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CNA Newsroom, Jul 28, 2024 / 10:51 am (CNA).

Crookston Bishop Andrew Cozzens this weekend slammed what he described as the "heinous" mockery of the Christian faith displayed at the Summer Olympics in Paris on Friday, urging Catholics to respond to the spectacle with fasting and prayer.

The drag queen-led parody of the Last Supper featured during Friday's opening ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Olympics sparked a wave of incensed reactions and denunciations from Catholic leaders and others around the world.

The controversial scene, part of the 1.5 billion euros (about $1.62 billion) spectacle to kick off the Olympic Games, featured drag queens portraying the apostles and an overweight DJ as Jesus in what appeared to be a part of a fashion show apparently mocking Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting.

In a statement on Saturday, Cozzens—who also serves as the chairman of the board of the National Eucharistic Congress—said the performers "publicly defamed" the Last Supper with the "evil" display.

Cozzens noted that at the National Eucharistic Congress this month, the faithful gathered to "make reparation for our sins" and pray for "healing and forgiveness."

Yet a week later, he noted, nearly a billion spectators in person and via telecast "witnessed the public mockery of the Mass," in which the Last Supper "was depicted in heinous fashion, leaving us in such shock, sorrow and righteous anger that words cannot describe it."

The bishop said that throughout history Christ has "called us—the people of God—to respond to the darkness of evil with the light that comes from the Lord." Cozzens pointed out that the Last Supper, along with the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Christ, form the Paschal Mystery.

"Jesus experienced his Passion anew Friday night in Paris when his Last Supper was publicly defamed," the bishop said. "As his living body, we are invited to enter into this moment of passion with him, this moment of public shame, mockery, and persecution. We do this through prayer and fasting. And our greatest prayer—in season and out of season—is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass."

Cozzens urged the faithful to attend Mass this week with "renewed zeal," to "pray for healing and forgiveness for all those who participated in this mockery," and to "commit ourselves this week to greater prayer and fasting in reparation for this sin."

He further suggested attending Mass more than once in the coming week and considering an extra Holy Hour.

"We may also be called upon to speak about this evil. Let us do so with love and charity, but also with firmness," the bishop said. He urged Catholics to "ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen us with the virtue of fortitude."

"France and the entire world are saved by the love poured out through the Mass, which came to us through the Last Supper," he wrote. "Inspired by the many martyrs who shed their blood to witness to the truth of the Mass, we will not stand aside and quietly abide as the world mocks our greatest gift from the Lord Jesus."

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Vatican City, Jul 28, 2024 / 08:15 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Sunday noted three gestures from the Bible account of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes which he argued are mirrored by Jesus at the Last Supper and by the faithful in each Mass.

The pope pointed out "offering, giving thanks, and sharing" as highlights of the miracle recounted in the Gospel of John, offering his reflection on the Sunday Gospel before praying the midday Angelus with those gathered under the scorching sun in St. Peter's Square. 

The temperature for the noonday prayer was already at 95 degrees as many in the crowds sheltered from the heat under colorful umbrellas.

"The Gospel tells us about a boy who has five loaves and two fish," the pope noted, saying that the boy's gesture of offering, as well as our own, is an acknowledgment that "we have something good to give, and we say our 'yes,' even if what we have is too little compared to what is needed."

The pope left his text to insist that Catholics are invited to offer what we have and are, even if the offering seems too insignificant and poor.

This offering is lived out in each Mass, as the priest offers the bread and wine, "and each person offers himself, his own life," he said. This offering becomes the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

"It is a gesture that may seem small, when we think of the immense needs of humanity," the pope acknowledged, "...but God makes it the material for the greatest miracle there is: that in which He Himself — Himself! — makes Himself present among us, for the salvation of the world."

"We can ask ourselves," the pope suggested: "Do I truly believe that, by the grace of God, I have something unique to give to my brothers and sisters?"

Our offering is intimately linked to the next gesture, that of gratitude, the pope argued. 

