Catholic News

Father Paolo Liu Honggang was ordained bishop of the Diocese of Datong in China's Shanxi province on Monday.

The Holy See said Pope Leo XIV appointed Liu bishop of Datong on Aug. 10 after approving his candidacy under the mechanisms established by the Vatican's agreement with Beijing on the appointment of bishops.

The ordination is the third episcopal consecration in China in just two months and the sixth to take place during Leo's pontificate, although not all six episcopal appointments originated under the current pope.

One of the six prelates had already been ordained a bishop in 2017, while two others were initially selected unilaterally by Chinese authorities during the sede vacante between the death of Pope Francis and the election of Leo. The new pope subsequently approved their appointments.

A life of pastoral service

Liu was born Nov. 2, 1970, in Wufuying village near Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province.

He began his priestly formation at the Fenyang seminary, where he studied from 1988 to 1992. He later attended the National Seminary in Beijing from 1992 to 1996, earning a bachelor's degree in theology.

He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Datong on Nov. 24, 1996.

Following his ordination, Liu served as pastor of Zhangguantun from December 1996 to 1999, Xubao from 2000 to 2003, and Xihehe from 2003 to 2005.

He had served as diocesan administrator of Datong since March 15, 2005.

Appointments under Leo XIV

The process leading to Liu's appointment and episcopal ordination took place entirely during Leo's pontificate, providing another sign that the pope intends to continue dialogue between Rome and Beijing.

Several episcopal appointments and recognitions have taken place in China since Leo's election.

On June 11, 2025, the Vatican announced the Chinese government's civil recognition and installation of Bishop Giuseppe Lin Yuntuan as auxiliary bishop of Fuzhou in Fujian province.

Lin, however, was not ordained a bishop during Leo's pontificate, having received episcopal ordination in 2017. Pope Leo XIV appointed him auxiliary bishop of Fuzhou on June 5, 2025, before Chinese authorities granted him civil recognition.

On July 8, 2025, Leo suppressed the Dioceses of Xuanhua and Xiwanzi, which had been established by Pope Pius XII in 1946, and erected the new Diocese of Zhangjiakou as a suffragan see of Beijing.

Two months later, on Sept. 10, Father Giuseppe Wang Zhengui, whom the pope had appointed to lead the new diocese, was ordained a bishop.

In 2026, Father Francesco Saverio Duan Yongkun was ordained coadjutor bishop of Bameng in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region after Leo appointed him on June 15 under the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People's Republic of China.

The pope also appointed Father Giuseppe Chang Yanfeng on June 15. Chang was subsequently ordained bishop of Chifeng, another diocese in Inner Mongolia.

Tensions during the sede vacante

Chinese authorities unilaterally selected two bishops during the sede vacante following Pope Francis' death, including one for a diocese already headed by a bishop recognized by the Holy See.

Father Ignatius Wu Jianlin was ordained auxiliary bishop of Shanghai on Oct. 15, 2025, after Pope Leo XIV formally appointed him to the post on Aug. 11.

Chinese authorities had previously announced Wu's election by an assembly of priests and laypeople on April 28, during the sede vacante.

The Holy See's later announcement revealed that Leo had approved the nomination Aug. 11. Although the appointment was not immediately made public, the Vatican announcement indicated that the case was ultimately brought within the framework of the Holy See-China agreement.

Francis Li Jianlin was likewise ordained bishop of the Apostolic Prefecture of Xinxiang in Henan province on Dec. 5, 2025, after Leo formally appointed him Aug. 11.

Li was the second bishop whose candidacy had been advanced by Chinese authorities during the sede vacante.

17 bishops ordained under Vatican-China agreement

With Liu's ordination, 17 Catholic bishops have now been ordained in China under the Provisional Agreement first signed between the Holy See and China during Pope Francis' pontificate.

The bilateral agreement, first signed in 2018, regulates the process for selecting and recognizing Catholic bishops in China.

The Holy See and China have not maintained formal diplomatic relations since 1951, following the communist takeover under Mao Zedong. Chinese Catholics subsequently became divided between the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and an underground Catholic community that remained loyal to Rome.

