OSV Newscast

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for June 1, 2026. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

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• Pope Leo XIV on June 1 praised Venerable Fulton J. Sheen as "a light of faith, hope, and love" whose pioneering radio and television broadcasts brought the Gospel to millions of Americans, including the pope himself as a child. 
• Several hundred people gathered at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington May 30 to join Pope Leo XIV in a worldwide rosary for peace, seek Mary's intercession to bring peace to the hearts of people and peace to nations at war. 
• A Catholic priest from Nigeria has been found guilty by a Texas court of sexually abusing several women under his spiritual care, a felony crime in that state.
• Pope Leo XIV's first stop in Spain June 6 at a Caritas center for persons experiencing homelessness will send a clear message about his priorities. 
• Catholic dioceses across the United States are preparing for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, viewing the global tournament as both a major pastoral opportunity and a unique moment of international encounter. 

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for May 29, 2026. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

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• After a Pentecost launch, the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage marks its first full weekend with events in the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina.
• An AI ethics expert says Catholics may have more power than they realize in shaping the future of artificial intelligence. 
• The Knights of Peter Claver, one of the Catholic Church's largest historically Black Catholic lay fraternal organizations, said it "offers its full support" for Pope Leo XIV's acknowledgment of the Church's role in slavery. 
• Christians in Lebanon are facing a growing humanitarian crisis as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continues and the country’s economic collapse deepens.
• The relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the French Visitation sister who experienced visions of Jesus revealing his Sacred Heart, will be present with the U.S. bishops in Orlando, Florida, when they consecrate the United States to Jesus' Sacred Heart June 11. 

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for May 28, 2026. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

Read the stories in this episode:

• Pope Leo XIV will preside over a worldwide rosary for peace May 30, uniting Marian shrines across continents in simultaneous prayer to close the Catholic Church's month of devotion to the Virgin Mary. 
• Most U.S. adults who regularly attend religious services have heard their clergy speak about at least one political or social issue recently, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. 
• Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence," addressed sexual exploitation as one of the human dignity concerns posed by artificial intelligence. 
• In Peru, top Catholic leaders dropped to their knees last week to beg forgiveness from indigenous farmers who suffered violence and land theft at the hands of a now-suppressed lay movement. 
• A French blockbuster is coming to theatres in the U.S. just in time for the consecration of the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and premieres for U.S. audiences in June. 

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Peter Jesserer Smith of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for May 27, 2026. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

Read the stories in this episode:

• Vice President JD Vance said in a new interview with NBC News that while he has not yet fully read Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas" -- which addresses human dignity concerns posed by artificial intelligence -- what he has read of it "sounds very profound."
  
  
• Pope Leo XIV has renewed his call for humanitarian aid and human rights protections in Gaza.
  
  
• Pope Leo XIV defended Church reform as a legitimate process that adapts to current needs while remaining rooted in authentic tradition.
  
  
• As the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage continued to make its way up the East Coast, it took a day to encounter Friar Pedro de Corpa and Companions, the five Franciscan friars -- also known as the Georgia Martyrs -- who will be beatified Oct. 31 in Savannah, Georgia. 

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Maggie Murray of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for May 26, 2026. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

Read the stories in this episode:

1. Catholic bishops across the U.S. and Mexico are enthusiastically welcoming Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas," released Sunday, which applies centuries of Catholic social teaching to the age of artificial intelligence and insists that human dignity must always take precedence over technological progress.
2. AI experts and theologians say Pope Leo XIV's "Magnifica Humanitas" delivers an urgent moral challenge to the tech industry, warning against reducing human mystery to data, sounding the alarm on AI's environmental costs, and calling for education that champions genuine human creativity and critical thinking over algorithmic dependence.
3. Nine perpetual pilgrims set out on Pentecost Sunday from the oldest site of continuous Catholic presence in the United States, launching the third National Eucharistic Pilgrimage on the six-week "St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Route" up the East Coast to Philadelphia over the Fourth of July weekend.
4. Seattle Auxiliary Bishop Frank Schuster celebrated the annual Maritime Day Mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, honoring the world's often-overlooked seafarers and highlighting Stella Maris, the Church's global maritime ministry formally established by Pope Leo XIV as an official canonical entity last November.
5. Uruguay's bishops announced a "high probability" that Pope Leo XIV will visit their country in late 2026 as part of a South American tour that could also include Argentina and Peru — the nation where the pope served as a missionary and bishop and became a naturalized citizen.

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for May 25, 2026 -- the day Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence." OSV News Vatican editor Courtney Mares was on site for the press conference unveiling this historic document, which points to Catholic social teaching as the urgently needed framework for ensuring AI helps, rather than harms, humanity. Tune in and listen as we bring you the details and deep dives on the encyclical at osvnews.com.