The pope suggested words we can pray to the Father: "All that I have is your gift, Lord, and to give thanks I can only give you back what you first gave me, together with your Son Jesus Christ, adding to it what I can."

"Each of us can add a little something," he insisted, inviting the faithful to reflect: "What can I give to the Lord? What can the little one give? Our poor love. Saying, 'Lord, I love you.' We poor people: Our love is so small! But we can give it to the Lord, the Lord welcomes it."

Fruit of everyone's gift

These gifts then lead to sharing, the pope explained.

"In the Mass is Communion, when together we approach the altar to receive the Body and Blood of Christ: the fruit of everyone's gift transformed by the Lord into food for all. It is a beautiful moment, that of Communion, which teaches us to live every gesture of love as a gift of grace, both for the giver and the receiver," he said.

The pope invited the faithful to receive Our Lady's help to live each Mass with this attitude of faith, "to recognize and savor every day the 'miracles' of God's grace."

After praying the Angelus and giving his apostolic blessing, the pope assured his closeness to those who have suffered from landslides in Ethiopia. 

Landslides hit the remote mountainous zone of Gofa in southern Ethiopia Sunday night into Monday morning, triggered by heavy rains in the region. Well over 200 people are already confirmed dead, with the United Nations projecting that the death toll could end up closer to 500.

The pope then spoke of the continuing problem of world hunger, calling the international community to take a stand against the "scandal" of "wasting resources to fuel wars large and small."

"While there are so many people in the world suffering from disasters and hunger, we continue to build and sell weapons," he lamented. He said this "contradicts the spirit of brotherhood of the Olympic Games that have just begun. Let us not forget, brothers and sisters: War is defeat!"

"I will not forsake you"

The pope also noted that today is the 4th World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, a celebration he initiated in 2020. This year's theme is drawn from Psalm 71: "Do not cast me off in my old age."

"Today's day calls us to listen to the voice of the elderly who say, 'Do not forsake me!' and to respond, 'I will not forsake you!'" the pope said.

"Let us say 'no' to the loneliness of the elderly! Our future depends greatly on how grandparents and grandchildren learn to live together. Let's not forget the elderly!" he said, inviting the faithful to a round of applause for all the grandparents.

The pope concluded his weekly meeting with the faithful with his traditional good wishes for a nice lunch, and the request: "Please don't forget to pray for me."

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ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 28, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

At just 4 years of age Emilio Madrid Mérida played the celebration of "Mass" at home with his stuffed animals. Now, at 16, he dreams of being a priest and says he has found happiness in the seminary in Badajoz, Spain, where he has already been for three years.

Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, at St. García the Abbot Parish in Algeciras, a city in southern Spain near Gibraltar where he is with his family on vacation, the young man explained that for him a vocation is "the call that God gives you to make you happy."

"From a very young age, in this parish when I was 4 years old I started helping at Mass. I wanted to be like the priest and at home I played at celebrating Mass with my stuffed animals," he related.

Seminarian at 13

At just 13 years of age, he wanted to enter the minor seminary of St. Antón Diocesan School in Badajoz, a city on the border with Portugal about 140 miles from Lisbon, where he currently lives with his mother.

It was a decision that came to him naturally despite the "surprise" it caused to those around him, especially his family.

"Although my entire family has been practicing Catholics and hasn't put any obstacles in the way, my mother was surprised when I told her my decision."

He recalled that his mother "cried" while helping him pack his suitcase to leave home and that now she shares his joy at seeing that her son is happy. His friends were "very sad, but every 15 days I leave the seminary and I can see them. In general, they took it very well and were very happy," he said.

'My heart is somewhere else'

Emilio said the majority of young people today have things they are preoccupied with, such as having fun, and he assured that he does too, although in a different way: "I am young, I still live in this world, and those things can also be there."

However, he shared that he has "his heart in another place" and sees things "with different eyes, not so worldly, but that I relate the things of this world to God."

