Like a collage made of layered sheets of colored cellophane, a vibrant new image layers observations of a famous star-forming nebula from NASA space telescopes. The resulting cosmic “craft” reveals new details about the star formation region known as 30 Doradus, or the Tarantula Nebula.
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Panixersee (Lag da Pigniu) above Andiast, Switzerland. Rock face above the reservoir.
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Rising to a height of over 180 feet from ground level, the statue of Our Lady of Mercy exceeds in height the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil and the Christ the King statue in Poland.
A reading from the Book of Ezekiel
28:1-10
The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man,
say to the prince of Tyre:
Thus says the Lord GOD:
Because you are haughty of heart,
you say, ?A god am I!
I occupy a godly throne
in the heart of the sea!??
And yet you are a man, and not a god,
however you may think yourself like a god.
Oh yes, you are wiser than Daniel,
there is no secret that is beyond you.
By your wisdom and your intelligence
you have made riches for yourself;
You have put gold and silver
into your treasuries.
By your great wisdom applied to your trading
you have heaped up your riches;
your heart has grown haughty from your riches?
therefore thus says the Lord GOD:
Because you have thought yourself
to have the mind of a god,
Therefore I will bring against you
foreigners, the most barbarous of nations.
They shall draw their swords
against your beauteous wisdom,
they shall run them through your splendid apparel.
They shall thrust you down to the pit, there to die
a bloodied corpse, in the heart of the sea.
Will you then say, ?I am a god!?
when you face your murderers?
No, you are man, not a god,
handed over to those who will slay you.
You shall die the death of the uncircumcised
at the hands of foreigners,
for I have spoken, says the Lord GOD.
From the Gospel according to Matthew
19:23-30
Jesus said to his disciples:
?Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich
to enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Again I say to you,
it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.?
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said,
?Who then can be saved??
Jesus looked at them and said,
?For men this is impossible,
but for God all things are possible.?
Then Peter said to him in reply,
?We have given up everything and followed you.
What will there be for us??
Jesus said to them, ?Amen, I say to you
that you who have followed me, in the new age,
when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory,
will yourselves sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters
or father or mother or children or lands
for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more,
and will inherit eternal life.
But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.?
The harsh words Jesus uses towards to the rich and to riches, those regarding the camel and the eye of the needle (cf. Mt 19:23-24), have sometimes been applied too hastily to every entrepreneur and every merchant, likening them to those sellers whom Jesus drove out of the temple (cf. Mt 21:12?13). In reality, it is possible to be a merchant or an entrepreneur and still be a follower of Christ, a citizen of His Kingdom. (?) Jesus tells us that it is very difficult for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. Difficult, yes, but not impossible (cf. Mt 19:26). And indeed, we know of wealthy people who were part of Jesus?s early community, such as Zacchaeus of Jericho, Joseph of Arimathea, or certain women who supported the apostles with their resources. In the first communities there were men and women who were not poor; and in the Church there have always been wealthy people who have followed the Gospel in an exemplary manner: they included entrepreneurs, bankers and economists, such as the Blessed Giuseppe Toniolo and Giuseppe Tovini. To enter the Kingdom of Heaven, not everyone is asked to renounce their possessions as the merchant Francis of Assisi did; some who possess wealth are asked to share it. Sharing is another name for evangelical poverty. (Pope Francis, Address to participants in the public assembly of Confindustria, 12 September 2022)
Read More![Priest and nun recover sacred hosts from earthquake rubble in Colombia – #Catholic – When the Aug. 10 earthquake hit the town of Chiquinquirá in Roldanillo, a subdistrict of the Valle del Cauca district in Colombia, a wooden tabernacle in a historic chapel was destroyed, scattering consecrated hosts across the floor and covering them with debris. Minutes later, the pastor and a nearby religious sister gathered them up to take care of them according to Church protocol.The quake severely damaged Our Lady of the Rosary chapel, which dates back to the 17th century. Inside the chapel’s tabernacle was the ciborium containing the consecrated hosts left over from the Mass celebrated the previous Saturday by Father Germán Andrés Clavijo, the pastor of St. Sebastian Parish, the parish to which the chapel belongs.Immediately after the quake, which struck at 7:34 a.m. local time, the priest entered the chapel with Sister Marcela, a member of the Community of the Blessed Sacrament. They went straight to the wall where the tabernacle had been located. Falling debris had knocked the tabernacle down from its place. “I said to her, ‘Help me look, because the consecrated hosts are there,’” the priest recounted to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. “We found the ciborium, but it was completely smashed,” Clavijo said, adding that “some of the hosts were badly broken,” so they began gathering them up with great care.As they picked them up by hand, both recited the “litanies to the Blessed Sacrament, to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament,” and placed them into a smaller ciborium. Afterward, they sprinkled water over the debris and the areas where particles of the hosts that could no longer be gathered up might have remained.Regarding the hosts that were mixed in with dirt and debris, Clavijo said: “I told her they must be placed in a container of water so that they would dissolve” and the water could later be poured by a tree or into a potted plant.No. 1377 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “the Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist” in the physical appearance of bread and wine.The priest from