Catholic News
- 'Christ truly satisfies humanity's hunger,' Pope tells pilgrims (CWN)
Reflecting on the Gospel reading at Mass today (Matthew 14:13-21), Pope Leo XIV said that “the account of the multiplication of the loaves shows us that the encounter with the Lord is a nourishing experience.” - Pope prays for Ceuta, renews prayer for peace (CWN)
At the conclusion his midday Angelus address today, Pope Leo XIV prayed for Ceuta, days after 60,000 migrants from Morocco entered the Spanish city. - Pontiff highlights Portiuncula indulgence (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV today drew attention to the Portiuncula (Porziuncola) indulgence, which may be gained after noon on August 1, or anytime on August 2 (norm 33 and N14). - 'Listen to the Lord's call and follow him decisively,' Pope tells Ecuadorian young people (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV challenged the young participants in the Ecuadorian bishops’ 7th National Youth Day to “listen to the Lord’s call and follow him decisively.” - Pope encourages youth in Medjugorje to rediscover beauty of encountering the Lord (Vatican News)
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, sent a message in the Pontiff’s name to participants in the annual youth festival in Medjugorje. Pope Leo encouraged participants to encounter Christ through prayer, the sacraments, and listening to the Word of God, and in doing so to rediscover “the beauty of a personal encounter with the Lord, who quenches every heart and gives the strength to always begin anew.” Medjugorje In 2024, Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, in its Note About the Spiritual Experience Connected with Medjugorje, granted cautious approval to Medjugorje devotions. - Pope recalls suffering of Albanian faithful under Communist regime (Vatican News)
In a message to Cardinal Ernest Simoni, Pope Leo XIV recalled the sufferings of the Albanian faithful under the Communist regime there (1946-1991). Cardinal Simoni, a prisoner of the regime from 1963 to 1981, returned to Spaç Prison, a site where he was interned, to celebrate Mass on July 31. “No chain is strong enough to imprison a conscience enlightened by the Gospel; no night is so long that it can prevent the dawn the Lord prepares for His children; and no prison is deep enough to separate a person from the love of God,” Pope Leo wrote. “The blood of those who suffered and died among those mountains has watered that land, making it a silent witness to fidelity, courage and hope.” - Gunmen abduct 3 from Nigerian church (Premium Times (Abuja))
Gunmen entered a Catholic church in Udi, Nigeria, on August 2 and abducted a seminarian and two fellow worshippers. “The kidnappers initially abducted the seminarian, catechist, and another person in the church,” said a witness to the incident. “But after they moved with the victims for a few minutes, the kidnappers asked the catechist to go back and then entered the bush with the seminarian and the other worshipper.” - Christ calls you to be missionaries, Vatican official tells 6,000 Mexican youth (Fides)
A Vatican official challenged the 6,000 participants in the Mexican bishops’ 15th National Missionary Youth Congress to be missionaries. “Let us begin with a truth that changes everything: every baptized person is called to be a missionary,” said Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization. “This is not a special vocation reserved for priests, religious, or a few heroic individuals. It is the grace and responsibility of our Baptism. It is the very identity of every Christian.” Archbishop Nwachukwu’s July 25 address to the gathering in San Luis Potosí had five sections: “The universal call to mission,” “The three essential qualities of a missionary,” “The mission of the Church and the role of the Dicastery for Evangelization,” “The example of Blessed Pauline Jaricot,” and “Mary, model of missionary youth.” The prelate concluded: The sea of humanity is vast. The world needs missionaries. The Church needs you. And Christ calls you. Do not be afraid to put out into the deep. Do not be afraid to give your lives. Do not be afraid to trust in God. That is why I ask you, from the depths of my heart: “Are you willing to sacrifice something of your own lives to bring the face of Christ to others?” - Priest brutally murdered in Nigeria (Nigerian Tribune)
A priest was brutally murdered in Ajaokuta, in Nigeria’s Kogi State. The body of Father Samuel Opeyemi Oyetoro was found by the side of a road with “severe machete cuts to the head,” a police spokesman said. - Vatican newspaper, Spanish bishops' official warn against politicization of Moroccans in Ceuta (CWN)
As most of the 60,000 Moroccans who surged into the Spanish city of Ceuta returned to their native land, the Vatican newspaper and a Spanish episcopal conference official warned against politicizing the incident. - In Belarus, Polish priests 'increasingly not allowed to continue their work' (Forum 18)
Archbishop Iosif Stanevsky of Minsk-Mogilev, Belarus, said that Polish priests “are increasingly not allowed” by the government to continue their ministry in the nation. “Since January, the regime’s chief religious affairs official Aleksandr Rumak has refused bishops’ requests for at least a dozen Polish Catholic priests to be allowed to continue their religious service in the country,” Forum 18 reported. “Most had served for several decades, one—Fr Marian Szerszeń—for 36 years.” In the aftermath of World War II, Poland’s Eastern Borderland region became part of the Soviet Union; much of that territory is now part of Belarus. The Eastern European nation of 9.5 million (map) is 82% Christian (63% Orthodox, 17% Catholic). - Florida AG warns bishops over vaccine mandates in Catholic schools (@AGJamesUthmeier)