The young seminarian emphasized that "God wants us to be happy," but "we have to know where to find happiness."

He also directs a clear message to young men who feel a vocation to the priesthood: "I would invite them to go with their parish priest, talk to them and go see the seminary."

"I was embarrassed to go to the seminary, and after being with them one afternoon I decided to stay, and I have been there for three years now," he told ACI Prensa.

Emilio said what he likes about the seminary is "the family that we have formed among us" as well as "sharing faith with and knowing that you are with companions who are pursuing the same thing you are."

Next year he will begin his college prep studies and later he wants to study theology. In a few years, he imagines himself being a priest, helping others, and every day trying to be "as much like Jesus as I can."  

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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CNA Newsroom, Jul 27, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The National Eucharistic Congress which gathered more than 50,000 Catholics together last week in Indianapolis was "powerful," "moving," and filled with "extraordinary reverence," according to religious sisters, a priest, a seminarian, and a bishop who attended the culminating event in the U.S. bishops three year Eucharistic Revival.

Religious and clergy were well-represented at the congress, with more than 1,170 priests, 1,200 religious brothers and sisters, 610 seminarians, and 200 bishops. CNA spoke to some of them about what moments and reflections were most life-changing and memorable.  

Reverence permeated the Congress 

"The most powerful moments were the moments of adoration in Lucas Oil Stadium, when everybody was on their knees, adoring the Lord in praise and in silence, too," recalled Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska. 

Bishop Conley remembered seeing everyone, including his brother bishops "caught up in the mystery of the beauty of God" during adoration.  

"The common denominator that ran through all of the liturgical encounter was reverence; that we were recognizing God as our Lord, in silence and in song," he said. "St. Augustine is famously quoted as saying, 'Only the lover sings,' and the only proper response to the love of God is to sing with our hearts."

Aidan Aguero, a 19-year-old seminarian with the Archdiocese of Seattle, recalled being moved during the silence of adoration by "seeing that everyone was having some encounter with Christ."

"[With] all 60,000 people there adoring our Lord in the Eucharist, people encountering our Lord in the Eucharist,  there was something moving there," he said. "Nobody can deny that something was moving in that stadium, and as Catholics, we believe that's the Holy Spirit. We believe that it's Christ in the Eucharist."

Sister Mary Aloysius of Jesus Kim, the General Sister Servant for the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT), also recalled the "prayerfulness" of adoration, calling it "stunning. "

"Just imagine this football stadium filled with people, and when our Lord comes out, the lights are out, it's dark, and there's just light shining on the monstrance, and the place is quiet. These 50,000 people are adoring our Lord silently," she said. 

"That was so moving, so beautiful, so stunning, that it just moves us to tears," she recalled. "And even now, when I look back on it, I am still moved to tears."

The whole body of Christ 

Unlike many retreats or conventions which focus on one age group, the Congress brought together Catholics of every age and vocation. 

"The whole body of Christ, from pregnant moms with children in tow to grandparents and great-grandparents in wheelchairs, and everything in between," was there, Bishop Conley observed. 

"It was the experience of the whole body of Christ coming together," he said. "Every vocation and every dimension of the Church, the Body of Christ."

More than 100 sisters of the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist attended the congress.  Sister Mary Michael Carlton, their Vicaress General, recalled that there was a natural friendliness of attendees toward whoever they encountered — workers, locals, homeless people.

"We had one sister singing on the street with one of the homeless people, and he ended up coming to the Congress — somebody registered him for the Congress, and he was later in the procession with his congress badge on," she said. "They weren't in the periphery. They were part of this movement, too."

"There was a lot of ministry to the poor and homeless during those days," Conley added. 

Christ in the City, a Catholic organization that uses a relational approach to ministry to the homeless, organized street walks for ministering to the poor and homeless, he recalled. 

"It wasn't just an internal ad intra experience, but it was going out of ourselves and out into the streets to proclaim that Christ is risen, he's alive, he loves you, and to present him to everyone who will listen," he continued. 

