Catholic News Highlights (expanded), Thursday June 21st

Catholic News Agency:

• Catholic convent desecrated, school ransacked in attacks in Gaza Strip: "Crosses were broken, a statue of Jesus was damaged, and prayer books were burned at the Rosary Sisters School and nearby convent, said Fr. Manuel Musallem. In addition, the doors of the convent were knocked open with mortars and furniture was damaged. Prayer books in the chapel were burned."
• Cardinal Pell to be interrogated by parliamentary committee: "Under the Crimes Act, contempt of Parliament is a highly serious offence punishable by up to 25 years in jail. The move, unheard of in recent history, was swiftly condemned as an absurd attack on free speech."
• Abortion advocate wants IRS to probe bishop who criticized Giuliani: "A leading abortion activist has filed a complaint with the IRS in an attempt to silence Bishop Thomas Tobin, who said he could never support Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, who believes abortion should be legal."
• Kenya to hold first national Catholic conference on HIV/AIDS: "The Catholic Church in Kenya has 430 facilities offering care to more than five million HIV/AIDS-infected people annually, with more than 114 projects for orphans of AIDS and vulnerable children."
• 200 million Christians in 60 countries subject to persecution: "North Korea, China, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda are other countries where Christians are persecuted. North Korea has sent some 50 thousand Christians to concentration camps, while in China some 40 thousand have suffered the same fate. The report also notes the increasing difficulties facing Palestinian Christians due to the progressive radicalization of the Islamic masses in the Middle East."
• Cardinal Keeler of Baltimore recovering after brain surgery: "When Keeler turned 75 last year, he submitted a letter of resignation to the Vatican as required by canon law. But Pope Benedict XVI has not accepted Keeler's retirement or indicated when a replacement might be named."
• New Catholic website helps fight porn addiction: "For Rasvage, combating pornography and masturbation is made more difficult by the reluctance of the addicted to discuss their problem and a lack of Catholic teaching and counsel in homilies and in the confessional. "
• Pope tells the youth to imitate the example of Francis’ radical conversion: "Francis' conversion at the age of 25 "came about when he at the peak of his vitality, his experiences, his dreams," said Benedict XVI. He also dwelt on Francis' character before his conversion, describing him as a "carefree and generous," person "who wandered the city of Assisi day and night with his friends."
  "How can it be denied," the Pope went on, "that may people are tempted to follow the life of the young Francis before his conversion? That lifestyle hides the desire for happiness that dwells in every human heart." Yet the saint did not find "true joy" there, because "the truth is that finite things can give glimmers of joy but only the infinite can fill the heart."

Catholic News Service:

• Papal preacher won't lecture in Medjugorje after bishop nixes plan: "As the local bishop, I maintain that regarding the events of Medjugorje, on the basis of the investigations and experience gained thus far throughout these last 25 years, the church has not confirmed a single apparition as authentically being the Madonna," he said."

Catholic World News:

• Holy Grail buried under Roman basilica?: "Barbagallo believes that the Holy Grail-- the chalice used at the Last Supper-- is kept in a room that is now buried under the basilica. His claim is based on two years of studying medieval iconography inside the basilica. In the wake of Barbagallo’s claim, archeological authorities in Rome may give approval for the catacombs to be opened and examined."