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World Youth Day 2023 kicked off in Lisbon, Portugal, August 1 with an opening Mass before a crowd of hundreds of thousands. Cardinal Manuel Clemente, the patriarch of Lisbon, was the main celebrant for the Tuesday evening outdoor liturgy, held at Eduardo VII Park. “Let us learn from Mary to greet each and every person. Let us intensely put it to practice this World Youth Day,” he said. “The new world begins in the newness of every encounter and in the sincerity of the greeting we exchange, so that we may be people among people, in a mutual and constant visitation. “I wish you all a happy and inspiring World Youth Day,” he said. Pope Francis is expected to arrive for the festivities today, Wednesday the second.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254967/world-youth-day-2023-lisbon-patriarch-greets-attendees-at-opening-mass
The first-ever perpetual eucharistic adoration chapel in Manhattan, New York, has been installed at the Dominican-led Church of Saint Joseph in the Greenwich Village neighborhood. The idea for the chapel was that of Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who desired opportunities for perpetual eucharistic adoration in the city, where there was none, according to Father Boniface Endorf, OP, pastor of the Church of Saint Joseph. The chapel will only be accessible to those who have a key card, which they can sign up for at the parish during office hours. The chapel, which can seat approximately 25 adorers with eight choir stalls for the Dominican friars, is located in the rectory next to the church. The chapel is on the first floor, where the parish offices are also located.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254965/first-ever-perpetual-adoration-chapel-in-new-york-city-installed-at-greenwich-village-parish
The incorrupt body of Saint Benedict the Moor, a 16th-century son of slaves who joined the Franciscans and would become the patron saint of African missions, has been all but destroyed after a wildfire engulfed the Sicilian church where he had been interred. A post shared by the parish of Santa Maria di Gesù showed that the body of the saint, whose dark skin and devotion to the enslaved has made him especially beloved among descendants of slaves, has been mostly incinerated, with only a few bone fragments remaining. The body of Blessed Matthew Agrigento, another Sicilian Franciscan whose body had been kept in the church, was also seriously damaged. Located in the Sicilian capital of Palermo, the Church of Santa Maria di Gesù caught fire on July 25 after a wildfire spread down the slopes of Monte Grifone. Wildfires have scorched the Italian island in the midst of searing summer heat, killing at least three people. Benedict the Moor was canonized in 1807. He is the patron of African missions and African Americans, and several historically African-American Catholic churches in the US bear his name.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254959/body-of-saint-patron-of-african-americans-significantly-damaged-in-sicilian-church-fire
Today, the Church celebrates Saint Peter Julian Eymard, who helped many Catholics - both clergy and laypeople - to rediscover the importance of the Eucharist. He is also considered a pioneer in involving laypeople more actively in the life of the Church. In 1851, he answered a call to establish a community of men dedicated to Eucharistic Adoration, called the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. Its mission was to promote the importance and significance of the Eucharist. The congregation also worked with the poor and helped them to prepare for first Communion. Peter Julian died in 1868 and was canonized in 1962.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-peter-julian-eymard-551