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From Gal 5 and Mt. 6.

Pope Leo XIV took part in an historic boat procession on Aug. 29, becoming what the Vatican said was the first pope to travel across the waters of Lake Albano at Castel Gandolfo during a procession for the Feast of Our Lady of the Lake.

The town of Castel Gandolfo has been home to the papal summer residence since the early 17th century. The papal palace there overlooks Lake Albano, a roughly 2-square-mile lake in a volcanic crater.

The pope traveled by boat across the lake after Mass at the Church of Maria Santissima del Lago. The papal procession was accompanied by a statue of Our Lady of the Lake.

An Objective Order

For the month of August — the month of the Immaculate Heart — we’ve been examining Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort’s Total Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary, comparing it to — and drawing lessons from — Saint Thérèse’s self-offering as a victim of holocaust to Merciful Love. In the first post, we looked at what both of them were and how similar they seemed. In the second post, we drew the lesson from Saint Thérèse that, if someone is to walk a way so generous, he must walk by the way of spiritual childhood. Most recently, we looked at an aspect of the devotion of Saint Louis de Montfort that seems unnerving to some, the devotion of Holy Slavery.

Holy slavery is similar to the way Saint Thérèse offered herself to Jesus as His “plaything”, the sort of act of generosity that those who are deeply in love do. Were it not grounded in love, it would make precious little sense. But there is a game of love. In Holy Slavery, both parties — Mary and the Soul — want to make a self-gift to the other, loving the other completely. The one who gives himself to Mary, as if he were a slave of love, gives himself totally and forever, without looking for reward, without mercenary spirit. Yet Mary is gracious  and never to be outdone in generosity, and she heaps benefits upon those generous souls who give themselves to her in this way. Thus the game of love is played, for the one wishes to serve without seeking reward, and the other wishes to reward every service amply and beyond all possible merit.

If Saint Louis calls himself the child and the slave of Mary, the meaning is that this slavery of love flows out of confidence that he is a child of Mary. Though he speaks of being Mary’s child and slave as if they were joined, there is an order between the two: sonship first, then holy slavery. Being a child of Mary comes first, for then only can one have that love and confidence in his Holy Mother that makes him bold to want to serve her without self-seeking. His love of Mary, recognising her as Mother, gives birth to a disinterested total self-gift, which Saint Louis calls holy slavery, and without this love and this confidence in Mary, his gift of holy slavery would make no sense. Holy slavery cannot be a slavery of fear and compulsion: It must be born of love.

But Are We Capable of This?

But here we must pause to ask ourselves: do we have this love? If it is born of confidence that we are loved by our Holy Mother, what if we struggle with that confidence? Perhaps our own wounds make us hesitant to approach Mary with confidence in her maternal love!

Or, again, can we really be disinterested? Does it not take someone truly advanced in the spiritual life to set aside self-interest? Besides, are there not many things that we wish from Mary, and is it reasonable let go of our own interests? And are there not many promised benefits of this devotion? Maybe we would really be deceiving ourselves into believing we were serving when all we wanted were the benefits of the devotion!

In short:

1. Do we love Mary — and trust her love for us — enough to really want to give ourselves to her totally, forever, and without self-seeking?
2. And are we actually capable of this level of disinterestedness, and is it even advisable?

The Benefits of Total Consecration

These questions are made more striking when we consider what Saint Louis de Montfort himself says about the benefits of the devotion of holy slavery. The Saint seems almost inconsistent on these points.

On the one hand, he says that true devotion to Mary is disinterested, serving the August Queen “not for one’s own good, whether temporal, corporal, or spiritual; but exclusively because she merits to be served, and God alone in her.” He even strengthens this point, adding: “He does not love Mary because she does him good or because he hopes in her: but because she is so worthy of love. It is on this account that he loves and serves her as faithfully in his disgusts and drynesses, as in his sweetnesses and sensible fervours. He loves her as much on Calvary, as at the marriage of Cana.”

But, on the other hand, he lists the “the charitable duties which our Blessed Lady, as the best of all Mothers, fulfils for the faithful servants who have given themselves to her after the manner I have described” through holy slavery. Mary considers it a loving duty to:

• Love them tenderly “and more tenderly than all other mothers put together. Throw, if you can, all the natural love which all the mothers of the world have for their children, into the one heart of one mother for one only child. Surely that mother will love that child immensely. Nevertheless it is true that Mary loves her children yet more tenderly than any mother would love her own child.”
• To love them efficaciously, actively, and effectively,
• and always on the lookout for “occasions to do them well, to aggrandise and enrich them.”
• She exempts them from many evils and disposes things for their good fortune. Moreover:
• She furnishes them with everything, both for body and soul; she protects and defends them; she perfumes them with her own fragrance to make them especially charming to the heart of the Father.

As if all these benefits were not enough, he states more. He says that Mary takes every weak and imperfect work and perfects it, rendering it acceptable by union with her own merits; that she is inclined to hear every prayer through her sheer goodness, taking it almost as an obligation. He sums up all he says by stating absolutely:

Mary, being the most gracious and liberal of all pure creatures, never lets herself be overcome in love and liberality. As a holy man said of her, For an egg, she gives an ox; this is to say, for a little that is given to her, she gives much of what she has received from God. Hence, if a soul gives itself to her without reserve, she gives herself to that soul without reserve, if only we put our confidence in her without presumption, and labour on our side to acquire virtues, and to bridle our passions.

Thus he says to the one that consecrates himself that Mary is all his by her mercy, that is, by her tender, motherly fidelity.

How Is It Possible to be Disinterested When the Rewards Are So Great?

Someone reading this list — and all the many other splendid things Saint Louis de Montfort says about total consecration — would be forgiven for thinking that, not only are there no drawbacks to total consecration, but that the rewards, in fact, make it impossible to think of it as a true and disinterested gift. How can someone possibly think he is giving himself without thought of the rewards when the rewards are so big?

A Similar Dichotomy in Saint Thérèse

When we turn to Saint Thérèse and her Way of Spiritual Childhood, we are struck that she speaks almost in the same way. On the one hand, her writings abound with exclamations like the following:

It belongs to love to sacrifice everything, to give generously, to become a spendthrift, to act with folly. Love is prodigal to excess, and never counts the cost; love knows not how to calculate and freely foregoes all hope of any dividends. Oh! happy recklessness! Oh! blessed intoxication of love! Oh! for that love which gives all with the total surrender of self besides! Nevertheless, with many of us how often is it only after the greatest deliberation that we finally give way; how loath we are to sacrifice our temporal advantages and our spiritual interests. Does this deserve the name of love? No, for love is blind; it is a torrent that rapidly sweeps up everything in its train.

But, on the other hand, she cries out about the Divine Magnanimity of God: “God is too good to make divisions; He is so rich He can give without any measure everything I ask Him.” She expected, when she appeared with empty hands, that she would be clothed with Jesus’ own Justice and receive His Love and Himself. She thought her empty hands were the very reason why God would have to enrich her: “Alas! I am so imperfect that my poor prayers have, no doubt, no great value, but one of the privileges of beggars is that they can obtain what they desire on the strength of their importunity; I shall do as they do, and God will not be able to send me away with empty hands.” And, when her sister, Mother Agnes (Pauline) said to her, “Alas, I’ll have nothing to offer to God when I die; my hands will be empty, and this saddens me very much,” Saint Thérèse replied with all her bold confidence, “Well, you’re not like ‘baby’” (she called herself this at times) “who finds herself in the same circumstances, nevertheless. Even if I had accomplished all the works of St. Paul, I would still believe myself to be a ‘useless servant.’ But it is precisely this that makes up my joy, for having nothing, I shall receive everything from God.”

God Will Give Her Everything

What confidence she had! Because she had nothing, she was confident God would give her everything! What did this include? For one thing, she had no fear of purgatory. “I need have no fear of purgatory. I know that of myself I would not merit even to enter that place of expiation since only holy souls can have entrance there, but I also know that the Fire of Love is more sanctifying than is the fire of purgatory.” She emphasises the same point, writing her Spiritual Brother:

As a father has tenderness for his children, so the Lord has compassion on us! Oh, Brother, when hearing these beautiful and consoling words of the Prophet-King, how can we doubt that God will open the doors of His kingdom to His children who loved Him even to sacrificing all for Him, who have not only left their family and their country to make Him known and loved, but even desire to give their life for Him whom they love…. Jesus was very right in saying that there is no greater love than that! How would He allow Himself to be overcome in generosity? How would He purify in the flames of purgatory souls consumed in the fires of divine love? It is true that no human life is exempt from faults; only the Immaculate Virgin presents herself absolutely pure before the divine Majesty. Since she loves us and since she knows our weakness, what have we to fear?

So strongly did she believe that, through God’s generosity, one need have no fear of Purgatory if he has given himself to God out of love, that she scolded her sisters for believing they would go to purgatory: “Oh! how you grieve me! You do a great injury to God in believing you’re going to go to purgatory. When we love, we can’t go there.” She believed that if one had given God all his good, God would not be just to measure his bad deeds since there would be no good to put on the other side of the scale.

Even more bold was her hope of spending heaven doing good on earth. She knew she could not merit this. She turned to the saints, she even made a private pilgrimage to the statue of Saint Joseph to obtain this. But, ultimately, she hoped to receive it from God’s goodness.

How do we reconcile the seeming contradiction between giving everything disinterestedly and expecting treasures of favour beyond what one could have merited? Saint Thérèse gives us the key in something she wrote to her sister, Céline:

[Jesus] wants to give us such a beautiful recompense, and His ambitions for us are very great. But how can He say: “My turn,” if ours hasn’t come, if we have given Him nothing?

For Saint Thérèse, the condition for Jesus showing His gratitude is that there be something for Him to show His gratitude for! This did not mean it had to be worthy of the gratitude God showed. No, she says emphatically:

In times past, victims, pure and spotless, were the only ones accepted by the Strong and Powerful God. To satisfy Divine Justice, perfect victims were necessary, but the law of Love has succeeded to the law of fear, and Love has chosen me as a holocaust, me, a weak and imperfect creature. Is not this choice worthy of Love? Yes, in order that Love be fully satisfied, it is necessary that It lower Itself, and that It lower Itself to nothingness and transform this nothingness into fire.

Her offering to God was the offering of her little and weak love, and her confidence was that God would heap love and mercy without limit upon her, yet this confidence was not her motivation for the gift.

The Game of Love

When Saint Louis de Montfort speaks of one making himself a loving slave of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he means that he gives her everything, identifying himself with her interests for the salvation of souls and the fostering of the love of her Divine Son. But he knows that this gift will be weak and imperfect. He still believes it will be acceptable to the Blessed Virgin, provided it is motivated by a desire to love her, and Jesus through her. It is rather like a game of love. Each party — Mary and the would-be slave of love — attempts to show more love to the other, but, of course, Mary always wins. Yet her child must give her something, even if only dandelions, so as to be the occasion for showing her gratitude.

In fact, the willing slaves of the Blessed Virgin Mary are much more like six-year-olds who are playing at being slaves of love. Perhaps their mother has just read to them some chivalric romance, and their minds are full of all they will do to show their love for their mother. They help her carry in the bags of groceries, walking beside her with a hand on the bag, while their mother supports all the weight. They walk around with a broom, brushing the dust back and forth, while their mother cleans the floor. They collect dandelions for their mother and string them together with grass. All their efforts of showing their disinterested love are so small. And when they fall and skin their knees, or when they are tired, all pretence of disinterestedness flies out the window!

Yet Mary, like a true mother, genuinely values the “selfless” actions of her little ones in their game of love. They give her dandelions; she gives them all they need. More than that, however, she uses these little nothings, in very truth, to work the greatest miracles: to save souls, rescue and foster vocations, save marriages, heal people of sin, prevent evil, free from evil spirits, cure of error and heresy, bring faith, and heal bodies and souls. In the game of love, the child that plays at being Mary’s slave of love obtains goods beyond what he could possibly merit and gains everlasting gifts of gratitude from so gracious a mother.

What If We Don’t Feel this Level of Love?

Yet perhaps we find ourselves very small, and we do not sense within ourselves any generosity of love. Perhaps we would feel that we are dishonest in giving Mary everything, knowing she will give us everything. In that case, should we make our total consecration? It is true, in fact, that the great theologian, Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, advised that one should only make the consecration together with a spiritual director. It is also true that many souls make the consecration, and then rarely think of it afterwards, perhaps not even renewing it yearly. It may, indeed, be a good idea to seek individual spiritual advice in making the consecration, but let us not be too cautious! Mary cannot be outdone in generosity. If we want to want to be generous, want to want to love her and give everything to her, isn’t that enough? The important thing in making this consecration is that it become part of one’s daily life. The person who is well advised not to make it is the person who intends to simply do it and forget about it. Let us realise its importance, and then let us have the courage to make it.

Answering Our Questions

How shall we answer the questions we posed, namely whether we really have the confidence in Mary that is so important for holy slavery, and whether we can actually be disinterested? Let us answer it by adopting the words of the Epistle of Saint John: It is not that we have loved her, but that she has first loved us. Her love will supply and lead us. An act of the will to trust in her is rewarded with an ever increasing intimacy with her and an ever deepening sense of her presence. While it is true that we will never be able to outdo her in generosity, love will give birth to the desire to love her and to render her unrequited favours. Thus shall the game of love progress, as we offer ourselves for her work and her service, and she, seeing our desire to forget ourselves, remembers us all the more.

Pope Leo XIV arrived by boat at the beach on Lake Albano, where a Marian procession that began at the Church of Mary Most Holy of the Lake had come to an end. The Holy Father, travelling aboard the Falco, which was decorated with yellow and white flowers, joined the faithful gathered on the shore and led them in prayer to the Virgin Mary.

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In his homily for Mass in Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo XIV reflects on the beauty of “simple gestures” of devotion and emphasizes that, in a world that dismisses forgiveness as naive, believing in God can become a pathway toward peace. After Mass, the Holy Father made history by embarking on a boat on Lake Albano to take part in the procession for the Feast of Our Lady of the Lake.

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The U.S. Department of Justice this week said that the government’s practice of restricting federal funding from religious activities is “presumptively unconstitutional,” paving the way for greater public funding of religious groups.

Such restrictions on federal funding are made “without any compelling government interest,” the Justice Department said in an Aug. 25 memorandum opinion issued to the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services.

In its 2004 decision Locke v. Davey, the U.S. Supreme Court held that public authorities are free to withhold funding from programs and activities that are explicitly religious in nature.

In its memorandum, however, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel said restricting federal funding based on either the religious status of an organization or the use of funds for religious purposes is “not required” under the U.S. Constitution.

Such restrictions “discriminate based on anticipated religious use without any compelling governmental interest,” the memorandum said, and as a result they “violate the Free Exercise Clause.”

“Use-based religious restrictions on generally available federal funding programs are presumptively unconstitutional,” the document said.

