News Briefs

Rodrigo Duterte, a controversial town mayor dubbed “Dirty Harry” and “The Punisher” for his tough stance on crime—and against the Philippine Catholic Church—was sworn in as the 16th president of the Philippines on June 30. • Thousands of Syrians stranded on the Jordanian border face starvation and dehydration, the aid group Doctors Without Borders reported on June 30, calling for an immediate resumption of aid deliveries. • Relics of Blessed Oscar Romero, including a handkerchief with blood from the day he was assassinated, were part of the U.S. Catholic Church’s Fortnight for Freedom observance on July 1 in Los Angeles, Calif. • Introducing “Angelus News” on June 29, the new multimedia platform created by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Editor in Chief John David Long-Garcia said, “We hope that we can help people enter into a better relationship with God and also with their neighbor.” • During his trip to Poland for World Youth Day, Pope Francis will go to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp on July 29, but intends “to go to that place of horror without speeches, without crowds…. Alone, enter, pray. And may the Lord give me the grace to cry.”