“Let us repeat together: ‘I love you, Jesus. I love you, Mary,’” the pontiff said in his remarks before the rosary in the Vatican Gardens.
Retired Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is set to give the keynote address at the Jan. 22, 2027, rally.
On the fourth and final day of his apostolic journey to France, the pope addressed European leaders at the Robert Schuman Conference Center and celebrated Mass at the Cathedral of St. Stephen in Metz.
Pope Leo XIV visited the Maison Bakhita Center and celebrated an open-air Mass at Place de la Concorde in Paris before concluding his day at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes.
![Over 150,000 visitors prepare to welcome Pope Leo in Lourdes #Catholic LOURDES, France — As Pope Leo XIV lands in Paris to begin the first official papal visit to France since 2008, pilgrims, organizers, and business owners in Lourdes are preparing for his arrival in the town expected on Saturday night.Patrick Vinuales, owner of Hôtels Vinuales — the largest hotel chain in Lourdes — told EWTN News: “The average number of people who would be staying in Lourdes is roughly 20,000. But for the Sunday Mass, there will be something like 150,000 people. We expect altogether an attendance of nearly a quarter of a million people over the weekend.”“What I think is very important is the enthusiasm of people. A lot of people have been calling us saying even if they couldnʼt come, they were so happy for the pope to come to Lourdes, to reveal more about the message of Our Lady to Bernadette,” he told EWTN News.Tourism is a big business in Lourdes. The town is widely considered to be the area with the highest concentration of hotels in France outside of Paris — rather unusual for a town with a population of 10,000. Hotel owners have been making the most of the increase in numbers.Joseph Tedesco, owner of the Grand Hôtel Moderne, built in 1896 by the nephew of St. Bernadette, told EWTN News: “Everybody increased their prices… We made a huge effort to welcome individuals, because usually itʼs mostly big dioceses… but this event made more individuals come and thatʼs a completely different type of business.”For the major ceremonies, tourists will need to have registered in advance, or they won’t be allowed into the sanctuary. “The biggest challenge is the people who organized the pilgrimage before they knew the pope was coming. There are a lot of people who donʼt have their ticket,” he said. “Our hotel is in the red area, so it wonʼt be accessible [by car].”Pope John Paul II visited Lourdes in 1983 and 2004. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI visited, which Tedesco recalls. “Two months after I bought the hotel 18 years ago, Pope Benedict XVI arrived… We didnʼt have all this security for sure. But thatʼs maybe because we didnʼt have the geopolitical problem that we have today.”
Pilgrims gather to pray before Pope Leo arrives in Lourdes, France, during his papal trip to France Sept. 25-28, 2026. | Credit: Elliot Hartley
“This visit is, first and foremost, a visit by the Successor of Peter to strengthen his brothers in the faith and to address our society as a whole,” said Monsignor Jean-Marc Micas, bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes.During this visit, Pope Leo will pray at the grotto and take part in the torchlight procession, meet with bishops of the French Episcopal Conference, celebrate Holy Mass, and meet the staff and sick community at Accueil Notre Dame, the main hospital for sick pilgrims.He also will meet privately with seven survivors of sexual abuse in the Church — a major focus for critics who argue the Church hasn’t confronted the problem fully.The visit also marks an increase in the number of attendees on organized pilgrimage groups. Most visitors to Lourdes come as part of an organized group, often with their local diocese.Caroline Trainor, a Lourdes organizer for Joe Walsh Tours, told EWTN News she had seen a huge increase in sign-ups. “When they heard that the pope was visiting, they were signing up to come back to be here over the weekend,” she said. “So thatʼs really positive for the future because it brings Lourdes back into the spotlight… Even coming in this morning, you can kind of feel this little ripple of excitement.”Lourdes’ story can be traced back to 1858, when St. Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl, had apparitions of Our Lady in a small cave. A shrine was built there, and the Pyrenean town became a pilgrimage site known for its miraculous healings.Paul Eaton, president of Ireland’s national Carmelite pilgrimage, told EWTN News: “It’s just electrifying. You really have to come here to experience it. It’s just something else… weʼre so blessed to have this honor.”“When the news first came out, we thought ‘this is not happening!’ That increased our numbers, which was fantastic… Weʼre very lucky because we have an awful lot of the same people that come with us every year who are actually hooked… They love Lourdes. They really, really do.”Michael Murphy has been coming on pilgrimage to Lourdes for 19 years. He told EWTN News: “Thereʼs a draw that continually brings me back. Itʼs difficult to explain. Itʼs just the serenity and the atmosphere. For the dates and to align with the pope as well, it just made it extra special.”Organized pilgrimages to Lourdes often have two sides. Pilgrims can either join as someone in need of assistance or as a volunteer. Those with learning or physical disabilities spend the week being assisted by volunteers, who help them with their daily needs.Clíona, a first-time pilgrim, told EWTN News: “I heard people describing Lourdes before, but I never expected it just to be like this. Thereʼs something about it. Itʼs like a magical place.”“Itʼs a different experience than Iʼve ever experienced before,” Harry Lynch, another first-time pilgrim, told EWTN News. “I wasnʼt expecting it to be this busy. Everyoneʼs very excited about everything thatʼs about to happen.”Martin has been visiting Lourdes for 20 years from Ireland. He told EWTN News: “Weʼve got more youth coming now than we had years ago, which is great. With the visit of the pope, we’re getting two trips in one! Thereʼs so much excitement, so much talk about it, and itʼs a great thing for everyone. Some people donʼt get the chance to go to Rome, so they’re getting a real run for their money this year.”The visit is expected to provide a huge boost to Lourdes’ economy. Natasha Afonso, a local souvenir shop owner, told EWTN News: “When tourists found out the pope was coming, many delayed their trips to align the dates. So, we lost a lot of business in the middle [of the] season, but now it’s growing again.”“Lourdes is known for its miracles, so it’s good for the publicity, for the young people, and the new generations to come.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/over-150000-visitors-prepare-to-welcome-pope-leo-in-lourdes-catholic-lourdes-france-as-pope-leo-xiv-lands-in-paris-to-begin-the-first-official-papal-visit-to-france-since-2008-pilgrims.jpg "Over 150,000 visitors prepare to welcome Pope Leo in Lourdes #Catholic LOURDES, France — As Pope Leo XIV lands in Paris to begin the first official papal visit to France since 2008, pilgrims, organizers, and business owners in Lourdes are preparing for his arrival in the town expected on Saturday night.Patrick Vinuales, owner of Hôtels Vinuales — the largest hotel chain in Lourdes — told EWTN News: “The average number of people who would be staying in Lourdes is roughly 20,000. But for the Sunday Mass, there will be something like 150,000 people. We expect altogether an attendance of nearly a quarter of a million people over the weekend.”“What I think is very important is the enthusiasm of people. A lot of people have been calling us saying even if they couldnʼt come, they were so happy for the pope to come to Lourdes, to reveal more about the message of Our Lady to Bernadette,” he told EWTN News.Tourism is a big business in Lourdes. The town is widely considered to be the area with the highest concentration of hotels in France outside of Paris — rather unusual for a town with a population of 10,000. Hotel owners have been making the most of the increase in numbers.Joseph Tedesco, owner of the Grand Hôtel Moderne, built in 1896 by the nephew of St. Bernadette, told EWTN News: “Everybody increased their prices… We made a huge effort to welcome individuals, because usually itʼs mostly big dioceses… but this event made more individuals come and thatʼs a completely different type of business.”For the major ceremonies, tourists will need to have registered in advance, or they won’t be allowed into the sanctuary. “The biggest challenge is the people who organized the pilgrimage before they knew the pope was coming. There are a lot of people who donʼt have their ticket,” he said. “Our hotel is in the red area, so it wonʼt be accessible [by car].”Pope John Paul II visited Lourdes in 1983 and 2004. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI visited, which Tedesco recalls. “Two months after I bought the hotel 18 years ago, Pope Benedict XVI arrived… We didnʼt have all this security for sure. But thatʼs maybe because we didnʼt have the geopolitical problem that we have today.”
Pilgrims gather to pray before Pope Leo arrives in Lourdes, France, during his papal trip to France Sept. 25-28, 2026. | Credit: Elliot Hartley
“This visit is, first and foremost, a visit by the Successor of Peter to strengthen his brothers in the faith and to address our society as a whole,” said Monsignor Jean-Marc Micas, bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes.During this visit, Pope Leo will pray at the grotto and take part in the torchlight procession, meet with bishops of the French Episcopal Conference, celebrate Holy Mass, and meet the staff and sick community at Accueil Notre Dame, the main hospital for sick pilgrims.He also will meet privately with seven survivors of sexual abuse in the Church — a major focus for critics who argue the Church hasn’t confronted the problem fully.The visit also marks an increase in the number of attendees on organized pilgrimage groups. Most visitors to Lourdes come as part of an organized group, often with their local diocese.Caroline Trainor, a Lourdes organizer for Joe Walsh Tours, told EWTN News she had seen a huge increase in sign-ups. “When they heard that the pope was visiting, they were signing up to come back to be here over the weekend,” she said. “So thatʼs really positive for the future because it brings Lourdes back into the spotlight… Even coming in this morning, you can kind of feel this little ripple of excitement.”Lourdes’ story can be traced back to 1858, when St. Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl, had apparitions of Our Lady in a small cave. A shrine was built there, and the Pyrenean town became a pilgrimage site known for its miraculous healings.Paul Eaton, president of Ireland’s national Carmelite pilgrimage, told EWTN News: “It’s just electrifying. You really have to come here to experience it. It’s just something else… weʼre so blessed to have this honor.”“When the news first came out, we thought ‘this is not happening!’ That increased our numbers, which was fantastic… Weʼre very lucky because we have an awful lot of the same people that come with us every year who are actually hooked… They love Lourdes. They really, really do.”Michael Murphy has been coming on pilgrimage to Lourdes for 19 years. He told EWTN News: “Thereʼs a draw that continually brings me back. Itʼs difficult to explain. Itʼs just the serenity and the atmosphere. For the dates and to align with the pope as well, it just made it extra special.”Organized pilgrimages to Lourdes often have two sides. Pilgrims can either join as someone in need of assistance or as a volunteer. Those with learning or physical disabilities spend the week being assisted by volunteers, who help them with their daily needs.Clíona, a first-time pilgrim, told EWTN News: “I heard people describing Lourdes before, but I never expected it just to be like this. Thereʼs something about it. Itʼs like a magical place.”“Itʼs a different experience than Iʼve ever experienced before,” Harry Lynch, another first-time pilgrim, told EWTN News. “I wasnʼt expecting it to be this busy. Everyoneʼs very excited about everything thatʼs about to happen.”Martin has been visiting Lourdes for 20 years from Ireland. He told EWTN News: “Weʼve got more youth coming now than we had years ago, which is great. With the visit of the pope, we’re getting two trips in one! Thereʼs so much excitement, so much talk about it, and itʼs a great thing for everyone. Some people donʼt get the chance to go to Rome, so they’re getting a real run for their money this year.”The visit is expected to provide a huge boost to Lourdes’ economy. Natasha Afonso, a local souvenir shop owner, told EWTN News: “When tourists found out the pope was coming, many delayed their trips to align the dates. So, we lost a lot of business in the middle [of the] season, but now it’s growing again.”“Lourdes is known for its miracles, so it’s good for the publicity, for the young people, and the new generations to come.”")