A web of processions

The Body of Christ then took to the streets in a eucharistic procession through Indianapolis, Conley recalled.

"I saw that [procession] as taking Christ to the streets and claiming the city for God," Conley reflected. "Taking Jesus to the streets and proclaiming that Jesus Christ is King and that he is the king of the world. He's the center of everything, and he's not just in our churches — he's out on the streets with the poor."

"People that were in their office buildings and people who were in their shops and their restaurants; they saw this happening," he noted.

Anyone who attended the Congress will tell you about the great procession through the streets of Indianapolis of more than 60,000 people. But there was also a "spontaneous web of processions" back at the convention center, that one priest said was "deeply moving."

The liturgical team needed to move the Blessed Sacrament throughout the convention center for different periods of adoration, but there weren't enough back ways, and the halls were thick with crowds of people moving between break-out sessions, explained Father Patrick Briscoe, a Dominican priest and liturgical organizer for the event. 

So, the priests took Jesus through the crowd in the monstrance. In the rush of switching sessions, the people paused, and knelt quietly as Jesus passed by. 

"People in these jam-packed hallways, trying to scramble from one session to the next, dropped to their knees," he recalled. "They shouted out, 'Jesus is coming,' and dropped to their knees and waited and prayed until the Blessed Sacrament had walked past them."

"Our people's devotion was extraordinary," Briscoe continued. "And part of that was a new posture that they had been taught as a result of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which had taught and modeled the reverence one should show the Blessed Sacrament, but also the spirit of the event made it a very natural thing." 

"It was deeply moving because in another context, it could have been inconvenient or unexpected," he added. "And so to see our people respond with patient and extraordinary reverence really touched my heart as a priest."

A defining moment for the decades 

"It showcased the strength of our tradition, and it demonstrated to people that the Church is alive," said Briscoe. "It allowed people to express their love for the Church. To show up for a celebration that wasn't political, that wasn't charged with the fraught and polarizing climate that so many other activities and events are charged with today, was supremely liberating." 

World Youth Day 1993 in Denver with St. John Paul II was a defining moment for a generation. The call to a "New Evangelization" reverberates through the decades. 

The movement was both the fruit of WYD93, and a new form of it, Sister Aloysius observed. 

"I do think it's like a World Youth Day in Denver, and it will be one of those moments where we go back and remember, and people will find their vocations or hear God speaking to them in these talks, and then say, 'When I was in Indianapolis in 2024, that's when my life changed,'" Sister Mary Michael reflected.  

"I do think powerful conversions were happening at the Congress itself," she added. "And these people who attended will go back to their parishes and start their own revivals. They'll start drawing people back to the faith in their families or in their local communities that haven't been to Mass in a long time."

"The Lord planted so many beautiful seeds in his garden of his church," Aguero reflected. "And the Lord, in our faith and hope in him, will, through the Holy Spirit, nurture and grow those seeds for the flourishing of his church." 

The event was so effective because it was "led by liturgy," Bishop Conley observed. 

"I'm convinced that the New Evangelization will never take place, never really be truly fruitful without an experience of the liturgy and the transcendence," he said. "You can have all the apologetics in the world. You can have all of the instruction and Bible studies and all of that, but unless you have this experience of beauty — the beauty of God in a transcendent prayerful worship experience, which really takes you out of yourself into the mystery of the love of God through prayer and through the sacrament — then that's where we truly encounter the living Lord."

"We meet him, and we have this heart-to-heart encounter that really goes beyond reason to worship. When we were caught up into the beauty and love and mercy of God through prayer and sacrament. And that's what we had. That's what we experienced."

Go forth: Taking the message home 

"I think the most important thing is, yes, it was amazing, but at the end of the day, we have to experience our own personal revival, and I think that's what really made a difference," Sister Aloysius said.

