Starting Seven: June 17, 2025
Welcome to Starting Seven, The Pillar’s daily newsletter.
I’m Luke Coppen and I seek to guide you each weekday morning to the most interesting Catholic news and comment.
We’re sending Starting Seven to all Pillar subscribers, paid and free, for the rest of the week. (You can turn it off here).
😇 Today’s saint: St. Hervé (Roman Martyrology).
📜 Today’s readings: Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time 2 Cor 8:1-9 ▪ Ps 146:2, 5-6ab, 6c- 7, 8-9a ▪ Mt 5:43-48.
🗞 Starting seven
1: U.S. bishops’ conference president Archbishop Timothy Broglio said June 16 that “the mass arrest and removal of our neighbors, friends and family members on the basis of immigration status alone … represent a profound social crisis before which no person of good will can remain silent” (catholic-hierarchy.org, Wikipedia).
2: Several priests have reported fewer parishioners at daily and Sunday Masses in Los Angeles, California, in the days after the initial June 6 immigration raids (Archbishop José Gómez, angelusnews.com, Wikipedia).
3: Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ international justice and peace committee, called on Catholics June 16 “to ardently pray for an end to hostilities in the Middle East” (full text, vaticannews.va, catholic-hierarchy.org, Wikipedia, cruxnow.com, newdailycompass.com, vaticannews.va/it).
4: The U.S. Supreme Court directed the New York Court of Appeals June 16 to reconsider the Diocese of Albany’s challenge to a state regulation requiring employer-sponsored health insurance plans to cover abortions (full text, earlier decision, Wikipedia 1, 2, & 3).
5: An estimated 1.5% of U.S. adults are converts to Catholicism, according to a new Pew Research Center survey, which found that 47% of U.S. adults have Catholic ties (full survey, catholicnewsagency.com, ncronline.org, osvnews.com, religionunplugged.com, sightmagazine.com.au, Wikipedia).
6: Bishop Robert Barron, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, Jaime Gurpegui, Jayd Henricks, Peter Kirchschläger, Br. Laurent Mathelot, O.P., Fr. Alejandro Moral Antón, O.S.A. (domradio.de), and Mark Temnycky consider Pope Leo XIV and his challenges.
7: And physics professor Gerry Williger suggests that “the ‘big questions’ in astronomy are often similar to the ‘big questions’ in faith” (vaticanobservatory.org).
🇻🇦 Today’s Bollettino
🇪🇺 Alain Berset, secretary general of the Council of Europe, and entourage.
🇲🇳 Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, I.M.C., prefect apostolic of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and entourage.
🇬🇪 David Mekvabishvili, Georgia’s new ambassador to the Holy See.
🇮🇹 Members of the Italian bishops’ conference (full text, english.katholisch.de, farodiroma.it, Andrea Tornielli).
Pope Leo XIV will begin a first period of rest at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo July 6 (catholicnewsagency.com, vaticannews.va).
He will celebrate Mass July 13 at the pontifical parish Church of St. Thomas of Villanova, at 10 a.m. local time, and recite the Angelus in Castel Gandolfo’s Piazza della Libertà at noon.
He will celebrate Mass July 20 at Albano Cathedral, at 9:30 a.m., and recite the Angelus in the Piazza della Libertà, at noon, returning to the Vatican in the afternoon
In July, all private audiences will remain suspended, as well as Wednesday general audiences. General audiences will resume July 30.
During a second stay at Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo will celebrate Mass Aug. 15 at the Church of St. Thomas of Villanova, at 10 a.m., followed by the Angelus in Piazza della Libertà at noon.
He will deliver an Angelus address Aug. 17 in Piazza della Libertà, before returning to the Vatican.
Notice that Cardinal Mykola Bychok, C.Ss.R., will take possession of his Rome titular church Santa Sofia a Via Boccea June 22, at 5 p.m. local time.
+ Abuse victims from Belgium will reportedly meet with Pope Leo after the summer, fulfilling a promise made by Pope Francis during his September 2024 visit to the country.