As Pope Leo XIV makes his way to Lourdes later on Sept. 26 as part of his four-day trip to France, pilgrims, local residents, and business owners in the famous town prepare with excitement.
France’s Catholic culture and the energy of the country’s young people stole the show at a prayer vigil at the national stadium in Saint-Denis, France.
![As beatification nears, new book explains why Fulton Sheen was ‘America’s Apostle’ #Catholic With the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen approaching, a new book on the life and legacy of the evangelist and television and radio show host explains why he was “America’s Apostle.”Allan Smith, founder and director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Mission Society of Canada, published the book “America’s Apostle” on Sept. 15, just ahead of the archbishop’s beatification on Sept. 24.“I think … the title is a perfect one — ‘Americaʼs Apostle,’ because he really was an apostle to the American people in the great tradition of apostles,” Vice President and Editorial Director of EWTN News Matthew Bunson told “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Veronica Dudo on Sept. 22.The book was published through EWTN Publishing and Sophia Institute Press.“[Sheen] was a brilliant communicator; he had immense gifts on television, radio, as a writer, as a poet,” Bunson said. “But all of that was geared toward proclaiming Jesus Christ in exactly the same way that a good apostle should.”Sheen began his media career as a priest, hosting an hourlong radio show called “The Catholic Hour” in 1930 until he was consecrated an auxiliary bishop in New York in 1951 and transitioned to television, hosting “Life Is Worth Living.” At its peak, Sheen’s radio show was reaching about 4 million people weekly, and his television show was reaching about 30 million people.“Like a good apostle, he used all the means of communications at his disposal,” Bunson said. “I just mentioned television, radio, you name it. He wanted to use it. So itʼs perfectly appropriate, I think, for him to be called ‘Americaʼs Apostle.’”Sheen also reserved one hour every day for prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament, beginning this when he was ordained in 1919 until he died in 1979. He was found dead at the age of 84 in his chapel in front of the Blessed Sacrament.Bunson explained that Sheen “made a promise on the day of his ordination” that he would do a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament. He also noted Sheen wrote in his autobiography, “Treasure in Clay,” that he prepared for his homilies, his books, and his speeches in front of the Eucharist.
The book cover for “America’s Apostle: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen” features a portrait of Sheen. It was released days before Sheen’s beatification set for Sept. 24, 2026. | Credit: EWTN
“He made the Blessed Sacrament his way of not just preparing, but making himself holy and worthy of the people he was talking to,” Bunson said. “Because thatʼs how seriously he took what he was saying.”“So as a communicator, it wasnʼt just communicating about himself,” he said. “He was always proclaiming a person, and that was Jesus Christ. And he did that by developing and fostering his love for the Eucharist. And he did it in the Holy Hour.”“Fulton Sheen, pray for us,” Bunson concluded.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/as-beatification-nears-new-book-explains-why-fulton-sheen-was-americas-apostle-catholic-with-the-beatification-of-archbishop-fulton-sheen-approaching-a-new-book-on-the-li.png "As beatification nears, new book explains why Fulton Sheen was ‘America’s Apostle’ #Catholic With the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen approaching, a new book on the life and legacy of the evangelist and television and radio show host explains why he was “America’s Apostle.”Allan Smith, founder and director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Mission Society of Canada, published the book “America’s Apostle” on Sept. 15, just ahead of the archbishop’s beatification on Sept. 24.“I think … the title is a perfect one — ‘Americaʼs Apostle,’ because he really was an apostle to the American people in the great tradition of apostles,” Vice President and Editorial Director of EWTN News Matthew Bunson told “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Veronica Dudo on Sept. 22.The book was published through EWTN Publishing and Sophia Institute Press.“[Sheen] was a brilliant communicator; he had immense gifts on television, radio, as a writer, as a poet,” Bunson said. “But all of that was geared toward proclaiming Jesus Christ in exactly the same way that a good apostle should.”Sheen began his media career as a priest, hosting an hourlong radio show called “The Catholic Hour” in 1930 until he was consecrated an auxiliary bishop in New York in 1951 and transitioned to television, hosting “Life Is Worth Living.” At its peak, Sheen’s radio show was reaching about 4 million people weekly, and his television show was reaching about 30 million people.“Like a good apostle, he used all the means of communications at his disposal,” Bunson said. “I just mentioned television, radio, you name it. He wanted to use it. So itʼs perfectly appropriate, I think, for him to be called ‘Americaʼs Apostle.’”Sheen also reserved one hour every day for prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament, beginning this when he was ordained in 1919 until he died in 1979. He was found dead at the age of 84 in his chapel in front of the Blessed Sacrament.Bunson explained that Sheen “made a promise on the day of his ordination” that he would do a Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament. He also noted Sheen wrote in his autobiography, “Treasure in Clay,” that he prepared for his homilies, his books, and his speeches in front of the Eucharist.
The book cover for “America’s Apostle: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen” features a portrait of Sheen. It was released days before Sheen’s beatification set for Sept. 24, 2026. | Credit: EWTN
“He made the Blessed Sacrament his way of not just preparing, but making himself holy and worthy of the people he was talking to,” Bunson said. “Because thatʼs how seriously he took what he was saying.”“So as a communicator, it wasnʼt just communicating about himself,” he said. “He was always proclaiming a person, and that was Jesus Christ. And he did that by developing and fostering his love for the Eucharist. And he did it in the Holy Hour.”“Fulton Sheen, pray for us,” Bunson concluded.")
The book by Allan Smith was published on Sept. 15, about one week before the beatification. EWTN’s Matthew Bunson discusses the book and Sheen’s legacy on “EWTN News Nightly.”
Addressing the scourge of sexual abuse, the archbishop of Panama requested the services of the Transparency Commission, a project sponsored by Notre Dame Law School and Madrid’s Villanueva University.
The Sept. 15 murder of Father Román de la Cruz Hernández was likely perpetrated by organized crime and is not an isolated incident but forms part of a pattern of fear and intimidation.
Although church attendance is low and the society is quite s quite secularized, the president of Uruguay’s bishops’ conference believes Pope Leo’s visit will give a boost to the country’s spiritual renewal.
The longtime Vatican journalist and writer received the award in Ostrowiec, Poland, on Sept. 21.
The Word on Fire founder clarifies the call to evangelize, defends his nonpartisan advisory role on religious liberty, and warns of resurgent communism.
![Jimmy Lai’s family, advocates press for his release before Xi-Trump meeting #Catholic Family members and advocates of imprisoned Catholic pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai offered urgent pleas for his release ahead of President Xi Jinping’s planned trip to the U.S. to meet with President Donald Trump.In anticipation of Xiʼs visit to Washington on Sept. 24, Sebastien Lai, Jimmy Lai’s son, met with leaders to advocate for his father. He joined a Sept. 16 congressional hearing led by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey.“Jimmy Lai is not being imprisoned because he committed any act of violence whatsoever,” Smith, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said. “His son has emphasized that his father has never, never advocated violence. Rather, Jimmy Lai used his voice, his newspaper, and his public platform to support freedom and democracy,” he said. Smith said he introduced legislation Sept. 16 that would require the State Department to quickly assess any death in custody of a Hong Kong political prisoner and impose sanctions on officials found responsible. He titled the bill the “Jimmy Lai Hong Kong Political Prisoner Accountability Act of 2026.”At the hearing, Sebastien Lai offered testimony along with Steve Yates, a research fellow on China and national security policy, and Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation.“I want to thank America, President Trump, who has been a true champion of my fatherʼs, his administration, and the senators and members of both parties whose support has never wavered and only gotten stronger. That is moral courage, and my family does not take it for granted,” Sebastien Lai said.“By the end of this year my father will have spent six years in a maximum-security prison in solitary. At 78, he is the oldest political prisoner in Hong Kong. With a 20-year sentence looming over him, if he’s not freed soon, he will most likely die in prison,” he said. “My sister Claire was to testify beside me today. A few weeks ago, she was diagnosed with cancer,” he said. “I was with her in London last week as she began chemotherapy. My father learned of his own daughterʼs diagnosis from a maximum-security prison. He cannot hold her hand. She wants nothing more than to have him with her for this fight,“ he said.
Claire Lai, daughter of imprisoned pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, discusses her father’s sentencing on “EWTN News Nightly” on Feb. 9, 2026. | Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”/Screenshot
“We hope the Chinese authorities will consider what compassionate release would mean for her, and for a 78-year-old man who has already suffered enough,” he said.“America understands, in its bones, that freedom dies with the last man willing to defend it and that the cost of not standing up for liberty is not felt until it is too late,“ he said.The appeal to Xi “is simple," Sebastien Lai said. “My father poses no threat. His imprisonment makes him a symbol of injustice; his death in prison would be a disgrace. Let Jimmy Lai come home to his family and let him sit beside his daughter in her hardest moment.”
America understands, in its bones, that freedom dies with the last man willing to defend it and that the cost of not standing up for liberty is not felt until it is too late.”