The full text of the agreement has never been made public.

It was renewed every two years until 2024, when the two sides extended it for four years, through 2028.

According to publicly known elements of the agreement, the pope retains the final authority over episcopal appointments in China, including the ability to reject candidates proposed by Beijing. The Holy See, meanwhile, has agreed not to make episcopal appointments without prior consultation with the Chinese government.

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.

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Five days after Nepal's worst glacial flood, Caritas continued a full-scale relief operation for thousands of families in the affected area. The work has also taken on the grim task of corpse management, helping deal with the many dead bodies resulting from the catastrophe.

The official death toll of the deluge, provided by authorities, has climbed to 919, and 4,793 people are still missing. More than 930 hydropower workers remain unaccounted for, LiCAS News reported. Many are feared to be trapped in hydro tunnels along the Bhote Koshi-Trishuli river system.

In a situation report shared with EWTN News on Aug. 30, the president of Caritas Nepal, Father Silas Krishna Bogati, confirmed that the Catholic Church's response is fully operational. Emergency shelters and hygiene kits have reached over 1,000 households. A cash assistance payment of 15,000 Nepali rupees (roughly $110) is being distributed to 750 of the worst-affected families.

The priest, who also serves as apostolic administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of Nepal, added that more than 50 community kitchens run daily to feed 300 families.

Operations supported by China and India

The full scale of destruction is yet to be accounted for. Reuters reported that the flood destroyed 19 bridges, roadways, and other crucial infrastructure, hampering emergency aid and the search for survivors.

As rescue operations, supported by China and India, continue amid the risk of landslides and more flooding, aid workers are already flagging a second looming emergency: winter. Displaced families sheltering in high-altitude areas will require thermal gear and winter-proof shelter within weeks, Bogati shared with EWTN News.

Nepal Red Cross has formally asked Caritas Nepal to source more than 1,000 body bags, with decomposition already becoming a public health concern, the president of Caritas Nepal wrote.

To avoid future catastrophes, Nepal and China are expected to improve communication on real-time glacier data, avalanche risks, and water levels.

International pledges for help and support exceed $200 million, with commitments from the United States, Europe, Canada, and the World Bank.

Pope Leo XIV again prayed on Sunday for the flood victims. "Let us pray for those who have lost their lives, for the injured, those missing, for the families and rescue workers," he said. "May the concern of everyone help to alleviate the suffering and provide the necessary aid to the people affected."

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, U.S. bishops called for international mobilization and "long-term efforts to help affected communities rebuild their homes, livelihoods, and critical infrastructure."

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The archbishop of Aracaju in Sergipe state, Brazil, Josafá Menezes da Silva, has established rules for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in archdiocesan communications. The guidelines, addressed to priests, deacons, lay ministers, and the entire people of God of the Archdiocese of Aracaju, are based on documents of the Church's magisterium regarding human dignity, communications, and the use of technology.

The principal resources used by Menezes are the message for the 60th World Communications Day and the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, both by Pope Leo XIV, regarding the safeguarding of the human person in the age of artificial intelligence; the document Antiqua et Nova, a joint note from the Holy See's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and Dicastery for Culture and Education, signed by Pope Francis concerning the relationship between artificial intelligence and human intelligence; and a reflection by Father Doriano Vincenzo De Luca, head of the social communications service for the Archdiocese of Naples, Italy.

"The starting point for all the Church's reflection on artificial intelligence is the unconditional defense of the dignity of the human person," the archbishop of Aracaju explained. The prelate highlighted that the note Antiqua et Nova "places human dignity at the center of discernment regarding artificial intelligence and reminds us that technology must be guided by the good of the person and of society" and that "human intelligence must guide the use of technology for the sake of the 'authentic good of the person.'"

Therefore, "in light of the guidelines of the Church's magisterium and with the aim of guiding discernment regarding the proper use of artificial intelligence tools, ensuring respect for the principle of human dignity by 'preserving faces and voices,' and ensuring these tools serve as an aid rather than replacing the responsible work that only a human being can perform, we hereby establish" certain guidelines within the territory of our Archdiocese of Aracaju, the bishop said.

