CNA Staff, Apr 17, 2020 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- A Catholic priest is one of two people in Kenya to be charged with “negligently spreading an infectious disease” after authorities allege he did not comply with quarantine regulations after he traveled to the country from Italy. 

Fr. Richard Onyango Oduor denied the allegations on Thursday, April 16, and is currently free after he posted bail. He will appear in court on May 2, after he spends another 14 days in quarantine. 

According to Kenyan media, Fr. Oduor is based in Rome and flew to the country to preside at a relative’s burial service. At that burial service, he distributed the Eucharist, interacting with several people. According to local media reports, as many as 60 people who came into contact with Fr. Oduor reported to the hospital, but it is unclear how many of them were eventually diagnosed with COVID-19. 

Fr. Oduor eventually tested positive for the virus, was hospitalized for a period of two weeks, and has since recovered. He was arrested on April 9, immediately after he was released from the hospital. 

Oduor reportedly traveled throughout Kenya from March 11 through 20, and was unaware that he had been infected with the coronavirus. During this period. Oduor took busses and a plane, and celebrated several Masses. 

Kenyan officials were able to locate and quarantine more than 130 people who had come into contact with Oduor before he was diagnosed with the coronavirus. This number includes priests at a parish in Nairobi where Oduor stayed before traveling to his hometown for the burial.

Archbishop Anthony Muheria, who leads the Archdiocese of Nyeri and is the apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Kitui, declined to comment about the case to Reuters, and said it was up to civil authorities to handle Oduor’s case. 

Kenya has banned public gatherings, reduced the number of people who are permitted to attend a funeral, instituted a curfew, and increased restrictions on who can travel to areas that have the highest number of cases.

In Kenya, 234 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and 11 have died. 

Oduor was arrested on the same day Gideon Saburi, the deputy governor of Kilifi, a county in Kenya, was charged with spreading coronavirus. Saburi is alleged to have appeared in public while suffering from the virus between March 6 and March 22. He has also pleaded not guilty and was released on April 16 after posting bail.

CNA Staff, Apr 6, 2020 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- Unable to lead the traditional Palm Sunday procession through Jerusalem, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, blessed the city with a relic of the True Cross on April 5.

The annual procession, which recalls Christ’s entry into the city and the beginning of Holy Week, was cancelled in line with international efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19, with public gatherings and events suspended in Israel. 

“We decided since we cannot have the palm procession, to have anyway a moment of prayer this afternoon,” said Pizzaballa on Sunday. The archbishop led a short, multi-lingual “moment of prayer” at Dominus Flevit, a church located on the Mount of Olives.

The church, which is shaped like a teardrop, overlooks the city, and was built to mark the Gospel account of Jesus weeping as he envisioned the destruction of Jerusalem.

The prayer service ended with Pizzaballa raising a relic of the True Cross over the city in benediction. 

Jerusalem, said Pizzaballa, “is a symbol of the church, the symbol also of humanity. It is the house of prayer for all the people, according to the scriptures.”

“So when we cry [over] Jerusalem, together with Jesus, we cry [over] all our human fraternity, for this difficult moment we are living, for this sad Palm Sunday, this Easter we have to celebrate.”

Pizzaballa said that sadness over being unable to celebrate the liturgical feasts of Holy Week is real, but “maybe, in a way also very true, very essential.” 

“Today we have not celebrated the solemn and beautiful entrance of Jesus to the city of Jerusalem like every year, with faithful from all the parishes of the diocese and with pilgrims from all over the world,” Pizzaballa said during the prayer service.

“We have not raised our palms and olive branches to cry out ‘Hosanna’ to our king, Jesus the Christ.” 

Instead, the archbishop asked Catholics in the Holy Land and around the world to consider what the Lord may be trying to say during these times.

He noted that, while the people of Jerusalem in the Gospel greeted him with cheers on Palm Sunday, Jesus knew that “He came to Jerusalem, not to be on the throne like David, but to be put to death.” 

“The meaning that Jesus attributes to his ‘triumphal entry’ is different from the meaning that the people of Jerusalem saw in it,” he said.

“Perhaps this is the lesson that Jesus wants to teach us today. We turn to God when there is something that harms us. When we are in trouble, suddenly we all want to ask big and difficult questions.”