"For me, I can say it really did touch my heart, and it deepened my love for our eucharistic Lord. So there definitely was a personal revival within me," she said. "From there, the message, especially on the last day, was to go out and share what we have tasted, heard, and seen with our own eyes to others. And that is going to be the impact. We have to go through our own personal revival through repentance." 

"The message [of the conference] was to now take this experience that you've had of unity, of encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist — this really intimate, powerful experience of Christ's love and mercy in the Eucharist. Take that now, and take that back with you to your homes," Conley said. 

"Reach out to those who have either fallen away or who no longer go to church or who are still questioning and looking for answers: this is what I hope will be the fruit, and this is what the message was," he continued. 

"But for me, I think seeing how on fire Catholics were for the eucharistic Lord and going out to the streets to tell people about Jesus, it really increased my zeal for souls," Sister Mary Michael Carlton said.

"It facilitated [revival] for us there, but then what I hoped that it did, at least did in me, was that it showed that you don't need to get 60,000 people together and all these bishops, all these sisters — you don't need to get all these people together to have that encounter in the Eucharist," Aguero said. 

"The Eucharist that was there is the same Eucharist that comes down every single Sunday during Mass, every single day at daily Mass," he concluded. "It's the same Eucharist that awaits us in our chapels for when we are going home." 

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ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 27, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

The Diocese of Tehuacán, located in the Mexican state of Puebla, reported that Bishop Gonzalo Alonso Calzada Guerrero was driving on a highway when he was "assaulted and his vehicle and personal belongings were stolen." 

In a July 24 statement, the Diocese of Tehuacán reported that the incident occurred on the morning of July 23, while the prelate was heading to a community in the state to celebrate its patron saint's feast day.

The news outlet N+ reported that after the robbery, the armed men tied the bishop's hands and feet and abandoned him on a hill. According to the report, Calzada managed to free himself and ask for help; however, the diocese has not commented on this detail.

In the statement, the diocese said that the prelate "was unharmed and has filed the related complaint" with the authorities. In addition, the diocese expressed its gratitude to "God and our Blessed Mother, who always accompanies him, for caring for him and protecting him."

At the same time, the diocese asked the religious community to continue "praying for peace in our country," especially, "for all the brothers who face these situations every day, for the families who are harmed and despoiled, that they find relief and strength."

The Diocese of Tehuacán also asked for prayers for the assailants, "for these brothers who hurt families so much, that God may move their hearts to conversion."

According to data from the executive secretariat of the National Public Safety System, from January to June 2024, 3,679 "four-wheeled cars" were stolen in the state of Puebla, of which 1,652 involved violence.

On April 3, Eduardo Cervantes Merino, the bishop of Orizaba in the state of Veracruz — a diocese adjacent to Tehuacán — reported that he and the priests who accompanied him were also assaulted on a highway.

Concerned for youth

Two days after being robbed "at gunpoint," Calzada shared his experience at a Mass celebrated at St. James the Apostle parish in Caltepec, where he lamented that the people who robbed him of his belongings were "young people between 20 and 22 years old."

"It made me think about what we are doing as a Church, as a family, as a society to form young people, because they are doing this because they're not finding meaning in their lives, they're not finding something that's really worth living for and they put their lives at risk," said the prelate.

Calzada urged society not to accept juvenile delinquency as something normal and urged those present to pay greater attention to the evangelization of young people. He also encouraged parents to "care for their children, be close to them and talk to them: that's the way they can help them find the path."

"Before God, [parents] will have to give an account of what they have done for their children," the bishop emphasized.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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ACI Africa, Jul 27, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Seminarians in Africa are not allowed "to be themselves" and must find ways "to get by," a Catholic priest from Nigeria has said, challenging institutions that form future priests to encourage better communication between seminarians and those who form them. 

In his presentation at the seventh session of the ongoing synodal conversations being held ahead of the October session in Rome, Father Augustine Anwuchie, a Fidei Donum priest serving in Niger, decried the "lack of authenticity" in priestly formation in Africa, noting that some seminarians are forced to adopt a "survival mentality" in their interactions with their superiors. 