Sebastien LaiSon of imprisoned Hong Kong media publisher and democracy advocate Jimmy Lai
Clifford, of the Washington‑based advocacy group promoting human rights in Hong Kong, spoke on behalf of his friend Jimmy Lai and to remind “people that Jimmy is just one of hundreds of political prisoners being held in often appalling conditions.”“Iʼd like to emphasize the release of Jimmy Lai would be something President Trump, Republicans and Democrats, indeed, freedom-loving people around the world would applaud,” Clifford said. “It would be a unifying event at the time when the world really needs it.”Yates said Jimmy Lai’s case is “a test of character, of Xi Jinping’s leadership, of the president’s relationship with his counterpart, and of whether there remains any credible basis for the assumptions on which American policy toward Hong Kong was long constructed.”The case is “a litmus test of whether there remains any reason to believe there is a future in Xi Jinping’s China for the kind of man Jimmy Lai is: a child of God, a lover of the real China, and, it may fairly be said, one of China’s greatest entrepreneurs,” Yates said. Lai’s health ‘is going to get worse’At a subsequent event, Sebastien Lai spoke at a press conference at Georgetown University about his father.Trump has previously met with Xi about Jimmy Lai’s case, which did not end with his release, but Sebastian Lai said he does not believe “it is a lost cause.” He said he hopes Trump raises his father’s case “again and again.”Sebastian Lai detailed his father’s health, which “hasnʼt gotten any better” while in solitary confinement.“He now has heart issues. His nails fall off. His teeth are rotting. During the summer, he bleeds all over his body because [of] his rashes,” he said.His health was especially worrisome recently because “Hong Kong just had a record summer,” Sebastien Lai said. “The heat traps in there and essentially bakes in itself. So weʼre very, very worried.”Caoilfhionn Gallagher, human rights lawyer and leader of the international legal team representing Jimmy Lai, further laid out the urgency of the case.“It’s very clear that if someone is detained in solitary confinement for an extended period of time, there is a direct ramification for their mortality,” she said.“The risk to prisoners detained in solitary confinement is particularly heightened if they’re elderly or diabetic, and Jimmy Lai is both. So this couldn’t be a more urgent and timely discussion,” she said. Gallagher also noted the broader human rights issues and lack of democracy in Hong Kong.Hong Kong “has become a place where you can be thrown in prison for singing the wrong song, or not singing the right song, or wearing the wrong T-shirt, printing the wrong newspaper. And I think Jimmy Laiʼs case is hugely important in itself because of who he is,” Gallagher said.“Heʼs probably the worldʼs most famous political prisoner at the moment. His case is hugely important, but we think part of why theyʼve gone for Jimmy Lai is because by getting the biggest fish of all, it sends the message to the small fry across Hong Kong,” Gallagher said. "It makes very clear that their message is keep silent or youʼll be next,” Gallagher said. Xi’s visit to the U.S. offers “a particular opportunity to shine a light on this issue,” she said.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/jimmy-lais-family-advocates-press-for-his-release-before-xi-trump-meeting-catholic-family-members-and-advocates-of-imprisoned-catholic-pro-democracy-activist-jimmy-lai-offered-urgent-pleas.jpg "Jimmy Lai’s family, advocates press for his release before Xi-Trump meeting #Catholic Family members and advocates of imprisoned Catholic pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai offered urgent pleas for his release ahead of President Xi Jinping’s planned trip to the U.S. to meet with President Donald Trump.In anticipation of Xiʼs visit to Washington on Sept. 24, Sebastien Lai, Jimmy Lai’s son, met with leaders to advocate for his father. He joined a Sept. 16 congressional hearing led by Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey.“Jimmy Lai is not being imprisoned because he committed any act of violence whatsoever,” Smith, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said. “His son has emphasized that his father has never, never advocated violence. Rather, Jimmy Lai used his voice, his newspaper, and his public platform to support freedom and democracy,” he said. Smith said he introduced legislation Sept. 16 that would require the State Department to quickly assess any death in custody of a Hong Kong political prisoner and impose sanctions on officials found responsible. He titled the bill the “Jimmy Lai Hong Kong Political Prisoner Accountability Act of 2026.”At the hearing, Sebastien Lai offered testimony along with Steve Yates, a research fellow on China and national security policy, and Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation.“I want to thank America, President Trump, who has been a true champion of my fatherʼs, his administration, and the senators and members of both parties whose support has never wavered and only gotten stronger. That is moral courage, and my family does not take it for granted,” Sebastien Lai said.“By the end of this year my father will have spent six years in a maximum-security prison in solitary. At 78, he is the oldest political prisoner in Hong Kong. With a 20-year sentence looming over him, if he’s not freed soon, he will most likely die in prison,” he said. “My sister Claire was to testify beside me today. A few weeks ago, she was diagnosed with cancer,” he said. “I was with her in London last week as she began chemotherapy. My father learned of his own daughterʼs diagnosis from a maximum-security prison. He cannot hold her hand. She wants nothing more than to have him with her for this fight,“ he said.
Claire Lai, daughter of imprisoned pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, discusses her father’s sentencing on “EWTN News Nightly” on Feb. 9, 2026. | Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”/Screenshot
“We hope the Chinese authorities will consider what compassionate release would mean for her, and for a 78-year-old man who has already suffered enough,” he said.“America understands, in its bones, that freedom dies with the last man willing to defend it and that the cost of not standing up for liberty is not felt until it is too late,“ he said.The appeal to Xi “is simple,\" Sebastien Lai said. “My father poses no threat. His imprisonment makes him a symbol of injustice; his death in prison would be a disgrace. Let Jimmy Lai come home to his family and let him sit beside his daughter in her hardest moment.”
America understands, in its bones, that freedom dies with the last man willing to defend it and that the cost of not standing up for liberty is not felt until it is too late.”
Sebastien LaiSon of imprisoned Hong Kong media publisher and democracy advocate Jimmy Lai
Clifford, of the Washington‑based advocacy group promoting human rights in Hong Kong, spoke on behalf of his friend Jimmy Lai and to remind “people that Jimmy is just one of hundreds of political prisoners being held in often appalling conditions.”“Iʼd like to emphasize the release of Jimmy Lai would be something President Trump, Republicans and Democrats, indeed, freedom-loving people around the world would applaud,” Clifford said. “It would be a unifying event at the time when the world really needs it.”Yates said Jimmy Lai’s case is “a test of character, of Xi Jinping’s leadership, of the president’s relationship with his counterpart, and of whether there remains any credible basis for the assumptions on which American policy toward Hong Kong was long constructed.”The case is “a litmus test of whether there remains any reason to believe there is a future in Xi Jinping’s China for the kind of man Jimmy Lai is: a child of God, a lover of the real China, and, it may fairly be said, one of China’s greatest entrepreneurs,” Yates said. Lai’s health ‘is going to get worse’At a subsequent event, Sebastien Lai spoke at a press conference at Georgetown University about his father.Trump has previously met with Xi about Jimmy Lai’s case, which did not end with his release, but Sebastian Lai said he does not believe “it is a lost cause.” He said he hopes Trump raises his father’s case “again and again.”Sebastian Lai detailed his father’s health, which “hasnʼt gotten any better” while in solitary confinement.“He now has heart issues. His nails fall off. His teeth are rotting. During the summer, he bleeds all over his body because [of] his rashes,” he said.His health was especially worrisome recently because “Hong Kong just had a record summer,” Sebastien Lai said. “The heat traps in there and essentially bakes in itself. So weʼre very, very worried.”Caoilfhionn Gallagher, human rights lawyer and leader of the international legal team representing Jimmy Lai, further laid out the urgency of the case.“It’s very clear that if someone is detained in solitary confinement for an extended period of time, there is a direct ramification for their mortality,” she said.“The risk to prisoners detained in solitary confinement is particularly heightened if they’re elderly or diabetic, and Jimmy Lai is both. So this couldn’t be a more urgent and timely discussion,” she said. Gallagher also noted the broader human rights issues and lack of democracy in Hong Kong.Hong Kong “has become a place where you can be thrown in prison for singing the wrong song, or not singing the right song, or wearing the wrong T-shirt, printing the wrong newspaper. And I think Jimmy Laiʼs case is hugely important in itself because of who he is,” Gallagher said.“Heʼs probably the worldʼs most famous political prisoner at the moment. His case is hugely important, but we think part of why theyʼve gone for Jimmy Lai is because by getting the biggest fish of all, it sends the message to the small fry across Hong Kong,” Gallagher said. \"It makes very clear that their message is keep silent or youʼll be next,” Gallagher said. Xi’s visit to the U.S. offers “a particular opportunity to shine a light on this issue,” she said.")
“America understands, in its bones, that freedom dies with the last man willing to defend it and that the cost of not standing up for liberty is not felt until it is too late,” Sebastien Lai said.
The Latin patrarch presided over Mass on the eve of the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Taybeh, calling on Christians to live the “logic of the cross” through love and self-giving.
The sainthood cause for Tom Vander Woude, a Catholic father of seven who died saving his youngest son, moves to the information gathering stage.
![Vatican vegetable garden goes 100% organic #Catholic A vegetable garden and orchard inside the Vatican walls, which historically provided food for the pope’s household, is now cultivated using exclusively organic farming techniques.The private garden covers almost a tenth of an acre of cultivable land inside the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery property, where Pope Benedict XVI lived during his retirement and now reside cloistered Benedictine nuns from the Abbey of St. Scholastica in Victoria, Argentina.Sometimes known as “the pope’s garden,” the vegetable plot “has always been a defining feature of the Vatican Gardens because, in fact, the Vatican Gardens were originally created primarily for that purpose — to provide sustenance for the [Apostolic] Palace,” Stefano Giampaolo, a forestry expert and head of the Gardens and Environment Service of the Vatican, told EWTN News.Giampaolo explained that now the plot is more accurately understood as the vegetable garden of the Vatican Gardens — an area that covers roughly half of Vatican City at 57 acres.
Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, built inside Vatican City in the 1990s to house nuns who support the ministry of the pope through prayer, has an adjoining vegetable garden and orchard. | Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/EWTN News
The Benedictine nuns at Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, who pray for the pope, eat the fruit and vegetables grown in the garden and use them to make jams and other food preserves. The excess produce is given to a Vatican soup kitchen run by the Missionaries of Charity.The move to biological farming techniques has been underway for several years, partly in response to Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, Giampaolo said.The challenges of organicAccording to Gilberto Bianchi, the gardener responsible for the orchard and vegetable patch since 2008, the Vatican has a “desire to respect nature” in how it cares for the plants and trees on its land.But it’s far from easy.“Clearly, running a completely organic vegetable garden presents challenges, partly because insects are aggressive, and we use natural predators in the soil to control them,” Bianchi said. “No chemical fertilizers or insecticides are used.”He added that soil drainage and water conservation are also challenges.“This type of soil drains very well, so to conserve water, we add coconut fiber to retain moisture. And it’s watered with a drip irrigation system specifically to target the plants and avoid wasting water,” he said.Part of an organic agriculture also means respecting the seasons, he said. “Right now, the winter crops are being planted, while the summer crops are being harvested.”
The fresh produce grown in the vegetable garden and orchard in Vatican City feeds the Benedictine nuns living in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery and supports the nearby Missionaries of Charity-run soup kitchen. | Credit: Governorate of Vatican City State
The end-of-summer harvest includes tomatoes, eggplants, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, and peppers, while the fall and winter crop has broccoli, spinach, lettuce, and pumpkins.According to Vatican Media, the garden also includes garlic, basil, and a Peruvian variety of chili peppers known for its intensity. Kiwi plants were also added recently at the request of the Argentinian nuns.Next to the garden is a small orchard of around 15 citrus trees, some of which are 150 years old.“At this time, we’re planting savoy cabbage,” Bianchi said. “In short, whatever is in season. … So whatever is planted is because nature dictates it at that moment. The plants are grown from seed. We don’t use lab-grown plants.”A historic collection of gardensBianchi, who has worked for more than three decades in the Vatican Gardens, “is the one with the most expertise in this field, and he is now passing that knowledge on to a new gardener,” Giampaolo said.The expert gardener is part of a team of around 35 gardeners and administrators who oversee the Vatican’s green spaces and provide the flower arrangements for papal ceremonies.
Stefano Giampaolo, left, head of the Gardens and Environment Service of Vatican City, and expert gardener Gilberto Bianchi, right, the main caretaker of the orchard and vegetable garden commonly known as “the pope’s garden,” share their expertise with EWTN News in the Vatican Gardens on Sept. 9, 2026. | Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/EWTN News
“People expect to see a single garden, but in reality, as the name suggests, they are the Vatican Gardens — a collection of gardens,” Giampaolo said.The Gardens date to the mid-13th century, when Pope Nicolas III moved the papal residence from the Lateran Palace to the Vatican, had the city state’s walls built, and ordered the creation of a lawn, orchard, and “viridarium” — a Roman-style garden with flowerbeds and a fountain.Today, Giampaolo said, “there are countless different species, both trees and flowers. This is because, over time, the gardens have been enriched by donations and the search for specific botanical material, to the point of becoming a true botanical garden.”“Visitors are often struck by the diversity of the spaces — so many different gardens contained within this small area.”Ultimately, he said, the gardeners hope to one day eliminate all synthetic fertilizers and pesticides from their care of the entire Vatican territory.“It’s a process — the transformation of all the Gardens into organic ones,” he said.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/vatican-vegetable-garden-goes-100-organic-catholic-a-vegetable-garden-and-orchard-inside-the-vatican-walls-which-historically-provided-food-for-the-popes-household-is-now-cultivated-using-scaled.jpg "Vatican vegetable garden goes 100% organic #Catholic A vegetable garden and orchard inside the Vatican walls, which historically provided food for the pope’s household, is now cultivated using exclusively organic farming techniques.The private garden covers almost a tenth of an acre of cultivable land inside the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery property, where Pope Benedict XVI lived during his retirement and now reside cloistered Benedictine nuns from the Abbey of St. Scholastica in Victoria, Argentina.Sometimes known as “the pope’s garden,” the vegetable plot “has always been a defining feature of the Vatican Gardens because, in fact, the Vatican Gardens were originally created primarily for that purpose — to provide sustenance for the [Apostolic] Palace,” Stefano Giampaolo, a forestry expert and head of the Gardens and Environment Service of the Vatican, told EWTN News.Giampaolo explained that now the plot is more accurately understood as the vegetable garden of the Vatican Gardens — an area that covers roughly half of Vatican City at 57 acres.
Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, built inside Vatican City in the 1990s to house nuns who support the ministry of the pope through prayer, has an adjoining vegetable garden and orchard. | Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/EWTN News
The Benedictine nuns at Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, who pray for the pope, eat the fruit and vegetables grown in the garden and use them to make jams and other food preserves. The excess produce is given to a Vatican soup kitchen run by the Missionaries of Charity.The move to biological farming techniques has been underway for several years, partly in response to Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, Giampaolo said.The challenges of organicAccording to Gilberto Bianchi, the gardener responsible for the orchard and vegetable patch since 2008, the Vatican has a “desire to respect nature” in how it cares for the plants and trees on its land.But it’s far from easy.“Clearly, running a completely organic vegetable garden presents challenges, partly because insects are aggressive, and we use natural predators in the soil to control them,” Bianchi said. “No chemical fertilizers or insecticides are used.”He added that soil drainage and water conservation are also challenges.“This type of soil drains very well, so to conserve water, we add coconut fiber to retain moisture. And it’s watered with a drip irrigation system specifically to target the plants and avoid wasting water,” he said.Part of an organic agriculture also means respecting the seasons, he said. “Right now, the winter crops are being planted, while the summer crops are being harvested.”
The fresh produce grown in the vegetable garden and orchard in Vatican City feeds the Benedictine nuns living in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery and supports the nearby Missionaries of Charity-run soup kitchen. | Credit: Governorate of Vatican City State
The end-of-summer harvest includes tomatoes, eggplants, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, and peppers, while the fall and winter crop has broccoli, spinach, lettuce, and pumpkins.According to Vatican Media, the garden also includes garlic, basil, and a Peruvian variety of chili peppers known for its intensity. Kiwi plants were also added recently at the request of the Argentinian nuns.Next to the garden is a small orchard of around 15 citrus trees, some of which are 150 years old.“At this time, we’re planting savoy cabbage,” Bianchi said. “In short, whatever is in season. … So whatever is planted is because nature dictates it at that moment. The plants are grown from seed. We don’t use lab-grown plants.”A historic collection of gardensBianchi, who has worked for more than three decades in the Vatican Gardens, “is the one with the most expertise in this field, and he is now passing that knowledge on to a new gardener,” Giampaolo said.The expert gardener is part of a team of around 35 gardeners and administrators who oversee the Vatican’s green spaces and provide the flower arrangements for papal ceremonies.
Stefano Giampaolo, left, head of the Gardens and Environment Service of Vatican City, and expert gardener Gilberto Bianchi, right, the main caretaker of the orchard and vegetable garden commonly known as “the pope’s garden,” share their expertise with EWTN News in the Vatican Gardens on Sept. 9, 2026. | Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/EWTN News
“People expect to see a single garden, but in reality, as the name suggests, they are the Vatican Gardens — a collection of gardens,” Giampaolo said.The Gardens date to the mid-13th century, when Pope Nicolas III moved the papal residence from the Lateran Palace to the Vatican, had the city state’s walls built, and ordered the creation of a lawn, orchard, and “viridarium” — a Roman-style garden with flowerbeds and a fountain.Today, Giampaolo said, “there are countless different species, both trees and flowers. This is because, over time, the gardens have been enriched by donations and the search for specific botanical material, to the point of becoming a true botanical garden.”“Visitors are often struck by the diversity of the spaces — so many different gardens contained within this small area.”Ultimately, he said, the gardeners hope to one day eliminate all synthetic fertilizers and pesticides from their care of the entire Vatican territory.“It’s a process — the transformation of all the Gardens into organic ones,” he said.")
The move to biological farming techniques has been underway for several years in response to Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’.
![Catholic professor calls families to reclaim the home in a technological age #Catholic John Cuddeback, a professor of philosophy at Christendom College, says families today don’t often know how to achieve what they desire in their homes and family life. As a remedy, drawing from both ancient and modern thinkers, he has released "The Intentional Household: Living as if People Matter,” a book that outlines eight pillars for reclaiming the home as a place of human flourishing. “Families today are struggling to achieve what they so badly want: to have the kind of relationships we’re made for, beginning in the home, especially between spouses and between parents and children,” Cuddeback said. “They know they want something different, something better, but they feel hamstrung. In a culture that works against them in many ways, they are frustrated because they lack clear vision and examples to pattern themselves after.”