Review and transparency

Menezes mandated that "all art produced with the aid of artificial intelligence" within the archdiocese must "undergo a mandatory human review before publication" and that "any and all content generated or manipulated by artificial intelligence" must also "be labeled and clearly distinguished from content created by humans, especially when the use of AI could affect the perception of the reality being presented."

Prohibited uses for clergy

Regarding the clergy, Menezes directed that "generative artificial intelligence must not be used to reconstruct or simulate the appearance of a bishop, priest, or deacon when the result replaces their actual photograph or could be interpreted as an authentic representation of their appearance or of a situation they experienced."

He also established that "generative artificial intelligence must not be used to reconstruct or simulate the voice of a bishop, priest, or deacon in a message or speech not originally delivered by them" and that "one must not attribute to a real person an appearance, speech, action, or situation that does not correspond to reality."

In addition, the archbishop prohibited the use of artificial intelligence to "reconstruct a real person's face, replacing their photograph"; to "significantly modify a real person's features"; to "create an artificial appearance presented as their actual appearance"; to "produce images placing a member of the clergy in situations that did not occur"; to "produce a synthetic representation that could be mistaken for a real photograph"; and to "create audio files attempting to simulate a person's voice in a message or speech not actually delivered by that person."

AI as an auxiliary tool

According to the archbishop of Aracaju, "artificial intelligence can be used as an auxiliary tool" in nine situations: creating backgrounds, creating textures, generating abstract elements, creating illustrations, suggesting layouts, working with colors, assisting with composition, assisting with editing, and helping to create visual concepts.

"These guidelines are based particularly on the message from Pope Leo XIV for the 60th World Communications Day, in which the Holy Father warns that the simulation capabilities of artificial intelligence can fabricate 'parallel realities,' usurp faces and voices, and make it increasingly difficult to distinguish between reality and fiction," Menezes explained.

According to the archbishop, "the same document" also "draws attention to the need to protect people's images, photographs, audio recordings, faces, and voices, preventing harmful uses such as digital fraud, cyberbullying, and deepfakes that can violate privacy and personal intimacy without consent."

At the end of the decree, Menezes exhorted "all pastoral workers, communicators, and the faithful to act with prudence, always consulting their respective ordinaries and respecting current regulations, so that technology may serve the mission and never distort it." He further emphasized that "everything the Church communicates must be truthful in content and responsible in its manner of representation."

The archbishop ended his directive with the prayer "May Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of our archdiocese, intercede for us and help us preserve, in every communication, the dignity and beauty of human faces and voices called to reflect Christ."

This story was first published by ACI Digital, the Portuguese-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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JERUSALEM — The Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism (CCAA), a lay-led U.S. organization established in late 2023 that "affirms the right of the Jewish people to live safely and securely in their ancestral homeland" as well as recognizes that "modern Israel is essential to that security," has emerged as a leading resource in the Government of Israel's outreach to American Catholics, who constitute the country's largest single religious constituency.

Tammy Ben-Haim, head of religious and interfaith affairs at Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told EWTN news that a May meeting in Washington, D.C., with CCAA Director Simone Rizkallah, a first-generation American of Egyptian-Armenian descent, convinced her of the importance of engaging the organization and its supporters.

"I was so impressed by Simone and the vision she had for the organization to combat antisemitism," including CCAA's network of key influencers throughout the American Catholic world, Ben-Haim said.

Signatories to the CCAA's "Statement of Solidarity and Action," a statement developed in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack against Israel that also affirms the above-referenced right of the Jewish people "should not jeopardize the right of Palestinians to also live in safety and security," include dozens of the country's top Catholic thought leaders and personalities.

"When Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) decided to begin engaging Catholics more proactively and wanted to design a trip specifically for Catholic leaders, it made sense that they would reach out to us," Rizkallah said.

As a result, in August Rizkallah coordinated with the MFA a weeklong itinerary for 13 American Catholic influencers that addressed firsthand both concerns for the security of Israelis in the country's Gaza and Lebanon border regions as well as honest discussions with Israeli Arab and Palestinian Catholics about the conditions and challenges they face.