Roldanillo said it was “very sad” to see the hosts scattered on the ground, for the Eucharist “is the life of the priest; that is the life of the Church; it is our center.”However, he said he had to be “very strong, because I had to find a solution,” adding: “It wasn’t the time for lamenting; after all, the earthquake had just happened, and we were in a very unsafe spot, fearing that an aftershock or something else might cause debris to come crashing down on us.” Instagram postThe quake’s effects in RoldanilloRoldanillo was one of the areas hardest hit areas by the earthquake. Located about 90 miles from Cali and founded in 1576, many of its buildings date back to the colonial era and the early days of the republic.The day after the natural disaster, the Valle del Cauca governorʼs office reported that two people had died and 112 were injured. In addition, nearly 1,300 homes were affected, “some of which have completely collapsed,” and “60% of the hospital sustained structural damage.”Regarding the parish church, the priest said that it is has closed due to the effects of the earthquake, so Masses are being celebrated in the town square. The chapel cannot be used either, and its restoration will depend on the Colombian government as it is classified as a national heritage building.In the video he shared on the day of the earthquake, Clavijo expressed his solidarity with the residents of Roldanillo: “Amid the rubble left behind, I also wish to offer a prayer of hope and encouragement for those who have lost everything, especially those who have lost a loved one.”
The Aug. 10, 2026, earthquake that hit the town of Chiquinquirá in Roldanillo, a subdistrict of the Valle del Cauca district in Colombia, severely damaged Our Lady of the Rosary chapel, which dates back to the 17th century.| Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Germán Andrés Clavijo/video screenshot
The priest affirmed that, although it is not easy, “with hope and God’s hand, all of us united, will overcome this storm. As the Gospel said yesterday [Sunday, Aug. 9], sometimes we walk amid strong winds and turbulent waves, and our boat seems to be sinking, but God reaches out his hand to us. Like Peter, we all cry out: ‘Lord, save us.’”“And that is what we pray for today. To all of you, I offer my blessing and words of encouragement and hope during these times. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” he said, blessing the viewers.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.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/priest-and-nun-recover-sacred-hosts-from-earthquake-rubble-in-colombia-catholic-when-the-aug-10-earthquake-hit-the-town-of-chiquinquira-in-roldanillo-a-subdistrict-of-the-valle-del-cauca-distri.jpg "Priest and nun recover sacred hosts from earthquake rubble in Colombia – #Catholic – When the Aug. 10 earthquake hit the town of Chiquinquirá in Roldanillo, a subdistrict of the Valle del Cauca district in Colombia, a wooden tabernacle in a historic chapel was destroyed, scattering consecrated hosts across the floor and covering them with debris. Minutes later, the pastor and a nearby religious sister gathered them up to take care of them according to Church protocol.The quake severely damaged Our Lady of the Rosary chapel, which dates back to the 17th century. Inside the chapel’s tabernacle was the ciborium containing the consecrated hosts left over from the Mass celebrated the previous Saturday by Father Germán Andrés Clavijo, the pastor of St. Sebastian Parish, the parish to which the chapel belongs.Immediately after the quake, which struck at 7:34 a.m. local time, the priest entered the chapel with Sister Marcela, a member of the Community of the Blessed Sacrament. They went straight to the wall where the tabernacle had been located. Falling debris had knocked the tabernacle down from its place. “I said to her, ‘Help me look, because the consecrated hosts are there,’” the priest recounted to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. “We found the ciborium, but it was completely smashed,” Clavijo said, adding that “some of the hosts were badly broken,” so they began gathering them up with great care.As they picked them up by hand, both recited the “litanies to the Blessed Sacrament, to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament,” and placed them into a smaller ciborium. Afterward, they sprinkled water over the debris and the areas where particles of the hosts that could no longer be gathered up might have remained.Regarding the hosts that were mixed in with dirt and debris, Clavijo said: “I told her they must be placed in a container of water so that they would dissolve” and the water could later be poured by a tree or into a potted plant.No. 1377 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “the Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist” in the physical appearance of bread and wine.The priest from Roldanillo said it was “very sad” to see the hosts scattered on the ground, for the Eucharist “is the life of the priest; that is the life of the Church; it is our center.”However, he said he had to be “very strong, because I had to find a solution,” adding: “It wasn’t the time for lamenting; after all, the earthquake had just happened, and we were in a very unsafe spot, fearing that an aftershock or something else might cause debris to come crashing down on us.” Instagram postThe quake’s effects in RoldanilloRoldanillo was one of the areas hardest hit areas by the earthquake. Located about 90 miles from Cali and founded in 1576, many of its buildings date back to the colonial era and the early days of the republic.The day after the natural disaster, the Valle del Cauca governorʼs office reported that two people had died and 112 were injured. In addition, nearly 1,300 homes were affected, “some of which have completely collapsed,” and “60% of the hospital sustained structural damage.”Regarding the parish church, the priest said that it is has closed due to the effects of the earthquake, so Masses are being celebrated in the town square. The chapel cannot be used either, and its restoration will depend on the Colombian government as it is classified as a national heritage building.In the video he shared on the day of the earthquake, Clavijo expressed his solidarity with the residents of Roldanillo: “Amid the rubble left behind, I also wish to offer a prayer of hope and encouragement for those who have lost everything, especially those who have lost a loved one.”