The memorandum specifically addressed programs administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which controls billions of dollars in federal funding. It was not immediately clear if the directive applied to other federal departments. A spokesman for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The religious freedom legal group First Liberty, meanwhile, hailed the memorandum as “a major victory for religious liberty.”

Faith-based organizations and schools “can now apply for and utilize federal grants without scrubbing the religious aspects of their programs,” the group said.

First Liberty argued that opinions from the Office of Legal Counsel “serve as binding legal guidance for the executive branch,” meaning the memo “effectively instructs all federal agencies to rewrite their grant-making rules to align with this new standard.”

The group noted that one of its network attorneys is Joshua Davey, part of the namesake of the 2004 Supreme Court case that established the precedent of restricting federal funds for religious activities and groups.

That decision “has never been formally overturned,” First Liberty said, but “that could change in the very near future.”

Pope Leo XIV on Aug. 29 said bishops of the Eastern Catholic Churches can remove their patriarchs when assembled in synod, though the Holy Father said the pope must still give his assent to the proposal.

The pope made the declaration in an apostolic letter issued motu proprio titled Mutua Concordia. The letter modified canons 106 and 126 of the Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium.

The pope in the letter said the “mutual concord” between the head of an Eastern Church and the church’s bishops “is the soul of communion of the Eastern ecclesiastical hierarchy.”

If the “sacred bond” between the two “were to be irreparably compromised, this would constitute a grave wound requiring a remedy,” the pope said. In such situations, the bishops in question “must be able to exercise canonical authority” to remedy the crisis.

Synods will thus have the power to “[remove] their own Patriarch from office for a grave cause,” the pope said. Such a procedure would still guarantee the patriarch in question “a full defense before the synod,” the pope noted.

The pope, however, will retain “the sole concession of consent to the synodal decision,” Leo wrote. That provision will ensure “that the full freedom of the Fathers in expressing their choice is guaranteed, sheltered from any possible internal or external undue pressure.”

The order comes into effect “immediately,” Leo wrote in the letter.

In June Leo emphasized the “great gift” the Eastern Catholic Churches offer to the Universal Church, which he said is “often unaware of the diverse ecclesial traditions within its ranks.”

“The Christian East can only be preserved if it is understood: to lose that understanding is to impoverish the Church,” the pope told the Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches at the time.

Senate GOP report finds dangerous lack of guardrails for abortion pill prescribing

A five-month-long investigation by Republicans in the U.S. Senate found that abortion pill manufacturing companies are falling short on critical oversight while bringing in millions of dollars in revenue.

The manufacturers are not fulfilling their obligation to oversee prescribers while making tens of millions of dollars each year, according to the report, released by U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana).

The investigation also found that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s “lack of guardrails ensuring a sufficient provider-patient relationship creates accountability gaps for a product that carries risks of significant adverse health outcomes,” according to the report.

Three companies, Danco Laboratories, GenBioPro, and Evita Solutions, reportedly did not provide details on how they followed existing federal regulations, according to the report.

Among its findings, the report cited an undercover investigation that found that a girl as young as 13 years old could buy abortion pills.

Cassidy, a doctor and the chairman of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, headed the investigation.

“Abortion drug companies are putting mothers at risk through their failure to properly oversee the prescription and distribution of their products. We are seeing that the explosion in online sales of chemical abortion drugs has opened the door to coercion and abuse of women,” said Cassidy in a statement.

“FDA and the sponsors of these drugs have a responsibility to the American people to crack down on these prescribers that violate the prescribing requirements and reinstate the safeguards that keep mothers and babies safe,” he continued.

40 Days for Life says it will cover legal fees for arrests over New Jersey protest law

The pro-life group 40 Days for Life says it will cover legal fees if protesters are arrested under New Jersey’s new abortion clinic buffer zone law.

A new law signed by New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Aug. 20 could lead to legal crackdowns on protests near abortion clinics. The law criminalizes “interference” with “reproductive” or “gender-affirming” care.

The law further criminalizes inflicting “emotional harm” against those seeking or providing “reproductive health care services.” It also bans filming and sharing videos within 100 feet of an abortion clinic.

40 Days for Life, a group that organizes prayer vigils outside abortion clinics, has pledged to cover legal fees for peaceful protesters should the law be used to target them.

“If New Jersey — or anywhere else — targets a 40 Days for Life participant for peacefully and lawfully praying in public, our Institute of Law & Justice will have your back,” the group said on Aug. 28.

The group’s CEO Shawn Carney told the New York Post, meanwhile, that the services would be covered “at no cost.”

Catholic Virginians launch campaign against abortion ballot measure

Catholic leaders in Virginia are launching a campaign to oppose a ballot measure that would enshrine a right to abortion in the state.

The Protect Virginia 2026 campaign urges Catholics to vote against the state’s “Right to Reproductive Freedom” amendment which will be on the ballot in November.

Richmond Bishop Barry Knestout voiced opposition against the “radical” amendment in a letter to Catholics in the state.

“Every life is sacred,” Knestout said. “The Church has always taught that abortion is an intrinsic evil. It takes one of God’s greatest gifts – a human life.”

“No law can ever make right what is intrinsically wrong,” he continued. “Let us pray for the courage to confront this evil that threatens to destroy life, to be persistent yet compassionate in our advocacy, and to vote so that we stand up for the great good that God has given us.”

“Let us commit ourselves to defending those who cannot speak for themselves and to witnessing to the Gospel of Life in both word and deed.”

A new biography published in Lithuania recounts the life of Cardinal Sigitas Tamkevičius, SJ, one of the leading Catholic figures in the resistance to Soviet religious persecution. It details his work as editor of the underground Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania publication and his subsequent imprisonment by the KGB.

Written by journalist Regina Statkuvienė and published by the DONUM Foundation, “In the Light of the Altar” draws on recent interviews she conducted with Tamkevičius. The book also includes his letters and diary entries alongside accounts of his childhood, priesthood, underground activities, imprisonment, exile, and later episcopal ministry.

Tamkevičius was arrested in 1983 and sentenced to six years in a strict-regime labor camp followed by four years of exile in Siberia.

His story offers an insight into the experience of Catholics who resisted the Soviet Unionʼs efforts to suppress religious life and impose state atheism.

Catholic resistance in Soviet-occupied Lithuania

Founded by Tamkevičius in 1972, the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania (“Lietuvos katalikų bažnyčios kronika,” or “LKB Kronika”) was an underground publication documenting religious persecution and human rights abuses in Soviet-occupied Lithuania.

The Kronika recorded arrests and interrogations of clergy and lay Catholics, confiscation of Church property, restrictions on religious practice, and attempts by Soviet authorities to infiltrate the Church. It was a strictly factual catalog of human rights violations, not a literary magazine or a platform for theological commentary.

Its reports were secretly typed and reproduced, with editions being smuggled to Western diplomats and foreign journalists in Moscow, with activists often microfilming the pages and hiding the negatives inside everyday objects like book covers or flashlights.

Once in the West, the material was translated and disseminated internationally, including through Vatican Radio and Radio Free Europe, directly challenging Soviet claims that religious freedom existed behind the Iron Curtain.

In the bookʼs foreword, Archbishop Petar Rajič, current prefect of the Papal Household and former apostolic nuncio to Lithuania, described Tamkevičius as one of the most prominent witnesses to the Soviet era.

“Every Catholic who loves the Church should read the Chronicle,” Rajič wrote, calling it a testimony to the spiritual strength and resistance of the Lithuanian people, rooted in the victory of the cross of Christ and offering lessons for Catholics today and future generations.

Arrest and KGB interrogation

The Kronika not only exposed Soviet religious persecution to the outside world but also strengthened the underground Catholic resistance within Lithuania. The KGB consequently intensified efforts to identify and suppress those involved in producing and distributing the publication.

Since Tamkevičius openly preached against state atheism and challenged Soviet restrictions on the Church, he was seen as a visible figure within the Catholic resistance movement.

The Soviet authorities eventually arrested Tamkevičius in May 1983 and charged him with “anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda.” After six months of pretrial detention in the KGB isolation prison in Vilnius, he was sentenced in December to six years in a strict-regime labor camp in the Ural Mountains, followed by four years of exile in Siberia.

During his detention, Tamkevičius recalled psychological pressure from KGB interrogators. On one occasion, an interrogator offered him tea and biscuits. He drank the tea at around 2 p.m. and soon became extremely dizzy.

His next clear memory came hours later, when he heard the interrogator angrily questioning him about a document concerning the underground seminary. He was then told that it was already 10 p.m. “Only then did I realize that after drinking the tea I had lost consciousness,” he recalled.

Tamkevičius believed he had been drugged to extract information from him. The attempt failed. “Seeing how angry the interrogator was, I understood that he had managed to extract nothing from me,” he said.

Life in the labor camp

Tamkevičius recalled that his first assignment in the labor camp was peeling potatoes. “Each potato had to be taken out of almost ice-cold water,” he recalled. He feared that doing this for six years would make him ill, but after two weeks he was transferred to a metalworking workshop, where he collected metal shavings from lathes and carried them to containers.

Prisoners worked eight hours a day and were allotted another eight hours for sleep. The food was poor, consisting largely of “thin soup and watery porridge.” Later, after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985, Tamkevičius was assigned to the camp kitchen and had to rise at 4 a.m. to prepare breakfast.

The ingredients were often badly preserved. Fish, he recalled, could be heavily salted and stored for years. He learned to make the most of what was available, washing the fish overnight and frying it separately so that prisoners could have a more edible meal.

During more than five years in captivity, Tamkevičius was transferred under guard seven times and encountered prisoners ranging from teenagers to murderers. The experience became for him a reflection on human nature and the consequences of abandoning moral law.

“A life without God, without the commandments of the Decalogue, a life without love,” he wrote, describing the selfishness, pride, lust, and greed that shaped much of prison life. His reflections ultimately turned toward his own imprisonment and vocation.

“Lord, what was it that brought me behind bars and barbed wire?” he asked. “The affairs of the Church? Yes. Concern for people’s moral lives? Yes. Living according to my conscience? Yes. Thank you, Lord, that the answer was ‘yes.’” For Tamkevičius, imprisonment was ultimately the consequence of refusing to compromise his faith in the face of communist oppression.

From persecution to freedom

Tamkevičius was released in 1988 as Soviet repression began to weaken. He returned to Lithuania as the country moved toward independence, restored on March 11, 1990.

Tamkevičius' story offers a firsthand account of the cost of defending the faith under communism and the role of ordinary believers in preserving the Church through decades of persecution.

With an Apostolic Letter issued motu proprio on 29 August, Pope Leo XIV provides the Synods of Bishops of Eastern Catholic Churches the faculty to remove their respective Patriarchs in order “to restore the wounded communion, even by removing him from office for grave cause”, in the event their “bond” is “irreparably compromised.” In such an event, the Roman Pontiff must grant assent to the Synod’s judgment.

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Inspired by the movie “Top Gun: Maverick,” a D.C.-based youth ministry is using a weekendlong camp to build mentors and strengthen the bonds between Catholic fathers and their sons.

The annual “Top Gun Father and Son” camping event welcomes dads and sons for a mission to grow closer, strengthen their relationships through challenges and reflections, and partake in faith-filled adventures.

Encounters, Convictions, and Your Decisions (ECYD), an international Catholic association of adolescents with the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi, hosts the annual weekend at Camp Castleton in Virginia for boys in fifth to eighth grade and their fathers.

The event is only one of the fruits of ECYD, which also carries out other youth clubs, camps, leadership trainings, and gatherings.

Father Vito Crincoli, LC, the director of the ECYD Leadership Training program in D.C., told EWTN News the ECYD ministry is “based on the spirituality of Jesus calling you to be his friend.”

“Itʼs an international movement,” he said. “In Washington, D.C., in particular, weʼve been putting a lot of emphasis on forming dads to be mentors for our clubs.”

“One is because we donʼt have as many priests as we would like to run the youth ministry. But also, above all, we want to create vibrant apostles, vibrant laypeople, to run youth work. And because men really want to be mentors.”

“Weʼve noticed in these past years of our ministry that thereʼs been such a desire for the men to want to be involved. And we saw that precisely through the father-son weekends we do. It awakens something in them.”

Men “want to do more,” Crincoli said. “They want to give more.”

Finding unexpected inspiration from film

While the camp grew out of the desire to minister to Catholic men, it was ultimately a fictional adventure film about U.S. Navy aviators that set the idea into motion.

After noticing a “father and son tone” in the 2022 film “Top Gun: Maverick,” Crincoli was inspired to bring together families for the event, which now welcomes anywhere from 20 to 40 fathers and sons.

Crincoli was inspired by the relationship between the film’s characters Pete Mitchell and Bradley Bradshaw, better known by their call signs “Maverick” and “Rooster.”

While the two Top Gun pilots are not related, Crincoli noticed a bond between them that is unique to a father and his son.

In the movie, “Maverick is trying to be the best dad he could be for Rooster. Experiencing his own limitations, but also just trying,” Crincoli explained. “And then Rooster is looking for the type of dad he wants: ‘I need a role model in my life. Someone who can guide me.’”

“Weʼre really trying to tell the dads: ‘Be a dad as a mission.’ Itʼs a mission of love. The whole idea of Top Gun Father and Son is that you and your son are a team. Youʼre preparing your son for life.”

“Thatʼs what Maverick was doing with Rooster. He was preparing him for battle.”

Top Gun Father and Son

While at the camp, the group has previously been joined by members of the U.S. Naval Academy, including a Catholic former Top Gun pilot who “gave a talk to the dads about learning to fly with your kids — learning to fly with them through life.”

A pivotal part is the “moment where the dads earn their wings,” he said. “We had somebody donate real Navy wings to us.”

“Itʼs a ceremony. Weʼll have the wings on the table, the flag, the dads line up and then … the dads become ‘Top Gun dads’” and “they get their wings.” It “begins the mission of the weekend.”

To help the participants live out the mission, the dads have “a training camp,” Crincoli said. “In that training camp we have different activities.”

The activities include anything from dodgeball and nighttime “missions” to quiet time in prayer. The weekend includes “different dynamics and different adventures” to create fellowship and teamwork between the fathers and sons.

During dodgeball, “itʼs the fathers and sons as teams against each other,” Crincoli explained. “But then, if their son gets hit with the ball, the dad has to go and rescue his son.”

“Thereʼs even a night mission that the son and the dad have to do together. There was one year that we did a mission where the dads and kids had to crack codes and to find the missing pilot. But they have to do it together — the son and dad.”

The event also includes father and sons giving each other their own call signs and explaining why they chose them for each other. Itʼs a “dynamic of ‘How well do you know your son, and how well does your son know you?’”

Along with the mission-center games, the group most importantly spends time in prayer throughout the weekend.