Signaling the importance of the initiative, the government of Israel highlighted the group's visit on social media, noting that the journey of the American Catholic community leaders was one of "friendship and solidarity" that served to both "deepen their commitment to standing against antisemitism and strengthening the bonds between Christians and Jews."

Instagram post

During the visit, the group, which included representatives from various U.S. Catholic educational institutions, media, think tanks, and lay apostolates, came face-to-face with the existential threats Israel has faced in recent years. The group visited sites of the Oct. 7, 2023, invasions into Israel by thousands of Hamas militants from Gaza, meeting with survivors of the attacks that killed over 1,000 Israelis.

From a mountaintop overlooking Israel's border with southern Lebanon and as multiple explosions could be heard in the distance, the group received a sobering briefing on Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations to neutralize the threat from Hezbollah in the neighboring country.

In addition, the Government of Israel facilitated the group's direct interaction with various Christians in the disputed lands internationally known as the West Bank (known in Israel by their biblical names of Judea and Samaria) as well as in Haifa, in northern Israel. To varying degrees, these Christians also see themselves as facing existential threats.

The group's guide in Bethlehem, the Palestinian-controlled West Bank town of Jesus' birth, lamented that just in recent weeks the town has lost several leading Christian families, who have emigrated to Greece.

Bethlehem continues to experience a devastating loss of its Christian population. From once having constituted a robust majority, the percentage of Christians there is now estimated in the single digits, with conditions for those remaining further exacerbated by the dearth of pilgrims and severe limitations, since the atrocities of Oct. 7, on permissions for Palestinians to enter Israel for work.

In Haifa, the group met with Archbishop Youssef Matta of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Israel's largest Christian community. Melkite Greek Catholics represent nearly 40% of Israel's total Christian population of 185,000. Nazareth, Haifa, and Jerusalem, respectively, are the country's largest Christian population centers.

In a meeting also attended by Ben-Haim and Cesare Marijeh, senior director of the Christian Department of Israel's Ministry of Interior Affairs, Matta addressed several challenges facing his community, including alleged extortion rackets by Muslim and Jewish organized crime families as well as discrimination in government subsidies for the Church's schools, of which there are five under his jurisdiction.

At a luncheon with the delegation, Monsignor Simon Khoury, a Melkite Greek Catholic priest who serves a parish in Cana, asserted that the government has deliberately turned a blind eye to the criminal extortion rackets faced by Christians, as he believes such crimes align with the agenda of certain sectors of Israeli society that favor the displacement of the country's non-Jewish population.

From the beginning to the end of the trip, members of the delegation pressed Israeli authorities to provide necessary assistance to and security for the country's Christian population, contending that such actions will go a long way toward bolstering goodwill toward Israel among hundreds of millions of Catholics worldwide.

At a meeting of the group with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' director of the Department for Combating Antisemitism, Arezoo Hersel-Rohila, and the Anti-Defamation League's Israel director, Carole Nuriel, EWTN News asked them to identify and address the principal antisemitic narrative that the country is currently facing at the international level.

Both women agreed in answering that it is equating Israel's policy in Gaza to that of the Nazis, i.e., the charge that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The officials vigorously contested this widespread allegation, citing that by definition genocide requires intent and that in contravention of such intent, Israel's military has repeatedly sought to relocate Palestinian civilians within Gaza to get them out of harm's way as it targets Hamas' terrorist infrastructure. 

Other organizations that also address this question, such as the American Jewish Committee (AJC), assert that the IDF "still endeavors to warn Gazans prior to attacks and has allowed humanitarian aid for civilians to be delivered under arrangements intended to prevent Hamas from diverting aid or controlling its distribution to reinforce its authority."

Israel's government also answers the charge by pointing to evidence that Hamas has repeatedly called on Palestinian civilians to ignore Israel's warnings about impending strikes, in effect using them as human shields. Defenders of Israel's actions in Gaza, like the AJC, also note that "international law does not prohibit Israel from undertaking legitimate actions that will likely result in civilian harm unless the expected civilian harm will clearly exceed the anticipated military advantage from the attack."

