OSV Newscast

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for Aug. 18, 2025. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

In this episode:

• In Hong Kong, the landmark trial of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, a Catholic, resumed Aug. 18 after a week's delay.
  
  
• The Alaska summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held on Aug. 15 has ultimately failed to address the "fundamental moral and geopolitical questions" of Russia's multiyear war on Ukraine, said Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia. 
  
  
• For the first time since its reopening in December 2024, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris marked the feast of the Assumption with a solemn outdoor procession. 
  
  
• Spending the day with the poor, Pope Leo XIV prayed that Catholics would make sure their parishes are welcoming of all people and would be "on fire" with God's love.
  
  
•  Efforts to serve, defend and build up the Catholic community in the Amazon region must be centered on the proclamation of the Gospel, Pope Leo XIV said. 

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for Aug. 15, 2025. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

In this episode:

• In Colorado, a teen who died trying to stop a school shooting may be the subject of a sainthood cause. 
  
  
• Some immigrant religious workers are facing legal limbo, and Catholic advocates are pushing the Trump administration to address the backlog in their visa category. 
  
  
• Pope Leo XIV will have a "real-time digital encounter" with participants attending the National Catholic Youth Conference this fall. 
  
  
• Mary's "yes" to God, to life and to love continues "in the martyrs of our time, in witnesses of faith and justice, of gentleness and peace," Pope Leo XIV said as he celebrated Mass on the feast of Mary's Assumption into heaven. 
  
  
• As the calendar marks 100 days of Pope Leo XIV's papacy Aug. 16, experts are scrutinizing his words and actions in hopes of pinpointing his leadership style, priorities and vision for the church's future. 

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for Aug. 14, 2025. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for Aug. 13, 2025. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for Aug. 12, 2025. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

In this episode:

• President Donald Trump said Aug. 11 he will place the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department "under direct federal control," activate the National Guard, and "get rid of the slums" in what he called an effort to combat crime in Washington.
  
  
• About a decade after the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, the justices have been directly asked to overturn that ruling in a case they will have to decide whether or not to take up in the fall. 
  
  
• In largely Latino communities across Southern California shaken by weeks of immigration enforcement raids on city sidewalks and local businesses, fear has forced unauthorized immigrants inside -- but Catholic parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have gotten creative in looking for ways to help hurting families.
  
  
• A Canadian court has ruled a Basilian priest can continue his civil suit against fellow Basilian Father Thomas Rosica and the Basilian Fathers of Toronto. The plaintiff, Father Michael Bechard, is seeking damages for alleged sexual abuse by Father Rosica, who denies the allegations. 
  
  
• The Spanish bishops' conference was criticized by the head of the far-right VOX party after the church raised concerns over a local measure that would restrict Muslim religious celebrations.

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for Aug. 11, 2025. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

In this episode:

• As U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin prepared to meet in Alaska Aug. 15, Pope Leo XIV prayed world leaders would recognize the impact their actions have on people.
  
  
• Catholics have lauded the recent signing of a state law that makes it a felony to procure sex from a 16- or 17-year-old minor in California. 
  
  
• Ukrainian child advocate Mykola Kuleba is pleading for the Vatican's assistance, after publicly highlighting what he said was one of several databases used by Russian occupation officials to market abducted Ukrainian children to Russian foster and adoption families. 
  
  
• In El Salvador, Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas used the country's biggest Catholic feast to deliver two bold appeals to lawmakers: scrap a law reopening mining, and restore the constitutional ban on presidential reelection. 
  
  
• Pope Leo XIV approved expanded benefits for Vatican employees with children, a process begun by his predecessor, the late Pope Francis.

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for Aug. 8, 2025. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

• A sharp drop in the U.S. fertility rate has Catholic experts urging a fresh look at marriage. 
  
  
• For the first time in its 175-year history, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis brought together representatives of over 40 evangelization apostolates and mission groups to ask a vital question: What does it mean to be a missionary disciple?
  
  
•  Canada's Catholic bishops are calling for urgent debt forgiveness and environmental justice in a new pastoral letter titled "Forgive Us Our Debts."
  
  
• The Irish government said it's leaving "no stone unturned" in the effort to secure the safe release of kidnapped Irish lay missionary Gena Heraty.
  
  
• Dr. Takashi Nagai, a Japanese Catholic convert, atomic bomb survivor and medical hero, is getting renewed attention as his cause for sainthood progresses.

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for Aug. 7, 2025. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for Aug. 6, 2025. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for Aug. 5, 2025. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

• A longtime Irish missionary in Haiti has been kidnapped in what may be a targeted attack amid that nation's long-running armed gang violence and instability.
  
  
• Peace and nuclear disarmament begin in the heart, said the head of the U.S. Catholic bishops.
  
  
• The scars still borne by survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and still visible on the cities' streets and buildings are a plea to pursue peace and disarmament, Pope Leo XIV said.
  
  
• Two Catholic nuns and an Indigenous youth accused of human trafficking and forced conversion in central India are out on bail.
  
  
• Pope Leo XIV visited a Spanish teenager who had to be hospitalized during the Jubilee of Youth and prayed with and spoke to the family.