The “most beautiful” part of the event is when “we have the adoration — father-son adoration together,” Crincoli said. “The dad and his kid, they both come up to receive the blessing with the Blessed Sacrament. Itʼs a very intimate moment.”

“Then we have the finishing Mass. And after the Mass, the dads and the kids are together,” and “itʼs the award ceremony.”

Then, “the dads give their wings to their sons” and “as theyʼre pinning the wings to their son, theyʼre praying over their kids. Theyʼre blessing them. Theyʼre encouraging them.”

The many ‘lights’ that come from the event

The last day includes “a debriefing with the dads,” Crincoli said. “We sit down with the dads and we start asking them, ‘What has this weekend been for you?’”

“The dads begin to express different comments,” Crincoli said. He further reflected on some of the past insights he has heard from fathers. 

“The men say, ‘It is great to be with men that believe what I believe.’”

“Another, he goes, ‘Itʼs beautiful, itʼs great, to be with men who are strongly Catholic, who are bonded by their sons, and that we could be a community.’ One of the dads said, ‘I really want to be a mentor in this because ... this is an extension of my fatherhood.’”

After the weekend, “they come back,” Crincoli said. They come back as mentors for ECYD clubs or take part in its other camps.

“There are so many different lights that come from this,” he said.

The next annual Top Gun Father and Son will be held the weekend of Oct. 17–18. It will include the presence of members of the U.S. Naval Academy and a former Navy Seabee chief who will support the weekend with leadership and inspiration.

The practice of surrogacy made national news in August when surrogate mother McKenna West fled to Texas to give birth to a baby after its biological parents requested it be aborted due to a treatable heart condition.

West was sued by the couple for not adhering to the terms of the surrogacy contract, which included a clause allowing them to request abortion of the baby if it were found to have fetal abnormalities.

The mother sought refuge in Texas and gave birth there to the baby, whom she named Gabriel; the state ordered a hospital system to provide the baby life-giving care.

The controversial case has generated significant commentary around gestational surrogacy, the practice in which a woman is paid to grow and birth a baby for the parents.

The Catholic Church explicitly opposes surrogacy, describing it as a comprehensively immoral practice that offends the dignity of everyone involved. But why specifically does the Church so strongly forbid this arrangement?

Practice is ‘contrary to the unity of marriage’ and of human dignity

Joseph Meaney, a senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, described surrogacy as an arrangement in which “a woman agrees to carry a child for another — either a couple or another individual — with the express purpose of giving that child to them.”

“Traditional” surrogacy involves using the birthing mother as the biological mother, Meaney said. One example of this, he said, can be found in the Bible, in the Book of Genesis’ account of Sarai allowing her servant Hagar to serve as a surrogate with the former’s husband, Abram.

The “modern version” of surrogacy, meanwhile, involves impregnating a surrogate using in vitro fertilization (IVF) either via a donor or using gametes from the “intending parents.”

The Catholic Church has condemned and prohibited this practice for decades.

Meaney pointed to the 1987 instruction from what was then the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith known as Donum Vitae, which describes surrogate motherhood as “contrary to the unity of marriage and to the dignity of the procreation of the human person.”

The practice of surrogacy, according to the instruction, “represents an objective failure to meet the obligations of maternal love, of conjugal fidelity, and of responsible motherhood; it offends the dignity and the right of the child to be conceived, carried in the womb, brought into the world and brought up by his own parents; [and] it sets up, to the detriment of families, a division between the physical, psychological, and moral elements which constitute those families.”

Meaney summed up the instruction’s claims on surrogacy as: “It’s bad, bad, really bad, worse than bad.”

Joe Zalot, the director of education at the Catholic bioethics center, told EWTN News that the dispute in Texas over baby Gabriel is a “textbook example” of what is wrong with surrogacy.

That case, he said, demonstrates “how commercial surrogacy denigrates the surrogate, seeking to reduce her to a subservient role viz-a-viz the genetic ‘parents,’ as well as how surrogacy contracts denigrate the dignity of the preborn child through the demand that it be killed if a prenatal anomaly is diagnosed.”

Catholic opposition to surrogacy has become more outspoken in recent years. Both Zalot and Meaney pointed to Pope Francis’ January 2024 address to the Holy See’s diplomatic corps; in those remarks Francis decried surrogacy as “deplorable.”

The practice “represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child,” the pope said. He expressed hope for an international ban on the procedure.

In the United States, meanwhile, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) says in its ethical guidance for Catholic healthcare that Catholic health providers may not participate in surrogacy arrangements.

The bishops in that directive cite “the dignity of the child and of marriage” as well as “the uniqueness of the mother-child relationship.”

In an August 2025 essay, Meaney further argued against “altruistic surrogacy” in which a woman agrees to carry a child for someone else with no monetary reimbursement.

The intentions of these women, he acknowledged, “seem … frequently generous” and compassionate. Yet such arrangements retain “most of the unethical qualities” of commercial surrogacy, he said.

He further noted that the biblical account of Sarai’s arrangement with Hagar functions as “a cautionary tale of how badly such arrangements can go,” insofar as Hagar and her child Ishmael “ended up banished and almost died in the wilderness.”

The practice is widely legal in the U.S. Only one state, Louisiana, outlaws commercial surrogacy entirely; more than a dozen states broadly allow it, while a majority of states are at least generally permissive of it.

Meaney said the matter “really does come down to ethics. There’s what can be done, and what should be done; there’s the technically possible, and the moral. And the two are not coterminous.”

“One’s reproductive capacity should be reserved for the sacred purpose of bringing a new life into the world, not a commercial contract with strangers,” he said.

Pope Leo XIV will celebrate tonight the Feast of Our Lady of the Lake in Castel Gandolfo at the church consecrated by Pope Saint Paul VI and will become the first Pope to travel by boat along part of the lake, accompanied by around ten other vessels.

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Through the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, Pope Leo XIV has sent financial support to Caritas Nepal as relief operations continue and the death toll in the affected regions rises hourly, with over 630 known to have died and approximately 3,000 still missing.

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Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, presiding over Mass in Rome on 28 August for the liturgical memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, reflects on the spiritual journey of the “Doctor of Grace,” who “deeply loved the Church” and never tired of serving it.

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As the Church celebrates the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Fr. Edmund Power reflects on the theme: “Not conformed but transformed.”

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Representatives for Liberty University student Bethany Hall have filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a decades-old court decision that has been used to bar Catholic institutions from receiving state funds.

The National Legal Foundation, Claybrook LLC, Troutman Pepper Locke, First Liberty Institute, and Alliance Defending Freedom filed the petition on Aug. 11. The filing follows a May 13 ruling by a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel that rejected Hall’s attempt to sue Virginia officials for blocking her from using a $5,000 Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant for a youth ministries degree, citing the 2004 Supreme Court decision Locke v. Davey.

“It is odious to our Constitution for a state to fund a degree in music but refuse to fund a degree in music & worship,” Steven Fitschen of National Legal Foundation said in a press release announcing the petition. “The Free Exercise clause is meant to encourage and even prefer religion. But Virginia’s decision to deny funding based upon religious use is the type of hostility toward religion rejected by the First Amendment.”

Diocese of Scranton reopens St. Pius X Seminary after over 20 years

St. Pius X Seminary in the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, has been reestablished 22 years after its closure in 2004 due to a declining number of vocations to the priesthood.

Bishop Joseph Bambera presided over the seminary’s official opening on Aug. 23, welcoming four seminarians to the freshly renovated building that was formerly the Cathedral Convent building, according to a press release from the diocese.

“As we re-establish the ministry of Saint Pius X Seminary, what an incredible gift this is,” Bambera said during his homily at the seminary’s first Mass, according to the release. Bambera had been a seminarian at St. Pius X Seminary in Dalton 48 years ago.

The release noted that the decision to reestablish the seminary came from Bambera’s wish “to make the first stage of priestly formation more closely connected to the Diocese of Scranton and the people the seminarians may one day serve.”

“We are excited because it’s going to give these men, as they start seminary, an opportunity to get to know the Diocese better,” Father Alex Roche, diocesan secretary for clergy formation and rector of St. Pius X Seminary, said in the release. “It’s also going to give the people of the Diocese a chance to get to know our seminarians before they go elsewhere to continue their studies in theology.”

Justice Barrett to speak at Benedictine College’s library dedication

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett will deliver a speech at the upcoming dedication of Benedictine College’s Independence Hall-inspired library on Sept. 26.

“This is an exciting milestone for Benedictine College,” Benedictine College President Stephen D. Minnis said in a press release on Aug. 25. “The library will not only demonstrate our commitment to academic excellence and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, but it will also be a symbol of our love for this great country of ours.”

“The college is pleased to have Justice Barrett as part of the dedication ceremony,” the press release said, noting that the dedication for the Moritz Library in D’Aniello Hall will be free and open to the public.

Barrett earned her bachelor’s degree from Rhodes College and her law degree from the University of Notre Dame.

Students revive 1982 robotic arm at Catholic University despite lost documentation

A group of students from The Catholic University of America have brought to life a robotic space arm built in 1982 after documentation for the piece of technology has been lost for years.

Originally developed by Engineering Dean Emeritus and Ordinary Professor Charles Cuong Nguyen, the arm had been part of a pioneering technological effort to build the International Space Station, according to the university’s press release on Aug. 12.

The project to revive the arm, which is capable of a wide range of precise movements within a thousandth of an inch, was carried out by three students, including a high school Da Vinci Scholar, and was led by Nguyen. 

The students included Saliha Kavafogolu, an undergraduate intern from Yale University; Nathan Arega, a high school Da Vinci Scholar; and Ha (Jessica) Ngo-Tang, a biomedical engineering doctoral candidate.

California parents ask Supreme Court to overturn ruling excluding them from state program

Three California parents have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to exclude them from a state program over the religious materials they chose to home-school their children.

“The Ninth Circuit declared the homes of these parents to be ‘public school programs’ in order to justify the state’s religious discrimination,” Hiram Sasser, executive general counsel for First Liberty Institute, said in an Aug. 20 press release. “Parents should not be punished for choosing quality religious curriculum meeting the state’s standard that they teach to their own children in their own home just because it’s religious.”

The state of California’s tuition-free charter schools allow parents to home-school their children and have access to state funds to purchase curriculum. However, the press release notes, parents “can’t select a religious curriculum, even if they purchase it with their own funds, and their children’s work samples are rejected if they include religious wording or derive from materials created by religious publishers.”

The petition states that “California’s policy singles out parents who wish to give their children a faith-based education and excludes them from homeschooling benefits and support extended to other California families.”

The Latin Mass and traditional Vietnamese prayers and catechetical texts written by missionaries prior to the Second Vatican Council are growing in popularity among young Vietnamese Catholics.

“Few Catholic communities in Southeast Asia still possess such a rich heritage,” Joseph Christopher Nguyen Thien Tuan Hoang, the leader of a Latin Mass community in Vietnam, said in an Aug. 25 UCA News report.

While there is no established parish dedicated to the Latin Mass according to the report, traditional communities are able to attend the liturgy when approval is granted and with the help of foreign visiting priests.

“Our biggest challenge is not hostility, but misunderstanding,” Hoang said. “If more Church leaders understood why some young Catholics are drawn to the older liturgy, I believe more people would have the opportunity to experience this part of the Churchʼs tradition.”

From Gaza to Taybeh, priests call for living Christian presence in Holy Land

Father Gabriel Romanelli of Holy Family Parish in Gaza City discussed the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza during a video appearance at the Rimini Meeting, a signature event hosted by the Catholic movement Communion and Liberation.

Romanelli described Gaza as a devastated territory where water, electricity, and basic necessities remain scarce. The priest said his decision to stay was rooted in pastoral duty: the parish could not abandon children, people with disabilities, or struggling families.

ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, reported Aug. 26 that Gaza’s Christian community now numbers 541 Catholics and Orthodox, and 60 members have died since the war began.

Father Francesco Ielpo, custos of the Holy Land, also spoke at the event, turning attention to the attacks facing the Christian town of Taybeh and called for concrete protection of fundamental rights. He also encouraged pilgrims to return, noting that their presence supports local Christians and strengthens their calling to care for the holy sites.

10 Catholic dioceses in the Philippines call for end to mining agreement

Bishops representing 10 Catholic dioceses in the Philippines have issued a joint pastoral statement addressed to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Environment Secretary Juan Miguel T. Cuna calling for an end to mining in the island of Sibuyan.

The letter, titled “Let Sibuyan Live: A Joint Call to Initiate the Cancellation of APMC’s Mining Agreement,” urges political leaders to carry out a comprehensive review of a mining agreement with Altai Philippines Mining Corp (APMC) in Sibuyan to ensure compliance with environmental laws, according to an Aug. 24 report from Inquirer.net.

The bishops expressed concern over the mining agreement’s threats to the island’s mountains, watersheds, rivers, coral reefs, and species unique to the island.

Recently appointed apostolic nuncio to Germany makes first visit

The recently appointed apostolic nuncio to Germany, Archbishop Hubertus van Megen, completed his inaugural visit to the headquarters of the German Bishops' Conference (DBK) in Bonn this week, CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News, reported Aug. 28. 

During the meeting, van Megen presented his official assignment letter as nuncio to the DBK chairman signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. "It was the first visit of an apostolic nuncio to the Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference in more than 13 years,” the DBK noted in its announcement on social media.

Van Megen has served as nuncio to Kenya and South Sudan and held various positions within United Nations institutions.

UK member of Parliament calls for reforms before considering assisted suicide

Member of Parliament Zubir Ahmed, a former health minister in the British Labour Party and National Health Service doctor, has backed calls from Prime Minister Andy Burnham, a Catholic, to carry out health reforms before considering legislation on assisted suicide.

“What kind of society are we building if, before we’ve fixed the systems designed to care for people, we introduce a system designed to help them die?” Ahmed asked in an Aug. 25 op-ed in The Guardian. “As a former health minister who has seen the system from the inside, I am able to say it is not ready or equipped to answer this question.”

Ahmed’s remarks come after the prime minister said in July that debates on assisted suicide should be delayed until the country’s palliative and social care systems have been reformed.

Syria’s Catholic schools seek to remain both strong and compassionate

With another school year approaching, Syria’s Christian schools are struggling to keep tuition affordable while covering salaries, taxes, electricity, books, and other rising expenses.

Father Fadi Najjar, secretary-general of Catholic educational institutions in Syria, said no child should be forced out because a family cannot pay, ACI MENA reported Aug. 27. At the same time, he cautioned that schools cannot fulfill their educational mission if they are treated solely as charitable institutions. Najjar appealed to churches and aid organizations to support families in genuine need and help protect the future of Christian education in Syria.

Catholic priest in Ghana suspended for ‘abandoning’ pastoral ministry

Ghana’s Diocese of Konongo-Mampong has imposed an indefinite canonical suspension on a priest of the diocese for taking a leave of absence and “abandoning his pastoral ministry” without legitimate permission.

