OSV Newscast

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

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1. Vandals defaced statues of the Virgin Mary and set fire to the altar at Medjugorje's Church of St. James early Tuesday, prompting condemnation from Bosnia-Herzegovina's Interreligious Council and calls for prayer for the perpetrator's conversion.
2. Representative Veronica Escobar introduced the "Mount Cristo Rey Protection Act" to block the Trump administration's eminent domain seizure of a century-old New Mexico pilgrimage site for border wall construction, as the Diocese of Las Cruces continues its court battle.
3. Pope Leo XIV named Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco and Bishop Edward Lohse of Kalamazoo to the Vatican's highest court, the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, among seven new members appointed July 25th.
4. Pope Leo XIV urged young Catholics in Peru, Brazil and Portugal to reject complacency and live their faith with "holy rebelliousness," pointing to St. Carlo Acutis as a model of digital-age holiness.
5. French Church and political leaders marked the 10th anniversary of Father Jacques Hamel's murder by Islamist terrorists, with his sister Roseline Hamel reflecting on forgiveness and her unlikely friendship with an attacker's mother.

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for July 27, 2026. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

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• During his Angelus address in Castel Gandolfo July 26,  Pope Leo XIV renewed his urgent appeals for peace in the Holy Land and across the Middle East during his Angelus address in Castel Gandolfo, expressing deep concern over the escalating violence and calling for an immediate return to dialogue.
• Religious persecution predominantly affecting Christian communities in Nigeria remains a key concern for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the commission's new chair told OSV News in a July 24 interview. 
• Pope Leo XIV called for prayers July 26 as massive wildfires rage across Spain and France, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
• Pope Leo XIV has appointed Archbishop Christophe-Zakhia el-Kassis, apostolic nuncio to the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, as the Holy See's new permanent observer to the United Nations in New York.
• About 300 Catholics gathered July 25 at St. Augustine Church in Philadelphia's Old City for a rare celebration that brought the sights, sounds and prayers of early American Catholic life back to life.

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for July 24, 2026. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

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• A recent OpenAI security incident that saw a test model go rogue may be a sign of more to come, and a call to double down on preventing future attacks, a Catholic expert on artificial intelligence ethics told OSV News.
• Give those targeted in immigration enforcement operations "the chance to be heard," said a religious sister detained by U.S. Customs and Enforcement agents for several hours en route to Mass June 28, amid an intended third-country deportation effort. 
• Four Catholic journalists have launched an initiative to deliver the personal prayers and reflections of Venezuelan earthquake survivors directly to Pope Leo XIV. 
• Several young adults who spent the summer as "perpetual pilgrims" in the 2026 National Eucharistic Pilgrimage said the journey transformed their faith and strengthened their sense of national unity. 
• Andrea Bocelli will sing for Pope Leo XIV July 29 alongside a more than 160-member children’s choir drawn from the Holy Land, Uganda, and Italy, in a performance organized by his charitable foundation at the Vatican's Borgo Laudato Si' gardens in Castel Gandolfo. 

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for July 23, 2026. Tue in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

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• Venezuelan Catholic bishops are urging the faithful to reject claims that the country’s devastating June earthquakes were a form of divine punishment.
• Ten years after the killing of Father Jacques Hamel shocked France and the world, the Catholic Church in France is preparing to honor his memory with prayer.
• A Kansas priest and former pastor at several parishes has been arrested on several charges of child sexual abuse.
• Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche issued updated guidance July 23 on federal protections for religious liberty. 
• Ann Teresa O'Neill, whose confirmed miraculous recovery from acute lymphatic leukemia as a child helped pave the way for the canonization of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, has died at the age of 78.

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

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• The Vatican has pushed back against reports that former Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik has been acquitted in his Vatican criminal trial.
• Catholic leaders in Peru are rallying emergency aid to those affected by the two earthquakes that struck the mountainous region of Junín, while they work to safeguard national heritage sites damaged as a result.
• The recent sentencing of a convicted online child predator in San Antonio to a 40-year prison term and renewed safety warnings from federal officials mark a call for parents to double down on protecting their kids in the digital sphere, a Catholic legal scholar told OSV News.
• Estrella del Paso, a legal aid ministry of the Diocese of El Paso, has exhausted its financial reserves after going seven months without federal reimbursement for its work representing unaccompanied immigrant children.
• Pope Leo XIV took a road trip pilgrimage with his older brother to the scenic mountainside Sanctuary of the Most Holy Trinity in Vallepietra July 22 before stopping to pray in the Holy Cave in Subiaco, where a young St. Benedict sought refuge from the corruption of Rome in the early sixth century.

