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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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vatican.va - The Holy Father has appointed as Apostolic Administrator sede vacante of the eparchy of Parma of the Ruthenians, United States of America, H.E. Msgr. Milan Lach, S.J., currently auxiliary bishop of Prešov of the Byzantines, Slovakia.
Msgr. Milan Lach, S.J.
Msgr. Milan Lach, S.J. was born on 18 November 1973 in Kežmarok, in the Archieparchy of Prešov of the Byzantines, Slovakia.
From 1992 to 1995 he attended the Greek Catholic Theological Faculty of Prešov and in 1995 he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Trnava.
After his theological studies in the theological faculty of the University of Trnava (1997-2001) he was ordained a priest in 2001 in Košice.
From 2001 to 2003 he worked in the scientific area of the Centre of Spirituality East-West of Michal Lacko in Košice and later (2009-2011) he was Superior of the same centre.
In 2009 he graduated in Oriental Ecclesiastical Sciences from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. At the same time he served as spiritual father at the Pontifical Collegium Russicum and also as spiritual assistant of the Federation of Scouts of Europe in Rome.
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CWN - Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, the head of the Maronite Catholic Church, will renew the consecration of Lebanon and the Middle East to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The consecration will take place in Fatima on June 25, following a “Lebanon day” at the famed Marian shrine.
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CWN - A federal court has blocked the plan of US immigration authorities to deport nearly 200 Iraqi natives, most of them Chaldean Christians, who were seized in raids in the Detroit area.
Judge Mark Goldsmith issued a 14-day stay on deportation proceedings, while he weighs a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU argues that the immigrants could face persecution if they are returned to Iraq. “US law prohibits the removal of individuals to countries where they would face a likelihood of persecution or torture,” the ACLU lawsuit stated. “Many of the Petitioners are Chaldean Christians, who are widely recognized as targets of brutal persecution in Iraq.”
Judge Goldsmith said that he would use the 14-stay to weigh the arguments in the case and decide whether a federal court—rather than an immigration court—has proper jurisdiction in the case. The judge said that the potential danger to the the immigrants if they are returned to Iraq “far outweighs any conceivable interest the government might have in the immediate enforcement of the removal orders.”
Most of the Iraqi immigrants who were rounded up in the Detroit area have lived in the US for decades, albeit without legal authorization. All have arrest records, although their supporters argue that few can be regarded as threats to public safety.
From Iraq, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako wrote to express his sympathy with the Christians who are facing possible deportation, and his hope for a solution that would preserve them from danger. He remarked that the situation points to the need for migrants to ensure that they have attained legal status.
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- US judge halts the deportation of more than 100 Iraqi Christians (AP)
- Trump Administration Faces Pressure To Not Deport Detained Iraqi Christians (NPR)
- Chaldean Patriarch: "sadness and concern" for the issue of Iraqi Christians whom the US government wants to expel (Fides)
- Detroit’s Chaldean bishop responds to deportation of Iraqi Christians (CWN, 6/14)
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vatican.va - The Holy Father has granted the “Ecclesiastica Communio” in accordance with canon 76 § 2 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches to His Beatitude Youssef Absi, canonically elected as Patriarch of Antioch of the Greek Melkites on 21 June 2017 by the Synod of Bishops of the Patriarchal Church.
The following is the text that Pope Francis sent to the new Patriarch of Antioch of the Greek Melkites for the concession of the “Ecclesiastica Communio”:
Message of the Holy Father
To His Beatitude YOUSSEF
Patriarch of Antioch of the Greek Melkites
It is with great joy that I received the letter in which you informed me of your election as Patriarch of Antioch of the Greek Melkites by the Synod of Bishops, requesting the Ecclesiastica Communio.
I wish to congratulate you and assure you from now on of my prayer that Christ, Good Shepherd, will support you in the fulfilment of the mission entrusted to you and for the service required of you.
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CWN - The Eastern Catholic churches “should be kept and preserved” through current crises, Pope Francis said in a June 22 address to the Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches (ROACO).
In his address the Holy Father observed that the Eastern Catholic churches have endured “terrible waves of persecution and suffering, both in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.” The churches of Eastern Europe have been freed from oppression under Communism, he observed, but in the Middle East—and particularly in Syria, Iraq, and Egypt—Christians still “suffer as a result of the ongoing war and the senseless violence perpetrated by fundamentalist terrorism.”
The Pope thanked ROACO for its support for the Eastern churches, saying that the survival of these Christian communities is “encouraging pilgrimage to the roots of the faith.” He remarked that in many countries, “Christians—be they Catholics, Orthodox, or Protestant—shed their blood as a seal of their witness.”
Pope Francis also made the observation that immigration has weakened the Christian presence “in the territories where they had flourished for centuries.” He offered the hope that Christians, “if forced to emigrate, be welcomed in the places where they arrive, and continue to live according to their own ecclesial tradition.”
Reflecting on the topic for discussion at the ROACO meeting—the formation of candidates for the priesthood—the Pope said that the Church recognizes “the radical nature of the choice expressed by many of them, and the heroism of their testimony of dedication alongside their often sorely tried communities.”
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The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Bishop Joseph Absi was elected on Wednesday the new patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, a source told The Daily Star.
The election of Absi comes a month after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Gregorius III Lahham.
Lahham had hinted at his intention to resign several times over the past few years, and eventually made the decision following the unraveling of Orthodox Christianity’s synod in June 2016.
Lahham wrote a letter on June 20, 2016, to the Synod of the Eastern Churches to announce his resignation.