Bishop John Opoku-Agyemang announced the suspension of Father Samuel Adapore on Aug. 24, ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, reported. The priest has been barred from administering any of the sacraments publicly, including the celebration of Mass, or officiating any other liturgical services.

The bishop said he made the decision “with a heavy heart but a great sense of duty to Holy Mother Church” to suspend the priest, who he noted had left his parish without telling anyone where he was going, including immediate family members.

Sierra Leonean priest cautions religious against shunning help for mental health struggles

The president of the Regional Union of Priests of West Africa has told members of the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life not to be ashamed of seeking psychological support, stressing that “mental-health struggles do not cancel their vocation,” ACI Africa reported Aug. 25.

“Our priests and religious spend their lives caring for others. We must also care for them. They need trusted friends, safe spaces for honest conversation, regular medical and psychological support, sufficient rest, and communities that listen without judgment,” Father Peter Konteh said following the resignation of Bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann of German’s Speyer Diocese over mental health struggles.

Christian city of Qamishli, Syria, turns 100

The city of Qamishli marked its centennial with a Christian community far smaller than the one that helped build the northeastern Syrian city.

Founded in 1926 after Christians fled Ottoman-era massacres, the city once had a population that was nearly 90% Christian, ACI MENA reported Aug. 25. Father Samir Kanoun, priest of the church of St. Yacoub Al-Nusaibini in Qamishli, said decades of migration, intensified after the Syrian crisis began in 2011, have reduced that share to about 20%, leaving roughly 2,000 Christian families.

Despite the decline, Qamishli retains a rich mix of Syriac, Armenian, Chaldean, Assyrian, and Protestant churches. Their cooperation grew stronger during the war through shared prayer, security coordination, and charitable work.

Kanoun remains hopeful, pointing to the city’s active young Christians and the Church’s efforts to preserve their faith, heritage, and sense of belonging to Syria.

ABUJA, Nigeria — Members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) have condemned the latest wave of killings and abductions in the country, calling on the government and security agencies to take urgent action to end what they describe as an “intolerable” level of violence.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Aug. 26, the bishops expressed deep sorrow over the recent abduction of more than 60 worshippers from a mosque in Borgu, Niger state, and the killing of 47 people in Ukum, Benue state.

Seventeen others were critically wounded in the Benue attack, according to the CBCN members.

“With heavy hearts and deep sorrow, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) once again decries the unabated trail of blood and terror across our nation which has reached an intolerable crest,” the statement said.

The bishops reiterated the fact that Nigerians continue to be killed, traumatized, and displaced regardless of where they live or worship.

“Whether in a mosque, a church, a marketplace, or the quiet of their homes, Nigerians are still being slaughtered, traumatised, and displaced with impunity,” they said in the statement.

The CBCN members expressed condolences to the families of those killed in Benue and prayed for the recovery of those critically wounded.

They also expressed solidarity with Muslims following the abduction of worshippers in Niger state, calling for their immediate and safe release.

“We stand in firm solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters in Niger State, and all over Nigeria, praying for the immediate and safe release of all 60 abducted worshippers,” they said.

The bishops emphasized that violence against places of worship affects society as a whole.

“An attack on any place of worship is an attack on our collective humanity,” they said.

The bishops also acknowledged efforts being made by government authorities but urged political leaders and security chiefs not to relent until Nigerians can live in safety.

“To those in government at all levels, security chiefs, and political leaders, while we commend some efforts being made, we urge that you do not give up on this responsibility until the security and welfare of the citizens are guaranteed,” they said.

The CBCN members called for proactive, intelligence-led security operations capable of identifying and dismantling criminal networks before they launch attacks.

They further called for the swift prosecution of those responsible for violence, including their sponsors, irrespective of their status or affiliations.

“Impunity fuels repetition,” the bishops warned.

The CBCN members also addressed those who commit violence and sponsor it. “To the bandits, terrorists, kidnappers, and their sponsors, we plead that you stop the bloodshed!” they said.

The bishops underscored the sanctity of human life and rejected any justification for the killing of innocent people.

“Human life belongs to God alone, and no cause justifies this cruelty. You cannot build a future on the tears of innocent persons,” they said, warning perpetrators that their actions carry consequences. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”

The CBCN members urged those involved in violence to lay down their arms, abandon evil, and respect human life.

In the face of deteriorating security, the Catholic leaders urged Nigerians not to lose hope in their country, calling on citizens to remain steadfast in prayer for peace, security, and divine intervention.

“May the God of peace restore order to our nation, comfort those who mourn, and touch the hearts of those who inflict pain,” the CBCN members implored.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.

Pope Leo XIV has granted his assent to the election of Chorbishop Sharbel Maroun as archbishop of the Maronite Archeparchy of Damascus by the Synod of Bishops of the Patriarchal Church of Antioch of the Maronites. Maroun succeeds Archbishop Samir Nassar.

Until his election, Maroun was protosyncellus of the eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles of the Maronites in the United States since 2020 and served as pastor of St. Maron Maronite Parish in Minneapolis for more than 35 years — the third-oldest Maronite parish in the U.S.

In a statement released Friday, Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis said he was “thrilled” to learn of the pope’s assent and said Maroun is beloved in the archdiocese by priests and faithful alike.

“It is wonderfully providential that our Archdiocese has already been in a partnership with the Archeparchy of Damascus since 2017,” Hebda’s statement said. “It is my hope that the relationship will only grow stronger in the days ahead.”

Hebda called outgoing archbishop Nassar “a beacon of hope to the faithful of his flock as he guided them through the challenges of civil war.” 

Sharbel Ghattas Maroun was born in 1962 in Kfarselwan, Lebanon. Shortly after working for a bank, he left with his family in 1983 for the United States, fleeing the civil war raging in his home country.

The following year he entered the seminary of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles of the Maronites in Washington, D.C. After completing his studies in philosophy and theology, he was ordained a priest on his 27th birthday, Jan. 6, 1989, and appointed vicar of the Maronite Parish of St. Anthony in Danbury, Connecticut.

In 2015 he was invested as chorbishop.

As protosyncellus of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, Maroun has also held the following positions, according to the Holy See Press Office: parish vicar of St. Maron in Minneapolis, director of youth pastoral care, representative for ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, director of vocational pastoral care, protopresbyter of the deanery of Mid-America, administrator of the St. Sharbel Mission in Milwaukee, syncellus for the eparchal clergy, member of the Presbyteral Council and the College of Consultors, representative for new evangelization, and chair of the board of Télé Lumière International.

According to ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, Maroun prefers to be called “Abuna” — the Arabic word for “Father” — as a reflection of his Eastern identity and his desire to keep his heritage alive.

The California Catholic Conference is calling on residents to urge legislators to pass a bill restricting “addictive features” on social media for children under 16 in the same week that Meta agreed to pay billions of dollars and add safety limits to settle claims that Facebook and Instagram have fueled addictive and harmful use among youth.

The proposed bill, AB 1709, is scheduled for its third reading in the state Senate on Aug. 28. The amended measure originally would have prohibited “anyone under the age of 16 from having a social media account,” as the conference’s action alert still asserted as of Aug. 28.

However, the bill was amended over the summer to simply restrict “addictive features” for youth under 16.

The Catholic conference wrote in its alert that studies “repeatedly show that social media is damaging to young kids.” The bishops said mental illness and self-harm have “skyrocketed” among youth since 2007, the year the iPhone was first released.

“Young people self-report feeling addicted, experiencing damaging messages to their body image and self-esteem from the comparisons and endless scrolling, receiving unwanted contact by strangers, and exposure to harmful content including eating disorders, suicidal ideation, violence, pornography, and drug use,” the conference wrote.

On Aug. 26, tech company Meta — the creator of Facebook and Instagram — agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion in a settlement after 29 states sued the company in a consolidated federal case. The settlement resolved claims that Meta’s platforms fueled addictive and harmful social media use among young people.

A much larger bipartisan coalition of 47 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories signed the settlement itself. Florida and New Mexico did not participate in the settlement.

“Children have a right to be children and to parental protection from harmful materials,” the California bishops said.

Apparently still referring to the original bill — which was introduced in February and would have banned social media outright for youth under age 16 — the alert continues: “Establishing the age of receiving a social media account at 16 helps preserve childrenʼs social and emotional development and parents' rights to safeguard their children from such harms.”

About 20 U.S. states have enacted social media and minor-safety laws, but so far enforcement is a patchwork: Some laws are in force, some are partly blocked, some are fully enjoined, and some have not taken effect yet.

Texas did not join the multistate Meta lawsuit. Instead, state Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a separate settlement the same day, under which Meta will pay the state more than $1 billion, or up to about $1.335 billion if YouTube and TikTok adopt similar teen-safety terms.

The Texas payout is larger than almost every other state’s share of the national deal; only California could receive more, up to $2.2 billion. The settlement is supposed to fund youth mental health services, crisis resources, digital literacy, after-school programs, and school grants in the state.

In addition to the payouts, both deals require Meta to verify users’ ages, cap most minors at two hours a day on Facebook and Instagram (with messaging exceptions), block overnight access and many nighttime notifications, set school-hour notification limits, hide likes and reactions by default, and restrict addictive features and inappropriate content for users under 18.

Parents will also have the option to permanently make their children’s Facebook news feeds “chronological” rather than algorithmic, meaning the feeds will simply display posts in chronological order rather than in an order selected by Facebook’s algorithm.

Australia became the first country to ban social media accounts for youth under 16 when the rule took effect in December 2025. France later became the first EU country to pass a similar ban, but for children under 15. The measure was approved in July and will be phased in beginning in September.

Religious leaders met at the U.S. Department of Justice to discuss strengthening efforts to protect places of worship across the nation.

The DOJ and the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, a religious freedom advocacy group, held the meeting in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 27 to address the rise in attacks against houses of worship and faith-based communities.

Participants consisted of leaders from diverse faith backgrounds, including Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The leaders spoke with Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the DOJ, and Karen Schneier Dresbach, executive vice president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation — a coalition of business and religious leaders working worldwide on behalf of religious freedom, human rights, and the protection of houses of worship.

“No American should ever fear violence for simply practicing their faith," Dhillon said in a statement.

"The Department of Justiceʼs Civil Rights Division has zero tolerance for attacks on houses of worship, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute those who target Americans because of their religion,” Dhillon said.

The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has zero tolerance for attacks on houses of worship, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute those who target Americans because of their religion.”

Harmeet Dhillon

assistant attorney general for civil rights for the Department of Justice

“Iʼm grateful to the Appeal of Conscience Foundation and the faith leaders gathered here today for their partnership in this work. Protecting religious liberty is a fundamental American value, and this Department will keep fighting to defend it,” Dhillon said in a statement.

The event also included a panel discussion among leaders and the presentation of a statement by participating groups read by Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Eastern America Irinej Dobrijevic and Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, according to a press release.

The statement called for stronger legislation to protect houses of worship and for the establishment of an ongoing body of religious leaders to monitor threats. The leaders asked that the DOJ work in tandem with the groups to help ensure that people of faith can worship safely.

The gathering comes amid rising concerns over attacks against houses of worship across the U.S. The meeting was held on Aug. 27, the first anniversary of the fatal shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis in which two children were killed.

Bishops’ concern about religiously motivated violence continues

In 2026, “the Committee for Religious Liberty continues to be concerned about politically and religiously motivated violence,” the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said.

The U.S. bishops previously laid out “areas of critical concern” in their 2026 religious liberty report, including threats of political and anti-religious violence.

“In recent years, the USCCB has expressed concern about politically motivated violence. The polarization that has long been the subject of commentary by religious leaders appears to be devolving into a cycle of attack and retribution,” the bishops said in the report.

“Polarization is not simply a phenomenon ‘out there.’ It names a tendency within many people to turn away from truth in order to remain loyal to their political tribe. But Catholics are called to be conformed to Christ, not to partisan political leaders, media personalities, and social media influencers,” they said.

The bishops called for expanded federal support for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which funds security upgrades for houses of worship. They said funding is insufficient because fewer than half of applicants receive grants, despite rising threats.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged the international community to provide humanitarian aid for families in Nepal after flash floods killed hundreds of people and destroyed homes on Aug. 26.

“As we learn more about the devastating flashfloods in Nepal, I offer the prayers and solidarity of the Catholic community in the United States for our brothers and sisters impacted by this disaster,” Bishop Elias Zaidan said in an Aug. 27 statement. “I also encourage long-term efforts to help affected communities rebuild their homes, livelihoods, and critical infrastructure.”

The floods began after a glacier collapse triggered catastrophic flooding along the Nepal-Tibet border. The casualty count continues to rise, as hundreds of people remain missing.

Zaidan, chair of the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace, said Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. Church’s international aid agency, is tracking the situation closely and working with Caritas Nepal and other local partners to identify urgent needs and plan the most effective support.

“We appreciate the partnership of the U.S. government in supporting CRS’ essential work in these communities. We are also grateful to hear that the U.S. Department of State is closely monitoring the situation and deploying key personnel to support response efforts,” said Zaidan, Maronite Catholic bishop of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles.

The U.S. Department of State said it is sending disaster advisers to help with rescue and cleanup efforts. The government said it also would distribute $500,000 in assistance via Catholic Relief Services.

“I exhort the international community to mobilize greater humanitarian assistance support for vulnerable families and communities in Nepal,” Zaidan said. “May the Immaculate Heart of Mary provide consolation and shelter to all those affected by this disaster, and may she inspire the international community to work together, as one family, to address the urgent needs of the Nepalese people.”

The rule of law is deteriorating in the West Bank as tension continues to grow between settlers and the Palestinian population, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, said this week.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the Rimini Meeting in northern Italy on Aug. 26, the cardinal said the West Bank “has become a no-man’s land — or rather, a lawless land — where everything that happens goes unchecked, with no safeguards in terms of security or the rule of law.”

Asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that he would continue to open settlements in the occupied land, Pizzaballa said: “This isn’t the first time he’s said that.”

“The government has stated very clearly that this is their intention, even though it makes a political solution in the near future increasingly difficult,” the cardinal continued. “I hope that all this drift — this political confrontation, including in language and positions — will moderate over time, because the Palestinian population is truly very tired and can no longer bear all of this.”

Pizzaballa explained that the situation in Gaza, from this point of view, is more stable than the West Bank, even while it continues to deteriorate.

“While there is a great deal of political debate, on the ground the human toll remains devastating,” he added.

The Rimini Meeting, officially named the Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples, is an annual cultural festival organized by the Catholic lay movement Communion and Liberation. The 47th edition took place near the city of Rimini, Italy, from Aug. 21–26, and included a visit from Pope Leo XIV on Aug. 22.

Pizzaballa, a frequent speaker at recent editions of the gathering, participated in a dialogue with three young people on the final day of the 2026 meeting, touching on the topics of hope, suffering, and interreligious dialogue.

