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Myanmar Catholics celebrate return of Loikaw Cathedral (Vatican News)

Myanmar’s government has returned the cathedral in Loikaw to the bishop.

The nation’s military occupied the cathedral complex in 2023 and used it as a military base. Bishop Celso Ba Shwe welcomed the return of the cathedral but said that he would not reside there, instead ministering in camps filled with persons displaced by the Myanmar civil war.

Missionary describes devastation wrought by rebels in DR Congo's Haut-Uélé province (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))

An unnamed missionary spoke with the Vatican newspaper about the devastation wrought by rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Haut-Uélé province.

“Unidentified rebels, possibly the ADF, are roaming the countryside,” the missionary said. “One of our nurses, Emmanuel, was gunned down behind our convent wall.”

L’Osservatore Romano reported that “missionaries speak about emptied villages, torched homes, and populations forced to flee without knowing when they might return ... In the village of Diforo, rebels attempted to set fire to the local church and killed a catechist’s son.” However, the missionary told the Vatican newspaper that “we are more afraid of the military than the rebels, especially at night.”

Archdiocese denies Sri Lanka cardinal advocated for appointment of government officials (The Morning)

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Colombo, Sri Lanka, denied that Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don advocated for the appointments of the nation’s public security ministry secretary and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director.

The spokesman, Father Cyril Gamini Fernando, “also urged the public not to be misled by false and defamatory information circulating on social media regarding the ongoing Easter Sunday attacks investigations,” according to The Morning, a newspaper based in Colombo.

The 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings killed over 260 people and injured over 500.

'Always be an instrument of truth,' Pope tells Italian newspaper (L'Adige)

In a letter marking the 80th anniversary of the Italian newspaper L’Adidge, Pope Leo wrote that “In the time of great change we are going through, I hope that your newspaper will always be an instrument of truth, a guardian of history and memory, a source of knowledge and a leaven of humanity.”

“New challenges await a response today from the world of information, which has only one way to overcome them: quality,” the Pope added, as he called on the newspaper to “cherish voices and faces, to uphold the integrity of every news report and every analysis, to preserve the beauty of cultures and regions, to strengthen communities through the truth that unites us all, to guide technology without succumbing to the rhetoric of a single line of thought, to respect diverse opinions, and never to give in to the temptation to maximize profits by resorting to the drug of fake news and manufactured polarization.”

L’Adidge is based in the northern Italian city of Trento.

Cardinal Ruini, key official under St. John Paul II, dead at 95 (CWN)

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, a leading protégé of Pope St. John Paul II, died on June 16 at the age of 95.

Vatican City, power company sign agreement on construction of energy plant (CWN)

The Vatican City State announced that its Governorate signed a memorandum of understanding with the Italian utility Acea to “develop a joint pathway for the definition, structuring, and progressive implementation of the agrivoltaic plant” that the Holy See will “build within the Vatican’s extraterritorial area of Santa Maria di Galeria.”

Pope to visit World Food Programme headquarters (Vatican Press Office)

The Prefecture of the Papal Household announced that Pope Leo will visit the headquarters of the World Food Programme (WFP) on June 22. There, he will meet with board members, staff, and staff members’ families.

The WFP, an agency of the United Nations, is headquartered in Rome.

Overlapping climate emergencies threaten over 1 billion children, Vatican newspaper warns (CWN)

The Vatican newspaper warned that half of the world’s children face “daily threats from at least three dangers linked to extreme weather events.”

Increase security in Nigeria, Lagos archbishop pleads (CWN)

The archbishop of Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, said that increased security is the greatest gift that the nation’s leaders could give to its people.

USCCB calls on EPA to revise proposed coal-ash rules (USCCB)

The general counsel of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, joined by the conference’s solicitor and assistant general counsel, called upon the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to revise its proposed revisions to coal-ash regulations.

“The USCCB respectfully urges the EPA to ensure that the flexible approach envisioned by the proposed rule does not come at the expense of the most vulnerable or the integrity of the environment,” the attorneys wrote in their public comments, dated June 8 and posted on the bishops’ website on June 15. “Where the EPA’s proposed rule increases the probability of harm to the common good or to the environment, the EPA should at a minimum retain the relevant restrictions until it fashions new rules that will not unjustifiably increase risk.”