"During my formation, I had the opportunity to study in two seminaries in Nigeria. I saw 'survival mentality' where seminarians, because of how formation is structured, adopt ways to survive around their formators — how to survive around bishops, around Christians and in Christian communities," Anwuchie said.

"I have been a vice rector at a seminary and I saw a lack of openness. You see lack of authenticity," he said during the July 19 meeting that the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network organized in collaboration with the Conference of Major Superiors of Africa and Madagascar.

The Nigerian-born priest, who serves as assistant pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Niger's Diocese of Maradi, continued: "I am not saying that we should copy everything that is done in Europe. But there are aspects of formation that formators in Africa can borrow from other places, including encouraging openness, communication, and authenticity with seminarians."

According to Anwuchie, priests who are not formed "to be authentic" experience difficulties when relating to other Christians. "Instead of becoming men, we continue to live as boys and this is not helping in our pastoral work," he said.

He lamented that in many major seminaries in Africa, aspects of human formation and the expansion of emotional intelligence are neglected while what seminarians "ought to do" and how they "ought to behave" is emphasized.

Seminarians become reactive to situations, he said, which continues when they become priests.

Anwuchie expressed concern that most parishes in his native country of Nigeria, and in Africa generally, are experiencing crises between clergy and laity because priests are not imparted with "emotional intelligence" during their formation.

The July 19 meeting was the latest in a series of digital meetings that theologians and other experts in Africa have organized to deepen their understanding of the synthesis report that came out of the October 2023 session of the multiyear Synod on Synodality. 

Participants in the virtual event explored the theme "The Revision of Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis in a Missionary Synodal Perspective" based on the December 2015 document of the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy translated as "The Gift of the Priestly Vocation."

The online discussions, also known as "palavers," were structured around present-day seminary formation in Africa, with participants reflecting on what is working and what is not working based on experiences from different parts of the continent. 

In her presentation, Sister Dominica Dipio pointed out the disconnect and said she had observed it in seminaries and in the life of priests in parishes and in communities.

The Ugandan-born member of the Missionary Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church and consultor of the Pontifical Council for Culture expressed concern that many priests do not continue with formation, which participants at the July 19 palaver agreed should be ongoing.

"Most of the priests are overwhelmed by their assignments and they quickly burn out. They hardly have time to engage in their own formation, which is supposed to be ongoing," said Dipio, who is also a professor of literature at Uganda's Makerere University.

"I have met priests in retreats who have for years not had the experience of retreat. The involvement in mission takes all their time and burns them out," Dipio said, appealing to bishops to allow priests "to reconnect with God as the center."

"For our priests, ongoing formation is quite a challenge and we need to support them, especially the young ones," Dipio said.

Cardinal Stephen Brislin from the Archdiocese of Cape Town in South Africa reminded participants at the palaver that the ongoing formation of priests is a responsibility of each episcopal see and religious order.

Brislin noted that seminaries in Africa are already doing "an excellent job" in terms of academic formation, intellectual stimulation, and teaching students discipline and routine.

However, Brislin said that seminarians should be involved in the joys and struggles of ordinary people, adding: "To the extent that seminaries are not providing that, I think it is incumbent that dioceses supplement it during holidays, to put them in communities and situations where they can be with people and people can take some responsibility as well in this formation."

This article was first published by ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

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CNA Staff, Jul 26, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA).

Russian Orthodox Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Budapest-Hungary has been temporarily suspended following reports about an ongoing investigation of sexual misconduct with a young staff member.

According to the online news site Novaya Gazeta Europe, Georgy Suzuki, who served as the bishop's personal assistant between Oct. 2022 and Jan. 2024, was sexually harassed on several occasions by the 58-year-old high-ranking prelate.

Alfeyev has reportedly denied all allegations made by Suzuki. 