While people may be praying for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic as we often do for solutions  to other problems, the archbishop said that  “Jesus responds in His own way” to these prayers. 

“Precisely because Jesus says ‘yes’ to our deepest desires, He will have to say ‘no’ to our immediate desires,” he said.

Drawing comparisons between this year's Palm Sunday and the biblical Palm Sunday during Christ's earthly life, Pizzaballa said the story of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem “is a lesson on the discrepancy between our expectations and God’s response.” 

The crowd who greeted Jesus was disappointed that their salvation was not immediate, said Pizzaballa, but “Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is truly the moment when salvation is born.” 

“The ‘Hosannas’ were justified, even if not for the reasons the Jerusalemites had supposed,” he said. 

This remains true today, he explained. Although it may seem as though God is not answering prayers and leaves people “disappointed,” this is in part because “our expectations remain without an apparent response.”

Christianity, he said, “is based on hope and love, not certainty,” and that while God will not answer all problems with certainty, “He won’t leave us alone.” 

“And here, today, despite everything, at the gates of His and our city, we declare that we really want to welcome Him as our King and Messiah, and to follow Him on His way to His throne, the cross,” he said.  

“But we also ask Him to give us the strength necessary to carry it with His own, fruitful love.”

Vatican City, Mar 31, 2020 / 10:28 am (CNA).- Cardinal Philippe Ouédraogo of Burkina Faso has tested positive for the coronavirus, his archdiocese announced Tuesday. He is the second cardinal known to have tested positive for the virus, which is now a global pandemic.

Ouédraogo, 75, has been admitted to a medical clinic in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou.  He is “in good condition and his close collaborators are reported to be self-isolating,” a spokesman for Burkina Faso’s bishops’ conference, Fr. Paul Dah, told ACI Africa on March 31.

The cardinal is president of the African continental bishops’ conference, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM). He was elected to the post in July 2019. He has been Archbishop of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso for ten years, and was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2014.

Ouédraogo is the second bishop from Burkina Faso known to have contracted COVID-19, as countries across Africa implement lockdowns and restrictions to slow the spread of the virus across the continent.

Another Burkina Faso bishop, Archbishop Emeritus Séraphin François Rouamba of Koupela, tested positive for COVID-19 after being admitted to Our Lady of Peace clinic for urgent treatment on March 19.

The 78-year-old archbishop has since been transferred to another hospital and is reportedly in stable condition, according to a March 25 statement from Bishop Laurent Birfuore Dabire of Dori, Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso has the largest documented coronavirus outbreak in West Africa, with 249 documented cases as of March 31, according to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

The coronavirus has spread throughout the African continent to 47 countries, according to the Africa Center for Disease Control. In North Africa, Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco each have more than 500 documented cases, and the South African government has reported more than 1,300.

Three Nigerian states began two-week mandatory lockdown this week to combat the spread of the virus, including Lagos, Africa’s most populous city with more than 20 million people.

Zimbabwe and Mauritius have also implemented national shut-downs, and the bishops in South Sudan and Zimbabwe have suspended public Masses.

Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, tested positive for coronavirus on March 30.

Other bishops in Italy, France, China, and the United States have also tested positive for COVID-19, and Bishop Angelo Moreschi, 67, died in the Italian city of Brescia on March 25 after contracting the coronavirus.

 

 

CNA Staff, Mar 30, 2020 / 02:30 pm (CNA).- The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was closed last week and has no definite timeline for reopening. This is the first time in nearly 700 years the holy site has closed for an extended period due to disease. 

The church building, which houses the tomb of Christ and the site of the crucifixion, was first closed to pilgrims and other visitors on Wednesday, March 25. Initially, the closure was only expected to last for one week, but religious and Israeli government officials agreed that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the global pilgrimage destination should not reopen. 

"The initial understanding is that this order is valid for one week, although nobody knows how long this crisis will take," Wadie Abu Nassar, a spokesperson for the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land, told Reuters. 

Nassar said that if the church is still closed to the public at Easter, some sort of celebration will be arranged in line with the governmental guidelines and restrictions. Easter is celebrated on April 12 for Latin Rite Catholics and April 19 for Eastern Churches using the Julian calendar-- both dates are observed within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 

If this were to happen, said Nassar, pilgrims would still not be allowed inside, and the denominations that share custody of the church would coordinate to ensure that there are no more than 10 clerics and other leaders gathered inside at any time.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is unique among religious sites as it is partially controlled by several different Christian Churches. The Roman Catholic Church, Greek Orthodox Church, and Armenian Apostolic Church each share control of the building, and other Orthodox Churches also celebrate divine liturgy at the site. 