“The Intentional Household: Living as if People Matter” by Christendom College professor John Cuddeback. | Credit: Ken Oliver-Méndez/EWTN News
Cuddeback, who teaches a course on family and household and is also the author of “True Friendship,” spoke to EWTN News about how he hopes his book conveys that “[a]nyone can choose to be intentional about their household and make real progress with dramatic fruits in the lives of those we love most.” EWTN News: What do you see as the biggest challenge to building and maintaining an intentional home?Cuddebach: It all begins with priorities. As a society we have turned away from the intense focus that our household requires — and this is evident in how we struggle in marriage, raising children, and relating to the elderly. Even many traditionally-minded folks struggle to realize and enact the demanding, even while ordinary, aspects of God’s plan for our homes.Aristotle says that a society tends to produce the kind of people it honors. We do not honor those who prioritize home life — either women or men. This means that many of the structures, practices, and assumptions of our age are at odds with the real good of home life. This is especially evident in our obsession with the latest technologies.This book is a call to all of us to do something radically different and profoundly better — while always recognizing we must be people of our time and place. It calls us to discover that looking first to what our children and our elderly really need is the high road to deeper fulfillment for all of us.How has Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas influenced your thought on how technology should be incorporated in the home?Pope Leo makes clear that we have come to a crisis point. The time is now to be honest, serious, and persistent in examining our use of technology in view of real human flourishing. This must start in the home. No one else is going to do this for us.But as the pope makes clear, right practice must flow from an understanding of who we are and what we’re made for. “The Intentional Household” offers the rich and positive view of daily life in the home that grounds such an examination. It gives the “yes” that strengthens the “nos” we need to say. It gives direction for rising to the challenges of our age, including how to channel technology to true human flourishing.Approaching homelife intentionally — especially attending to the ordinary in good work and true leisure as essential to our relationships — we can take real steps to become those biblical good stewards so honored by the Lord.How does this apply to those across all walks of life, including single people, married couples without children, those who are divorced or separated?The principles of a vibrant home life are both perennial and flexible. Wherever we find ourselves we can discover how the plan that God wrote into human nature is much better than we have realized.Brokenness and suffering today are widespread. God’s plan encompasses these realities. By the grace of God, anyone who is humble and willing to take an intentional approach can affect real, and indeed dramatic change by applying the book’s eight principles. We can all take real steps to make our homes a place of vibrant life, with deep belonging, connection, and presence.One of the thinkers you cite in your book is Wendell Berry. In light of his recent passing can you speak to his influence on your life and thinking?Wendell Berry saw clearly how the loss of activities of work and leisure in the home has led to our experience of disconnection and isolation. Home should be a place of deep connection: between us and loved ones and neighbors, between soul and body, between us and the earth.One of Berry’s pivotal insights is the key role of a certain kind of work in the home. Berry has pointed out that the work of traditional home arts is much more important than we have realized. He argues that as the breakdown of home life came especially through the loss of good work, the renewal will likewise come through a rediscovery of work that connects us to one another as it connects us to our bodies and to the earth, and ultimately to God.Wendell Berry was a prophet of the extraordinary beauty and importance of the ordinary. Making our home an intentional household means rediscovering the power of ordinary things, such as mealtimes with the whole household, shared work in the kitchen and other home arts, and “porch time” and other such leisure times. Attention to these things can transform our marriage, parenting, and other key relationships.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/catholic-professor-calls-families-to-reclaim-the-home-in-a-technological-age-catholic-john-cuddeback-a-professor-of-philosophy-at-christendom-college-says-families-today-dont-often-know-ho.jpg "Catholic professor calls families to reclaim the home in a technological age #Catholic John Cuddeback, a professor of philosophy at Christendom College, says families today don’t often know how to achieve what they desire in their homes and family life. As a remedy, drawing from both ancient and modern thinkers, he has released \"The Intentional Household: Living as if People Matter,” a book that outlines eight pillars for reclaiming the home as a place of human flourishing. “Families today are struggling to achieve what they so badly want: to have the kind of relationships we’re made for, beginning in the home, especially between spouses and between parents and children,” Cuddeback said. “They know they want something different, something better, but they feel hamstrung. In a culture that works against them in many ways, they are frustrated because they lack clear vision and examples to pattern themselves after.”
“The Intentional Household: Living as if People Matter” by Christendom College professor John Cuddeback. | Credit: Ken Oliver-Méndez/EWTN News
Cuddeback, who teaches a course on family and household and is also the author of “True Friendship,” spoke to EWTN News about how he hopes his book conveys that “[a]nyone can choose to be intentional about their household and make real progress with dramatic fruits in the lives of those we love most.” EWTN News: What do you see as the biggest challenge to building and maintaining an intentional home?Cuddebach: It all begins with priorities. As a society we have turned away from the intense focus that our household requires — and this is evident in how we struggle in marriage, raising children, and relating to the elderly. Even many traditionally-minded folks struggle to realize and enact the demanding, even while ordinary, aspects of God’s plan for our homes.Aristotle says that a society tends to produce the kind of people it honors. We do not honor those who prioritize home life — either women or men. This means that many of the structures, practices, and assumptions of our age are at odds with the real good of home life. This is especially evident in our obsession with the latest technologies.This book is a call to all of us to do something radically different and profoundly better — while always recognizing we must be people of our time and place. It calls us to discover that looking first to what our children and our elderly really need is the high road to deeper fulfillment for all of us.How has Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas influenced your thought on how technology should be incorporated in the home?Pope Leo makes clear that we have come to a crisis point. The time is now to be honest, serious, and persistent in examining our use of technology in view of real human flourishing. This must start in the home. No one else is going to do this for us.But as the pope makes clear, right practice must flow from an understanding of who we are and what we’re made for. “The Intentional Household” offers the rich and positive view of daily life in the home that grounds such an examination. It gives the “yes” that strengthens the “nos” we need to say. It gives direction for rising to the challenges of our age, including how to channel technology to true human flourishing.Approaching homelife intentionally — especially attending to the ordinary in good work and true leisure as essential to our relationships — we can take real steps to become those biblical good stewards so honored by the Lord.How does this apply to those across all walks of life, including single people, married couples without children, those who are divorced or separated?The principles of a vibrant home life are both perennial and flexible. Wherever we find ourselves we can discover how the plan that God wrote into human nature is much better than we have realized.Brokenness and suffering today are widespread. God’s plan encompasses these realities. By the grace of God, anyone who is humble and willing to take an intentional approach can affect real, and indeed dramatic change by applying the book’s eight principles. We can all take real steps to make our homes a place of vibrant life, with deep belonging, connection, and presence.One of the thinkers you cite in your book is Wendell Berry. In light of his recent passing can you speak to his influence on your life and thinking?Wendell Berry saw clearly how the loss of activities of work and leisure in the home has led to our experience of disconnection and isolation. Home should be a place of deep connection: between us and loved ones and neighbors, between soul and body, between us and the earth.One of Berry’s pivotal insights is the key role of a certain kind of work in the home. Berry has pointed out that the work of traditional home arts is much more important than we have realized. He argues that as the breakdown of home life came especially through the loss of good work, the renewal will likewise come through a rediscovery of work that connects us to one another as it connects us to our bodies and to the earth, and ultimately to God.Wendell Berry was a prophet of the extraordinary beauty and importance of the ordinary. Making our home an intentional household means rediscovering the power of ordinary things, such as mealtimes with the whole household, shared work in the kitchen and other home arts, and “porch time” and other such leisure times. Attention to these things can transform our marriage, parenting, and other key relationships.")
Christendom College professor John Cuddeback spoke to EWTN News about his new book “The Intentional Household: Living as if People Matter,” and treating our homes as places of human flourishing.
Director Benjamin Tanaka, executive producer Gabriel Patrick, and composer Ethan Hsu call the project “The Francis Chronicles.”
![Apostolic nuncio calls for ‘moral voice’ in AI development #Catholic Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, apostolic nuncio to the United States, discussed the need for a “moral voice” in artificial intelligence (AI) development during a panel discussion hosted by Georgetown University on Sept. 9.The panel, titled “AI, Catholic Social Teaching, and Pope Leoʼs Invitation to Dialogue with the World,” examined Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and its call for a shared human effort to develop technology that serves the common good rather than harms it.Speakers noted that the Holy Father’s encyclical stopped short of prescribing specific policy ideas for addressing the moral and ethical concerns, but the nuncio said “there is the perception that we need a moral voice” on the subject.“A moral voice is what?” he said. “Not everything which is possible to be done should be done. Not everything that technology offers should be taken. This is a moral choice.”Caccia stressed that decisions affecting human lives should not be handed over to AI, citing distinctions between AI algorithms and the human conscience, as the Holy Father discussed in Magnifica Humanitas.Leo drew a distinction between artificial intelligence and human intelligence in the encyclical, focusing on how each approaches moral questions. The pope wrote that he rejected ideas of “artificial moral agents” and the notion that a machine can “distinguish between right and wrong with greater consistency than a human being.”“Moral judgment cannot be reduced to calculation, for it involves conscience, personal responsibility and the recognition of the other as a person,” Leo wrote. “Therefore, it is not permissible to entrust lethal or otherwise irreversible decisions to artificial systems.”Caccia said during the panel discussion that, as a society, “we have to keep the value of the human relationship.”“The problem is that [if] life and death is decided by a machine, not by the human being, who is accountable?” he said. “So these are very important, important questions. But I am confident, as I said, that together we can face this situation and find a way.”The nuncio said he has similar concerns about the use of AI in other types of decision-making that impacts humans.“I hear very troubling accounts of algorithms that can block access to healthcare, employment, and security on the basis of data tainted by prejudice and injustice,” he said. “And Iʼve heard the silence of those who have no voice. When decisions are made, decisions [are] likely to generate new forms of exclusion and suffering.”Quoting the encyclical, Caccia affirmed the pope’s call that AI “needs to be disarmed.”
Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations in New York, speaks on Aug. 29, 2025, the International Day Against Nuclear Tests. | Credit: Holy See Mission to the United Nations
“The word is strong, I know, but deliberately chosen because this moment needs words capable of attracting attention, awakening consciences, and indicating paths forward for humanity,” he said. “This is more or less a framework in which we can go on with the conversation.”Speaking to EWTN News after the panel, Caccia said the pope’s call to address moral concerns of AI is not just a call to Church leadership but to every Catholic.“There is, of course, the voice of the bishops,” he said. “But there is also the voice of Catholic people who are in the business or are engineers who are in the economy, who are in the field. So itʼs not just for those who have pastoral responsibility, but for the bigger community.”Pope’s impact on AI discussionSeveral panelists discussed the importance of Magnifica Humanitas in providing a type of moral guidance on AI development that focuses on the common good of humanity.Jasmine Sun, a journalist who writes about AI and Silicon Valley, said she “was actually surprised by how much folks I knew in Silicon Valley, in the AI industry did pay attention to Magnifica Humanitas.”“It was a lot more engagement, I think, than I expected,” she said. “And once again, I think itʼs because there is this sense that the profit motive that has driven Silicon Valley, that continues to drive Silicon Valley, is not enough.”Molly Kinder, CEO of the Breakwater Initiative, said the Church provides “wisdom and moral leadership” and believes its broad focus on humanity is why people listened.“Iʼm struck that in the opening pages of the Bible, there is a discussion of Adam and Eve being put on Earth to till the land as our fundamental reason for existing,” she said. “And it feels to me sometimes when Iʼm in Silicon Valley … they almost talk about almost a new Garden of Eden that AI is going to bring about, that maybe our purpose is not to work, or maybe itʼs leisure or a check and a hobby.”Caccia too said he was “positively surprised” by the reaction to the encyclical, saying “it seems that there was a need to do something about this.”“It didnʼt pretend to have the answers,” he said, “but he put questions, common questions that we have to tackle together to decide where we want to go.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/apostolic-nuncio-calls-for-moral-voice-in-ai-development-catholic-archbishop-gabriele-giordano-caccia-apostolic-nuncio-to-the-united-states-discussed-the-need-for-a-moral.jpg "Apostolic nuncio calls for ‘moral voice’ in AI development #Catholic Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, apostolic nuncio to the United States, discussed the need for a “moral voice” in artificial intelligence (AI) development during a panel discussion hosted by Georgetown University on Sept. 9.The panel, titled “AI, Catholic Social Teaching, and Pope Leoʼs Invitation to Dialogue with the World,” examined Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and its call for a shared human effort to develop technology that serves the common good rather than harms it.Speakers noted that the Holy Father’s encyclical stopped short of prescribing specific policy ideas for addressing the moral and ethical concerns, but the nuncio said “there is the perception that we need a moral voice” on the subject.“A moral voice is what?” he said. “Not everything which is possible to be done should be done. Not everything that technology offers should be taken. This is a moral choice.”Caccia stressed that decisions affecting human lives should not be handed over to AI, citing distinctions between AI algorithms and the human conscience, as the Holy Father discussed in Magnifica Humanitas.Leo drew a distinction between artificial intelligence and human intelligence in the encyclical, focusing on how each approaches moral questions. The pope wrote that he rejected ideas of “artificial moral agents” and the notion that a machine can “distinguish between right and wrong with greater consistency than a human being.”“Moral judgment cannot be reduced to calculation, for it involves conscience, personal responsibility and the recognition of the other as a person,” Leo wrote. “Therefore, it is not permissible to entrust lethal or otherwise irreversible decisions to artificial systems.”Caccia said during the panel discussion that, as a society, “we have to keep the value of the human relationship.”“The problem is that [if] life and death is decided by a machine, not by the human being, who is accountable?” he said. “So these are very important, important questions. But I am confident, as I said, that together we can face this situation and find a way.”The nuncio said he has similar concerns about the use of AI in other types of decision-making that impacts humans.“I hear very troubling accounts of algorithms that can block access to healthcare, employment, and security on the basis of data tainted by prejudice and injustice,” he said. “And Iʼve heard the silence of those who have no voice. When decisions are made, decisions [are] likely to generate new forms of exclusion and suffering.”Quoting the encyclical, Caccia affirmed the pope’s call that AI “needs to be disarmed.”
Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Holy See’s permanent observer to the United Nations in New York, speaks on Aug. 29, 2025, the International Day Against Nuclear Tests. | Credit: Holy See Mission to the United Nations
“The word is strong, I know, but deliberately chosen because this moment needs words capable of attracting attention, awakening consciences, and indicating paths forward for humanity,” he said. “This is more or less a framework in which we can go on with the conversation.”Speaking to EWTN News after the panel, Caccia said the pope’s call to address moral concerns of AI is not just a call to Church leadership but to every Catholic.“There is, of course, the voice of the bishops,” he said. “But there is also the voice of Catholic people who are in the business or are engineers who are in the economy, who are in the field. So itʼs not just for those who have pastoral responsibility, but for the bigger community.”Pope’s impact on AI discussionSeveral panelists discussed the importance of Magnifica Humanitas in providing a type of moral guidance on AI development that focuses on the common good of humanity.Jasmine Sun, a journalist who writes about AI and Silicon Valley, said she “was actually surprised by how much folks I knew in Silicon Valley, in the AI industry did pay attention to Magnifica Humanitas.”“It was a lot more engagement, I think, than I expected,” she said. “And once again, I think itʼs because there is this sense that the profit motive that has driven Silicon Valley, that continues to drive Silicon Valley, is not enough.”Molly Kinder, CEO of the Breakwater Initiative, said the Church provides “wisdom and moral leadership” and believes its broad focus on humanity is why people listened.“Iʼm struck that in the opening pages of the Bible, there is a discussion of Adam and Eve being put on Earth to till the land as our fundamental reason for existing,” she said. “And it feels to me sometimes when Iʼm in Silicon Valley … they almost talk about almost a new Garden of Eden that AI is going to bring about, that maybe our purpose is not to work, or maybe itʼs leisure or a check and a hobby.”Caccia too said he was “positively surprised” by the reaction to the encyclical, saying “it seems that there was a need to do something about this.”“It didnʼt pretend to have the answers,” he said, “but he put questions, common questions that we have to tackle together to decide where we want to go.”")
Speakers at a Georgetown University event said Magnifica Humanitas offers moral guidance without policy steps, and the nuncio noted rising concern that debates over AI need a moral voice.
This past Sept. 7, the “Creed of the Ecclesial Base Communities” was included as part of a Mass marking Brazil’s annual “Cry of the Excluded” event.
More than 3,000 people have joined a growing Catholic Bible study initiative in Lebanon as organizers launch more days and times throughout the country and beyond.
The Holy Father encouraged silent contemplation of the wonders and harmony of the created world, which can lead to authentic ecological conversion and awareness of our responsibility for creation.
The bishops discussed the pastoral challenges facing the Church in North America as a whole and concelebrated a Mass on Aug. 30 in the Cuernavaca, Mexico, cathedral.
![Hope for broken marriages: One couple’s story #Catholic On April 7, 2009, Mariela Villanueva landed in Venezuela convinced that she was going to end her marriage. Five years had passed since her husband, Harold Figueras, had left his family in Peru and rebuilt his life in another country. She carried with her the pain of a long separation and the resolve to sign the divorce papers. He had with him a written list of all the grievances he intended to unleash the moment he saw her.Nothing happened the way either of them had imagined.They arranged to meet on a Wednesday at 3 p.m., the Hour of Mercy, at the very spot where they had courted years before. When Mariela appeared, Harold frantically searched for the sheet of paper containing his complaints. It had vanished.“I was expecting a war. She opened her arms to embrace me, and I realized that I was the only one who wanted to fight,” Harold recalled in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. Mariela said she made that gesture because she had already begun a process of conversion and was holding onto one last hope.That embrace did not immediately restore the marriage, however. It would still be nearly a month before he ended the other relationship he was in and decided to return to his family. But on that day, they both attest, Jesus won the first great battle.
Harold and Mariela in front of Lima Cathedral. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
A marriage marked by woundednessHarold and Mariela met in 1998 at the Venezuelan College of Engineers. He worked in systems; she was a young lawyer running a legal consultation firm with dozens of professionals under her supervision.While Mariela had grown up in a Catholic family and frequently prayed the rosary, Harold was completely indifferent to the faith.“I used to make fun of priests. For me, getting married in the Church was simply a matter of fulfilling a social formality,” he admitted.They were married in a civil ceremony and on Sept. 2, 2000, received the sacrament at marriage at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Barranco, Peru. However, they acknowledged that they came to the altar without truly understanding the meaning of the vocation of marriage.“We began our life together without God at the center. That was the first major mistake,” Harold explained.Over the years, deep-seated wounds began to surface: abandonment, loneliness, pride, an inability to communicate, and unrealistic expectations about love. Venezuela’s economic crisis further aggravated the situation. Harold traveled constantly between the two countries until, one day, he simply stopped coming back.Mariela was left alone in Lima with her young daughter.
Recent photo of Harold and Mariela with their three daughters in Lima, Peru. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
‘Mom, teach me to pray’Paradoxically, the restoration did not begin when Harold changed. It began when Mariela got down on her knees.Estranged from the Church and filled with resentment, the young mother had abandoned the practice of her faith after being hurt by a bad experience at a parish. Everything changed thanks to an unexpected request from her 7-year-old daughter: “Mom, grandma says you know how to pray. Teach me the rosary.”Mariela agreed, more out of a sense of obligation than anything else. Shortly after that, her daughter insisted on making her first Communion and said something that pierced her mother’s heart: “You know what it’s like to have Jesus in your heart… so why don’t you [go to Communion]?”Those words led Mariela back to the confessional.From then on, she began a routine that would change her life: daily Mass before work, Eucharistic adoration at midday, and the rosary every night with her daughter.“I was looking for God to change my husband. The Lord ended up changing me,” she related.
Harold and Mariela with members of the Peruvian Catholic movement “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family.” | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
‘Look at me’During Eucharistic adoration, an experience occurred that would, years later, give its name to the retreat the couple now leads as part of the Peruvian Catholic movement “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family.”Mariela was praying, seeing herself as the victim in her story: “Lord, look at me. Look at how good I am. Look at what he did to me.”Then, she raised her eyes toward the monstrance.“I no longer saw the monstrance. I saw Jesus, wounded and bloodied. And he said to me only: ‘Look at me.’”In that moment, she experienced a personal encounter with Jesus. She began to recall her own sins from childhood and realized that, for years, she had been unable to recognize her own wounds.“I realized that God wasn’t going to ask me about Harold’s sins. He was going to ask me how much I loved my husband within the sacrament.”Her prayer changed completely, and she no longer asked for Harold to return. She only prayed: “Lord, bring him back to you.”
Mariela Villanueva. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mariela Villanueva
The hell of the occultWhile Mariela was deepening her prayer life, Harold was heading down a completely opposite path.Seeking better financial prospects, he began consulting tarot cards. Next came syncretist Santería practices, and finally Palería, a witchcraft practice involving human remains and animal sacrifices.“I entered a dark room containing skeletal remains. I felt an indescribable fear, yet I kept looking for answers where they weren’t to be found,” Harold recalled.Amid that emptiness, he began to notice something strange. Mariela kept calling him, but no longer to get him back. One afternoon, in a mocking tone, he asked her: “What’s wrong? Don’t you need me anymore?”Her answer baffled him.“No. Whatʼs going on is that I have someone here who loves me.”Harold thought she had another romantic partner, but today he knows his wife was speaking of Christ himself.
Harold Figueras. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras
Welcomed back with loveAfter that encounter with his wife in Venezuela, Harold eventually returned to Peru.He admitted he was terrified of facing Mariela’s family and above all, their daughter. He imagined reproaches, humiliation, and rejection. Yet, he found exactly the opposite.“They all hugged me as if I had just stepped out to buy bread,” he recounted.A few days later, he accompanied Mariela to the Oblate Fathers’ church in the Barranco neighborhood of Lima. He had no thought of even going inside. He was standing near the doorway when, as he tells it, he felt an inner impulse that led him straight to the confessional.“I told the priest: ‘Father, I’ve been separated from my wife for five years, and I don’t know why I’ve come back.’”The priest invited him to attend a spiritual retreat. It was there that Harold experienced his own conversion.Before the Blessed Sacrament, after resisting for hours, Harold looked up: “I no longer saw the monstrance. I saw two honey-colored eyes that pierced my heart. I began to weep as I never had in my life.”From that moment on, he abandoned the occult and began a journey of faith that continues to this day.An ongoing miracleMore than 15 years have passed since that reconciliation.Harold and Mariela maintain that the true miracle was not simply living together again but discovering that marriage is a daily path to holiness.“Restoring the marriage takes your whole life. It doesn’t stop when the husband returns. It begins there,” Mariela said.