Citing state law, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier warned the state’s bishops that a refusal by Catholic schools to grant religious exemptions to vaccine mandates is “troubling and may disqualify them from state scholarships and vouchers.” “As a Catholic, I am confident that the teachings of the Catholic Church do not require Catholic schools to compel students to take vaccines derived from the tissue of aborted children against the sincerely-held religious objections of their parents,” the attorney general wrote in his July 31 letter. Uthmeier cited several Church documents, including the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s 2020 note on the morality of COIVD vaccines. He concluded, “Please provide a response in writing no later than August 7, 2026.” - USCCB posts 'Introduction to NeoFertility' (USCCB)
The United States’ Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth posted “Introduction to NeoFertility & Chart Neo: A Medical Approach to Restorative Reproductive Medicine (RRM).” “Unlike conventional approaches that use treatments that suppress normal physiology to deal with dysfunction, RRM seeks to work with the body, treating reproductive abnormalities, not by bypassing the body’s processes but by diagnosing, understanding, and addressing underlying health concerns,” said Dr. Monica Minjeur, the author of the presentation. - Pope encourages Peruvian young people to be joyful and contagious witnesses to Christ (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV encouraged Peruvian Catholic youth to be “joyful and contagious” witnesses to Christ in a world with “many suffering hearts.” - Pope Leo's prayer intention and video for August: for evangelization in the city (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for August 2026 is “let us pray that in large cities often marked by anonymity and loneliness we find new ways to proclaim the Gospel, discovering creative paths to build community.” - Pope promulgates new Fundamental Law for Vatican City State, the 4th since 1929 (CWN)
Pope Leo XIV promulgated a new Fundamental Law of Vatican City State (unofficial translation) on July 31. In doing so, he replaced the Fundamental Law promulgated by Pope Francis in 2023, which included a controversial phrase in its preamble. - Spanish diocese pledges to assist civil authorities as 60,000 migrants enter city (CWN)
An estimated 60,000 migrants from Morocco entered Ceuta, a Spanish city of 84,000, in a 24-hour period, leading the local diocese to express “deep concern” and offer its assistance to civil authorities. - Anti-Catholic hate crimes decline in Canada (Government of Canada)
Anti-Catholic hate crimes reported to Canadian police declined 39% in 2025, according data released by the Canadian government on July 22. Anti-Catholic hate crimes in Canada have fallen three out of the past four years: there were 155 in 2021, 52 in 2022, 49 in 2023, 59 in 2024, and 36 in 2025. - APSA announces growth in net assets to $3.1 billion; profit decreases (Vatican News)
The Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) announced an €89 million ($102.6M) growth in net assets in 2025, to €2.686 billion ($3.10B). APSA also reported a profit of €22.8 million ($26.3 million) in 2025—down from €62.2 million the previous year—allowing APSA to contribute €22.7 million ($26.2 million) to the operations of the Roman Curia. “The comparison with the €62.2 million recorded in 2024 must be viewed in the proper perspective,” said Archbishop Giordano Piccinotti, APSA’s president. “The previous year was an extraordinary one that cannot be repeated, characterized by proceeds linked to the restructuring of the investment portfolio. By contrast, 2025 represents a return to ordinary operating conditions, and in this context the indicators are positive.” Vatican News reported that APSA “manages 4,281 real estate units, to which are added around 1,200 units abroad—in London, Paris, Geneva and Lausanne—through wholly owned companies.” APSA’s responsibilities, including real estate management and financial services, are outlined in articles 219-221 of Praedicate Evangelium, the 2022 apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia. - Singer Patti Smith meets with Pontiff (Vatican News)
Pope Leo XIV received American singer and songwriter Patti Smith in a July 31 audience. Smith was accompanied by Father Antonio Spadaro, S.J., an undersecretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education. He tweeted: There are unforgettable moments in life. Today I lived one of these. With #PattiSmith, with whom for years I have shared a simple and deep friendship, and #PapaLeone, the Holy Father, today an indispensable reference for anyone who still wants to hope in this world. Together. Today. For 40 minutes. When every single word had its own weight and its own lightness. In May, Smith inaugurated one of the two venues of the Holy See’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale, a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place every two years. - More...