Read the stories in this episode, plus more from our ongoing coverage of Pope Leo's new encyclical:

• Pope Leo XIV published his landmark encyclical on artificial intelligence "Magnifica Humanitas" May 25, comparing the attempt to build an AI future that excludes God to the "Tower of Babel" and underlining the need to safeguard human dignity as it is "threatened by new forms of dehumanization." 
• Pope Leo XIV called for vigilance as he spoke at the Vatican press conference May 25 to present his first encyclical on artificial intelligence, saying his conversations with industry leaders -- including "very troubling voices" who warned of autonomous weapons systems beyond effective human governance -- had led him to the conviction that AI must be disarmed.
• Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah used the Vatican presentation of Pope Leo XIV's new encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas" to call for stronger moral oversight of artificial intelligence. 
• Cardinals and theologians at the press conference for the encyclical shared additional concerns over AI and its impact -- including threats to the Global South.
• Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical on artificial intelligence is "a powerful reminder that no technology can replace a child of God, and all technology should be placed at the service of helping humanity thrive," said Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City. 
• What do Babel, Nehemiah, transhumanism and technocratic paradigm have in common? They're all terms in Pope Leo's new encyclical. Check out our guide; we looked them up so you don't have to.
• A look at the AI company Anthropic, whose co-founder Christopher Olah  participated in the Holy See press conference introducing "Magnifica Humanitas" May 25.
• What's "emergent misalignment"? What happens when AI goes rogue.

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for May 22, 2026. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

Read the stories in this episode:

• Pope Leo XIV has cleared the way for the beatification of a Maronite patriarch who played a pivotal role in the creation of modern Lebanon.
• Somalia is nearing catastrophe again, as aid agencies warn that millions are facing severe hunger, displacement and collapsing access to basic services.
• Swedish Cardinal Anders Arborelius received an honorary doctorate May 18 from the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków for "an integrative approach combining theological reflection, spirituality and pastoral responsibility."
• As Pope Leo XIV releases his encyclical on artificial intelligence, Brian Patrick Green, an AI ethics scholar for a Vatican working group, says emergent misalignment -- a negative and dangerous side effect of AI in large language model training -- is a key issue that needs to be addressed.
• Ahead of his May 23 priestly ordination for the Diocese of Fresno, California, Deacon Scott-Vincent Borba -- co-founder of beauty giant e.l.f. Cosmetics, who left stardom for the seminary -- sat down with OSV News to share his thoughts on how he hopes to serve in his ministry.

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for May 21, 2026. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

Read the stories in this episode:

• A Ukrainian nun serving in a city on the front lines met with Pope Leo XIV during a private audience with members of a papal society, handing him images of two Ukrainian soldiers in captivity and pleading with him to "end the war."
• Uganda’s Catholic bishops are urging calm and prayer after the government postponed this year’s Uganda Martyrs Day celebrations because of a growing Ebola outbreak in Central Africa. 
• Pope Leo XIV will find a growing, revitalized Church when he begins a seven-day apostolic visit to Spain on June 6, according to Madrid Cardinal José Cobo. 
• A Princeton professor and two Catholic archbishops are promoting Fidelity Month as a response to what they see as America's declining commitment to core values.
• The Ascend Eucharistic Revival May 16 was one of the largest gatherings of Catholics in the Pacific Northwest in over a century, according to event organizers. 

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Maggie Murray of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for May 20, 2026. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

Read the stories in this episode:

1.  Tens of thousands of Catholics are expected to join France’s annual Chartres pilgrimage as organizers stress unity with the pope amid renewed tensions surrounding traditionalist groups and the Latin Mass. 
2.  Catholic bishops from the U.S.-Mexico border region are warning Congress that a proposed $72 billion immigration enforcement package threatens the dignity and human rights of immigrant families. 
3.  Organizers of the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage say beginning the journey in St. Augustine highlights that America’s story started with Catholic worship long before the nation’s political founding. 
4.  Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne is urging Catholics to rediscover devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a path toward healing, love and spiritual renewal in a divided world. 
5.  Pope Leo XIV encouraged Villanova University graduates to live out the Augustinian values of truth, unity and charity while reflecting on America’s founding ideals ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

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Maggie Murray of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for May 19, 2026. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

Read the stories in this episode:

1. Pope Leo XIV delivered a candid pre-Pentecost challenge to about 1,000 confirmation candidates from Genoa, urging them to pray for perseverance and stay rooted in parish life rather than disappearing from the Church after receiving the sacrament.
2. Hundreds of Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze joined an interfaith peace march through Jerusalem on Sunday, organized as a direct counterpoint to the violence-marred Jerusalem Day Flag Parade and calling for justice and unity amid rising regional tensions.
3. St. Cecilia Parish in Philadelphia — whose former pastor was named a serial abuser in a 2005 grand jury report — has dedicated an outdoor memorial inscribed with Scripture, prayer and a survivor's own words, as part of a broader commitment to accountability and child safety.
4. A coalition of Catholic ministries asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to block enforcement of a Biden-era regulation that extended pregnant worker protections to abortion, arguing the EEOC twisted a bipartisan law beyond what Congress ever intended.
5. Archbishop Timothy Broglio celebrated the annual memorial Mass for Catholic war dead at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception this past Saturday, connecting Christ's Great Commission to the military's own call to protect the rights and dignity of every American.