As the ADL and much of the Jewish community worldwide see it, the propagation of antisemitic narratives around Israel's operations in Gaza have particularly proliferated among social media influencers, including some Catholics.

This also explains in part the why a wide range of U.S. Catholic influencers who personally stand in support of the CCAA's statement of solidarity, including participants affiliated with EWTN News, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, the Institute on Religion and Democracy, the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, the Family Research Council, the GIVEN Institute, Tepeyac Leadership, Benedictine College, and the Franciscan University of Steubenville, among others, were invited to engage firsthand with these ongoing issues.

Ben-Haim, who accompanied the delegation on the Stations of the Cross route in Jerusalem's Old City, told EWTN News that going forward, she would like to see more such delegations, especially "young up-and-coming Catholic leaders and influencers" have similar experiences.

"No amount of explaining or telling our story equals one visit to Israel," Ben-Haim explained. Noting that terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah are right at the country's borders, she insisted that "all that I believe Israel and Israelis want is for people around the world to understand this; we want to live in a county and in a region that is peaceful and quiet. We cannot afford to have the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre happen again; we cannot allow our borders to be crossed and our children and families to be murdered for being Jews and Israelis."

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Small memorials adorned with crosses, candles, flowers, images of the Virgin Mary, and plaques with a deceased person's name are part of the urban landscape in some Latin American cities. These memorials are known as cenotaphs, erected to keep alive the memory of those who perished, usually in a violent way.

The term "cenotaph" comes from a Greek expression meaning "empty tomb" and traditionally refers to a monument built to honor a person whose remains are buried elsewhere.

It is common to find these small structures on streets, sidewalks, medians, and highways in countries such as Peru, Colombia, or Mexico, usually placed to mark the location where a person lost his or her life.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, Father Roberto Delgado Suárez, a priest of the Diocese of Nezahualcóyotl  in Mexico specializing in grief ministry and palliative care, explained that through Christ's sacrifice, the cross was transformed from "a sign of condemnation into a sign of salvation."

He noted that such memorials can help people reinterpret the site where their loved one died, turning a space associated with sorrow into "a sacred place." He pointed out that, especially for families, the cenotaph serves as a way to express "This is where I last saw my son; this is where my son was — here in this world."

On the other hand, Delgado noted that for some people, a cenotaph can represent a "call for justice," as is the case with "mothers or families searching for their children." In this way, the memorials can take on a dual meaning: an expression of faith, but also "a sign [calling for] justice."

Although the cenotaphs are neither cemetery monuments nor crypts, the priest urged people to show them due respect, as they are "signs that point us toward God."

The memorials are built in a variety of ways. Some consist solely of a cross and a plaque bearing the deceased person's name; others include photographs, flowers, candles, or religious images. In some cases, families erect larger structures resembling a cemetery monument along the roadside.

Guillermina Hernández Martínez, a psychologist and specialist in thanatology (the study of death, dying, loss, and grief), said the significance of these memorials varies.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, she noted that "sometimes, out on the streets, the crosses are now forgotten," while others remain tended for years.

Hernández warned that in some cases, too much of a bond to the location of the memorial could hinder emotional healing, as "people often continue to idealize [the deceased] and do not allow themselves to process their grief." She emphasized the importance of psychological and thanatological support, particularly in the wake of a violent death.

Grief, she explained, is a process requiring time and support, yet one must always remember that "it is part of life," and for Catholics it is "another step toward being with God."

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.

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In recent weeks, a new trend has gained significant momentum among young people across Latin America: "aura farming."

In the world of video games, "farming" means collecting points toward a goal. Under the Merriam-Webster Dictionary's "Slang and Trending" category, aura farming means "the act of doing something to look cool, impressive, stylish, etc." To "farm aura," the dictionary further explains, means to "do something in order to enhance one's coolness."

The expression spread rapidly on social media platforms like TikTok, sparking curiosity and a following, primarily among Gen Z youth. However, the phenomenon's viral nature quickly moved from screens to the streets.