The last time the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was closed for an extended period was 1349, during an outbreak of the Black Death in Jerusalem. 

The church, which was first consecrated in the year 335, has been closed for short periods of time in the subsequent millennia due to war or other disputes. In 2018, to protest a proposed tax increase on churches, the site was closed to the public for about three days before reopening. 

Other religious sites, including the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock, have also closed due to the Israeli government’s new restrictions aimed at preventing people from catching COVID-19. 

Authorities in Bethlehem, in the West Bank, closed the Church of the Nativity in early March after four cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in the town. The Church of the Nativity was built over the birthplace of Jesus Christ. All tourists were subsequently banned from entering Bethlehem.

Israel has taken a proactive approach in its attempts to contain the spread of COVID-19. On March 9, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that anyone entering the country would be forced to quarantine for a 14-day period. That announcement resulted in the cancelation or abrupt end to many pilgrimages, as travelers scrambled to secure flights back to the United States. 

Israel has recorded more than 4,000 cases of COVID-19, with 15 deaths.

CNA Staff, Mar 27, 2020 / 11:19 am (CNA).- Four men working in Iraq for the French humanitarian organization SOS Chrétiens d'Orient who went missing in Baghdad in January have been released by their kidnappers, the French president announced Thursday.

Emmanuel Macron announced March 26 that he “welcomes the release of our three nationals Antoine Brochon, Julien Dittmar, Alexandre Goodarzy and Iraqi Tariq Mattoka.”

The men disappeared Jan. 20 after they made a trip to an appointment by car. SOS Chrétiens d'Orient tried to contact them the following day, unsuccessfully.

The missing employees had gone to Baghdad “to renew their visas and the registration of association with the Iraqi authorities and to monitor the association's operations” in the country.

Macron's office said it had made “every effort” to secure their release, and he expressed “gratitude to the Iraqi authorities for their co-operation.”

SOS Chrétiens d'Orient said last week that they had received no ransom demand, and no group had claimed responsibility for the abduction.

The organization works to support Eastern Christians with humanitarian material aid; it has permanent missions in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt.

Christians in Iraq have suffered persecution in recent years, especially during the invasion of the Islamic State.

Prior to the United States invasion of Iraq in 2003, there were about 1.5 million Iraqi Christians. Today, that number is believed to be fewer than 500,000.

CNA Staff, Mar 25, 2020 / 07:11 pm (CNA).- The Italian bishop of a missionary region of Ethiopia is the first Catholic bishop known to have died of the global coronavirus pandemic. He died March 25.

Bishop Angelo Moreschi, 67, was the leader of Ethiopia’s Apostolic Vicariate of Gambella, a missionary region of 25,000 Catholics in the western part of the country. He died Wednesday in the Italian city of Brescia, in the Lombardy region that has become the European epicenter of the pandemic.

A member of the Salesians of Don Bosco religious order, Moreschi had been a missionary in Ethiopia since 1991. He was ordained a bishop in January 2010.

“The Salesian community mourns the death of the Apostolic Vicar of Gambella (Ethiopia), namely Msgr. Angelo Moreschi, SDB, who died today, March 25, in Brescia (Italy) due to the coronavirus,” the Salesians of Don Bosco said in a statement released through the order’s information bureau.
.
The secretary general of Ethiopia’s bishops’ conference announced the news in the country, announced conveying “deep condolences to the Clergy, religious, bereaved family and the lay faithful in the Apostolic Vicariate of Gambella.”

To the mourning people of the Gambella vicariate, the country’s bishops pledged the “closeness and prayers of members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia and the entire Catholic Church in Ethiopia. May his soul rest in peace.”

Bishop Moreschi was renowned in Ethiopia for his pastoral ministry to the service of young people and the poor. In the local dialect, he was afforded the title “Abba,” meaning “Father.”

“In his mission as prefect and then as apostolic vicar, he continued to embody the Salesian focus in helping children, accompanying them by his practical spirit and his strong apostolic zeal,” the Salesians of Don Bosco stated.