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

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1. Cardinal Bechara Rai called Lebanese Catholics to prayer as President Joseph Aoun met with President Trump at the White House to discuss disarming Hezbollah and securing Israel's withdrawal from Lebanese territory.
2. Ukraine's ambassador to the Vatican said a papal visit remains possible following a Kyiv meeting between President Zelenskyy and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, who survived a Russian missile strike near the apostolic nunciature during his five-day trip.
3. Pope Leo XIV made a surprise, nearly four-hour pilgrimage to the Benedictine Abbey of Montecassino, praying at the tomb of St. Benedict for peace in the world's conflict-torn regions.
4. Colorado Catholics led by Denver Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodríguez prayed the rosary outside the Hudson Correctional Facility, soon to reopen as a 1,200-bed ICE detention center, calling it a symbolic act of concern for human dignity.
5. Organizers moved the October 31st beatification Mass for the Georgia martyrs to a venue six times larger after surging interest in the 16th-century Franciscan friars who died defending the sanctity of marriage.

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

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1. Four orders of Catholic sisters and healthcare ministries sued New York on July 17th, arguing a new physician-assisted suicide law would force them to violate their faith by facilitating deaths they believe are morally unacceptable.
2. Switzerland's Catholic Church joined other Christian denominations in condemning the government's elimination of a longstanding military service exemption for priests and monks, calling the process "arbitrary" and lacking meaningful consultation with faith communities.
3. The U.S. bishops launched National NFP Awareness Week on July 19th, timed to the anniversary of "Humanae Vitae," with USCCB's Theresa Notare calling natural family planning "an ethical means to live out the Gospel."
4. A Vatican-supported delegation from the World Meeting of Popular Movements completed the first leg of a U.S. tour visiting grassroots communities affected by immigration enforcement and poverty, with Father Mattia Ferrari calling the experience "a strong witness of love."
5. Christians in Gaza found a rare moment of joy watching Spain defeat Argentina in the World Cup Final, with Father Gabriel Romanelli of Holy Family Parish urging continued prayers for peace amid ongoing war and displacement.

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for July 17, 2026. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

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• As Spain and Argentina prepare for the July 19 World Cup final, the match also highlights the Catholic faith shared by both footballing nations.
• Anticipation is building across South America for Pope Leo XIV's expected visit this November. 
• Promotions of sainthood causes take many directions. For Blessed Solanus Casey, the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph decided on a scholarly path with an essay prize for graduate students. 
• Nobel laureates gathered in Rome July 16 praised Pope Leo XIV's encyclical "Magnifica Humanitas" as they signed the Rome Declaration on an Unarmed and Disarming Peace in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Nuclear Weapons.
• A "theology of migration" moves us toward "communion with God and with one another," said Holy Cross Father Daniel G. Groody of the University of Notre Dame, a member of the Vatican's Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development.

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Maggie Murray of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for July 16, 2026. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

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1. France's National Assembly voted 291 to 241 to legalize assisted dying, prompting Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline to call it a "serious turning point" that abandons the nation's tradition of caring for people until natural death.
2. The death toll from Venezuela's twin June 24th earthquakes has climbed to 4,829, as Caritas Venezuela and Catholic Relief Services distribute over 13,000 metric tons of food, water and hygiene supplies amid continuing aftershocks.
3. Catholic leaders in Maine and Texas are calling for prayer and accountability after two fatal ICE shootings within a week claimed the lives of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, sparking protests and federal investigations.
4. The USCCB submitted formal comments opposing a proposed federal rule expanding insurance coverage for IVF, urging the Trump administration to promote "restorative reproductive medicine" instead and to include conscience protections for employers.
5. Senators pressed Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on his handling of state mifepristone lawsuits during his July 15th confirmation hearing, with Senator John Cornyn demanding a formal response on the administration's intentions as the nomination now hangs on razor-thin margins following Senator Lindsey Graham's death.

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Gina Christian of OSV News catches you up on the Catholic news of the day for July 15, 2026. Tune in and visit us online at osvnews.com.

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• Franciscan leaders in the United States are taking their plea public, urging U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to take decisive diplomatic action against rising Israeli settler violence targeting West Bank Christians. 
• The Diocese of Las Cruces is asking for a jury trial as it challenges the Trump administration's effort to seize land at Mount Cristo Rey, a historic Catholic pilgrimage site in southern New Mexico, for construction of a border wall.
• Pope Leo XIV's recent lunch with people experiencing homelessness and poverty at Castel Gandolfo has highlighted a model one Catholic organization hopes parishes around the world will adopt. 
• Friar Pedro de Corpa and four fellow Franciscan missionaries, known as the Georgia Martyrs, continue to inspire Catholics more than four centuries after their deaths, as devotion grows ahead of their Oct. 31 beatification in Savannah.