Martyr of Japan. A native of Korea, he was brought to Japan in 1591 as a prisoner of war and was subsequently converted to Christianity. Entering the Jesuits, he studied at the Jesuit seminary of Arima and worked for three decades as a catechist in both Japan and China. Seized during the persecution of the Church, he was burned alive at Nagasaki with Blessed Francis Pacheco. He was beatified in 1867.

WASHINGTON - “I commend President Trump and President Pezeshkian for taking the vitally important step of signing a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending hostilities between the United States and Iran and advancing deeper dialogue for lasting peace in the region,” said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.   

Bishop Zaidan’s statement follows: 

“I commend President Trump and President Pezeshkian for taking the vitally important step of signing a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending hostilities between the United States and Iran and advancing deeper dialogue for lasting peace in the region. Preventing further proliferation of nuclear weapons is critically important for avoiding a dangerous escalation of conflict in the Middle East. Echoing our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV’s expression of hope, I call on all parties to engage in good faith, and pray that ‘this agreement may help strengthen mutual trust, security and stability in the Middle East, promoting paths of dialogue and cooperation among peoples.’ 

“I call on the United States, Iran, and Israel to now also prioritize an end to the fighting in Lebanon. The disarming of Hezbollah is necessary for peace and development in Lebanon. Over one million people have been internally displaced, including 400,000 children, and thousands have fled to neighboring Syria, potentially adding to the region’s instability. If the fighting and humanitarian catastrophe continue in Lebanon, I fear that peace across the wider Middle East will remain unreachable.  

“Let us pray that the Holy Spirit, creator and vivifier, may breathe wisdom, compassion, and perseverance into the minds and hearts of the negotiators, so that peace in the region may finally become a reality.”   

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At least 10 people, including four children, were injured in a Russian strike on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, Ukrainian authorities said Friday. In southern Ukraine, the State Emergency Service reported that one person was killed and four others were injured in a separate Russian attack on the Odesa region.

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At least 18 people were killed in southern Lebanon after Israeli airstrikes overnight. At the same time, Israel confirmed four of its soldiers also died in the fighting.

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A national U.S. study finds growing interest in Catholic faith driven by the search for truth, purpose and community

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St. Romuald was born at Ravenna about the year 956. In spite of an infinite desire for virtue and sanctity, his early life was wasted in the service of the world and its pleasures. Then one day, obliged by his father, Sergius, to be present at a duel fought by him, he beheld him slay his adversary. The crime made such an impression upon him that he determined to expiate it for forty days, as though it were entirely his own. For this purpose he retired to a Benedictine monastery of St. ...

Pope Leo XIV urges participants in the first 'Borgo Laudato si’ Dialogues' to foster a new model of moral leadership and to help build a 'civilisation of love' in the face of growing dehumanisation.

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Cardinal George Koovakad, the Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, met with President Ilham Aliyev and religious leaders in Baku during his 15–19 June visit, underlining the importance of tolerance, multiculturalism, and continued cooperation between the Holy See and Azerbaijan to strengthen peaceful coexistence among different faith communities.

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Pope Leo XIV presides over the funeral Mass for Cardinal Ruini, a key figure in the Italian Church for decades, who passed away last Tuesday at the age of 95.

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