Meeting of the Council of Cardinals

The Council of Cardinals met on the morning of Tuesday, 1 July at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, as planned. The Pope is participating in all the meetings; today, Wednesday morning, he participated in the entire meeting, as the general Audiences have been suspended. Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin is regularly present at the meetings, and the Holy Father has established that he will participate fully like the other members of the Council, of whom at present there are nine.

On Tuesday and on Wednesday morning three main themes were considered. There was a presentation by Cardinal Bertello on matters relating to the Governorate, and a presentation relating to the Secretariat of State by Cardinal Parolin.

The issue of the structure of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) was discussed in depth. The meetings, held in two sessions, were also attended by members of the Supervisory Commission of Cardinals present in Rome, Cardinals Santos Abril y Castelló, Thomas Collins and Jean-Louis Tauran, as well as Pietro Parolin.

Pope Jokes With Swiss Guard Ahead of World Cup Match

Invited to Watch Argentina v Switzerland at Soldiers’ Barracks

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Pope Francis has not missed an opportunity to jest about the Brazilian World Cup with members of the Swiss Guard defending his St. Martha residence.

Ahead of yesterday’s match between his native Argentina and Switzerland in the championship quarter-finals, the Holy Father joked: “It will be war!”

According to the Italian daily La Repubblica, the Swiss Guard invited the Pope to follow the game on a giant screen installed in the barracks inside the Vatican, but he said he had to “unfortunately” decline the invitation.

An avid soccer fan, Francis has long supported the Argentine club San Lorenzo de Almagro, and continues to assiduously follow the fortunes of his favourite club and to pay its dues.

Pope Francis to hold audience with elderly, grandparents

The Pontifical Council for the Family is organizing a day dedicated to the elderly, during which Pope Francis will meet with them as sign of the important role they play in a society that lives longer.

“The day is based on the assumption that old age is not a shipwreck but a vocation,” Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, said in a statement posted on the council’s website announcing the initiative.

Entitled “The Blessing of a Long Life,” the event will take place Sept. 28 in St. Peter’s Square. The square will open at 7:30 a.m. with the official celebration beginning at 9 a.m. The day will culminate with a Mass at 10:30 presided over by Pope Francis.

Archbishop Paglia spoke of the great richness that the elderly offer to society, stating that old age is a call whose meaning has yet to be fully explored.

Opus Dei to display remains of Bishop del Portillo after beatification

The Opus Dei press office announced that the remains of Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, the first successor to St. Josemaria Escriva, will be put on display September 29 to October 2 at the Basilica of St. Eugene in Rome.

On June 23, the beatification organizing committee released the schedule of events for the beatification of Bishop del Portillo, which is set for September 27.

Although the ceremony will take place in Madrid, commemorative acts will take place in Rome, where the Spanish bishop’s remains are interred. Bishop del Portillo lived in the Italian capital from 1946 until his death in 1994.

“We are receiving petitions from young people and adults who desire to come to the city of St. Peter for the beatification in order to see the Pope and pray for him and his intentions, and to pray before the remains of the new blessed,” explained the spokeswoman for the events in Rome, Mara Celani.

In Memoriam

The following prelates died in recent weeks:

– Bishop Joseph Befe Ateba of Kribi, Cameroon, on 4 June at the age of 52.

– Bishop Alejandro Antonio Buccolini, S.D.B, emeritus of Rio Gallegos, Argentina, on 6 June at the age of 84.

– Bishop Juan Maria Leonardi Villasmil of Punto Fijo, Venezuela, on 7 June at the age of 67.

-Cardinal Bernard Agre, archbishop emeritus of Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on 9 June at the age of 88.

– Bishop Vital Joao Geraldo Wilderink, O. Carm., emeritus of Itaguai, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 11 June at the age of 82.

– Archbishop Moacyr Jose Vitti, C.S.S. of Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, on 26 June at the age of 73.

– Bishop Bernard Ferdinand Popp, emeritus of San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A., on 27 June at the age of 96.

– Archbishop Petero Mataca, emeritus of Suva, Fiji, on 30 June at the age of 81.

“Anti-personnel mines are inhumane and cowardly”

The Pope condemned this type of weapon in his message to the Review Conference of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in Mozambique

No child must “live in fear of mines.” “Resorting to weapons in general, especially landmines, represents a defeat for all.” This was the essence of Francis’ message – sent by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin – to the Review Conference of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention held in Maputo, Mozambique.

The Pope’s condemnation of anti-personnel mines was very firm. He said these mines are “subtle because they prolong war and nurture fear even when conflict has ended. They add to human failure brought about by war, a feeling of fear dominates one’s lifestyle and interferes with the building of peace. This feeling not only destroys the person that is subjected to it but also the person who imposes it.”

Patriarch Sako: Iraq Won’t Remain a Single State

Patriarch Louis Rafael I Sako, leader of the Chaldean Catholic Church, admits that he and his fellow bishops are “somewhat at a loss” in the midst of the evolving crisis in Iraq. He says he is not optimistic that Iraq will remain a single state and speaks of a danger far beyond the borders of Iraq as ISIS continues its operations.

The patriarch spoke with international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need on June 28. The patriarch spoke from Ankawa, near Erbil, the Kurdish capital in Iraq, where the Chaldean bishops had been for a synod to discuss the crisis in their country.

Q: Have you any hope that Iraq can remain a single state?

Patriarch Louis Rafael I Sako: No. Perhaps a symbolic unit and the name of Iraq will continue to exist. But de facto there will be three independent zones with their own budgets and armies.

Q: What are the consequences of the disintegration of the state for Christians in Iraq?