He also urged people to “listen to multiple voices,” including those with whom they do not agree, to understand and assess the events taking place in the Middle East.

“This is a task that must be undertaken continually in the Middle East,” he said, where “nothing is as it appears and everything is very complicated.”

In a conversation with the journalist Alessandro Banfi during the meeting, Pizzaballa underlined that “to assume that an agreement alone is enough to put an end” to what is happening in the Middle East “is presumptuous; it is an illusion.”

“Now, of course, we need agreements; we need to pursue political paths — but these must also be accompanied by educational, formative, human, and religious initiatives, which play a very important role in the Middle East in healing, in processing grief, and in addressing everything that has affected both the Israeli and Palestinian populations. And this doesn’t happen in the blink of an eye,” he said.

Pope Leo XIV warned Friday that decisions affecting human life are increasingly being entrusted to machines as he called for ethical safeguards governing artificial intelligence and other digital technologies.

“One of the serious problems today is the fact that decisions concerning human life are being entrusted to machines,” Pope Leo XIV said Aug. 28 during an audience with members of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences.

“The speed at which innovations in AI, in artificial intelligence, are developing prompts us to ask whether, in the future, we will be able to control these machines and whether humanity runs the risk of becoming victim of its own inventions,” he said.

The International Institute of Administrative Sciences, of which the Holy See is a member, was founded in 1930 in the aftermath of the Great Depression. It works to help public authorities adapt governance to the changing needs of society.

Pius XII addressed the institute in 1950, highlighting the responsibility of public administration to serve society in accordance with the Creatorʼs wisdom.

Pope Leo XIV said the theme of the instituteʼs conference represented “a powerful appeal to our world in the digital age” to maintain a proper balance in the use of digital technologies.

He said the appeal echoed his recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, on safeguarding the human person in the age of artificial intelligence.

The pope said the rapid development of digital technology is a reality that directly affects peopleʼs way of life and “permeates every level of social life.”

Against that backdrop, he praised the instituteʼs effort to reaffirm “the irreplaceable nature of human intelligence in the face of these technological tools” and to help public authorities make decisions “for the good of humanity.”

Pope Leo XIV also called for an ethical framework to guide the use of artificial intelligence and other digital tools, noting that such technologies are increasingly concentrated in the hands of major economic and technological actors while governments struggle to exercise effective oversight.

“We must ensure that the good of the human family is not sacrificed to private interests,” he said.

The pope encouraged the instituteʼs members to continue studying ways public administration can help keep technology centered on the human person.

“I encourage you to continue your research in order to find the ways and means of contributing to public administration in the humanization of digital technologies, so that they may serve life and peace,” he said.

Pope Leo XIV also recalled Pope Francis' 2024 World Day of Peace message, in which Francis called for scientific and technological research to be directed toward peace and the common good and placed at the service of the integral development of individuals and communities.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was guilty of a “grave failure” of responsibility in the drafting of its controversial 2023 “Catholic memo” that sought to link racist and violent extremists with so-called “radical-traditionalist” Catholics, the U.S. Department of Justice said this week.

The Justice Department on Aug. 28 released an extensive report on the memo, which was drafted out of the FBI’s Richmond, Virginia, field office and leaked in early 2023.

Upon its leak the memo drew immediate criticism from Catholics and religious liberty advocates around the country. The FBI quickly retracted the document after the leak, with the bureau claiming that it did “not meet our exacting standards.”

On Aug. 28 FBI Director Kash Patel described the contents of the memo as “unacceptable.” He said the release of information “about what occurred under [the Biden administration] is an important part of the process” of ongoing investigations into alleged government weaponization.

Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, meanwhile, described the memo as “a clear abuse of power,” one that targeted “conservative and religious beliefs disfavored by agents of government.”

Memo arose from 2020 investigation into violent extremist

The Aug. 28 report — released by the Department of Justice’s Weaponization Working Group — said the Catholic memo arose out of an FBI investigation that began in 2020 regarding an individual who moved to Virginia from New York and began writing “violent and racially-motivated” posts on the internet.

Richmond Domain Perspective Report

That individual was ultimately sentenced to two separate prison terms on vandalism and weapons charges. Prior to his second imprisonment, he reportedly began attending a Virginia chapel run by the Society of St. Pius X.

Federal agents began investigating the chapel and a priest associated with it; their investigation expanded to include another priest connected to the so-called SSPX Resistance, a breakaway group that the FBI alleged has neo-Nazi sympathies.

Based on those investigations, starting in late 2022 the Richmond field office began developing a “domain perspective” on the alleged “increasing intersection” of “radical-traditional Catholics” and “domestic violent extremists.”

Subsequent research turned up “only two additional cases,” the working group report said, and FBI investigators found “nothing linking Catholics or groups not in full communion with the Catholic Church to domestic extremism.”

The investigation progressed to the point where analysts were preparing to develop a high-level executive report of the inquiry to present to senior FBI officials. Yet after the leak of the memo on Feb. 8, 2023, that report was never developed.

The working group report described the FBI memo as using a “sweeping generalization” of “radical-traditionalist” Catholics. Internal FBI presentation materials obtained by EWTN News identify the “core ideology and beliefs” of such Catholics as including “conservative family values/roles” and a “tendency toward isolationism.”

The memo further identified such Catholics as believing in the “creation of a totalitarian, anti-pluralist Catholic nation” as well as the “rejection of religious neutrality and right to religious freedom.”

The document drew a distinction between “radical” Catholics and so-called “traditionalist Catholics” who prefer the Traditional Latin Mass and pre-Vatican II traditions yet do not adhere to “the more extremist ideological beliefs and violent rhetoric” of the “radical” group.

An internal review of the memo found no “constitutional concerns” related to the analysis, the working group report said. Yet the memo spawned “significant internal criticisms” in the FBI after its leak, the report said.

In particular, an agent with the bureau’s counterterrorism division said the unit found no “significant linkage” between violent extremists and “radical traditionalist” Catholics.

Bureau leadership ultimately ordered the deletion of the memo, though the working group report said the memo was still being worked on more than a month after that order came down.

Later in the year the bureau’s inspection division found that the drafters of the memo demonstrated a lack of “professional judgment” and that they “failed to adhere to FBI standards.” The division ordered “all individuals” involved in the memo’s production to be “admonished” and be subject to additional training.

The working group report noted that the personnel involved in the production of the memo “have been terminated from their positions.” It argued that “history” will “rightly judge the Richmond Catholic Memo as a grave failure of the FBI Richmond Field Office” to uphold First Amendment rights.

The controversial memo has generated sustained criticism from religious liberty advocates as well as numerous responses from lawmakers in Washington since it was leaked.

In March the conservative legal group Judicial Watch was in federal court arguing for the release of un-redacted files related to the memo. Attorney Meredith DiLiberto expressed disappointment at the time that heavy redaction practices had continued from the Biden administration to the Trump administration.

In December 2024 Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, warned the government to not destroy federal records including documents related to the FBI investigation. Hawley said at the time that he had received reports of employees “destroying records and other documents in an effort to conceal widespread misconduct that took place under the [Joe] Biden administration.”

The working group report released on Aug. 28 did not mention any reports of records destruction. But Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department “will not tolerate a weaponized bureaucracy that chills First Amendment activity.”

The working group’s investigations into alleged government weaponization “will continue,” Blanche said.

The Chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace, Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, calls on the international community “to mobilize greater humanitarian assistance support” for victims of deadly flash flooding in Nepal.

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In less than a month, Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France will begin — the first papal visit to the country in 18 years. Young people, in particular, are eagerly looking forward to the encounter and will be among those accompanying the Pope during his visit.

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The Vatican publishes the calendar of Liturgical Celebrations at which Pope Leo XIV will preside in the coming months.

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Pope Leo XIV sends his condolences to King Haakon VIII and the people of Norway for the death of King Harald V, and praises the late King's decades of "devoted service" to the Scandinavian nation.

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Ahead of the first anniversary of the beatification of Blessed Eduard Profittlich, Catholics in Estonia reflect on his enduring call for ecumenical dialogue and peace for the region.

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Pope Leo XIV encourages members of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences to continue their research “in order to find the ways and means of contributing to public administration in the humanization of digital technologies, so that they may serve life and peace” and warns of the real risk that humanity could “become victim” of the inventions it has created.

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Sister Cecilia Durga Shrestha, Executive Director of Caritas Nepal, speaks to Vatican News about how the Church's local humanitarian outfit is supporting those displaced by the devastating flash floods that struck the north of the country, which have killed over 500 people.

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The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has warned that the Christian presence in the Holy Land is going through one of the most critical moments in its 2,000-year history, calling for the transition from emergency response to investment in education, work, and special projects, giving families practical reasons to remain.

In an article titled “Hope Demands Action” released on Aug. 21, the patriarchate said restrictions on movement, the cancellation of work permits, and the paralysis of the tourism sector have exacerbated the conditions of Christian families in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and the villages scattered in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and affected their ability to work and secure their needs.

The Catholic diocese — whose territory includes Cyprus, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine and is supported by six vicariates — highlighted that the unemployment rate in Christian communities in the Holy Land is 54%, which is about double the national average.

The patriarchate also pointed out that artisans, hotel workers, shopkeepers, tour guides, drivers, and restaurant owners rely heavily on pilgrims and visitors, which have significantly declined over the years, threatening livelihoods.

The patriarchate said the repercussions of the crisis extend to the younger generations, as limited job opportunities after university or vocational training may push young people to migrate, raising concerns for a generation that believes its future may be outside the land of its ancestors.

Gaza at the heart of the crisis

According to the patriarchate, only 541 Christians remain in the Gaza Strip, while others have been forced to flee and still others were killed in the war or lost their lives amid the collapse of medical care and lack of basic supplies.

The patriarchate said the possibility that no more Christians will be left in the Holy Land does not represent just a demographic change but a “crisis in history, identity, and faith,” stressing that a living Christian presence should remain in a land where Christianity originated.

The article called for international Christian solidarity to go beyond responding to emergency needs, including education, vocational training, special projects, and support for community institutions, allowing families to build a decent and sustainable life in their homeland.

In this context, the article referred to a back-to-school initiative to cover basic educational expenses for children and families most in need, stressing that keeping schools open — and reopening them where possible — represents a message that destruction will not have the final say.

The patriarchate stressed that the Christians of the Holy Land do not want to be a part of the past but desire the opportunity to live, work, raise their children, and exercise their faith in dignity in the land where Christianity began.

This story was first published by ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News, and has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

As he meets with several spiritual children of St. Vincent de Paul, Pope Leo XIV recalls the French saint’s teaching that prayer and action on behalf of social justice are complementary and inseparable.

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Authorities are warning of a second flood after Wednesday’s devastating deluge on the Nepal-China border, which left more than 1,500 people missing, many presumed dead.

Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said a lake at the flood site was rising and at risk of bursting, raising the prospect of another deadly disaster.

China’s Minister of Water Resources said the lake had formed inside Nepal and was already overflowing. A further 3 million cubic meters could flow in over three days, the ministry said, raising the risk of a breach during that window to a high level. Rain is forecast across the coming days.

Catholic relief agencies immediately responded to the unfolding disaster, linking their efforts to the urgent needs created by the floods.

Caritas Nepal said it had mobilized teams and begun operating community kitchens in areas where people lost their homes, while also distributing immediate relief supplies. Some Catholics who had been working in tourist areas remain unaccounted for, the agency said.

Catholic Relief Services launched an emergency appeal, saying it was coordinating with Caritas Nepal and local partners to assess urgent needs and support affected communities.

Caritas Australia launched an urgent flood appeal, confirming teams are on the ground assessing the scale of the disaster and the needs it has created.

The needs will most likely include emergency shelter, clean water and sanitation, food, and immediate and long-term recovery, the aid agency noted.

The apostolic administrator of Nepal told Fides news agency on Thursday this was “the worst disaster in the country’s history.”

“It was terrible. A flood coming from the mountains, and directed violently towards the valley, overwhelmed everything: people, homes, bridges, structures. Villages, markets, and roads were swept away. It is a serious wound for the nation,” Father Silas Krishna Bogati said.

“We have about 25 Catholic families in the disaster area; they appear to be safe, but we are very worried about them,” he said. “We entrust them to God, we pray for their safety, and we will do everything we can to help them.”

Bogati noted that Nepalese, as well as foreigners and tourists, were in the area at the time of the disaster.

At least 392 people have been killed, 389 of them in Nepal and three in Tibet, according to Nepali authorities and Chinese state media. More than 900 remain unaccounted for in Nepal and more than 550 in Tibet; 466 people have been rescued.

Pope Leo sent his condolences and offered prayers for the victims on Thursday, expressing solidarity with those affected by the floods. In an Aug. 27 telegram sent on behalf of Leo, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the pope was “saddened to learn of the loss of life and devastation” caused by the floods.

“Commending the souls of the deceased to the clemency of the Almighty, His Holiness sends heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved, with the assurance of his spiritual closeness to those affected by this tragedy,” the telegram said.

This story was updated at 3:15 a.m. on Aug. 28, 2026, with details from Caritas Nepal and Catholic Relief Services.

In Nepal, the death toll from Wednesday morning’s Bhotekoshi River flood continues to rise, while the number of people reported missing – combining figures provided by Nepal and Tibet – exceeds 1,400. There are fears that a lake on the Tibetan side, formed by the landslide and estimated to hold two million cubic metres of water, could overflow.

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King Harald V of Norway, Europeʼs oldest reigning monarch, died on Aug. 28 at Oslo University Hospital. He was 89.

A Requiem Mass for King Harald will be celebrated at St. Olavʼs Cathedral in Trondheim on Aug. 29 at noon, and lauds and vespers will also be offered for the late monarch.

EWTN Norway is streaming the services on its website and YouTube channel.

Within hours of the kingʼs death, Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim published a tribute on behalf of Norwegian Catholics. He commended Harald to Godʼs mercy and offered prayers for Queen Sonja, the royal family, and the new King Haakon VIII.

Varden, a Trappist monk who also serves as apostolic administrator of Tromsø and president of the Nordic Bishops' Conference, opened his reflection with the ninth-century “Commendatio Animae” — the Churchʼs prayer for the dying.

“Go forth, Christian soul, from this world in the name of God, the Almighty Father, who created you; in the name of Jesus Christ, the living Son of God, who suffered for you; and in the name of the Holy Spirit, who was poured out upon you,” the prayer begins.

Varden wrote that the prayer reminds the faithful that death is a transition “from life to Life.”

Prayers for the new king

Varden described Harald as a monarch who embodied the nation in an exemplary way, giving Norwegians a sense of being seen and cared for.

“He was so completely and utterly king, devoted to the people, that it was as if no ego stood in the way,” the bishop wrote. “In this way, he drew near to us in a comforting way.”

Harald “has spoken wisely to us, with a subtle sense of humor that we will miss,” Varden added.