“In his visits to the villages, they still remember when the Salesian arrived with a battered SUV - or by motorboat in the villages along the Baro river when the roads were flooded - and he immediately began to distribute multi-vitamin biscuits to malnourished children.”

Bishop Moreschi died “after serving the young, the poor and his flock of souls as a Salesian for 46 years, as a priest for 38, and as a bishop for over 10,” the Salesians said.

More than 60 priests have died in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed more than 21,000 lives globally. Several bishops have contracted the virus.

 

This story was first reported by ACI Africa, CNA's African news partner. It has been adapted by CNA.

 

Sanaa, Yemen, Mar 24, 2020 / 04:40 pm (CNA).- A Yemeni appeals court run by Houthi rebels on Sunday upheld the death sentence of a member of the Baha'i religion. The court also ordered the dissolution of Baha’i institutions.

Hamed bin Haydara was detained by Houthi rebels in 2013, and was denied access to a March 22 appeal hearing in Sanaa which upheld an earlier death sentence.

“This alarming decision is an egregious violation of religious freedom and the fundamental rights of Yemeni Baha’is,” Gayle Manchin, vice chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, said March 23. “USCIRF has been long concerned with the welfare of Mr. bin Haydara and the Yemeni Baha’i community. We call on Houthi authorities to immediately reverse this verdict and cease their baseless persecution of this peaceful religious minority.”

According to USCIRF, bin Haydara was charged with “with spying for Israel, teaching literacy classes deemed incompatible with Islam, and attempting to convert Muslims.”

The Baha'i International Community said it was "utterly dismayed at this outrageous verdict" and demanded the court reverse the decision, AFP reported.

"At a time when the international community is battling a global health crisis, it is incomprehensible that the authorities in Sanaa have upheld a death sentence against an innocent individual solely because of his beliefs instead of focusing on safeguarding the population, including Baha'is," said Diane Ala'i, a Baha’i representative to the United Nations in Geneva.

According to AFP, the Houthis have sought to ban the Baha’i religion.. The Houthi movement’s courts have started proceedings against 20 members of the religion, six of whom have been detained. The movement controls Sanaa and much of the westernmost part of the country.

In January, Pope Francis told Holy See diplomats that the crisis in Yemen is “one of the most serious humanitarian crises of recent history.”

The civil war between Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and a Saudi Arabian-led coalition has killed over 100,000 people since 2015. According to a Center of Strategic and International Studies report, the war has also caused nearly 24 million people to be in need of humanitarian assistance. 

Restraint on humanitarian organizations and aerial attacks has left 80% of Yemen’s population in need of food, fuel, and medicine, the CSIS Task Force on Humanitarian Access reported.

The Associated Press reported in February that half of the United Nations’ aid delivery programs had been blocked by the Houthi rebels. The rebels had requested that 2% of the humanitarian budget be given directly to them, heightening concerns that the group has been diverting charitable funds to finance the war.

In recent years, the pope has often asked for prayers for the Yemeni people in his public audiences.

“Pray hard, because there are children who are hungry, who are thirsty, who have no medicine, and are in danger of death,” Pope Francis said during an Angelus address in February 2019.

Washington D.C., Mar 22, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- The Syrian civil war has led to one of the largest refugee crises of modern times, and presented unique problems for Syria’s ancient Christian communities. Marginalized for centuries, persecuted by ISIS, afraid to attract any attention from the West, Syrian Christians remain, by most accounts, the war’s most invisible victims.

Seta Kale, a Syrian with a Syriac and Armenian descent, was born and raised in Qamishli and fled to Sweden at the age of 16. Today, as a 23-year-old, she’s studying business and economics at Jönköping International Business School, while working part-time as a cashier at a supermarket called Coop, and as a saleswoman at Rituals Cosmetics. Kale likes to sing to cope with her stress, and she likes to read poetry.

In partnership with the Philos Project, CNA sat down with Seta Kale:

When and how did you flee to Sweden?

I moved to Sweden seven years ago in December 2012, a couple of days before Christmas. We flew from Syria to Armenia, and from there we came to Sweden as tourists. We are some of the lucky ones as there were not many who could flee safely. But it was not as easy as it sounds. My family and I had to split up and travel on different dates in order to avoid the suspicion that we were refugees. We had no idea how we were going to be treated upon our arrival in Sweden, and therefore did not want to take any risks by travelling together.