Harold and Mariela today. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
That experience gave rise to the “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family” movement, an initiative that supports spouses who are separated or on the verge of divorce. The path they propose begins with oneʼs own conversion rather than an attempt to change oneʼs spouse.Those who come to the mission begin with what’s called “Mary’s Workshop,” a preparation for consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that focuses on the sacrament of marriage. There, the aim is for each person to acknowledge his or her own wounds and receive the tools to discern how to handle their issues as a family.However, Harold and Mariela noted that not all journeys end the same way. Some married couples manage to reunite, while others go their separate ways, including through the process of a declaration of nullity. What remains, they maintain, is the call to conversion and to seek God’s will.“The Lord wants us to be holy,” Mariela explained. She said that even when a person goes through a process different from what she or he hoped for, suffering can become an opportunity to draw closer to Christ and offer that pain for the holiness of the Church.Today, when they look back, the couple no longer see themselves as the same people who had separated. Mariela describes Harold as a man more committed to knowing Godʼs love and capable of giving of himself to his family.For his part, he acknowledged that the woman he reunited with after five years was no longer the same one he had left behind.
The Figueras Villanueva family today. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
For this reason, their testimony does not aim to offer a formula for restoring a lost marriage. It is, above all, the story of two people who discovered that, before asking God to change the other person, they had to allow themselves to be transformed by him.“Many people come saying, ‘I want my husband to come back.’ We tell them: First, let Jesus return to the center of your heart,” Harold explained.Their message to couples in crisis stems from that experience: Don’t hide your wounds, don’t let shame defeat you, and don’t confuse restoration with a simple return to the life you had before.For as they discovered that Wednesday afternoon in 2009, some marital battles are not won by defeating the other person but by allowing oneself to be conquered by God’s merciful love.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/hope-for-broken-marriages-one-couples-story-catholic-on-april-7-2009-mariela-villanueva-landed-in-venezuela-convinced-that-she-was-going-to-end-her-marriage-five-years-had-passed-since-h.jpg "Hope for broken marriages: One couple’s story #Catholic On April 7, 2009, Mariela Villanueva landed in Venezuela convinced that she was going to end her marriage. Five years had passed since her husband, Harold Figueras, had left his family in Peru and rebuilt his life in another country. She carried with her the pain of a long separation and the resolve to sign the divorce papers. He had with him a written list of all the grievances he intended to unleash the moment he saw her.Nothing happened the way either of them had imagined.They arranged to meet on a Wednesday at 3 p.m., the Hour of Mercy, at the very spot where they had courted years before. When Mariela appeared, Harold frantically searched for the sheet of paper containing his complaints. It had vanished.“I was expecting a war. She opened her arms to embrace me, and I realized that I was the only one who wanted to fight,” Harold recalled in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. Mariela said she made that gesture because she had already begun a process of conversion and was holding onto one last hope.That embrace did not immediately restore the marriage, however. It would still be nearly a month before he ended the other relationship he was in and decided to return to his family. But on that day, they both attest, Jesus won the first great battle.
Harold and Mariela in front of Lima Cathedral. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
A marriage marked by woundednessHarold and Mariela met in 1998 at the Venezuelan College of Engineers. He worked in systems; she was a young lawyer running a legal consultation firm with dozens of professionals under her supervision.While Mariela had grown up in a Catholic family and frequently prayed the rosary, Harold was completely indifferent to the faith.“I used to make fun of priests. For me, getting married in the Church was simply a matter of fulfilling a social formality,” he admitted.They were married in a civil ceremony and on Sept. 2, 2000, received the sacrament at marriage at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Barranco, Peru. However, they acknowledged that they came to the altar without truly understanding the meaning of the vocation of marriage.“We began our life together without God at the center. That was the first major mistake,” Harold explained.Over the years, deep-seated wounds began to surface: abandonment, loneliness, pride, an inability to communicate, and unrealistic expectations about love. Venezuela’s economic crisis further aggravated the situation. Harold traveled constantly between the two countries until, one day, he simply stopped coming back.Mariela was left alone in Lima with her young daughter.
Recent photo of Harold and Mariela with their three daughters in Lima, Peru. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
‘Mom, teach me to pray’Paradoxically, the restoration did not begin when Harold changed. It began when Mariela got down on her knees.Estranged from the Church and filled with resentment, the young mother had abandoned the practice of her faith after being hurt by a bad experience at a parish. Everything changed thanks to an unexpected request from her 7-year-old daughter: “Mom, grandma says you know how to pray. Teach me the rosary.”Mariela agreed, more out of a sense of obligation than anything else. Shortly after that, her daughter insisted on making her first Communion and said something that pierced her mother’s heart: “You know what it’s like to have Jesus in your heart… so why don’t you [go to Communion]?”Those words led Mariela back to the confessional.From then on, she began a routine that would change her life: daily Mass before work, Eucharistic adoration at midday, and the rosary every night with her daughter.“I was looking for God to change my husband. The Lord ended up changing me,” she related.
Harold and Mariela with members of the Peruvian Catholic movement “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family.” | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
‘Look at me’During Eucharistic adoration, an experience occurred that would, years later, give its name to the retreat the couple now leads as part of the Peruvian Catholic movement “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family.”Mariela was praying, seeing herself as the victim in her story: “Lord, look at me. Look at how good I am. Look at what he did to me.”Then, she raised her eyes toward the monstrance.“I no longer saw the monstrance. I saw Jesus, wounded and bloodied. And he said to me only: ‘Look at me.’”In that moment, she experienced a personal encounter with Jesus. She began to recall her own sins from childhood and realized that, for years, she had been unable to recognize her own wounds.“I realized that God wasn’t going to ask me about Harold’s sins. He was going to ask me how much I loved my husband within the sacrament.”Her prayer changed completely, and she no longer asked for Harold to return. She only prayed: “Lord, bring him back to you.”
Mariela Villanueva. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Mariela Villanueva
The hell of the occultWhile Mariela was deepening her prayer life, Harold was heading down a completely opposite path.Seeking better financial prospects, he began consulting tarot cards. Next came syncretist Santería practices, and finally Palería, a witchcraft practice involving human remains and animal sacrifices.“I entered a dark room containing skeletal remains. I felt an indescribable fear, yet I kept looking for answers where they weren’t to be found,” Harold recalled.Amid that emptiness, he began to notice something strange. Mariela kept calling him, but no longer to get him back. One afternoon, in a mocking tone, he asked her: “What’s wrong? Don’t you need me anymore?”Her answer baffled him.“No. Whatʼs going on is that I have someone here who loves me.”Harold thought she had another romantic partner, but today he knows his wife was speaking of Christ himself.
Harold Figueras. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras
Welcomed back with loveAfter that encounter with his wife in Venezuela, Harold eventually returned to Peru.He admitted he was terrified of facing Mariela’s family and above all, their daughter. He imagined reproaches, humiliation, and rejection. Yet, he found exactly the opposite.“They all hugged me as if I had just stepped out to buy bread,” he recounted.A few days later, he accompanied Mariela to the Oblate Fathers’ church in the Barranco neighborhood of Lima. He had no thought of even going inside. He was standing near the doorway when, as he tells it, he felt an inner impulse that led him straight to the confessional.“I told the priest: ‘Father, I’ve been separated from my wife for five years, and I don’t know why I’ve come back.’”The priest invited him to attend a spiritual retreat. It was there that Harold experienced his own conversion.Before the Blessed Sacrament, after resisting for hours, Harold looked up: “I no longer saw the monstrance. I saw two honey-colored eyes that pierced my heart. I began to weep as I never had in my life.”From that moment on, he abandoned the occult and began a journey of faith that continues to this day.An ongoing miracleMore than 15 years have passed since that reconciliation.Harold and Mariela maintain that the true miracle was not simply living together again but discovering that marriage is a daily path to holiness.“Restoring the marriage takes your whole life. It doesn’t stop when the husband returns. It begins there,” Mariela said.
Harold and Mariela today. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
That experience gave rise to the “Jesus and Mary Are Restoring My Family” movement, an initiative that supports spouses who are separated or on the verge of divorce. The path they propose begins with oneʼs own conversion rather than an attempt to change oneʼs spouse.Those who come to the mission begin with what’s called “Mary’s Workshop,” a preparation for consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that focuses on the sacrament of marriage. There, the aim is for each person to acknowledge his or her own wounds and receive the tools to discern how to handle their issues as a family.However, Harold and Mariela noted that not all journeys end the same way. Some married couples manage to reunite, while others go their separate ways, including through the process of a declaration of nullity. What remains, they maintain, is the call to conversion and to seek God’s will.“The Lord wants us to be holy,” Mariela explained. She said that even when a person goes through a process different from what she or he hoped for, suffering can become an opportunity to draw closer to Christ and offer that pain for the holiness of the Church.Today, when they look back, the couple no longer see themselves as the same people who had separated. Mariela describes Harold as a man more committed to knowing Godʼs love and capable of giving of himself to his family.For his part, he acknowledged that the woman he reunited with after five years was no longer the same one he had left behind.
The Figueras Villanueva family today. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Harold Figueras and Mariela Villanueva
For this reason, their testimony does not aim to offer a formula for restoring a lost marriage. It is, above all, the story of two people who discovered that, before asking God to change the other person, they had to allow themselves to be transformed by him.“Many people come saying, ‘I want my husband to come back.’ We tell them: First, let Jesus return to the center of your heart,” Harold explained.Their message to couples in crisis stems from that experience: Don’t hide your wounds, don’t let shame defeat you, and don’t confuse restoration with a simple return to the life you had before.For as they discovered that Wednesday afternoon in 2009, some marital battles are not won by defeating the other person but by allowing oneself to be conquered by God’s merciful love.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.")