The Aug. 10, 2026, earthquake that hit the town of Chiquinquirá in Roldanillo, a subdistrict of the Valle del Cauca district in Colombia, severely damaged Our Lady of the Rosary chapel, which dates back to the 17th century.| Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Germán Andrés Clavijo/video screenshot
The priest affirmed that, although it is not easy, “with hope and God’s hand, all of us united, will overcome this storm. As the Gospel said yesterday [Sunday, Aug. 9], sometimes we walk amid strong winds and turbulent waves, and our boat seems to be sinking, but God reaches out his hand to us. Like Peter, we all cry out: ‘Lord, save us.’”“And that is what we pray for today. To all of you, I offer my blessing and words of encouragement and hope during these times. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” he said, blessing the viewers.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.")
Despite the danger of the earthquake’s aftershocks, a priest and nun in Colombia entered a chapel in search of the hosts that were kept in the tabernacle that they found destroyed.
![Florida attorney general, Miami archbishop spar over vaccine exemptions in Catholic schools – #Catholic – A dispute between Florida’s Catholic bishops and state Attorney General James Uthmeier over vaccine exemptions in Catholic schools is testing the boundaries between state law and Church authority, with both sides arguing religious freedom is at stake.The dispute began with what Wenski described as Uthmeierʼs “veiled threat” in a July 31 letter to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops. In it, the attorney general urged the bishops to bring Catholic schools into compliance with Florida law requiring religious exemptions for school vaccine mandates, on pain of the loss of state funding through its school choice scholarship program. Florida has one of the most expansive school choice programs in the United States, whereby families can use state-funded scholarship money for a variety of education-related expenses, including private school tuition.Uthmeier argued in his letter that “at least one diocese” in Florida appears to have adopted a policy based on what he characterized as the bishops' erroneous interpretation of guidance given to Wenski in 2011 by the National Catholic Bioethics Center.The bioethics center’s then-president, John Haas, said Catholic institutions could not grant exemptions to vaccines on religious grounds because the Church has determined that utilizing vaccines derived from aborted fetal cell lines was “not intrinsically evil” because of the remoteness of the original, evil act of abortion. At the same time, Haas made a distinction between religious and conscience objections, stating Catholic institutions should grant the latter “as liberally as possible for the sake of the delicate consciences” of Catholic parents. He also noted that the consciences of those making school policies must be respected.Wenski told “EWTN News in Depth” host Catherine Hadro in an Aug. 14 interview: “If a Catholic has conscience objections to the vaccines you canʼt say that your objections come from your understanding of the Catholic faith because the vaccinations available and developed are not contrary to Church teachings.”Religious exemptions or conscience exemptions?The distinction between the two types of exemptions is important, making the Florida case complicated, Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, an attorney and the founder of The Conscience Project, told EWTN News. While most states offer some combination of medical, religious, and conscience exemptions to vaccine mandates, Florida law does not explicitly protect conscience objections, only medical and religious ones.Uthmeier argues that conscience objections fall under the protection of religious liberty, particularly for Catholics, for whom the formation of conscience is a central aspect of the faith.“The teachings of the Catholic Church do not require Catholic schools to compel students to take vaccines derived from the tissue of aborted children against the sincerely held religious objections of their parents,” Uthmeier wrote.The attorney general also noted that some Catholic families object to certain vaccines not only because of their connection to aborted fetal cell lines, but also because of concerns about the safety of vaccine ingredients and methods of production, including the use of mRNA technology, which he said brings a “heightened risk of health defects, including miscarriages.”The National Catholic Bioethics Center declined to comment to EWTN News. However, the organization maintains resources on its website stating the Church’s position that although vaccines developed through morally problematic means may be used for grave reasons, vaccination is not a moral obligation for Catholics and, in order to protect human dignity and the free exercise of conscience, should be voluntary.The organization also states that “public health measures and policies should be built upon sound science and ethical principles.”Uthmeier: Parents' rights are being violatedUthmeier told EWTN News he is concerned about the "religious freedoms and rights of parents.” He pointed out that many Catholic families have come to him noting the irony that their conscience rights are protected in public schools in Florida but not in Catholic ones. Uthmeier also said families are confused because Catholic schools in several dioceses across the country do grant vaccine conscience and religious exemptions.Because Catholic schools receive state scholarship funds, he argued, the state has an interest in ensuring that religious freedoms are protected.