwide.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-ignatius-of-loyola-549

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World Youth Day begins next week, August 1, in Lisbon Portugal. WYD is a weeklong celebration that attracts hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world. The event was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985. It is celebrated every two to three years and is open to all young people who want to experience Jesus Christ with their peers. It is a way to grow in your faith and strengthen your relationship with Christ through prayer and the sacraments. WYD takes place every two to three years. This WYD would have taken place in 2022, but was delayed due to the pandemic.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254908/here-are-answers-to-your-questions-about-world-youth-day

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a new Biden administration rule limiting which migrants can apply for asylum. Referred to by some as a “transit ban,” the policy, which took effect May 11, automatically denied asylum to migrants who cross the border illegally or cross other countries illegally to get to the US. The now-blocked asylum policy went into effect after the end of Title 42, a public health order instituted by the Trump administration that barred entry to large numbers of migrants on the grounds of the COVID-19 health crisis. Catholic leaders at the border such as Dylan Corbett, executive director of the Catholic migrant aid group Hope Border Institute, applauded the ruling, assering that “there is no legal basis for the Biden administration’s asylum ban.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254917/california-federal-judge-blocks-biden-s-asylum-ban

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Victor the first, pope. The date of birth of Saint Victor is unknown, but we do know that he was Pope from 189 to 199. Victor was a native African, and his father's name was Felix. He is known for having obtained the release of many Christians who had been deported to the mines of Sardinia, and for being the first Pope to celebrate the liturgy and write Church documents in Latin rather than Greek. He is most famous, however, for decreeing that Easter be universally celebrated on a Sunday, a practice already common in the West, but not so in the East. He died in 199, possibly from martyrdom.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-victor-i-pope-527

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The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday evening granted a stay of execution for Johnny Johnson, a Saint Louis-area man who had been scheduled to die August 1. Catholics in Saint Louis and across Missouri had advocated for a stay of Johnson’s execution, citing the Church’s teaching on the admissibility of the death penalty as well as arguments from Johnson’s attorneys that he is not mentally fit to understand his punishment. The Missouri Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s Catholic bishops, in a July 24 letter formally requested clemency on Johnson’s behalf, asking Republican Governor Mike Parson to commute his sentence to life imprisonment without parole. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, reflecting an update promulgated by Pope Francis in 2018, describes the death penalty as “inadmissible” and an “attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254906/missouri-death-row-inmate-granted-stay-of-execution-following-catholic-advocacy

The FBI handed over to Congress on Tuesday internal documents relating to the bureau’s now-withdrawn leaked memo that recommended investigating devotees of the Traditional Latin Mass. The leaked memo, dated January 23, which originated from the bureau’s Richmond office, claims that racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists will likely become more interested in “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology” within the next 12 to 24 months “in the run-up to the next general election cycle.” The new documents were only made available to the House Judiciary Committee. The FBI has requested that the committee not disseminate the documents without consulting it first. The document release comes after Ohio Republican Representative Jim Jordan, the chairman of the committee, threatened to hold FBI director Christopher Wray in contempt over the bureau’s delay in responding to two subpoenas investigating alleged First Amendment violations from the bureau.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254909/fbi-gives-documents-to-congress-relating-to-memo-targeting-catholics

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Panteleon, the patron saint of bachelors and physicians. As lifelong layperson, he was the physician for emperor Maximinianus. At one point in his life he had abandoned his faith, but he eventually returned to the Church, and gave his fortune to the poor, providing them medical treatment without charge. Some of his cures were accomplished by prayer. Other physicians eventually denounced him to the anti-Christian authorities. At his trial, he offered a contest between himself and the pagan priests. He challenged the pagan priests to heal a paralyzed man with their prayers, but they were unable. Saint Panteleon cured the man by simply mentioning the name of Jesus. As a result, many of those who witnessed the miracle converted to Christianity. However, the authorities remained resolute in trying to get him to denounce his faith with bribes, threats and torture, but they did not succeed. He was then nailed to a tree and beheaded, circa 305.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-panteleon-548

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Washington, DC’s Metropolitan Police Department has launched an investigation after two pro-life sidewalk counselors were allegedly attacked outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic on July 22. A group of pro-life sidewalk counselors, who were there to encourage women to choose life for their preborn babies rather than obtain an abortion, were gathered along with other pro-life activists outside of the Planned Parenthood location at 4th Street, Northeast, on Saturday morning. A verbal altercation between pro-abortion passersby and one of the activists ensued around 11:40 am and quickly turned violent. A spokesperson for Washington, DC’s Metropolitan Police Department confirmed with CNA that detectives are investigating the incident.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254898/video-police-investigate-alleged-attack-on-pro-lifers-outside-dc-planned-parenthood

Americans are increasingly rejecting the idea of God along with other religious and spiritual concepts, continuing a decades-long trend that shows an ongoing decline in belief in key religious tenets. A July poll from Gallup shows a marked decrease in belief in “God, angels, heaven, hell, and the devil” among U.S. adults since the last time the survey question was asked in 2016. Seven years ago, 79% of respondents said they believed in God; just 74% said the same thing in this month’s survey, a decline of five percentage points. Overall belief in God has declined by 16 percentage points since the survey has been conducted, with 90% of respondents affirming that faith in 2001. Similar declines in belief have been recorded regarding the devil, heaven, hell, and angels, with each one seeing double-digit declines in professed believers over the 22 years in question.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254891/americans-belief-in-god-heaven-hell-continues-prolonged-decline

Today, the Church celebrates the parents of the Virgin Mary, Saints Joachim and Anne. The couple's faith and perseverance brought them through the sorrow of childlessness, to the joy of conceiving and raising the immaculate and sinless woman who would give birth to Christ. The New Testament contains no specific information about the lives of the Virgin Mary's parents, but other documents outside of the Biblical canon do provide some details. Although these writings are not considered authoritative in the same manner as the Bible, they outline some of the Church's traditional beliefs about Joachim, Anne and their daughter. Saints Joachim and Anne have been a part of the Church's liturgical calendar for many centuries. In 2021, Pope Francis instituted World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, a celebration now held on the fourth Sunday of July — the Sunday closest to the July 26 feast.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/sts-anne-and-joachim-313