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A Catholic leader said on Friday that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is “becoming a war primarily against the civilian, peaceful population.” In a video message issued on March 11, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk highlighted the suffering of Ukrainian children on the 16th day of the war. Nearly 600 civilians have been killed in the assault according to official estimates, though the actual number is likely much higher.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250641/russian-invasion-of-ukraine-turning-into-war-against-civilians-says-catholic-leader
According to the city council of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a Russian airstrike on March 9 killed at least three people, including a child, and wounded at least 17 doctors, children, and pregnant women. Vatican Cardinal Michael Czerny, whom Pope Francis recently sent to Ukraine, called the attack “unacceptable.”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250633/at-ukraine-border-papal-envoy-denounces-hospital-bombing
A military aircraft attack on a town in the east of Myanmar caused severe damage to a Catholic convent’s roof, ceiling, and windows. Two Myanmar military aircraft hit the Sisters of Reparation convent, which serves as a retirement home and hospital for aging nuns. The convent is in Doungankha village in Demoso township in the eastern state of Kayah, a green and mountainous region which borders Thailand. Since fighting began in May 2021 following a military coup, at least eight Catholic churches in that area have been hit by artillery shelling or airstrikes. Some 16 parishes in the local diocese have been abandoned because of the fighting.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250635/air-strike-damages-catholic-convent-as-myanmar-conflict-continues
A Mass was celebrated at a cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland, last week, the first Catholic Mass at the cathedral in nearly 500 years. The last Mass celebrated at St. Pierre Cathedral took place in 1535. After the Reformation, the building was taken over by John Calvin’s Reformed Protestant Church, which destroyed the cathedral’s statues and paintings, and banned Catholic worship. Around 1,500 people attended the Mass.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250634/first-mass-since-reformation-celebrated-at-swiss-calvinist-cathedral
Today, the Church celebrates Saint Aurea, a young 11th century Spanish woman who lived a life of sacrifice in a convent before dying in her late 20s. The Church also celebrates Saint Sophronius, a courageous leader of the Jerusalem Church during the Islamic conquests of the seventh century, who is more commonly venerated among Eastern Catholics and within the Eastern Orthodox churches.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/calendar/2022-3-11