“Where First Amendment rights [and] the religious beliefs of parents are being violated, we as a state have a duty to investigate and see what legal tools we may have to protect our parents in Florida,” he said.While acknowledging that the state cannot dictate religious beliefs, he said he remains unconvinced that the bishops have identified an authentically religious reason for denying exemptions.A Catholic himself, Uthmeier further pointed to what he said were long-standing Catholic teachings regarding parental authority and conscience rights.“Respecting the right of conscience is deeply embedded in our catechism,” he said. “How these rights can be violated, and how Catholic Church officials can disagree on citing religious teaching across the country, perplexes me.”Wenski: Catholic schools must protect the common goodWenski likewise framed the controversy as a religious freedom issue, from the perspective of the Churchʼs right to determine and apply its own teachings.He described Uthmeierʼs position as “an unfair and ill-advised interpretation of separation of Church and state” and argued that lawmakers never intended school-choice scholarships to impose a religious test on participating schools. “The Church has a right to determine our own teachings,” he said.Wenski told EWTN News that the bishops “certainly respect the rights of conscience of every person.” At the same time, he said Catholic social teaching also obligates schools to promote the common good and protect children through immunization.“Weʼve witnessed in recent months an upsurge of cases of measles, and we know that that presents certain dangers for pregnant women,” Wenski said.The archbishop noted that Catholic schools already grant medical exemptions when a physician certifies that a child should not be vaccinated.But he maintained that parents who object to vaccination are free to choose another school."Nobody is forced to go to a Catholic school,” he said.The bishops sent Uthmeier a formal response, Wenski said, outlining what they view as the religious freedom issues implicated by the attorney generalʼs intervention.Wenski said the bishops are “prepared to protect our students, to defend our rights, and to preserve religious freedom” while remaining open to continued dialogue with the state.Critics of Florida bishops’ policy disagreeWhile Wenski suggested the issue is largely settled within Catholic teaching, critics of the Florida bishops' policy disagree.Yvonne Bontkowski, director of Children of God for Life, said the controversy reflects a deeper disagreement over how Catholics should respond to vaccines connected to abortion-derived cell lines.“This is the first time I have ever seen where the state isnʼt asking the Church to violate its teaching, itʼs asking the Church to honor it,” she told EWTN News.The organization argues that although the Church has determined it can be morally permissible to receive such vaccines under certain circumstances, Church teaching says Catholics still have a moral duty to advocate for ethical alternatives and resist what it sees as the continued exploitation of aborted fetal tissue in biomedical research.Bontkowski cited a 2005 document from the Pontifical Academy for Life, which established the moral permissibility of the use of vaccines developed from aborted fetal cell lines in order to protect health but also affirmed that Catholics may exercise conscientious objection regarding such vaccines.“Our conscience is directed to what is morally good,” she said. “The Vatican never said these vaccines are morally good. It said weʼre not sinning if we take them for grave reasons and on a temporary basis while we demand ethical alternatives.”She argued that families exercising that duty should not be excluded from Catholic education, which, unlike immunization, is a moral obligation.Canon law states that parents have both a right and a “most grave obligation” to provide a Catholic education for their children, while Canon 217 affirms that the faithful have the right to a Christian education “by which they are to be instructed properly to strive for the maturity of the human person and at the same time to know and live the mystery of salvation.”Other critics contend that the debate ultimately turns on differing understandings of public health and the common good.Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and director of the National Vaccine Information Center, told EWTN News that Catholic school officials generally formulate vaccine and other public health policies based on the judgments of public health authorities.But, she argued, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed public distrust in scientific and governmental institutions, especially regarding data about who is at greatest biological risk for vaccines “that could hurt or even kill people.”“Unfortunately the entire notion of the common good rests upon the science,” Fisher said. “If the scientists and the government havenʼt done due diligence in doing the best science, or havenʼt told the full truth, that is a moral dilemma the Church is going to have to eventually grapple with.