Pope Francis sent a message to a conference (Italian-language links) on the 100th anniversary of the “Appeal to all free and strong men,” a seminal text by the Servant of God Father Luigi Sturzo (1871-1959). Sturzo founded the Italian Popular Party in order to counter the idolatrous nationalism he saw arising after World War I, then went into exile after the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini took power.

On June 16, Pope Francis visited earthquake-affected areas of the Diocese of Camerino-San Severino Marche (video). The October 2016 earthquakes in central Italy left 100,000 homeless. During his visit, he spoke with 200 children who had received their First Holy Communion.

On June 15, in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace, Pope Francis addressed participants in the general chapter of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives (photographs) as the leaders of the order discussed youth and vocational pastoral ministry. St. John of Matha founded the community in 1198.

Blessed Edvige Carboni (1880-1952), an embroiderer, was a Franciscan tertiary who received the stigmata and other extraordinary spiritual gifts (Wikipedia; Italian beatification site). She was beatified on June 15 in her Sardinian hometown (Italian-language homily), and Pope Francis paid tribute to her the following day as “a simple woman of the people, who in humble everyday life embraced the Cross, giving witness of faith and of charity. We give thanks for this faithful disciple of Christ, who spent her whole life at the service of God and of her neighbor.”

On the final day of a four-day Vatican meeting of pontifical representatives, Pope Francis celebrated the funeral Mass (video) of Archbishop Léon Kalenga Badikebele, 62. The Congolese prelate, who died on June 12, served as apostolic nuncio in Ghana (2008-2013), El Salvador, Belize, and the Antilles (2013-2018), and Argentina (2018-2019).

While billionaires pledged huge gifts toward restoration of Notre Dame, to date the only funds received for needed work on the Paris basilica have come from small donors, organizers report. Work to shore up the structure of the building and address problems of lead poisoning has been done with support from thousands of modest donations, mostly from Americans. High-dollar donors are evidently waiting for specific projects that will testify to their largess.

Speaking on June 17 to an audience of conventual Franciscans—the Order of Friars Minor Conventual—Pope Francis called attention to their tradition of fraternity. But he also took special note of their “minority,” noting that “it opposes the logic of the world, which seeks success at any cost.”

The government has set up a new body to promote dialogue, following the terrorist attacks at Easter, orchestrated by the Islamic State, that claimed more than 250 victims.

The “minister of tolerance” for the United Arab Emirates presided at a ceremony opening access to ruins of a 7th-century monastery.

Representatives of the Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian churches, who share control of Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher, have agreed to undertake a new round of renovations. Following up on successful renovations done in 2016 to the Edicule-—the small shrine built around the empty tomb itself—the renovations will address structural problems in the surrounding section of the ancient building.