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The military general and leader of the project to restore Notre-Dame de Paris following its devastating 2019 fire died while hiking in the Pyrenees mountains on Sunday. French President Emmanuel Macron said that French army general Jean-Louis Georgelin’s death meant “the nation lost one of its great soldiers” and “one of its great servants,” while Notre-Dame had lost “the architect of its rebirth.” Macron had appointed Georgelin to the role shortly after the fire, in April 2019. Georgelin in 2021 was confident that the restoration would be able to meet Macron’s proposed five-year working schedule. “The deadlines will be met!” he said that year during a media interview. The cathedral is scheduled to be reopened in 2024.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255142/jean-louis-georgelin-architect-of-notre-dame-s-rebirth-dies-during-hiking-trip
Albany Bishop Emeritus Howard Hubbard, who confessed to covering up clergy abuse, was accused of committing sexual abuse himself, and announced this month that he entered into a civil marriage with a woman, has died from a stroke at the age of 84, according to his publicist. Hubbard made headlines last year after he announced that he asked the Vatican if he could return to the lay state, claiming he is not able to function publicly as a priest while under investigation for sexual abuse. Following Hubbard’s announcement of his civil marriage, Albany Bishop Edward Scharfenberger said Hubbard remained a bishop and that his “marriage” was invalid. Hubbard led the Diocese of Albany from 1977 to 2014.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255146/retired-albany-bishop-accused-of-covering-up-and-committing-abuse-has-died
Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Bishop Michael Warfel of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, Montana. Warfel, who will turn 75 on September 16, will be automatically succeeded by his coadjutor, 57-year-old Bishop Jeffrey Fleming, who was appointed last year. In an April 2022 statement, Warfel said that the year prior he had asked Pope Francis to appoint a coadjutor bishop “to help me in the administration of our diocese and to begin a transition for the eventual new ordinary.” Warfel, who lived for over 25 years in Alaska and has spent the last 15 years in Montana, is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys hiking and backpacking. A veteran of the U.S. Army, he served in Vietnam for 18 months and in Korea for 13 months before being honorably discharged in 1971. Fleming, who now succeeds Warfel as bishop, was born in Billings, Montana, in 1966. He studied religious education and theology at Carroll College in Helena and completed his priestly studies at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon, where he also received a master’s degree in theology. He holds a license in canon law from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255152/pope-francis-accepts-resignation-of-great-falls-billings-bishop-michael-warfel
Today, the Church celebrates Mary as the Queen of Heaven and Earth. Pope Pius XII in the Papal Encyclical Ad Coeli Reginam proposed the traditional doctrine on the Queenship of Mary and established this feast for the Universal Church. Pope Pius IX said of Mary's queenship: "Turning her maternal Heart toward us and dealing with the affair of our salvation, she is concerned with the whole human race. Constituted by the Lord Queen of Heaven and earth, and exalted above all choirs of Angels and the ranks of Saints in Heaven, standing at the right hand of Her only-begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, she petitions most powerfully with Her maternal prayers, and she obtains what she seeks."
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/queenship-of-mary-343