Through specific gestures that have become hallmarks of the trend, young people gather to "farm aura" and even hold competitions featuring distinctive poses, facial expressions, or ways of walking, with the surrounding crowd deciding who performed best.

Cardinal Fernando Chomali, archbishop of Santiago, Chile, recently reflected on this new trend: "'Aura farming' is a desperate cry from young people to be seen, heard, valued, loved, and acknowledged. It's a different version of the 'therian' trend [a person who psychologically identifies with an animal], reflecting the same worrying phenomenon: Many young people feel lonely! And, regrettably, little is said about that," he commented on X.

In another post, the cardinal advised young people: "The best way to aura farm is to approach life with hope and joy. I invite you to study assiduously and to prepare your body and soul well to serve others. What better way to aura farm than by thinking big and building a more just country! Aura for and by Chile!" he commented.

On Aug. 27, the cardinal highlighted a relevant social service in Santiago: "The Franciscans of Recoleta, day after day, provide lunch for 150 people. The soup kitchen is very orderly and has a wholesome atmosphere." The stories the guests "tell of so many people without a home, without family, with nothing, except a lunch served with love by the friars and their collaborators. I love the Church and am happy to have given my life to it! Purely aura farming with Christ," he stated.

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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.

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CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy — Pope Leo XIV on Sunday called for the immediate release of hostages taken in a deadly massacre in Haiti, appealed to authorities to protect the population from violence and prayed for victims of severe flooding in Nepal and Tibet.

Speaking after the Angelus in Castel Gandolfo on Aug. 30, the pope said he had received "tragic reports" from Haiti about a massacre in Kenscoff.

"Tragic reports are emerging from Haiti of the horrific massacre carried out in Kenscoff, in which numerous people have lost their lives and others taken hostage," Pope Leo said. "I express my spiritual closeness to the victims and their families, and call for the immediate release of all hostages."

"I make a heartfelt appeal to all those in positions of authority to take concrete steps in order to ensure the safety of the population and put an end to all forms of violence," he added.

The pope also renewed his prayers for those affected by flooding in Nepal and Tibet.

"Let us pray for those who have lost their lives, for the injured, those missing, for the families and rescue workers," he said. "May the concern of everyone help to alleviate the suffering and provide the necessary aid to the people affected."

Pope Leo then broadened his appeal, urging Christians to continue praying for peace and recalling the words of St. Augustine, whose feast the Church celebrated Aug. 28.

"Let us continue to pray for peace," he said. "Saint Augustine, whose feast we celebrated a few days ago, said that peace 'is like the miraculous bread multiplied in the hands of the disciples as they broke it and distributed it.'"

"May there be an increase in the world of those who courageously break and share the bread of peace, overcoming divisions, promoting justice and practicing forgiveness for the good of all," the pope said.

Leo also noted that the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation will be celebrated Tuesday, marking the beginning of the ecumenical Season of Creation, whose 2026 theme is "Living Water."

"I invite everyone to join in prayer and action, that we may become channels of the living water of God's peace, refreshing our wounded world," he said.

Understanding and accepting God's ways

Before the Angelus, Pope Leo reflected on the Gospel account in which Jesus tells his disciples of his coming Passion, prompting Peter to reject what he hears.

The pope noted that Peter had only shortly before recognized Jesus as "the Messiah, the Son of the living God," but was shocked when Christ explained that he would go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed and rise on the third day.

Peter's reaction, Leo said, was "an outburst of zeal, certainly motivated by sincere love, and yet it gives us something to consider."

"For us, too, in fact, it is not always easy to understand and accept God's ways, especially when they are very far from our own," the pope said. "Then the temptation arises — against all the reasoning of faith — to think that the Lord is the one who is wrong, or worse still, that he is not listening to us or is not concerned about us."

Peter, despite his impulsiveness, offers Christians two lessons in such moments, Leo said.

"The first is, even in such moments, never to cease our dialogue with the Lord," he said. "Instead, we are confidently to tell him our difficulty in understanding what he is asking of us."