Earlier this month, Church Times reported that 11 Russian Orthodox priests in Budapest signed a joint statement defending Alfeyev who, they believe, is innocent and a victim of a "dirty slanderous campaign."    

Yesterday, Novaya Gazeta Europe published several photos as well as details of private messages shared between Suzuki and Alfeyev, highlighting the bishop's sexually inappropriate behavior and materially-excessive lifestyle. Alfeyev reportedly purchased mansions in France and Hungary as well as expensive watches, and spent holidays on yachts and at expensive beach resorts.

Though Suzuki told Novaya Gazeta Europe that Alfeyev's advances never led to sexual encounters, he said he and his family suffered coercion, blackmail, and retaliation from the bishop who, in turn, accused Suzuki of sexually inappropriate behavior.   

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church has appointed metropolitan Bishop Nestor of Korshun and Western Europe as temporary administrator of the Budapest-Hungary diocese while investigations are underway. 

Alfeyev has subsequently been permanently dismissed as president of the Synodal Theological Commission, and as chairman of the Theological Committee. However, it is not the first time the Russian metropolitan has been removed from a prominent position in the Orthodox Church. 

In 2022, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow dismissed Alfeyev as president of the Department of External Church Relations and as a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. That same year, he was also removed as metropolitan bishop of Volokolamsk and then transferred to Hungary and appointed as metropolitan bishop of Budapest. 

A 2022 article published by The Orthodox Times speculates that his dismissals two years ago were not linked to sexual misconduct but to the bishop's "mild stance" on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which contrasted to that of Patriarch Kirill's "full identification" with the Russian government's hardline on Ukraine.     

In light of the publicity of the allegations of sexual misconduct by former church worker Suzuki, the Russian Orthodox Church has created a special committee to further investigate the case against Alfeyev.  

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Vatican City, Jul 26, 2024 / 17:26 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis and Athletica Vaticana, the official Holy See sports association, have invited all athletes participating in the 2024 Olympic Games to harness the "great social power of sport" to unite people and be witnesses of peace, particularly during these times of international tensions and conflict.  

Around 300,000 spectators welcomed thousands of athletes representing 206 countries at the opening ceremony of this year's summer games in Paris today.

The ceremony to open the two-week international festival took place at 7:30 p.m. in Paris (1:30 p.m. ET). The Olympic Games, which take place between July 26 and Aug. 11 this year, are expected to draw approximately 800,000 tourists to France and an additional one billion viewers who wish to watch the sports events on TV or other digital channels. 

During his Sunday Angelus address on July 21, Pope Francis expressed his hope that this year's Olympics will bring athletes and spectators together and "peacefully unite people from different cultures."

"I hope that this event may be a beacon of the inclusive world we want to build and that athletes, with their sporting testimony, may be messengers of peace and authentic models for young people," the Holy Father said.    

Over 10,000 athletes from around the world will compete in 32 different sports in this year's summer games. This year's Olympics will debut surfing, sport climbing, skateboarding, and also breakdancing.

The Paralympic Games will also take place in Paris this year from Aug. 28 - Sept. 8. Approximately 4,400 athletes will participate in 22 sports — including sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball — in venues across the city such as at the Eiffel Tower, the Château de Versailles, and the Grand Palais. 

Athletica Vaticana sent an open letter addressed to Olympians and Paralympians yesterday on the vigil of the opening ceremony and encouraged all athletes to "win the medal of fraternity" this summer.  

"The Olympics and Paralympics can be strategies for peace and antidotes to war games," reads the letter. "The Games can be opportunities for hope." 

Prior to the Olympics opening ceremony, a Mass of Peace was celebrated on July 19 in France. Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris and Archbishop Emmanuel Gobilliard of Digne concelebrated the Mass which was attended by the president of the International Olympic Committee, athletes. and diplomats. 

Since the inception of the modern-day Olympics in 1896, Paris has twice been selected to host the summer games. This year marks 100 years since Paris first hosted the Olympics in 1924. 