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/florida-attorney-general-miami-archbishop-spar-over-vaccine-exemptions-in-catholic-schools-catholic-a-dispute-between-floridas-catholic-bishops-and-state-attorney-general-james-uthmeier.jpg "Florida attorney general, Miami archbishop spar over vaccine exemptions in Catholic schools – #Catholic – A dispute between Florida’s Catholic bishops and state Attorney General James Uthmeier over vaccine exemptions in Catholic schools is testing the boundaries between state law and Church authority, with both sides arguing religious freedom is at stake.The dispute began with what Wenski described as Uthmeierʼs “veiled threat” in a July 31 letter to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops. In it, the attorney general urged the bishops to bring Catholic schools into compliance with Florida law requiring religious exemptions for school vaccine mandates, on pain of the loss of state funding through its school choice scholarship program. Florida has one of the most expansive school choice programs in the United States, whereby families can use state-funded scholarship money for a variety of education-related expenses, including private school tuition.Uthmeier argued in his letter that “at least one diocese” in Florida appears to have adopted a policy based on what he characterized as the bishops' erroneous interpretation of guidance given to Wenski in 2011 by the National Catholic Bioethics Center.The bioethics center’s then-president, John Haas, said Catholic institutions could not grant exemptions to vaccines on religious grounds because the Church has determined that utilizing vaccines derived from aborted fetal cell lines was “not intrinsically evil” because of the remoteness of the original, evil act of abortion. At the same time, Haas made a distinction between religious and conscience objections, stating Catholic institutions should grant the latter “as liberally as possible for the sake of the delicate consciences” of Catholic parents. He also noted that the consciences of those making school policies must be respected.Wenski told “EWTN News in Depth” host Catherine Hadro in an Aug. 14 interview: “If a Catholic has conscience objections to the vaccines you canʼt say that your objections come from your understanding of the Catholic faith because the vaccinations available and developed are not contrary to Church teachings.”Religious exemptions or conscience exemptions?The distinction between the two types of exemptions is important, making the Florida case complicated, Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, an attorney and the founder of The Conscience Project, told EWTN News. While most states offer some combination of medical, religious, and conscience exemptions to vaccine mandates, Florida law does not explicitly protect conscience objections, only medical and religious ones.Uthmeier argues that conscience objections fall under the protection of religious liberty, particularly for Catholics, for whom the formation of conscience is a central aspect of the faith.“The teachings of the Catholic Church do not require Catholic schools to compel students to take vaccines derived from the tissue of aborted children against the sincerely held religious objections of their parents,” Uthmeier wrote.The attorney general also noted that some Catholic families object to certain vaccines not only because of their connection to aborted fetal cell lines, but also because of concerns about the safety of vaccine ingredients and methods of production, including the use of mRNA technology, which he said brings a “heightened risk of health defects, including miscarriages.”The National Catholic Bioethics Center declined to comment to EWTN News. However, the organization maintains resources on its website stating the Church’s position that although vaccines developed through morally problematic means may be used for grave reasons, vaccination is not a moral obligation for Catholics and, in order to protect human dignity and the free exercise of conscience, should be voluntary.The organization also states that “public health measures and policies should be built upon sound science and ethical principles.”Uthmeier: Parents' rights are being violatedUthmeier told EWTN News he is concerned about the \"religious freedoms and rights of parents.” He pointed out that many Catholic families have come to him noting the irony that their conscience rights are protected in public schools in Florida but not in Catholic ones. Uthmeier also said families are confused because Catholic schools in several dioceses across the country do grant vaccine conscience and religious exemptions.Because Catholic schools receive state scholarship funds, he argued, the state has an interest in ensuring that religious freedoms are protected.“Where First Amendment rights [and] the religious beliefs of parents are being violated, we as a state have a duty to investigate and see what legal tools we may have to protect our parents in Florida,” he said.While acknowledging that the state cannot dictate religious beliefs, he said he remains unconvinced that the bishops have identified an authentically religious reason for denying exemptions.A Catholic himself, Uthmeier further pointed to what he said were long-standing Catholic teachings regarding parental authority and conscience rights.“Respecting the right of conscience is deeply embedded in our catechism,” he said. “How these rights can be violated, and how Catholic Church officials can disagree on citing religious teaching across the country, perplexes me.”Wenski: Catholic schools must protect the common goodWenski likewise framed the controversy as a religious freedom issue, from the perspective of the Churchʼs right to determine and apply its own teachings.He described Uthmeierʼs position as “an unfair and ill-advised interpretation of separation of Church and state” and argued that lawmakers never intended school-choice scholarships to impose a religious test on participating schools. “The Church has a right to determine our own teachings,” he said.Wenski told EWTN News that the bishops “certainly respect the rights of conscience of every person.” At the same time, he said Catholic social teaching also obligates schools to promote the common good and protect children through immunization.“Weʼve witnessed in recent months an upsurge of cases of measles, and we know that that presents certain dangers for pregnant women,” Wenski said.The archbishop noted that Catholic schools already grant medical exemptions when a physician certifies that a child should not be vaccinated.But he maintained that parents who object to vaccination are free to choose another school.