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Pope Leo names EWTN News president as prefect of Dicastery for Communication (Vatican Press Office)

Pope Leo XIV today named Maria Montserrat (Montse) Alvarado, the president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, as prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication.

From 2009 to 2023, Alvarado worked for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where she served as vice president and executive director. She is a graduate of Florida International University and George Washington University.

Alvarado will succeed Paolo Ruffini, the layman who has led the dicastery since 2018, on November 1.

Praedicate Evangelium, the 2022 apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia, states that the dicastery “oversees the entire communications network of the Apostolic See and, with structural unity and respecting the relative operational characteristics, unifies the Holy See’s activities in the area of communication” (Art. 183).

Christians attacked in India during prayer service (Catholic Connect)

Christians in a remote village in the predominantly Hindu Indian state of Chhattisgarh (map) were assaulted on May 31 during a prayer service.

Catholic Connect, a website of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, reported that “between 25 and 30 people were physically assaulted. At least five individuals suffered serious injuries.”

Buffalo diocese prods parishes to file for bankruptcy (WIVB-TV)

The Diocese of Buffalo, New York, is encouraging all of the individual parishes in the diocese to file jointly for bankruptcy.

Diocesan officials hope that what is described as “rapid prepackage bankruptcy” will allow the diocese itself to emerge more quickly from six years of bankruptcy proceedings.

The diocese said in a statement:

In furtherance of the efforts of all Parishes within the Diocese to achieve a fair and just resolution of abuse claims, and in an effort to bring the bankruptcy proceedings of the Diocese of Buffalo to a successful conclusion, a revised Chapter 11 plan that soon will be filed by the Diocese provides that all parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo will file ‘rapid prepackaged bankruptcy’ cases immediately before a hearing on confirmation of the plan.

This will happen if and only if sufficient votes are received for approval of the plan. This approach has the support of pastors and the Diocese.

USCCB highlights immigration, slavery in prayer service for America's 250th anniversary (USCCB)

The U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration and Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation published “A Path Toward Justice: A National Prayer Service Honoring the Many Journeys that Shaped America.”

The presiding minister is encouraged to offer the following words of welcome:

As the United States commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we join in this national observance with gratitude and hope, honoring the many immigrant communities whose faith, labor, cultures, and sacrifices have helped shape this nation into what it is today.

In a spirit of remembrance and thanksgiving, we also recognize their struggles, aspirations, and enduring dreams for future generations, while acknowledging with humility the voices and lived experiences of those who were forcibly brought to this land.

Brazilian bishop resigns at 72 following visitation (CWN)

Pope Leo XIV accepted Bishop José Moreira da Silva‘s resignation from the pastoral care of the Diocese of Porto Nacional, Brazil. The prelate was 72, three years before the age when bishops are required to present their resignations to the Pontiff.

Madrid's governor meets with Pontiff, tells him to expect warm welcome (CWN)

Pope Leo XIV received the president of the Community of Madrid on June 1, five days before he is scheduled to begin his apostolic journey to Spain.

In DR Congo, Church urges vigilance as Ebola spreads (CWN)

As a strain of Ebola for spreads in the war-torn eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Church officials are urging people to remain vigilant..

Archbishop Hicks: Magnifica Humanitas is a new Rerum Novarum (Vatican News)

Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York said in an interview that Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, like Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, will be used in a similar way “for decades and generations.”

Archbishop Hicks told Vatican News that “I just want to express my gratitude to the Holy Father for giving us in such an early stage of his pontificate, something like this, of substance and something that’s relevant and needed.”

“I look forward to where the conversations go and some of the decisions go because of it,” he added. “He’s helping to shape what the world looks like. And he’s doing so within the context of Catholic social teaching and also the mission of the Church, which comes from Jesus Christ.”

Report details allegations against priests who were University of Notre Dame dorm rectors (CWN)

The University of Notre Dame released an external report, commissioned by the university, into allegations against Father Thomas King, C.S.C., a priest who served as rector of a male residence hall from 1980 to 1997.

Pope calls for renewed missionary zeal, hails Archbishop Fulton Sheen's example (CWN)

Hailing the example of Venerable Fulton Sheen (1895-1979), Pope Leo XIV called for the missionary renewal of the Church.