We have seven people in our family. My mom, two of my brothers and I went first. After six months my older sister and third brother came, and a year later my dad arrived. My dad had to take the most difficult route, one that was filled with risks. He couldn’t get a tourist visa, so he had to travel between countries (Turkey, Italy, Greece and France) to be able to come to Sweden. At one point, he had to cross the sea in a small boat together with 30 other people and walk through a forest for several days. Some days he was unreachable, and I’ve never felt that kind of fear ever before. It was a kind that I will never forget.

When did you start feeling the war?

As I mentioned before, I lived in Qamishli. It is a city in northeast Syria, and it was one of the cities that was least affected by war in the beginning unlike, for example, Aleppo and Raqqa. There still were bombs and shootings. The violence started when our bread factory was bombed. It then escalated to hospitals, schools and many public places. Everything became more expensive and there was no access to electricity and clean water 24/7. People were afraid to go to work and children were afraid to go to school. Qamishli felt like a haunted city.

It was when my school was bombed only minutes after my sister and I had left that my dad decided that we had to flee Syria. I will never forget the memory of that day. The ground was shaking under our feet as my mom and aunt ran towards us. After that, people became desperate to flee the war. Houses and apartments were quickly emptied. The feelings and stories that Syria has carried together with her people since 2011 is indescribable.

Tell me about your hometown in Syria.

In Qamishli, Syriacs, Armenians, Assyrians, Arabs, Kurds, Christians, Muslims all lived together. There were as many churches as there were mosques. People worked alongside one another. They were humble, loving, loyal and respectful towards each other. We felt secure because we knew that if we ever were in danger, the whole city would come and help. Religion and ethnicity did not matter to us, and this was the case in the whole country, not only in my hometown. We never thought “he’s Muslim” or “she’s Christian.”

The social life never stopped in Qamishli. There were things to do 24/7 with friends and family. Christians and Muslims celebrated Christmas, Eid al-fitr, Easter and Eid al-adha together.

When I came to Sweden, everyone thought I lived in a tent in the desert. But the more they got to know me, they were surprised by my knowledge and all the languages I could speak. Unfortunately, people tend to believe things about Syria that are not true. We had access to development, education, jobs and more. People say that nothing is perfect, but Syria was perfect in my eyes. We were very rich, but not in a materialistic way. We were rich in culture, religion, knowledge, history, tradition, peoples and so much more. Everything had a reason and I am the way I am today mostly because of what and who Syria is.

What are your best and worst memories from Qamishli?

Wow, I don’t know where to begin. I have so many good memories imprinted in my heart. I cannot choose one because there are so many; from silly things in school with friends, to mini trips with the family throughout Syria, to celebrations of Christmas and Easter.

The worst memory I have was a time when I was on my way from Qamishli to Aleppo while we were fleeing the war. It was a 9-hour drive by bus. Before, it used to be a beautiful ride with beautiful buildings, houses, people and restaurants on the road. But that day I saw a completely different scene. It was filled with sorrow, and the beautiful buildings were reduced to stones on the ground. There were no houses, no restaurants and no people. During the trip to Aleppo the bus had to stop more than five times at checkpoints. Some checkpoints belonged to the Syrian military and some were controlled by ISIS. Once, my sister and I had to hide under the seats so the ISIS soldiers wouldn’t take us. Another horrible memory is simply when I realized that this is it, I will never go back to my country. I cried the entire flight.

Have you lost any friends or family members during the war?

I was one of the lucky ones who didn’t lose any friends or family members. But in Qamishli, everyone knows everyone, and we heard a lot of incredibly sad stories about people who disappeared during bombings and shootings. I had family members and friends, both boys and girls, who were drafted to the military. It was during the worst time in the war and the military needed as many people as possible. When these people would return, they were very different. What they witnessed during their time in the military changed them. In that way, I’ve lost loved ones.

If you could go back, would you stay in Sweden or move back to Syria?

I would definitely go back. Besides the fact that I miss it, I want to help rebuild what the war has destroyed. I want to see my country back on its feet and stronger than ever. I want to start a family there and I want my children to grow up in the country that I grew up in.

If you could send a message to Christians in the West, what would you want them to know about Syria?

I want people not to only think of war when they hear “Syria,” because it’s so much more. I want them to know that the Syrian people are struggling and fighting for the country to remain. But most of all, I want them to continue to pray every day for the people there and know that any contribution is an enormous help for the Syrians.