The bishop placed the kingʼs passing in the context of the ancient acclamation “The King is dead; long live the King,” and wrote that the monarchy stands as “a stable pillar in society” that represents continuity.

“In a time as uncertain as ours, that is a comfort,” he wrote.

Varden called on Norwegian Catholics to pray for King Haakon VIII. He asked the faithful for “blessings and wisdom” and called on Catholics to stand loyally by the new sovereign.

Closing his tribute, the bishop invoked the intercession of St. Olav, Norwayʼs patron saint.

King Haraldʼs reign

Harald V was born on Feb. 21, 1937, and ascended the throne on Jan. 17, 1991, succeeding his father, King Olav V. He reigned for 35 years.

A three-time Olympic yachtsman, Harald modernized the Norwegian royal house. Later in his life, he refused to abdicate, saying he had taken a lifelong oath before the Norwegian Parliament.

He had experienced multiple health problems in recent years.

Harald is survived by Queen Sonja, 89, his wife of 57 years, and their two children: Princess Märtha Louise, 54, and the new King Haakon VIII, 53. His granddaughter, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, is now next in line to the throne.

This report draws on coverage by EWTN Norway and reporting by Pål Johannes Nes.

Newman Guide institutions are shaping their classroom approach to rapidly evolving artificial intelligence through Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, emphasizing human dignity and guarding against the technology’s potential to weaken authentic learning.

Five Catholic colleges and universities told EWTN News they are crafting classroom AI policies in light of the pope’s encyclical, as the University of Chicago moves — as first reported by the student newspaper The Chicago Maroon — to make social sciences classes fully analog this fall.

Belmont Abbey College

“The Chicago response in their core classes resonates strongly with where our thoughts are going, although theyʼre a bit ahead of us in formulating a general policy,” David Williams, dean of arts and sciences and professor of theology at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, told EWTN News.

“Discussions on the pedagogical response to AI have been ongoing for some time now, with new impetus as we absorb Pope Leoʼs encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas,” Williams said. “There’s a significant contingent among the faculty who prefer the all-analog approach, at least in our core curriculum classes, and are teaching accordingly as a matter of individual choice.”

According to Williams, a faculty-led committee is expected to deliver a report to the university’s president and provost by the end of the fall 2026 semester.

“I wouldnʼt be surprised at all to see a recommendation similar to Chicagoʼs for all our core curriculum courses; the core here is a substantial part of the overall degree program, so that would be more than 40% of a graduateʼs coursework,” he said.

Ave Maria University

Daniel Davy, dean of faculty and associate professor of history at Ave Maria University in southwest Florida, told EWTN News that Pope Leo’s “concern for preserving genuine human formation, rather than outsourcing it to a machine, is at the heart of AMUʼs approach to teaching and learning” but noted that the university does not have plans to institute a university-wide AI ban.

“AMU approaches AI with what Pope Leo XIV calls in the encyclical a spirit of ‘prudence, rigorous evaluation and even, at times, a slower pace’ (par. 106), rather than either uncritical adoption or blanket prohibition,” Davy said in an email.

“AMU does not have a university-wide AI ban comparable to the University of Chicagoʼs Social Sciences Core policy; academic policy here is set at the course and department level, since pedagogical needs vary by discipline,” he continued, noting that the university’s academic honor code bans use of generative AI in any part of the writing process and in all freshmen- and sophomore-level courses.

“We are far less concerned with whether a student turns in a perfectly polished paper than with how the student grows through the act of trying to communicate an idea,” Davy said. “This is where generative AI poses its deepest danger, because it offloads the process of thinking onto a machine that cannot, in fact, think. Outsourcing that struggle diminishes a studentʼs own capacity to encounter truth more deeply in each discipline, and through that truth, ultimately, Christ, to whom every field of knowledge points.”

University of Mary

“Here at Mary, one of our charisms is Friendship with Truth,” David Echelbarger, vice president for academic affairs at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, told EWTN News. “Because we are made in the image of a Triune God who is himself a communion of Persons,” he said, “we are not made to arrive at the truth alone. We come to it through dialogue and conversation with other people.” 

“One concern with AI, then, is that it turns learning into an isolated, impersonal endeavor,” he said. “To counter that, many of our professors are incorporating into their courses activities that require hard and rigorous thinking together.”

Additionally, he said, all faculty members have been asked to place an AI policy on each of their assignments, clarifying the degree to which the technology is permitted for each individual assignment, “which is meant to help students understand when the use of AI is a hindrance to their intellectual formation and when it is a helpful learning tool.”

Benedictine College

Mariele Courtois, assistant professor of theology and director of the Center for Technology and Human Dignity at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, told EWTN News that the college’s “Academic Misconduct” statement was recently updated “to clearly state that AI cannot be used ‘in place of a student’s own effort,’ in order to respect the learning process and the special connection between students and their academic work, which should reveal the students’ own personalities and convictions.”

“While some classes, especially in the STEM fields, may utilize or learn about AI — including its function, risks, dangers, and potential promises — many professors choose to make their classes AI-free both in the lecture hall and for homework, especially in Theology and the humanities,” Courtois said in an email. “Benedictine College respects the prudential judgment of professors to make the pedagogical choices that are best suited to their particular class goals and the aims of their respective disciplines.”

Courtois noted the college’s Center for Technology and Human Dignity was recently founded “to help guide discussions about rising biomedical and digital technologies in light of Catholic moral teaching.”

In addition, she said, the theme of the college’s annual Symposium on Transforming Culture on Sept. 4–5 will be “The Church in an Algorithmic Age” and “will bring together intellectuals and students from many fields and business sectors to discuss the ethical questions and social implications for transformative technologies such as AI.”

University of St. Thomas

“With Pope Leo XIV, UST is alive both to the ways in which AI can serve the human and the ways in which the human can be made to serve the work of His hands,” Thomas Harmon, professor of theology and director of the University of St. Thomas’ honors program special projects, told EWTN News.

Harmon said the university, located in Houston, does not have a blanket ban on artificial intelligence but noted that many core courses prohibit screens and emphasize developing students’ own skills rather than relying on AI.

“We regard AI as an important and potentially very useful technology that needs to be utilized in ways that serve rather than replace human excellence, which requires training, formation, practice, and guidance by faculty mentors who themselves have already cultivated the habits we want our students to develop,” he said.

“Since it is so new, the ways in which it can be responsibly integrated into an excellent liberal education are not all clear yet, but we are confident that we will be able to integrate this new technology analogously to the ways in which we have integrated other useful technologies like books, pencils, white boards, and computers,” Harmon said.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of a major pro-life advocacy group, said President Donald Trump’s new nominee for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, Dr. Heidi Overton, is “the right person for the job.”

“Iʼm very impressed with her credentials and her pro-life heart,” Dannenfelser said in an Aug. 26 interview with “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly” anchor Abigail Galván. “She, behind the scenes, was working very hard to make sure that the FDA was moving in the right direction on a new study to base further action on.”

The position became vacant after Dr. Marty Makary was fired and is currently filled by acting commissioner Kyle Diamantas, whom Dannenfelser also described as “a very strong pro-life person.”

“We’ve been extremely disappointed from the beginning of the administration with the direction of the FDA and the inaction from the Department of Justice, or the undermining of the pro-life priorities at the Department of Justice,” Dannenfelser said. “What I think is that her naming is an indication of the right direction that … this administration is now taking.”

Confirmation hearings will begin as soon as the Senate is back in session. Dannenfelser said she anticipates the hearings “will probably go pretty well.”

“Now, it doesnʼt mean that the hard questions shouldnʼt be asked,” she said. “They must be asked, and one of those questions would be the direction of the study: How long it will take? What do you see about preliminary findings come out that the court has ordered to be communicated in early October? And do you support the Department of Justice doing what it can to settle this case and get the drugs immediately out of the mail?”

“Because there is a challenge from the state of Louisiana, representing many states, that are saying what we all know: They have basically nullified those state laws,” she continued. “Theyʼve put a burden on states to help women that should never have been in a horrible situation. So while itʼs a question about the Department of Justice, one should not claim that the FDA is the only entity that can do something about fixing this horrific problem that is occurring for children and women in this nation.”

Dannenfelser called for a return to the first Trump administration policy on abortion drugs.

“Weʼve been battling for quite some time from the beginning of this administration to get these drugs out of the mail, and all weʼre hoping for, and what all any sane voter wants to see, is that on the at least on the Republican side, that we return to the first Trump administration policy on the distribution of these drugs, that only in a Biden administration that put on an emergency cloak around the distribution around the COVID moment,” she said.

“Itʼs time to restore the first Trump administration rules — no reason why we shouldnʼt,” she said. “The DOJ can act now and should.”

At the conclusion of his visit to Moscow, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican's Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, met with the clergy, religious men and women, and celebrated Mass in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, attended by the Catholic bishops of the country. In his homily, he encouraged, “The Gospel calls us to become true artisans of peace in our daily lives.”

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When a storm pummeled the electric grid and plunged much of northwest Indiana into darkness two weeks ago, Karen Simon was grateful she had a generator at her house to keep her refrigerator running so her food wouldn’t spoil.

But unlike most people, she had another set of refrigerators to worry about — the commercial ones at the food pantry she coordinates at her parish, St. Mary of the Lake in Gary.

“I have two or three freezers full of meat. I have two refrigerators full of refrigerated items. Panic sets in, because I do not have a generator there,” Simon told the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News.

Not having an alternative power source, Simon was able to secure alternative storage options for the food, allowing St. Mary’s to continue serving the poor as some in the region enter their third week without electricity.

The outages began on Aug. 11, when 100 mph wind gusts and heavy rain blew through northwest Indiana and east Chicago. Numerous municipalities in northern Indiana including Gary, Portage, Lake Station, and Munster suffered widespread power outages, with as many as 400,000 customers affected at the peak.

Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) announced that power would be restored for nearly all of its customers in the area by Aug. 25. But more than 7,000 customers in Gary were without power for two weeks. The outages heavily affected the predominantly African American city of about 70,000 people, which has a poverty rate of about 33%, more than three times higher than the national average.

Indiana’s Republican governor, Mike Braun, called for an investigation into NIPSCO over the lengthy outages.

‘Trying to meet the need’

While conditions were extremely difficult, they also fostered solidarity.

When Simon was searching for alternative options for storing St. Mary’s perishable food pantry items, she started calling around to other ministries around Gary that the Catholic food bank works alongside. Many of them were also struggling due to the lack of electricity, but a nearby Christian church that still had power offered to keep 100 containers of milk cold, while the local secular food bank was able to keep the meat frozen.

Last Saturday, the volunteers at St. Mary’s loaded up their cars and distributed nonperishable food to 200 households in a local housing complex, including for several people with disabilities who were trapped with nonfunctioning elevators amid the blackout. Other parishes around Gary, along with local Knights of Columbus councils, also stepped up to offer food and other aid to their neighbors.

Bishop Robert McClory of the Diocese of Gary said in an Aug. 14 social media message that the trying times in the region are an “opportunity for us ... to be attentive to each other’s needs, to check in on your neighbors."

“I know many of us have already experienced a certain solidarity coming together with our neighbors during this time of need,” McClory continued. “Now is our opportunity to allow our Christian witness to shine forth. Know that you’ll all be in my prayers, and as we work together to navigate through this, we trust in the Lord, and we seek, as St. Paul says, to bear each other’s burdens.”

Terry Seljan, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Gary, told the Register that while roughly 99% of those who had lost power have now had it restored, significant needs remain among residents recovering from the recent storms.

Many people had to throw away food from refrigerators and freezers and are seeking assistance to restock their food, he explained. Others whose sump pumps stopped working during the heavy rain lost appliances, mattresses, and other belongings due to water damage. Additionally, some people who were unable to work while local businesses were shut down are seeking help with rent, while others need building supplies to make home repairs they cannot afford to address through insurance.

Seljan said the organization is focusing primarily on providing financial assistance and is asking those who want to help to donate through its website.

Prayers are ‘greatly appreciated’

With the help of roughly 60 regular volunteers, the St. Mary of the Lake pantry normally distributes mostly nonperishable food on the third Monday of each month. Normally at this time of year, the pantry serves about 155 households, or roughly 450 individuals.

Amid the power outages, St. Mary’s also donated some 1,400 pounds of fresh produce grown at a massive community garden associated with the parish to the local fire station for further distribution.

Father Jayababu Nuthulapati, rector of the Cathedral of the Holy Angels in Gary and pastor of two other parishes, including St. Mary of the Lake, told the Register that prayers for their community are greatly appreciated.

“[The storm] was very devastating,” he said, but “we never stopped feeding the poor.”

“We continue doing that even in the difficult moments, because we want to be out there for the people. And I’m very grateful for the volunteers,” Nuthulapati said.

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago and Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Gary have also been highly engaged, addressing the immediate and ongoing needs in the communities affected by the blackouts, including food, clothing, and housing assistance. 

On Aug. 22, the Chicago Bears announced a donation of $100,000 to the Chicago and Gary Catholic Charities to help them in this work. 

While St. Mary of the Lake’s pantry is managing with the help of the wider community, the church is currently seeking the donation of a backup generator to protect the investment of its food in the case of another emergency like this, Nuthulapati added.

For Simon, the experience has been a heartwarming show of community cooperation and a chance to practice gratitude.

“Thank God that we have what we have,” she said. “It could be worse. It could be a lot worse.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, the sister partner of EWTN News, and has been adapted by EWTN News.

The Diocese of Knoxville is mourning the passing of American artist and Tennessee native Dolly Parton and reflecting on her legacy.

“I am very sorry to hear of her passing, and I am praying for those who are mourning her loss,” said Bishop Mark Beckman of Knoxville in a statement. "She made a wonderful contribution to our world and our community, and she will be greatly missed.”

The artist passed away on Aug. 25 at the age of 80 following a brief battle with cancer. Parton is being remembered across the world for her work as a singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman, and philanthropist whose career spanned over 60 years.

“East Tennessee knew Dolly Parton as more than a world-famous star. We knew her as one of our own,” the diocese said in a statement.

“She was shaped by these hills and these churches. Her life shows what can grow from faith, perseverance, imagination, and love for oneʼs neighbors — even from humble beginnings,” the statement said.

Parton, who was not Catholic, sang and spoke frequently about her Christian faith and love for Jesus. Some of her public views — including her support for same‑sex marriage — differed from Catholic teaching. She was publicly silent on her views about abortion.

“She first sang in a small Pentecostal church, long before the world knew her name,” the diocesan statement said. Parton included the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame in her Dollywood theme park.

“She never hid her faith. It showed up in the hymns she recorded across six decades, in how openly she talked about God, and in the millions of free books her Imagination Library has placed in childrenʼs hands,” the statement said.

Parton’s “life carried the spirit of our mountain home far beyond the Smokies,” the statement said.

