August 7, 2023

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. www.catholicnewsagency.com - The next World Youth Day will be held in Seoul, South Korea, in 2027, Pope Francis announced at the conclusion of the final Mass of World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal. More than 1,000 Korean Catholics attended WYD 2023 in Lisbon. South Korea has nearly 6 million Catholics, 11% of the total population, according to 2022 statistics from the country’s Catholic bishops’ conference. Pope Francis visited South Korea in 2014. During the five-day trip, he beatified 124 Korean martyrs and took part in the sixth Asian Youth Day. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255018/next-world-youth-day-to-be-in-south-korea-in-2027 Pope Francis celebrated Mass for an estimated 1.5 million participants in Tejo Park in Lisbon, concluding the six-day youth festival and his own five-day trip to Portugal. Echoing the well-known call of his predecessor and the founder of the international youth gathering, Saint John Paul II, Pope Francis told the young people: “Be not afraid.” Jesus, Pope Francis told young people, “knows your hearts. He sees our hearts. And he tells you today here in Lisbon, on this World Youth Day: ‘Be not afraid, be not afraid, take heart, be not afraid.’” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255019/be-not-afraid-pope-francis-tells-young-people-at-end-of-world-youth-day Mother Elvira Petrozzi, who founded Comunità Cenacolo in 1983 to provide hope and healing to those suffering from addiction, died on August 3 in the formation house and residence of her congregation in Saluzzo, Italy. She was 86. In the decades since she founded Comunità Cenacolo, the community has grown to encompass 72 Cenacolo houses in 20 countries, including four in the United States. Mother Elvira called the Cenacolo a “School of Life” because it took people off the streets and gave them a “rebirth” that was “based on