\"Nobody is forced to go to a Catholic school,” he said.The bishops sent Uthmeier a formal response, Wenski said, outlining what they view as the religious freedom issues implicated by the attorney generalʼs intervention.Wenski said the bishops are “prepared to protect our students, to defend our rights, and to preserve religious freedom” while remaining open to continued dialogue with the state.Critics of Florida bishops’ policy disagreeWhile Wenski suggested the issue is largely settled within Catholic teaching, critics of the Florida bishops' policy disagree.Yvonne Bontkowski, director of Children of God for Life, said the controversy reflects a deeper disagreement over how Catholics should respond to vaccines connected to abortion-derived cell lines.“This is the first time I have ever seen where the state isnʼt asking the Church to violate its teaching, itʼs asking the Church to honor it,” she told EWTN News.The organization argues that although the Church has determined it can be morally permissible to receive such vaccines under certain circumstances, Church teaching says Catholics still have a moral duty to advocate for ethical alternatives and resist what it sees as the continued exploitation of aborted fetal tissue in biomedical research.Bontkowski cited a 2005 document from the Pontifical Academy for Life, which established the moral permissibility of the use of vaccines developed from aborted fetal cell lines in order to protect health but also affirmed that Catholics may exercise conscientious objection regarding such vaccines.“Our conscience is directed to what is morally good,” she said. “The Vatican never said these vaccines are morally good. It said weʼre not sinning if we take them for grave reasons and on a temporary basis while we demand ethical alternatives.”She argued that families exercising that duty should not be excluded from Catholic education, which, unlike immunization, is a moral obligation.Canon law states that parents have both a right and a “most grave obligation” to provide a Catholic education for their children, while Canon 217 affirms that the faithful have the right to a Christian education “by which they are to be instructed properly to strive for the maturity of the human person and at the same time to know and live the mystery of salvation.”Other critics contend that the debate ultimately turns on differing understandings of public health and the common good.Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and director of the National Vaccine Information Center, told EWTN News that Catholic school officials generally formulate vaccine and other public health policies based on the judgments of public health authorities.But, she argued, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed public distrust in scientific and governmental institutions, especially regarding data about who is at greatest biological risk for vaccines “that could hurt or even kill people.”“Unfortunately the entire notion of the common good rests upon the science,” Fisher said. “If the scientists and the government havenʼt done due diligence in doing the best science, or havenʼt told the full truth, that is a moral dilemma the Church is going to have to eventually grapple with.”")
A dispute between Florida’s Catholic bishops and the state attorney general over vaccine exemptions in Catholic schools is testing the boundaries between state law and Church authority.
Rocket launches this week On Tuesday, Aug. 18, Chinese aerospace firm LandSpace is targeting 7:35 p.m. EDT for the second flight of its Zhuque-3 rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China, according to tracking from Next Spaceflight. The launch was scrubbed last week after a Long March 7A rocket exploded hours before Zhuque-3’sContinue reading “More Starlink satellites and two big launches for China”
The post More Starlink satellites and two big launches for China appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.
Read More![New film ‘American Martyr’ tells story of Oklahoma priest and martyr Blessed Stanley Rother #Catholic Hundreds gathered late last month in Oklahoma City for the premiere of the new film “American Martyr: The Stanley Rother Story,” a feature-length documentary depicting the inspiring life of Blessed Stanley Rother.“This has been a long time coming,” Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City told EWTN News on the red carpet July 28.Born in Okarche, Oklahoma, Rother was a farmer before he attended Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and was ordained a priest in 1963. After serving as an associate pastor at a parish in Oklahoma for five years, Rother received permission to join the staff at the Oklahoma diocese’s mission in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala.He served the Tz’utujil people, who are descendants of the Mayans, in Guatemala, learning their native Tz’utujil language as well as Spanish. As their pastor, Rother celebrated Mass and helped translate the New Testament into the Tz’utujil language. He quickly gained the trust and love of the local people, ministering to them in their homes, sharing meals, helping them in the fields, and visiting the sick.While Rother was in Guatemala, a civil war broke out and the Catholic Church was caught in its crosshairs. The priest’s name was placed on a death list. On July 28, 1981, three men entered the rectory at night and killed the beloved priest.Rother’s cause for canonization opened in 2007 by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, and in 2016 Pope Francis recognized Rother as a martyr for the faith. He became the first American-born priest to be recognized as a martyr by the Catholic Church.