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ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 26, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

The motto of the modern Olympic Games, "Faster, Higher, Stronger," was coined by French Dominican friar Louis Henri Didon, who became friends with the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, five years before the 1896 Athens Games.

The motto, originally formulated in Latin as "Citius, Altius, Fortius," was used before the modern Olympic movement at St. Albert the Great School in Paris, where the Dominican friar was the principal.

Born in 1840, Didon entered the Rondeau Minor Seminary in Grenoble, France, beginning at the age of nine, and during his youth, he stood out for his ability as an athlete. After visiting the Carthusian monastery in Grenoble, he decided to follow a religious vocation and took the habit of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) at the age of 16. Six years later, after a period of formation in Rome, he was ordained a priest at age 22.

Military chaplain, prisoner, and refugee

Didon soon gained fame as a preacher. During the brief Franco-Prussian War, which broke out in July 1870, he was a military chaplain and for a time was held as a prisoner. When he fell ill, he ended up as a refugee in Geneva, Switzerland. From there he was sent to Marseille, where he resumed his sometimes controversial preaching activity, which led to his being sent to Corsica in 1880. 

A decade later he was appointed principal of St. Albert the Great School in Paris where he established sports as part of the school's educational program and promoted sports competition. This decision was the result of belief in the value of sports and the contact he had had with Pierre de Coubertin since 1891.

In the first race they organized, the Dominican decided to embroider on the school flag the famous motto, which would become an Olympic motto in 1894, during the first Olympic Congress held in Paris in 1894.

Two years later, Athens hosted the first Olympic Games, which have since been held every four years, interrupted only three times due to World Wars I and II (1916, 1940, and 1944) and postponed from 2020 to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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CNA Newsroom, Jul 26, 2024 / 14:20 pm (CNA).

Police are investigating after a parish in Arkansas was struck by three vandalism incidents in recent months, including the destruction of a statue of Mary on the parish grounds. 

Father Joseph Chan, the pastor at St. Leo Church in Hartford, Arkansas, told CNA that the incidents of vandalism began early last year. The parish is part of the Diocese of Little Rock. 

"The first was on February 26, 2023," he said. "Our St. Leo sign and notification board had words/letters removed/jumbled to reflect body parts; for example, the letter 'M' was removed from the word 'Mass'."

"The second was on March 10, 2024, which involved graffiti to our sacristy door," the pastor said. "Sprayed was a racial slur commonly directed towards African Americans."

The most recent incident occurred on July 13. "Toppled to the ground were an angel and Mary statues," Chan said. "Mary's neck was broken.  The statue of Jesus was seemingly untouched."

"All three incidents happened within 18 months," the priest noted. 

Law enforcement is investigating the crimes. 

"Police were notified but no suspects were identified tied to the vandalism to our knowledge," Chan said. 

The pastor said parishioners have suffered "sadness" over the incidents. 

Mary Radley, a parishioner of the church, told the Arkansas Catholic this week that the parish has "filed with our insurance company to see how much money we will have to repair the damage."

Chan, meanwhile, told the local outlet that "all parishes should have some sort of safeguards against vandalism," but "because it is the work of evil, prayer is the best antidote."

Multiple Catholic parishes and holy sites have suffered vandalism in the U.S. in recent months and years. 

A statue of the Blessed Mother in a prayer garden on the grounds of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception was damaged by an assailant earlier this year.

Catholic churches, schools, and cemeteries throughout the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, meanwhile, were targeted by pro-abortion vandalism ahead of a major statewide vote on abortion laws. 

Catholic facilities in Texas and Colorado were also targeted last year with vandalism. 

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told EWTN News in March that the numerous attacks against Catholic churches are "not a focus or [has] the attention of [the Biden administration] or this Justice Department."

"They can't find a single person or any of these people that were responsible for these, what is a pretty concerted effort to attack Catholic churches in America," Rubio said.

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