This week, Starting Seven is free for all Pillar readers courtesy of the Diocese of Gallop. Please support the V8s for Vocations Raffle to help educate seminarians for the poorest diocese in the U.S. — $25 a ticket for a chance to win the finest in American automotive engineering!
🏛️ Pillar catch-up
Cuban bishops make plea for ‘economic and political changes.’
‘Catholic Tinder’ or sources of conversion? The new movements sweeping Spain.
Chicagoans swarm White Sox stadium to celebrate South Side pope.
🔍 Stories to watch
🇺🇸 The Supreme Court of New Jersey ruled June 16 that the state has the right to proceed with a grand jury inquiry into clerical abuse allegations (timeline, Wikipedia).
🇱🇧 Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi has said that if the Middle East “is emptied of Christians, then Muslims will lose their moderation” (Wikipedia 1 & 2).
🇧🇩 Catholics in Bangladesh are mourning the Italian missionary and “creative architect” Fr. Ezio Mascaretti, who died June 11 at the age of 80 (ucanews.com).
🇦🇹 A June 5 Vatican decree announcing an apostolic visitation to Austria’s Heiligenkreuz Abbey said apostolic visitors will examine “the governance of the abbey as a whole, as well as the personal leadership behavior of the abbot,” and “how allegations of abuse and other serious misconduct are handled” (German report, full texts, cathcon.blogspot.com, silerenonpossum.com, Wikipedia).
🇵🇱 In a June 17 social media post, Kraków auxiliary Bishop Damian Muskus distanced himself from the Polish bishops’ conference’s decision to change course on the creation of an independent abuse commission (Polish report, full text, timeline, Paulina Guzik, background, catholic-hierarchy.org).
🇬🇧 The U.K. government has elevated Liverpool’s modernist Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King to Grade I listed status, analogous to a U.S. National Historic Landmark designation (Wikipedia 1 & 2).
🇻🇦 The postulator of the beatification cause of Fr. Andrej Majcen (1904-1999) delivered a document to the Vatican June 5 outlining the life, virtues, and reputation for holiness of the Slovenian Salesian missionary to China and Vietnam (biography).
🗓 Today’s anniversaries
Pope Martin I was arrested in 653; Pope Adeodatus II died in 676; Bl. Pietro Gambacorta died in 1435; King Kamehameha III issued an edict of toleration in 1839, allowing for the establishment of the Catholic Church in Hawaii; English Cardinal Basil Hume died in 1999.
📅 Today’s events
Start of the International Safeguarding Conference in Rome.
📅 Coming soon
June 19 The Footsteps of Mother Seton pilgrimage begins at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption in Baltimore, Maryland.
June 20 The Jubilee of Governments begins; Inauguration of the Shrine of Mary, Mother of the Persecuted, at Our Mother of Perpetual Help Cathedral in Astana, Kazakhstan.
June 21 55th anniversary of St. Óscar Romero’s episcopal ordination; Baltimore’s Archbishop William Lori ordains five men to the priesthood at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, at 10 a.m. local time.
June 22 Corpus Christi; Pope Leo XIV presides at Mass in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran at 5 p.m. local time and takes part in a Eucharistic procession to the Basilica of St. Mary Major; Cardinal Mykola Bychok, C.Ss.R., takes possession of his Rome titular church Santa Sofia a Via Boccea, at 5 p.m. local time; Bishop Peter Brignall of Wrexham, Wales, leads a national pilgrimage of thanksgiving at the Shrine of St. Winefride, Holywell; Annual Walk with Christ, organized by Australia’s Sydney archdiocese.
June 23 The Jubilee of Seminarians begins.
June 25 The Jubilee of Bishops; Start of the Jubilee of Priests; Actor Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in “The Chosen,” due to meet with Leo XIV at the Wednesday general audience.