The Warren Theater in Oklahoma City hosted the premiere of “American Martyr: The Stanley Rother Story” on July 28, 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Chris Porter
“We’ve been very intentionally promoting the cause of Blessed Stanley Rother for many years,” Coakley said. “He’s been beatified and now we’re working toward his canonization, and in order for that ever to happen we need more and more people seeking the intercession of Blessed Stanley Rother and seeking his divine favor so that miracles may be performed through his intercession. So that’s why we undertook this production, to introduce him to more and more people.”The archbishop added that the film is “a beautiful depiction of the life of an ordinary Catholic who responded generously and faithfully to Godʼs grace and mercy and allowed the Lord to transform him and form him into the saint ultimately that we hope he will finally be named.”Michael Scaperlanda, chancellor at the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, said: “This is an exciting moment for the archdiocese to have a nationwide release … of this wonderful documentary narrated by Martin Sheen.”He highlighted the importance of sharing Rother’s story to a wider audience because it serves as a reminder that “even ordinary people can become saints.” For Felipe Coche Pablo, the documentary is particularly personal. Pablo is a native of Santiago Atitlan and was baptized by Rother when he was 6 months old. He was 2 years old when Rother was killed.When Rother’s cause was opened, Pablo was appointed to serve as the official church notary for Rother’s parish in Santiago Atitlán. It was then that he learned about the potential saint’s life and legacy.Pablo said learning about Rother deeply impacted his life and taught him “to keep fighting in life. There are always stumbles, but you have to pick yourself back up, like he [Rother] did.”
Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, left, and Felipe Coche Pablo, right, at the premiere of “American Martyr: The Stanley Rother Story” on July 28, 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Chris Porter
Today, Pablo is the administrator at Colegio Católico Padre Aplaʼs — also known as the Blessed Stanley Rother Catholic School — in Santiago Atitlán. This school is part of the parish in which Rother served, Santiago Apóstol, or St. James the Apostle Church.“We have 435 students and the education is trilingual — Tz’utujil, Spanish, and English,” he explained. “Our first language is the Mayan language, Tz’utujil. And he [Rother] was a priest that was very loved by the people because he learned the Mayan language Tz’utujil, like us, like what I speak.”Pablo said he hopes viewers of the film will be inspired by Rother’s “service to others” and to “carry peace, love, evangelize, and what is most needed in life — look for God.”Coakley added that he hopes viewers will leave the theater reminded that “all of us are called to holiness.”“Stanley Rother would not have been the one in high school in the yearbook that said most likely to become a saint … And yet all of us are called, it’s our vocation if you’re baptized, you’re called to be a saint. All of us are called to be saints. And Stanley Rother gives us a hope that for each one of us that is a possibility that is real.”“American Martyr” can be seen in theaters across the U.S. on Aug. 25 and 26 in English and in Spanish on Aug. 27.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/new-film-american-martyr-tells-story-of-oklahoma-priest-and-martyr-blessed-stanley-rother-catholic-hundreds-gathered-late-last-month-in-oklahoma-city-for-the-premiere-of-the-new-fil-scaled.png "New film ‘American Martyr’ tells story of Oklahoma priest and martyr Blessed Stanley Rother #Catholic Hundreds gathered late last month in Oklahoma City for the premiere of the new film “American Martyr: The Stanley Rother Story,” a feature-length documentary depicting the inspiring life of Blessed Stanley Rother.“This has been a long time coming,” Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City told EWTN News on the red carpet July 28.Born in Okarche, Oklahoma, Rother was a farmer before he attended Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and was ordained a priest in 1963. After serving as an associate pastor at a parish in Oklahoma for five years, Rother received permission to join the staff at the Oklahoma diocese’s mission in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala.He served the Tz’utujil people, who are descendants of the Mayans, in Guatemala, learning their native Tz’utujil language as well as Spanish. As their pastor, Rother celebrated Mass and helped translate the New Testament into the Tz’utujil language. He quickly gained the trust and love of the local people, ministering to them in their homes, sharing meals, helping them in the fields, and visiting the sick.While Rother was in Guatemala, a civil war broke out and the Catholic Church was caught in its crosshairs. The priest’s name was placed on a death list. On July 28, 1981, three men entered the rectory at night and killed the beloved priest.Rother’s cause for canonization opened in 2007 by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, and in 2016 Pope Francis recognized Rother as a martyr for the faith. He became the first American-born priest to be recognized as a martyr by the Catholic Church.
The Warren Theater in Oklahoma City hosted the premiere of “American Martyr: The Stanley Rother Story” on July 28, 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Chris Porter
“We’ve been very intentionally promoting the cause of Blessed Stanley Rother for many years,” Coakley said. “He’s been beatified and now we’re working toward his canonization, and in order for that ever to happen we need more and more people seeking the intercession of Blessed Stanley Rother and seeking his divine favor so that miracles may be performed through his intercession. So that’s why we undertook this production, to introduce him to more and more people.”The archbishop added that the film is “a beautiful depiction of the life of an ordinary Catholic who responded generously and faithfully to Godʼs grace and mercy and allowed the Lord to transform him and form him into the saint ultimately that we hope he will finally be named.”Michael Scaperlanda, chancellor at the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, said: “This is an exciting moment for the archdiocese to have a nationwide release … of this wonderful documentary narrated by Martin Sheen.”He highlighted the importance of sharing Rother’s story to a wider audience because it serves as a reminder that “even ordinary people can become saints.” For Felipe Coche Pablo, the documentary is particularly personal. Pablo is a native of Santiago Atitlan and was baptized by Rother when he was 6 months old. He was 2 years old when Rother was killed.When Rother’s cause was opened, Pablo was appointed to serve as the official church notary for Rother’s parish in Santiago Atitlán. It was then that he learned about the potential saint’s life and legacy.Pablo said learning about Rother deeply impacted his life and taught him “to keep fighting in life. There are always stumbles, but you have to pick yourself back up, like he [Rother] did.”
Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, left, and Felipe Coche Pablo, right, at the premiere of “American Martyr: The Stanley Rother Story” on July 28, 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Chris Porter
Today, Pablo is the administrator at Colegio Católico Padre Aplaʼs — also known as the Blessed Stanley Rother Catholic School — in Santiago Atitlán. This school is part of the parish in which Rother served, Santiago Apóstol, or St. James the Apostle Church.“We have 435 students and the education is trilingual — Tz’utujil, Spanish, and English,” he explained. “Our first language is the Mayan language, Tz’utujil. And he [Rother] was a priest that was very loved by the people because he learned the Mayan language Tz’utujil, like us, like what I speak.”Pablo said he hopes viewers of the film will be inspired by Rother’s “service to others” and to “carry peace, love, evangelize, and what is most needed in life — look for God.”Coakley added that he hopes viewers will leave the theater reminded that “all of us are called to holiness.”“Stanley Rother would not have been the one in high school in the yearbook that said most likely to become a saint … And yet all of us are called, it’s our vocation if you’re baptized, you’re called to be a saint. All of us are called to be saints. And Stanley Rother gives us a hope that for each one of us that is a possibility that is real.”“American Martyr” can be seen in theaters across the U.S. on Aug. 25 and 26 in English and in Spanish on Aug. 27.")
“American Martyr” can be seen in theaters Aug. 25-26 in English and in Spanish on Aug. 27.
The Diocese of Otukpo gave thanks for the return of the seminarian and those who have provided him care, and called for prayers for other captives.
![Bishop leads Mass helping school leaders begin academic year #Catholic – Presidents and principals of Catholic schools in the Paterson Diocese, N.J., joined Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney for a Mass he celebrated on Aug. 14 to open the 2026–27 academic year. The liturgy occurred in the oratory of the Diocesan Center in Clifton, N.J.
Father Peter Clarke, Ed. D., president of Morris Catholic High School in Denville, N.J., concelebrated the Mass with Bishop Sweeney. Congregants included the staff of the diocesan Schools Office, led by Mary D. Baier, superintendent of schools.
The Mass opened a full-day meeting of principals and presidents for the start of the school year in the Molloy Center of St. Philip the Apostle Parish, also in Clifton.
BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI / JESSICA MARTINEZ
[See image gallery at beaconnj.org]
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Father Peter Clarke, Ed. D., president of Morris Catholic High School in Denville, N.J., concelebrated the Mass with Bishop Sweeney. Congregants included the staff of the diocesan Schools Office, led by Mary D. Baier, superintendent of schools.
The Mass opened a full-day meeting of principals and presidents for the start of the school year in the Molloy Center of St. Philip the Apostle Parish, also in Clifton.
BEACON PHOTOS | JOE GIGLI / JESSICA MARTINEZ
[See image gallery at beaconnj.org]
Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.")
Bishop leads Mass helping school leaders begin academic year #Catholic – 
Presidents and principals of Catholic schools in the Paterson Diocese, N.J., joined Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney for a Mass he celebrated on Aug. 14 to open the 2026–27 academic year. The liturgy occurred in the oratory of the Diocesan Center in Clifton, N.J.
Father Peter Clarke, Ed. D., president of Morris Catholic High School in Denville, N.J., concelebrated the Mass with Bishop Sweeney. Congregants included the staff of the diocesan Schools Office, led by Mary D. Baier, superintendent of schools.
The Mass opened a full-day meeting of principals and presidents for the start of the school year in the Molloy Center of St. Philip the Apostle Parish, also in Clifton.
– Presidents and principals of Catholic schools in the Paterson Diocese, N.J., joined Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney for a Mass he celebrated on Aug. 14 to open the 2026–27 academic year. The liturgy occurred in the oratory of the Diocesan Center in Clifton, N.J. Father Peter Clarke, Ed. D., president of Morris Catholic High School in Denville, N.J., concelebrated the Mass with Bishop Sweeney. Congregants included the staff of the diocesan Schools Office, led by Mary D. Baier, superintendent of schools. The Mass opened a full-day meeting of principals and presidents for the start of the school year in the Molloy
FRISCO, TX — Local woman Samantha Johnson’s faith in humanity was instantly restored this afternoon after she drove up to find neighborhood kids doing a lemonade stand.
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