 

 

We pick out ten young players to watch in the coming year – and decade.

UEFA's head of women's football Nadine Kessler explains why the 2021/22 switch to a group format is a win-win – for clubs, players and fans.

Nine stadiums across eight cities will host games at UEFA Women's EURO 2021 in England.

Nine stadiums across eight cities will host games at UEFA Women's EURO 2021 in England.

The provisional schedule has England kicking off the tournament on 7 July 2021, with the final at Wembley on 1 August.

See how the groups are unfolding and how the 15 sides to join England in the finals will be decided.

Holders Lyon face Bayern, Atlético take on Barcelona, Arsenal meet Paris and Glasgow play Wolfsburg.

The first tickets for the UEFA Women's Champions League final in Vienna on 24 May are now on sale.

Arsenal, Glasgow and Paris have joined Atlético, Barcelona, Bayern, holders Lyon and Wolfsburg in the last eight.

The all-time top UEFA women's club scorer among many, many honours: we salute Ada Hegerberg.

Ada Hegerberg became the all-time leading scorer in the competition with her 52nd goal, taking her only 50 games.

Lyon have become the first team to 100 UEFA women's club games, adding to their many records.

See which 28 teams are through to the elite round after the 11 qualifying round groups ended.

See the dates for the season and a full access list for the 2020/21 competition ending at Gamla Ullevi, Gothenburg.

Holders Lyon, former winners Arsenal and Wolfsburg, plus past finalists Barcelona, Paris and Fortuna all progressed.

Hosts have been picked for the Women's U19 final tournaments of 2021 and 2022 respectively.

The first defender to win the UEFA Women's Player of the Year award: we salute Lyon and England right-back Lucy Bronze.

Lyon and England right-back Lucy Bronze is the first defender to win the poll of coaches and journalists.

We know the 2018/19 UEFA Women's Player of the Year will be from Lyon: but which one?

Lyon trio Lucy Bronze, Ada Hegerberg and Amandine Henry are the UEFA Women's Player of the Year nominees.

Breidablik, Mitrovica, Hibernian, Minsk, ŽFK Spartak, BIIK-Kazygurt, Braga, Anderlecht, Twente and Vllaznia made it through.

Champions France and runners-up Germany dominate the team of the tournament with four players each.

France won their fifth title in their record tenth final, beating Germany 2-1 to lift the trophy in Scotland.

France beat Germany 2-1 in Paisley to win the trophy: see all the results from Scotland.

Find out how to watch the 2019 UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship where you are.

Finals ambassadors Erin Cuthbert and Jo Love are excited to welcome WU19 EURO to their native Scotland.

Belgium, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and holders Spain will join hosts Scotland in the finals.

The records, statistics and facts from the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship.

The elite round line-up is complete with best third-placed teams Greece and Bulgaria joining the top two in each group.

Europe's most famous footballing families are supporting a new TV campaign by UEFA which calls on dads to encourage their daughters to play football.

Nilla Fischer, Fran Kirby and Shanice van de Sanden feature in UEFA's new Strong Is... mini-series.

Winners Spain provide four players to the UEFA technical experts' youthful official team of the tournament.

Spain retained the Women's U19 title with a 1-0 win against Germany: the story of their victory in Switzerland.

All the results and highights from Switzerland as Spain won the Women's U19 title for the second year in a row.

Ivana Martinčić, once a player in the Croatian women's top division, speaks about her pride at being selected to referee the 2018 Women's U19 EURO final.

The final will be televised throughout the world from the finals in Switzerland.

Get the inside line on the tournament and the eight teams involved with the free digital programme.

Rita Ora is offering fans an opportunity to meet her as part of UEFA's newest women's football initiative.

UEFA is delighted to announce it will be the official sponsor of Rita Ora's The Girls Tour as part of our Together #WePlayStrong campaign.

UEFA's ground-breaking weekly vlog Press Play has now had over three million views on the Together #WePlayStrong Youtube channel.

A freestyle world champion stars in an incredible keepy-up video across Europe to launch UEFA's #PlayAnywhere campaign, which also features eight top women's players and 13 unique locations.

Four top European players feature in the first episode of UEFA's new weekly vlog series designed to increase the visibility of women's football to teenage girls.