June 27 The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; Pope Leo celebrates Mass in St. Peter’s Square, at 9 a.m. Rome time; Concluding celebrations of the 350th anniversary of the apparitions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, at the Sanctuary of Paray-le-Monial, France.
June 28 Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk celebrates a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in Rome, at the start of a Jubilee pilgrimage of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to the tomb of St. Peter; Bishop David Zubik ordains two men to the priesthood for the Diocese of Pittsburgh at St. Paul Cathedral, at 10 a.m. local time; Bishop Edward Lohse ordains two men to the transitional diaconate at Holy Rosary Church in Steubenville, Ohio, at 9 a.m. local time; Archbishop Laurent Ulrich ordains 16 priests at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France; Cardinal Vincent Nichols ordains two men to the priesthood for the Diocese of Westminster, England.
June 29 Sts. Peter and Paul; Pope Leo presides at Mass with the imposition of the pallium in St. Peter’s Basilica at 9:30 a.m. Rome time; Start of the Church in Benin’s national pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire.
June 30 Special parliamentary commission in Luxembourg due to adopt final report on the Caritas Luxembourg embezzlement scandal.
July 1 The Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit begins in Menlo Park, California.
July 2 No general audience as Wednesday general audiences are suspended in July.
July 4 80th birthday of Poland’s Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko.
July 5 Episcopal ordination of Fr. Beat Grögli, the new Bishop of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
July 6 Pope Leo XIV begins a period of rest at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.
July 12 Installation of Bishop Dominique Blanchet as head of the Territorial Prelature of the Mission de France at Pontigny.
July 13 Pope Leo celebrates Mass at Castel Gandolfo’s Church of St. Thomas of Villanova, at 10 a.m. local time, and recites the Angelus in the Piazza della Libertà at noon.
July 14 Bishop Mark Eckman is installed as Bishop of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at St. Paul Cathedral.
July 17 Bishop Michael Pham is installed as the Bishop of San Diego, California.
July 20 Pope Leo celebrates Mass at Albano Cathedral, at 9:30 a.m., and recites the Angelus in Castel Gandolfo’s Piazza della Libertà, at noon, returning to the Vatican in the afternoon.
July 21 80th birthday of Pakistan’s Cardinal Joseph Coutts.
July 25 Cardinal Robert Sarah serves as special envoy at the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the apparitions of St. Anne to Yvon Nicolazic, at the Shrine of Sainte-Anne-d’Auray, France.
July 27 Bishop Robert Barron receives the Josef Pieper Prize in Münster, Germany.
July 28 Jubilee of digital missionaries and Catholic influencers begins; Start of the Jubilee of Youth.
July 29 Episcopal ordination of Fr. Glenn Corsiga, the new Bishop of Ipil, Philippines.
July 30 Pope Leo resumes Wednesday general audiences.
August 4 Mladifest international youth festival begins in Medjugorje.
August 6 The Transfiguration of the Lord.
August 15 The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Pope Leo celebrates Mass at Castel Gandolfo’s Church of St. Thomas of Villanova, at 10 a.m., followed by the Angelus in Piazza della Libertà at noon; Opening of the diocesan phase of the cause of Brazil’s Maria Milza dos Santos Fonseca (1923-1993).
August 17 Pope Leo delivers an Angelus address in Castel Gandolfo’s Piazza della Libertà at noon local time, before returning to the Vatican.
August 21 Start of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales’ Walsingham Walking Pilgrimage 2025.
August 22 80th birthday of Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, O.P.
Have a happy feast of St. Hervé.
-- Luke
Do you know someone who would appreciate reading this newsletter? Invite your friends to sign up here.
This week, Starting Seven is free for all Pillar readers courtesy of the Diocese of Gallop. Please support the V8s for Vocations Raffle to help educate seminarians for the poorest diocese in the U.S. — $25 a ticket for a chance to win the finest in American automotive engineering!
#5 — I am the 1.5%!
Also on July 5th, priestly ordinations for the Chaldean Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle