• The Holy See has called for greater attention to the needs of elderly people in respect for their inherent dignity.

  Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy See to the UN, made the appeal during a working group on Ageing, entitled “Measures to enhance the contribution of Older Persons to Social Development”.

  “A greater focus on the contribution of older persons to development should be combined with an enhanced attention to their needs,” he said…

Pope St John Paul II’s former spokesman, Dr Joaquìn Navarro-Valls, has died at the age of 80.

His current successor, Holy See Press Office Director Greg Burke, announced the news this evening with the following tweets:

A numerary of Opus Dei and a trained doctor and psychiatrist, the Spanish journalist had been diagnosed with terminal cancer some weeks ago…

Aloysius Schwartz had a desire to become a priest from an early age. As time passed, his desire became more specific: He wanted to be a priest of the poor.

During high school he joined St Charles Minor Seminary in Catonsville, Maryland, but after graduation felt an attraction to the Maryknoll Missionaries. He attended Maryknoll College to receive his bachelor’s degree, but then completed his theological studies in Belgium at Louvain University…

Pope Francis has released his video message accompanying his monthly prayer intention for July.

This month’s intention is for those distant from the Christian faith: “that our brothers and sisters who have strayed from the faith, through our prayer and witness to the Gospel, may rediscover the beauty of the Christian life.”

The text of the video message reads:

“Let us never forget that our joy is Jesus Christ — his faithful and inexhaustible love…