Editor’s Note: This story has been updated since this morning.

WASHINGTON (CNA) — Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Holy Father’s diplomatic representative to the U.S., died the evening of Wednesday, July 27, at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where he had been placed on assisted ventilation after complications following a lung surgery performed two weeks ago. He was 73.

On Monday, July 25,  the nunciature, along with Archbishop Sambi’s family, who traveled to Baltimore from Italy after the worsening of Archbishop Sambi’s condition, asked “bishops, priests, religious, and lay faithful” to offer “sacrifices and prayers” for the nuncio’s recovery.

Archbishop Sambi was appointed by Pope...READ MORE

Berlin Nearly Sold Out for the Pope’s Visit - Alessandro Alviani, La Stampa/Vatican Insider

. . . News.va: Program of Apostolic Trip . . .

I Hate Myself, How Can I Find Comfort in God When I Feel So Unworthy? - Father John Bartunek, Catholic Spiritual Direction

Missouri Late-Term Abortion Ban Becomes Law - Rebecca Millette, LifeSiteNews.com

Unfounded Population Fears Drive New UN Campaign - Terrence McKeegan J.D., Catholic Lane

. . . Stephan Phelan: Using Natural Family Planning to halt overpopulation? . . .

Despite European Union’s Human Rights Demands, Turkey’s Christian Persecution Escalates - William Oddie, Catholic Herald

Cambodia’s Genocide and Catholic Slaughter - George R....READ MORE

Has the Obama administration found a cure for the common conscience?  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is expected to let us know on Monday.

HHS is preparing a list of “preventative services for women” that every insurance plan must cover, without co-pay or deductible, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, popularly known as “Obamacare.” In a time-honored bureaucratic maneuver, HHS referred the question of what to include to a tame outside organization it could count on to give it the advice it wanted: It asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM), a nominally independent, if pliant, nonprofit, to identify the services that should be mandated.

The...READ MORE

DENIZLI, Turkey (EWTN News) — An archaeological team working in southwest Turkey says it has uncovered the tomb of St. Philip the Apostle.

Italian professor Francesco D’Andria, head of the excavation team at the ancient city of Hierapolis in the province of Denizli, told reporters on July 26 that experts had reached the apostle’s tomb.

Archaeologists had been working for years to find the tomb, he said. They reached the monument while working on the ruins of a newly unearthed church in Hierapolis, the Turkish news agency Anadolu reports. The city of Hierapolis, whose name means “sacred city,” is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is famous for its historical hot springs and was used as a...READ MORE

WASHINGTON (CNA/EWTN News) — The U.S. Catholic bishops have offered their prayers and “deepest condolences” to the people of Norway in the aftermath of the bombing and mass-murder spree which killed dozens.

“The assault on government buildings in Oslo and a neighboring youth camp reminds us again of the fragility of life and the challenge to overcome evil in its many forms,” Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York said in a July 26 letter to Bishop Anders Arborelius of Stockholm, who heads the Scandinavian Episcopal Conference, and Bishop Bernt Ivar Eidsvig of Oslo.

“The almost unfathomable tragedy and the deaths of so many innocent people touch the hearts of people all around the world and...READ MORE

NEW YORK (CNA) — “Usually when that sort of thing is read, there’s booing or hissing. But it was all applause,” said Tyler Ament, director of the International Youth Coalition, about the initial reaction to the presentation of his group’s “Statement of Youth to the U.N. and the World” at the U.N.’s General Assembly on July 25.

“There was a voice missing from the discussion when this (U.N.) International Year of Youth started,” said Ament at a July 26 press conference. “We wanted to make sure, through the International Youth Coalition, that the voice which promotes life and family and integrity would be heard in the conversation.”

The International Youth Coalition gathered in New York from...READ MORE

Why Hasn’t Francis Xavier Ford Been Beatified? - George Weigel, Archdiocese of Denver

The Beautiful Youth Get Set for Madrid - Antonine-Marie Izoard, La Stampa/Vatican Insider

Why We Need Natural Family Planning - H.L.I. America

The Extraordinary Challenge of Being Counter-Cultural - Pat Lencioni, The Integrated Catholic Life™

One Man, One Woman, & the Common Good: Marriage’s Public Purpose - Austin R. Nimocks, Public Discourse

Self-Forgetting Love (Gospel of Saint Matthew 14:13-21) - Father John Bartunek, Catholic Spiritual Direction

The Catholic Faith Will Not Disappear from Ireland - Mary Kenny, The Daily Telegraph

A Saint Who Had an Abortion - Kathleen Gilbert, LifeSiteNews.com

...READ MORE

WASHINGTON — An alliance of American churches, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, met with President Obama last week, urging that programs aiding the poor be exempted from any spending cuts.

The ecumenical appeal was cast as a non-partisan initiative, but some critics viewed it as a wrong-headed measure that will keep taxes high and prevent investments by small businesses that would lead to job creation.

After meeting with Obama, the group held a teleconference with members of the media emceed by John Carr, the executive director of the USCCB’s Department of Justice Peace and Human Development. He called the alliance “unprecedented,” adding, “Across a broad...READ MORE