Starting out their marriage without God at the center, the couple became estranged and the husband left, but things began to change when their daughter asked her mom, “Teach me to pray.”
The Holy Father was the first pope to travel across the waters of the lake in the 400-year-long history of Castel Gandolfo as a papal summer residence, according to the Vatican.
The annual 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.
NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander, is seen in the two-seat IndyCar as he prepares for driver Conor Daly to take him on a lap in the fastest seat in sport ahead of the start of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
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During his Angelus on Aug. 23, the pontiff expressed closeness to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.
![‘You are home’: Pope Leo XIV meets with sick, disabled residents at Rimini #Catholic Pope Leo XIV met with sick and disabled residents of the city of Rimini, Italy on Aug. 22, urging them to “follow the Lord by taking an active part in the life of the Church.” The meeting came at the end of a whirlwind day of travel for the pope, who visited the tiny landlocked country of San Marino before making an appearance at the 47th Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples in Rimini.
Pope Leo XIV is handed flowers by a woman in a wheelchair at Rimini Cathedral, Aug. 22, 2026, during a meeting with people suffering from illnesses and disabilities. | Credit: Vatican Media
In his meeting with those suffering from illness and disabilities, which took place at Rimini Cathedral, the pope said the ancient church signified to the sick and poor: “You are home.”Jesus, the Holy Father said, worked to “heal [sick people] and restore to them a life worthy of their dignity.”
Pope Leo XIV speaks at Rimini Cathedral, Aug. 22, 2026, during a meeting with people suffering from illnesses and disabilities. | Credit: Vatican Media
He urged the assembly to take part in Church life “in the parish, in associations, and in places of welcome and service.”The pope subsequently said Mass at the Port of Rimini, where in his homily he told the faithful that “everything we are and have is a gift from God.”He said every baptized Christian is oriented toward “embracing, gathering, welcoming, liberating, forgiving [and] emancipating anyone who is a prisoner of sin and its consequence.”Referring to St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, the pope said: “God is simple, because he is pure charity, and calls us also to love with a heart similar to his, conforming our ways to his ways and our thoughts to his thoughts.”](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/you-are-home-pope-leo-xiv-meets-with-sick-disabled-residents-at-rimini-catholic-pope-leo-xiv-met-with-sick-and-disabled-residents-of-the-city-of-rimini-italy-on-aug-22-urging-t-scaled.jpg "‘You are home’: Pope Leo XIV meets with sick, disabled residents at Rimini #Catholic Pope Leo XIV met with sick and disabled residents of the city of Rimini, Italy on Aug. 22, urging them to “follow the Lord by taking an active part in the life of the Church.” The meeting came at the end of a whirlwind day of travel for the pope, who visited the tiny landlocked country of San Marino before making an appearance at the 47th Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples in Rimini.
Pope Leo XIV is handed flowers by a woman in a wheelchair at Rimini Cathedral, Aug. 22, 2026, during a meeting with people suffering from illnesses and disabilities. | Credit: Vatican Media
In his meeting with those suffering from illness and disabilities, which took place at Rimini Cathedral, the pope said the ancient church signified to the sick and poor: “You are home.”Jesus, the Holy Father said, worked to “heal [sick people] and restore to them a life worthy of their dignity.”
Pope Leo XIV speaks at Rimini Cathedral, Aug. 22, 2026, during a meeting with people suffering from illnesses and disabilities. | Credit: Vatican Media
He urged the assembly to take part in Church life “in the parish, in associations, and in places of welcome and service.”The pope subsequently said Mass at the Port of Rimini, where in his homily he told the faithful that “everything we are and have is a gift from God.”He said every baptized Christian is oriented toward “embracing, gathering, welcoming, liberating, forgiving [and] emancipating anyone who is a prisoner of sin and its consequence.”Referring to St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, the pope said: “God is simple, because he is pure charity, and calls us also to love with a heart similar to his, conforming our ways to his ways and our thoughts to his thoughts.”")
The pope urged the assembly to take part in Church life “in the parish, in associations, and in places of welcome and service.”
![At friendship meeting in Italy, Pope Leo calls for fraternity: ‘Love is the law of life’ #Catholic Pope Leo XIV arrived in the Italian city of Rimini on Aug. 22 to visit the 47th Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples, telling about 60,000 attendees that “love is the force that can transform the world.”Upon arrival after a brief visit to the country of San Marino, Leo addressed a spontaneous greeting to the people gathered in the auditorium, expressing his joy and pointing out that “the loudest applause should be for Jesus Christ.”
Pope Leo XIV greets attendees at the 47th Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples in Rimini, Italy, Aug. 22, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media
“Our hearts, so big and capable of loving, should never be closed. Letʼs find the way together to build a world of peace and love,” he said.In his speech to the gathering, Pope Leo recounted the teachings of his immediate predecessors on social friendship, fraternity and union, highlighting the value of Riminiʼs meeting to achieve these ideals. The annual event is hosted by the international organization Communion and Liberation. He assured the assembly that “in recognizing our dignity as children of God, we come into contact with what originally unites human beings, beyond all diversity, separation or conflict.”“We can identify with each other, listen to each other and establish friendship, between individuals and, therefore, also between peoples. Before borders, definitions and institutions, there are always people,” he added.Reflecting on the pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Leo did not hesitate to affirm that “it is a time of responsibility” among men and that it is love that is the foundation of a fraternal society.“Following Jesus Christ after the tragedies and the new beginnings of the twentieth century implies, in fact, a clear awareness: Evil is not fought with evil. As in heaven, as on earth, love is the law of life, the method of redemption of the crucified Messiah,” he said.“Faced with the false realism that rearms minds, words and nations, the current Catholic culture must counteract the realism of mercy, which maintains that enemies cannot exist and that everyone, even adversaries, are brothers to whom they look into the eyes and receive with sincerity,” he added.Addressing especially young people, Leo told them that they “are a sign that the future is a promise, not a threat” and witnesses of a love that “continues to inspire hope.”“Love moves, drives, awakens from lethargy, inspires new vocations and calls us to take risks. Get involved! Open up to true universality, expanding your ties beyond any too close affiliation,” he said."In every corner of the world, especially in the margins and among those who suffer, you will find those willing to build the civilization of love. Do not allow anyone to belittle this word, which is the very name of God: 'God is love,'" said the Holy Father.“In love, there is never coercion or indoctrination; there is never seduction, deception or manipulation. Love resides only in freedom, in sincere exchange, in generous self-giving.”Finally, he invited young people to remain devoted to Christ to testify, without boasting, in the midst of todayʼs world."May the Holy Spirit instruct us in the practice of communion. That gives us pleasure for [the Holy Spirit], appreciation for him and hope in him. May he continue to guide us, dear brothers and sisters, with that love 'that moves the sun and the other stars'," he concluded.This story was originally published by ACI Prensa, EWTN News’ Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/at-friendship-meeting-in-italy-pope-leo-calls-for-fraternity-love-is-the-law-of-life-catholic-pope-leo-xiv-arrived-in-the-italian-city-of-rimini-on-aug-22-to-visit-the-47th-scaled.jpg "At friendship meeting in Italy, Pope Leo calls for fraternity: ‘Love is the law of life’ #Catholic Pope Leo XIV arrived in the Italian city of Rimini on Aug. 22 to visit the 47th Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples, telling about 60,000 attendees that “love is the force that can transform the world.”Upon arrival after a brief visit to the country of San Marino, Leo addressed a spontaneous greeting to the people gathered in the auditorium, expressing his joy and pointing out that “the loudest applause should be for Jesus Christ.”
Pope Leo XIV greets attendees at the 47th Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples in Rimini, Italy, Aug. 22, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media
“Our hearts, so big and capable of loving, should never be closed. Letʼs find the way together to build a world of peace and love,” he said.In his speech to the gathering, Pope Leo recounted the teachings of his immediate predecessors on social friendship, fraternity and union, highlighting the value of Riminiʼs meeting to achieve these ideals. The annual event is hosted by the international organization Communion and Liberation. He assured the assembly that “in recognizing our dignity as children of God, we come into contact with what originally unites human beings, beyond all diversity, separation or conflict.”“We can identify with each other, listen to each other and establish friendship, between individuals and, therefore, also between peoples. Before borders, definitions and institutions, there are always people,” he added.Reflecting on the pastoral constitution Gaudium et spes of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Leo did not hesitate to affirm that “it is a time of responsibility” among men and that it is love that is the foundation of a fraternal society.“Following Jesus Christ after the tragedies and the new beginnings of the twentieth century implies, in fact, a clear awareness: Evil is not fought with evil. As in heaven, as on earth, love is the law of life, the method of redemption of the crucified Messiah,” he said.“Faced with the false realism that rearms minds, words and nations, the current Catholic culture must counteract the realism of mercy, which maintains that enemies cannot exist and that everyone, even adversaries, are brothers to whom they look into the eyes and receive with sincerity,” he added.Addressing especially young people, Leo told them that they “are a sign that the future is a promise, not a threat” and witnesses of a love that “continues to inspire hope.”“Love moves, drives, awakens from lethargy, inspires new vocations and calls us to take risks. Get involved! Open up to true universality, expanding your ties beyond any too close affiliation,” he said.\"In every corner of the world, especially in the margins and among those who suffer, you will find those willing to build the civilization of love. Do not allow anyone to belittle this word, which is the very name of God: 'God is love,'\" said the Holy Father.“In love, there is never coercion or indoctrination; there is never seduction, deception or manipulation. Love resides only in freedom, in sincere exchange, in generous self-giving.”Finally, he invited young people to remain devoted to Christ to testify, without boasting, in the midst of todayʼs world.\"May the Holy Spirit instruct us in the practice of communion. That gives us pleasure for [the Holy Spirit], appreciation for him and hope in him. May he continue to guide us, dear brothers and sisters, with that love 'that moves the sun and the other stars',\" he concluded.This story was originally published by ACI Prensa, EWTN News’ Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.")
“Our heart, so big and capable of loving, should never be closed. Let’s find the way together to build a world of peace and love,” the pope said to a crowd of thousands.
The Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial is seen during a wreath laying ceremony that was part of NASA’s Day of Remembrance, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Wreaths were laid in memory of those men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration. Photo Credit: (NASA/Keegan Barber)
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