“As Catholics, we entrust her to the mercy of Almighty God. We pray that Jesus, who is the resurrection and the life, will receive her into His eternal kingdom,” the statement said.

Remembering Parton’s ‘generosity’

Father Jim Sichko, a papal missionary of mercy who has repeatedly referred to Parton as a friend, also mourned the artist’s passing, calling her “a woman whose extraordinary gifts reached far beyond the stage.”

“As a Papal Missionary of Mercy, I will remember Dolly not simply as an icon of American music, but as a woman who understood that blessings are meant to be shared,” Sichko said in a statement.

Sichko, a priest of the Diocese of Lexington, said he “had the privilege of welcoming Dolly to my church on several occasions.” He added: “She generously used her presence and influence to help raise money to support my ministry and its work of mercy.”

Parton “never forgot where she came from, and she never seemed to forget the people who needed a helping hand,” Sichko said.

“Her faith, generosity, humor, and unmistakable spirit touched millions,” he said.

"My faith impacts everything that I do because I do believe that, through God, all things are possible,” Parton said in a 2023 interview with Fox News. “And so I always ask God to bless everything that I do and the people that I work with and to bring all the right things and right people into my life and to take the wrong ones out.”

“So, I try to just live through love as much as I can,” Parton said.

Pope Leo XIV has offered prayers and condolences to the victims of major floods along the Nepal-China border that have claimed several hundred lives so far.

The flooding disaster was driven by what the U.S. Geological Survey said was a glacial collapse near the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, one that displaced huge volumes of water and generated catastrophic flooding downstream.

Videos circulating on social media from closed-circuit camera footage showed massive waves of water rushing across the landscape and overtaking entire structures as local residents ran for their lives.

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In an Aug. 27 telegram sent on behalf of the Holy Father, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the pope was “saddened to learn of the loss of life and devastation” caused by the floods.

“Commending the souls of the deceased to the clemency of the Almighty, His Holiness sends heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved, together with the assurance of his spiritual closeness to those affected by this tragedy,” the telegram said.

“Likewise offering prayers for the emergency personnel engaged in the ongoing rescue efforts, [the pope] invokes upon all divine assistance and protection,” the message continued.

The tragedy has resulted in a global outpouring of support, with governments and humanitarian organizations mobilizing to respond to the catastrophe with resources and assistance.

The U.S. Department of State said it was deploying a “disaster response advisor” to the region to help manage rescue and cleanup efforts. The government said it would also distribute $500,000 in assistance via Catholic Relief Services.

The United Nations, meanwhile, said it had released $2 million from its Global Emergency Fund to provide emergency medical care, water, and shelter to those affected by the flooding.

Workers with the U.N. World Food Programme and the U.N. Children’s Fund were also being deployed to the region with supply trucks.

A communications conference in Rome in 2027 will explore how Catholic journalists and media professionals can help foster a climate of trust.

The convocation for “Nurturing Unity Through Communication” will be hosted by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome from Feb. 2–4, 2027. Typically held every two years, it will be the 15th edition of the Professional Seminar for Church Communications Offices.

The event is being organized in collaboration with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication and is expected to draw over 500 participants, including Catholic communications professionals from dioceses, religious orders, and episcopal conferences.

Conference sponsors also include EWTN News, Rome Reports, and the Pontifical Mission Societies.

According to the event website, the gathering will invite participants to reflect “on the role of institutional communication as a path toward fostering unity and concord both within and beyond the Church.”

The seminar is also inspired by Pope Leo XIV’s call for Catholic media professionals to strive for peace in their work.

“Addressing communicators in his first public audience as pope, Leo XIV reminded them: ‘Peace begins with each one of us: with the way we look at others, listen to others, speak about others; and, in this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance: We must say ‘no’ to the war of words and images; we must reject the paradigm of war.’”

The conference will include plenary and parallel sessions covering topics ranging from social media to encouraging diversity rather than promoting division in the Church through media.

EWTN Chairman and CEO Michael Warsaw will speak on the topic “Leading Through Digital Disruption: Building Community in a Changing Media Landscape.” EWTN Vice President and Chief Global Officer Andreas Thonhauser, meanwhile, will moderate a discussion of “AI and Magnifica Humanitas: Reflections One Year On.”

Registration for the conference is open until Dec. 1 and can be made through the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross by clicking here.

The mortal remains of Saint Monica, the mother of St Augustine, were discovered near the church of Sant’Aurea, close to the ruins of Rome’s ancient river port of Ostia, in the 15th century. Transferred to the capital by the Augustinian friars with the permission of Pope Martin V, they are now enshrined in the Roman basilica of St Augustine in Campo Marzio, in a special chapel.

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An update on the natural disaster that occurred on the border with Tibet, and the warning climatologist Cat Berro of the Italian Meteorological Society: “Globally, there is a greater likelihood of large-scale landslides occurring, which may affect glaciers. The retreat of glaciers and the thawing of permafrost are leading to a general destabilisation of high-mountain regions.”

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Pope Leo XIV has highlighted the importance of the family in preventing drug addiction in young people, saying that there is “no better defense against drugs than a good family.”

The pontiff made these remarks during a private audience on Aug. 27 with participants in a conference on drug abuse, promoted by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America (CAL). According to Vatican News, the conference is being held from Aug. 25–27 and focuses on preventing drug addiction and the criminal recruitment of young people in Central and South America.

Leo will make his first apostolic journey to South America from Nov. 6–17, visiting 10 cities across Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru. He previously served as a missionary and bishop in Peru.

Families can help those suffering from drug addiction

In his address, Leo discussed the challenge of drug addiction in young people and its consequences for the family.

“Today, we bear witness to the pain of many broken families, whether due to drug use, violence, the criminal recruitment of a child, poverty, or the lack of opportunities that push people to the margins of society,” Leo explained.

To solve this, the pope said, would require reemphasizing the family as the “domestic church.”

“St. John Paul II asked us to make the Church ‘the home and school of communion.’”

“The family, which the Second Vatican Council rightly called the ‘domestic church,‘ is the place where life is nurtured, cared for, and planned. There is no better defense against drugs than a good family,” Leo said.

Inspiration by Pope Francis

According to Vatican News, the conference drew inspiration from the actions of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who would later become Pope Francis. As the former archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, he supported the project “Familia Grande del Hogar de Cristo,” a network of community centers that supports people battling drug addiction and social vulnerability.

Shortly after being elected pope in 2013, Francis traveled to Brazil for that year’s World Youth Day. During a visit to a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, he sharply criticized drug traffickers as “dealers of death.”

“How many ‘dealers of death’ there are that follow the logic of power and money at any cost,” Francis lamented in his address. He would echo those sentiments again in a general audience in June 2024, calling drug traffickers “murderers.”

Leo cited Francis in his address, reminding those present that Jesus wants the Church “to touch human misery, to touch the suffering flesh of others.”

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo has called on Christian legislators from around the world to “reject automated warfare” and support strong limits that keep the technology of artificial intelligence under human control.

“As representatives of the people, your mandate is clear: You must champion an immediate, binding international ban on fully autonomous lethal weapons,” the cardinal and archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar, said in Assisi, Italy, on Aug. 24.

“To automate the battlefield is to lower the moral threshold for violence, stripping conflict of human conscience and turning our sons, daughters, and citizens into bloodless data points,” he added.

Bo addressed lawmakers during a one-day peace summit organized by the International Catholic Legislators Network (ICLN) on Aug. 24. The summit immediately followed the group’s annual meeting in Rome Aug. 20–23, which included a private audience with Pope Leo XIV.

Bo — whose country has been suffering for years under unrelenting violence, economic collapse, and dramatic humanitarian concerns — gave a strong warning about AI’s “potential to amplify human conflicts and malice.”

“Human conflicts alone resulted in the deaths of 135 million people in the 20th century,” he said. “Now, we have a new lethal actor: AI in the hands of a few, in some countries, who perceive AI as the bride of geostrategic power games.”

The cardinal sounded the alarm about “a terrifying marriage of autocratic monopolies and automated surveillance” that replaces human freedom; he urged legislators not to give in to the pressure to adopt a “There Is No Alternative (TINA) narrative.”

“As lawmakers and Christians, we are called upon to embrace a different TINA: ‘There Is a New Alternative.’ This alternative involves human-led AI that would bring greater prosperity and ultimately lead to durable peace for all,” he said.

‘Christ is our model’

Acknowledging that his prognosis about AI may appear pessimistic or even dystopian, Bo recalled that the objective is to shape a society grounded in lasting peace.

“Between dystopian reaction and utopian celebration, humanity requires a guiding beacon in its journey. For men and women of faith, Christ serves as that beacon, the savior sent to remind humanity of its earthly and heavenly path,” he said.

“Christ is our model,” he continued. “Christ’s warning in Matthew 26:52 rings across history: ‘Put your sword back in its place... for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.’ When you delegate lethal force to an autonomous weapon system, the concept of a ‘moral agent’ collapses entirely. A machine cannot possess a right intention; it cannot comprehend grief, mercy, or the sacred value of a human life. It can only execute statistical optimization.”

The cardinal reminded Christian lawmakers of their responsibility to the people who elected them.

“Your faith is not a private luxury to be hidden away; it is a public covenant to build peace in a world tearing at the seams,” he said.

“We live in an era uniquely troubled by global war, civic unrest, and crushing economic upheaval, but Christ calls Christian leaders to a radically different, courageous path,” he added, quoting Christ’s words in Matthew 5:9, that “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

“Notice carefully that he does not bless the ‘peace-lovers’ or the ‘peace-wishers.’ He blesses the peacemakers — those who actively build bridges, enforce structural justice, and cultivate narrative empathy across bitter political and social divides,” he said.

True leaders in AI regulation

Bo noted the presence of Christopher Olah, a co-founder of Anthropic and machine learning researcher, at the May presentation of Pope Leo’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, and called it a sign that “the architects of our digital future are begging for governance. They are confessing that while they understand the code, they do not have the answers for human dignity.”

“If you refuse to regulate, if you accept the myth of technological inevitability, you are abdicating your sovereign duty to the people who elected you,” he said.

“In the words of St. Francis of Assisi, remember that ‘all the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle,’” the cardinal said. “Let your governance be that candle. Stand up as true leaders. Establish binding legal guardrails, demand corporate transparency, reject the automation of human slaughter, and ensure that technology remains entirely subservient to the magnificent humanity that God has entrusted to our care.”

Pope Leo XIV welcomed Lutheran bishops from the Church of Norway for a formal Vatican audience on Aug. 26, urging Christians to seek “paths of reconciliation and fraternity” amid what he described as a “particularly turbulent period” marked by growing hostility in political and social life.

The meeting highlights deepening ecumenical ties as Norway prepares to mark the 1,000th anniversary of its Christianization. The upcoming 2030 millennium commemorates 1,000 years since the pivotal Battle of Stiklestad in 1030, where King Olav Haraldsson was martyred. His death ultimately cemented the nation’s conversion to Christianity and established St. Olav as Norway’s patron saint.

Norwegian Catholic leaders greeted the historic Vatican encounter with great joy. “We have excellent ecumenical relations with the Church of Norway and are pleased that the bishops have an opportunity to meet Pope Leo XIV,” Bishop Fredrik Hansen of Oslo said. “We look forward to the millennium of Norway’s conversion and hope this jubilee will give occasion for broad ecumenical collaboration.”

Before visiting Rome, Presiding Lutheran Bishop Olav Fykse Tveit announced he would use the papal audience to invite Pope Leo XIV to the upcoming jubilee celebrations in Norway.

The pope closed the meeting by praying that Catholics and Lutherans live “ever more truly as brothers and sisters” and give “common witness to our savior, Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

A petition for a special year of jubilee

To mark this national milestone, Norway’s Catholic leadership, represented by Hansen and Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim, formally petitioned Pope Leo XIV to declare a special year of jubilee for the Catholic Church in Norway running from July 29, 2030, through Aug. 3, 2031.

Explaining the significance of the dates, Varden explained that St. Olav is the centerpiece of the upcoming millennium. “29 July 2030 will mark the millennium of his martyr’s death at Stiklestad; 3 August 2031 will mark the millennium of his exhumation, when his body was found incorrupt,” he noted. “On that day he was proclaimed a saint not just for Norway, but for all of Christendom.”

For Catholics, a jubilee year serves as a period of special grace centered on prayer, pilgrimage, and reconciliation.

Hansen highlighted that the year will allow local Catholics and international pilgrims to walk in St. Olavʼs footsteps while renewing their faith “in gratitude for the Christian patrimony with which Norway has been blessed.” He added that the celebration will help the faithful keep “their eyes set on the Church’s present and future task in this country.”

A model of conversion and national identity

Speaking to EWTN News, Varden noted St. Olav’s life as a compelling witness for people who feel alienated from organized religion. Rather than viewing the saint as an untouchable historical figure, Varden pointed to his personal transformation.

“What attracts us in the life of any saint is to see how grace works over time and gradually transforms a person,” Varden said, describing the young king as “headstrong, ambitious, self-assured, [and] proud.”

Yet Olav was “increasingly drawn into Christ’s gentle mystery, fascinated by the all-reconciling love displayed in the cross,” making him “a model of conversion” for modern believers. Varden also noted that at the end of Olav’s life, Christ’s love was “the only thing that really mattered to him.”

Looking ahead to the jubilee’s pastoral impact, the prelate noted that his diocese began preparations years ago, choosing to use the millennium as “an opportunity to renew our baptismal promises.”

“We want to re-root ourselves in the essence of our faith,” he explained, adding that he hopes visiting pilgrims will discover the “fascination and freeing power” of Nordic Christianity. He noted Norway’s patrimony expressed across liturgy, literature, and architecture, which represents a “flowering of sanctity” that the Nordic Church is eager to share with the world.

This vision could also pave the way for a potential papal visit during the jubilee period.

Restoring Nidaros and looking toward 2033

Nidaros, the medieval name for present-day Trondheim, was one of northern Europe’s most important Christian pilgrimage centers. The city became the focal point of devotion to St. Olav, whose shrine at Nidaros Cathedral drew pilgrims from across Scandinavia and beyond.

“The cult of St. Olav spread with great speed in the 11th century,” Varden said, noting that it “nurtured apostolic efforts and the founding of churches throughout northern Europe.” He sees the revival of the pilgrimage as a means of recovering that Christian heritage, calling it “an aid to rereading the Christian history of our continent” and a source of inspiration for “endeavors of new evangelization.”

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As artificial intelligence increasingly shapes the way people work, communicate, learn and make decisions, two Filipino Dominican theologians are inviting the Catholic Church to look beyond the technology itself and ask a deeper question: How can AI be developed and used in ways that safeguard human dignity and serve the common good?

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p/c NYT. Middle-Eastern military-aged men entering Spain. In part 1, Race Relations Part 1: The State, we discussed "dialectical racism" at the level of the State, namely, the deceit of modern Marxists to overturn Western civilization under the pretext of being "non-racists."  Today, we will see how something similar happens within (or rather, against) the [...]

