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Thursday, June 11, 2020
A file photo shows tens of thousands of people taking part in a candlelight vigil at Hong Kong’s Victoria Park to
mourn those who died in the 1989 military crackdown on a pro-democracy movement in Beijing’s Tiananmen
Square. A Hong Kong official said Catholics might not be in Victoria Park June 4, 2020, to commemorate the
anniversary of the massacre, but there will be Masses. (CNS photo/Bobby Yip, Reuters)
Pope calls USCCB president
to express solidarity, support
amid turmoil in U.S.
WASHINGTON (CNS)
Pope Francis used his June
3 audience and a phone call
with the president of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops
to express his solidarity and
support following days of
demonstrations protesting
the killing of George Floyd
in Minneapolis. In a June 3
letter to his fellow bishops,
Archbishop Jose H. Gomez
of Los Angeles told them
Pope Francis had called him
“to express his prayers and
closeness to the church and
people of the United States in
this moment of unrest in our
country.” Archbishop Gomez
wrote that the pope “thanked
the bishops for the pastoral
tone of the church’s response
to the demonstrations across
the country in our statements
and actions since the death” of
Floyd. The pope also said he
was praying for Archbishop
Bernard A. Hebda and
the church of St. Paul and
Minneapolis, Archbishop
Gomez wrote. Archbishop
Gomez thanked the pope “for
his prayers and strong words
of support at the conclusion”
of his Wednesday general
audience. In his livestreamed
June 3 general audience,
the pope said, “Today I join
the church in St. Paul and
Minneapolis, and in the entire
United States, in praying for
the repose of the soul of George
Floyd and of all those others
who have lost their lives as a
result of the sin of racism.”
Trusting in God does not
mean never arguing with
him, Pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS)
In the story of the patriarch
Abraham - honored by Jews,
Christians and Muslims - faith
becomes a direct relationship
with God that is marked
by constant prayer, which
sometimes takes the form
of “debating” with God, Pope
Francis said. While most
ancient people saw the gods as
inapproachable cosmic forces
needing to be appeased, “the
God of Abraham becomes ‘my
God,’ the God of my personal
story, who guides my steps,
who does not abandon me,
the God of my days, the
companion in my adventures,”
Pope Francis said June 3. “I
ask myself, and I ask you, do
we have this experience of
God?” the pope said, during
his livestreamed general
audience from the library of
the Apostolic Palace. Because
of the COVID-19 pandemic,
visitors and pilgrims still are
not present for the audiences.
In his main talk, part of a
series about prayer, the pope
said that with Abraham, “the
life of a believer begins to be
understood as a vocation, that
is, as a call.”
English bishops express
solidarity with U.S. protests
against racism
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND (CNS)
English Catholic bishops say
they “stand in solidarity” with
anti-racism protests over the
police killing of an unarmed
U.S. African American,
declaring that “racism is an
evil which must be opposed.” In
a June 3 statement, Bishops
Declan Lang of Clifton and
Auxiliary Bishop Paul
McAleenan of Westminster
said the May 25 death of
George Floyd also highlighted
“systemic racism” in British
society. They suggested such
racism might help explain
the disproportionate number
of black, Asian and minority
ethnic people who have died in
the U.K. from COVID-19 since
March. “We stand in solidarity
with our sisters and brothers
in the USA as they challenge
the evil of racism and the
brutal killing of George Floyd,”
said Bishop Lang, chairman of
the English and Welsh bishops’
Department for International
Affairs, and Bishop McAleenan,
the lead bishop for racial
justice. “As the U.S. bishops
made clear: ‘We cannot turn
a blind eye to these atrocities
and yet still try to profess to
respect every human life. We
serve a God of love, mercy and
justice.’
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