The Communion Project initiative hopes to repair polarization in the U.S. Church and aid the Church in offering a better and more joyful witness in a divided country, organizers said.

“Unfortunately, too often Catholics and Catholic leaders are acting more like thermometers instead of thermostats,” Jonathan Lewis, mission strategy officer for the Paulist Fathers and co-director of the Communion Project, told EWTN News.

“Weʼre reading the temperature of the room or the culture, instead of setting the temperature according to our values and the truths of the Church,” he said.

“So, part of what this effort is aimed to do is to lower the temperature of division and distrust, starting with those of us Catholics who call ourselves brothers and sisters, who are a real spiritual family,” Lewis said.

“As we approach any election season, thereʼs always a need to help lower the temperature, have more thoughtful conversations, discern our Catholic values,” he said.

The Catholic initiative hopes to heal toxic polarization in the Church by creating dialogue, providing resources, promoting unity through national communication methods, and by aiding local communities to create unification at their level, organizers said. Exact plans are still being formed.

“Weʼre just beginning … and trying to share,” Lewis said. “Weʼre starting with a lot of resources” and “adapting resources that already existed.”

“Then weʼre planning, over the next year or two years, to develop programs for dioceses and organizations and religious communities, students in Catholic schools.”

The movement to start the project began in 2022 at the Paulist Fathers’ general assembly.

“One of the priorities of the Paulists is to read the signs of the times, like the Second Vatican Council tells us to do, so that we can respond in a spirit-filled way,” Lewis said.

At the gathering, they discussed “the realities of the United States and the Church in the United States today that we need to respond to or engage,” he said. “And thatʼs when the topic of toxic polarization emerged.”

"The polarization affecting the U.S. Catholic Church is not merely a matter of policy dispute or partisan loyalty,” said Father Ricky Manalo, CSP, co-director of the Communion Project. “It is a deeply spiritual and relational rupture, shaping how Catholics imagine moral life, celebrate the sacraments, interpret tradition, and remain in communion amid difference.”

“Within Catholic life, polarization is more than disagreement; it is the loss of our capacity to remain in relationship, even amid difference, as one body in Christ,” he said.

Inspired by Pope Francis, the group founded The Paulist Initiative on Polarization as a national partnership of Catholic leaders committed to strengthening unity across political, theological, and cultural divisions.

In 2025, the effort was renamed the Communion Project following Pope Leo XIV’s public commitment to building communion in the Church.

“This is really a priority of Pope Leo,” Lewis said. “In his first inaugural Mass, Pope Leo said his first great desire would be for a unified Church in communion. We really see this as an initiative that is trying to live out the message and the priority of the Holy Father.”

Polarization in the U.S.

When people think of polarization, they usually first think of “left and right politics, Republicans, Democrats,” Lewis said. “And certainly thatʼs one area, but I really see polarization showing up in a lot of different ways.”

“This isnʼt only in public life or in politics, where one might expect, itʼs also in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States,” Lewis said.

It can come up due to division surrounding the liturgy, or cultural or generational differences, but ultimately the goal is to remind Catholics of shared beliefs and values.

The project hopes to help the faithful “see that while people might prioritize different dimensions of our Catholic social teaching, thereʼs unity within that work, and we need to bring people together,” Lewis said.

For example, the Church has a mission to protect human dignity, and “some people focus on ending the death penalty,” while “other people might focus on ending abortion and the work of the pro-life movement,” Lewis explained. “Even if weʼre working in different areas, those areas are not in conflict.”

Connection through communication

The initiative’s resources and formation experiences are organized around three interconnected dimensions: the head, the heart, and the hands.

The project offers a “development of resources that impact our head, meaning our knowledge and our self-awareness,” and “also our hearts in terms of our prayer and discernment,” Lewis said.

There are also resources that impact “our hands,” which focus on “building skills and building relationships,” Lewis said.

“So we want to help organizations and churches work with leaders in particular, to equip them with the resources and programming to help them make a positive impact in their local community,” he said.

The resources can be found in the Communion Project’s “resource library” on its website, which offers a number of options for people to independently utilize or bring to a group. It also offers gatherings and workshops to aid its cause.

In the online library, people can find upcoming events, online courses, prayers for communion, articles, learning sessions to be used in small groups, and a Communion Project podcast.

It also has educational videos provided by outside organizations including Georgetown University, University of Notre Dame, and Boston College.

So far the podcast has included conversations with Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore on what happens when the faithful stop seeing one another as brothers and sisters, and University of Notre Dameʼs Tim O’Malley on liturgical division and what it means to live in communion with people.

The first episode featured a conversation “with Tim Busch, founder of Napa Institute, and Father James Martin from America Media, two people who speak to very different parts of the Church … but have developed a personal friendship,” Lewis said.

“It was a great opportunity to put people in the same place to talk about their friendship, of their shared faith, realizing that what unites us is so much stronger than what divides us,” he said.

“What matters most is gathering around a particular Eucharistic table and a particular family table and having hard conversations or sitting in discomfort, because love compels us to do hard things,” Lewis said.

The initiative is only “just beginning in terms of programming and trying to share.” But since starting, “thereʼs a great interest” among local communities wanting to be involved.

“The path of healing begins not in dominating strength, but in shared vulnerability. When both Church and nation dare to move toward one another — wounded yet willing — they may discover that grace lives precisely in the places we thought were beyond repair,” Manalo said.

An alleged “Eucharistic manifestation” has drawn the attention of the faithful in Guatemala, where a consecrated host reportedly remained intact inside a glass of water, bearing apparent stains of what “could be blood.”

While the event has captured the attention of the Catholic community in the country, the Church has urged the faithful to exercise “prudence and restraint.”

A consecrated host that reportedly failed to dissolve

The Niño Dios (Child God) Cathedral of the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima announced in a statement that the occurrence took place on July 30 during a Mass for Eucharistic Missionary Week held at a private school in Cuilapa, a city located approximately 40 miles southeast of Guatemala City.

According to the statement, during Communion, the priest celebrating the Mass noticed that one of the young people who had received the Eucharist “was taking the sacred host out of his mouth; he quickly approached him and was able to prevent him from discarding it on the floor.”

“Following the guidelines for such cases, the priest placed the sacred host in a glass vessel containing water in the rectory chapel,” the statement explained.

The intention was for the host to dissolve naturally. However, according to the statement, “the following Thursday [Aug. 13], while cleaning the chapel, a parish volunteer noticed that the host had not dissolved and bore red stains that could be blood.”

The discovery was reported to the parish priest, who questioned and took a statement from the volunteer who had noticed the situation. Subsequently, the matter was reported to Bishop José Cayetano Parra Novo of the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima.

‘Prudence and restraint’

The cathedral explicitly urged the faithful to exercise “prudence and restraint.”

“Throughout history, the Church has received testimony regarding the real and substantial presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, under this unique form of manifestation,” the cathedral noted in its statement, cautioning that such cases “have been neither common nor easy to discern; therefore, they cannot be called miracles until a full investigation, which must be carried out and will take time, is concluded.”

The cathedral also announced that the host is being reserved “in a special place and will not be on public display,” while Parra Novo is providing “guidelines for the necessary discernment and to enable a study of this possible Eucharistic manifestation” of the Real Presence.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

Pope Leo XIV expresses his sorrow over the loss of life caused by catastrophic flash floods in Nepal, assuring those affected of his spiritual closeness and praying for rescuers searching for hundreds of missing people.

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Meeting with the Pontificial Commission for Latin America, Pope Leo XIV encourages the Church in Latin America to accompany families that undergo the pain of substance abuse, violence, or poverty.

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The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem spoke on the final day of the Rimini Meeting, calling for greater diplomatic engagement by the West to halt the escalating violence in the Middle East. He also reiterated the need to build hope and foster interreligious dialogue from the ground up, rejecting the dehumanization of the other and supporting the two-state solution.

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When a deadly shooting devastated Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Aug. 27, 2025, a neighboring Catholic parish quietly provided support to the school, opening its doors for the parish school’s needs.

Now, Our Lady of Grace is memorializing that connection in a fresco by Minnesota-based artist Mark Balma.

Balma is in the process of painting two large frescoes at the altar of Our Lady of Grace. On the right, already finished, is an image of Mary and the angel at the Annunciation. Green and blue ribbons painted in the bottom-right corner pay tribute to the school and the community.

“In the centuries-old tradition of Catholic sacred art, images have always carried more than beauty — they carry the prayers, memories, and stories of the communities who create and encounter them,” Rámond Mitchell, director of liturgy for Our Lady of Grace, told EWTN News.

“Sacred art has a unique ability to hold memory, communicate faith, and invite people into prayer,” Mitchell continued.

“Because our two communities had walked so closely with one another through such a difficult time, we wanted to create a lasting remembrance within our own sacred space as a reminder of the people we accompanied, the lives that were forever changed, and the hope and faith that sustained us,” Mitchell said.

Meaning of the ribbons

Balma painted blue-and-green ribbons onto a vase within his Annunciation fresco as a tribute to the community of Annunciation Church and School.

Mitchell explained how blue-and-green ribbons were an important symbol to the community after the shooting.

“Following the shooting, people throughout the surrounding community tied blue-and-green ribbons to doors, trees, lampposts, fences, and other places as a visible sign of solidarity and remembrance,” Mitchell said.

“In the fresco, the ribbons are tied around a water jug beside Mary. We wanted the ribbons to feel integrated into the scene rather than separate from it,” Mitchell continued. “The water jug is an ordinary object, much like the ordinary details of daily life that surrounded Mary when the angel appeared to her.”

“In that way, the ribbons become part of an ordinary moment that has been transformed by the presence of God and a reminder of the Annunciation community and of the sacredness of their lives and stories,” Mitchell continued.

Balma, who was in the Twin Cities at the time of the shooting, was asked to “find a way to honor the Annunciation community.”

“This tragedy really touched me and I prayed for guidance at how to best honor the children and families,” Balma told EWTN News.

“As a painter I try to find within Scriptures a word or concept that might help me unlock a vision to reveal a fresh way to transform the words into images,” Balma said. “For instance in the Annunciation fresco, the line ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord’ became the focal point of the imagery.”

“My concept for the Annunciation fresco is different than most historical depictions. They usually place an older-looking Mary in a room or cloister visited by Gabriel and the Holy Spirit,” Balma said. “As I studied the Scriptures, I found no reference to her being in a room.”

Balma pointed out that at the time of the Annunciation, Mary “was not that much older than the children” of Annunciation School.

“I imagined the 14-year-old Mary as carrying on her daily chores like going to the well for water,” Balma said. “So full of beautiful symbolism, the water vase then became the place I could attach the ribbons that were placed in the community in remembrance of the children.”

“Water is healing, and tying the ribbons around the vase seemed to be the heartfelt way to honor the children,” Balma said.

Sister communities

The community at Our Lady of Grace stepped up after the shooting; it was a tragedy that struck them deeply.

“Annunciation is not far from Our Lady of Grace, and there have long been many connections between our two communities,” Mitchell said. “Some of our parishioners attended Annunciation themselves, while others have children or grandchildren who attended the school. Our teachers knew teachers there, and some members of our parish community were neighbors or friends of students, staff, and families affected by the shooting.”

“Because of those relationships, the tragedy was felt very deeply at Our Lady of Grace,” Mitchell said. “In the aftermath, our parish and school community was able to offer a place of safety, hospitality, prayer, and support. Our campus became a place where members of the Annunciation community could simply be together when so much of their world had been disrupted.”

The principal of Annunciation was present at the live painting session when Balma painted the ribbons into the fresco, which was a particularly significant moment, Mitchell said.

“Having members of the Annunciation community participate in and witness the creation of the work has made the memorial even more meaningful,” Mitchell said.

WASHINGTON – “I exhort the international community to mobilize greater humanitarian assistance support for vulnerable families and communities in Nepal,” said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, commenting on the deadly flashfloods in Nepal.  

Bishop Zaidan’s statement follows: 

“As we learn more about the devastating flashfloods in Nepal, I offer the prayers and solidarity of the Catholic community in the United States for our brothers and sisters impacted by this disaster. I exhort the international community to mobilize greater humanitarian assistance support for vulnerable families and communities in Nepal. I also encourage long-term efforts to help affected communities rebuild their homes, livelihoods, and critical infrastructure. 

“Catholic Relief Services, the international relief agency of the Church in the United States, is closely monitoring the emergency, and coordinating with Caritas Nepal and local partners to assess urgent needs and determine how best to support affected communities. We appreciate the partnership of the U.S. government in supporting CRS’ essential work in these communities. We are also grateful to hear that the U.S. Department of State is closely monitoring the situation and deploying key personnel to support response efforts. 

“May the Immaculate Heart of Mary provide consolation and shelter to all those affected by this disaster, and may she inspire the international community to work together, as one family, to address the urgent needs of the Nepalese people.”   

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Since the fourth century, Christians have revered St. Monica, the mother of Church Father St. Augustine, as a woman of unwavering faith in God.

In an interview with EWTN News reporter Valentina Di Donato, two Augustinian priests living in Rome explained why the woman they refer to as their “grandmother” continues to be a source of hope and inspiration, especially for Catholic wives and mothers.

Augustinian Father Angelo Di Berardino, who has worked and lived at the Augustinian International College of Santa Monica in Rome for 50 years, said St. Monica had a great interior strength that influenced all members of her family.

“Respecting her husband, she was able to convert him,” Di Berardino told EWTN News. “Then, she was a strong woman to educate her three children, especially Augustine.”

“I think she was so strong in her life, in her prayer, that she had a great influence on the great theologian Augustine,” he added.

According to Augustinian Father Edward Daleng Daniang, vice regent of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household and former general counsellor and procurator general of the Order of St. Augustine, St. Monica is the saint to turn to for spouses who feel alone in their desire to create a Christian family home.

“St. Monica did not have it easy with her husband Patrick,” he said. “She tried to win him with her love, with her patience and endurance and tolerance and, above all, bringing her husband to God through prayer.”

Describing the ancient saint as a “living example” of a mother who does not give up on her children, Daniang said those struggling with their children can have hope that their prayers, and tears, are never wasted.

“St. Monica was struggling with her son St. Augustine who wandered away from home,” he said. “He left Monica, his mother, to come to Italy in those days and Monica did not give up.”

“He left the faith which she tried to transmit to him but she did not give up,” he emphasized.

Following her son to Italy, Daniang said her main intention of leaving Africa was not to bring her son back home but to lead her son to Jesus Christ for the salvation of his soul.

“St. Monica stands as someone who led her husband to God, to Christ, and also brought her son St. Augustine to Christ,” he said.

“That’s bringing the unity of family together,” he added.

This story was first published on Aug. 27, 2025, and has been updated.