"The second is never to judge God's work, but rather humbly and prayerfully to listen to what he is revealing to us through his actions, even when they do not meet our expectations."

"The greatness of the first of the Apostles is also evident in this," the pope said.

Jesus responded to Peter with the words, "Get behind me, Satan!" before teaching the disciples that following him means denying themselves, taking up their crosses and following him.

Peter would eventually accept that challenge, Leo noted, remaining faithful to Christ "for the rest of his life, even unto martyrdom."

The pope concluded his reflection by asking the Lord to give Christians Peter's sincerity in prayer as well as his willingness to accept God's will.

"Let us therefore ask the Lord that we, too, in our life of faith and in our prayer, may have the same sincerity as Peter, humbly telling Jesus what we truly feel, even when our hearts are confused," he said. "At the same time, may we cultivate Peter's own docility in accepting what Jesus asks of us beyond our expectations."

This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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The regional government of Castile and León in Spain highlighted the beatification cause of Queen Isabella during a meeting with the archbishop of Valladolid and president of the Spanish Bishops' Conference, Luis Argüello.

During a meeting between Argüello and the minister of culture, tourism, and sport, Alberto Díaz Pico, the regional government expressed its "interest in promoting the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Philip II (in 2027), as well as highlighting the beatification cause of Isabella, the Catholic Monarch, and its historical and cultural significance," according to an Aug. 27 statement issued by the government.

Isabella and her husband, King Ferdinand, were given the title "the Catholic Monarchs" by Pope Alexander VI through the papal bull Si Convenit for their defense of the Catholic faith.

"Furthermore, the commitment to continue collaborating with the Church on the conservation, protection, and enhancement of the ecclesiastical heritage of Castile and León has been reaffirmed, with a view to exploring ways to expand and strengthen existing support measures," the statement added.

The statement also highlighted "the good rapport and the determination to maintain close collaboration on matters of mutual interest regarding the culture, heritage, and history of Castile and León."

Isabella, the Catholic Monarch

Isabella I of Castile was born in Madrigal de las Altas Torres on April 22, 1451, Holy Thursday that year. After being recognized as Princess of Asturias in 1468, she married Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469 and had six children, two of whom predeceased her. Upon the death of Enrique IV, she was proclaimed queen in 1474, according to the Archdiocese of Valladolid.

During her reign, she championed the reconquest of Granada from the Muslims and the voyage of Christopher Columbus, which led to the discovery of the Americas in October 1492. She also promoted the evangelization and protection of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, going so far as to ban their enslavement. She died on Nov. 26, 1504, from uterine cancer.

The cause for her beatification was initiated in Valladolid in 1958; the diocesan phase concluded in 1990, after which the process moved to Rome.

Historians have already favorably reviewed the documentation, but the theological assessment regarding the heroic nature of her virtues is still pending. Once that takes place, and following the pope's approval, she may be recognized as venerable, awaiting a miracle for her beatification.

Enraizados (the "Rooted in Christ and in Society Association") has an annual Mass celebrated in memory of Isabella. In the manifesto the group published in 2026, it included a prayer by the queen: "I am afraid, Lord, of being afraid and not knowing how to fight. I am afraid, Lord, of being afraid and being capable of denying you. I ask you, Lord, that in your greatness, you do not forget me. And that, with your love, you grant the strength to die for you."

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.

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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.

A marriage marked by woundedness

Harold 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.

'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.

'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."

The hell of the occult

While 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. What's 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.

Welcomed back with love

After 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 miracle

More 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.

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 one's own conversion rather than an attempt to change one's 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 God's 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.

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.

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NAIROBI, Kenya — For a priest, taking time to rest is not a "luxury," the secretary of the Vatican Dicastery for Evangelization said, urging priests to embrace healthy periods away from work to sustain their physical and mental health.

In his address during the launch of a six-week formation program that seeks to explore priestly life in Nigeria, Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu reflected on cases of mental health struggles among the members of the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life (ICLSAL), noting that priests should embrace rest just as Jesus himself did during his ministry.

"Rest, then, is not a luxury in priestly life; it is necessary for physical and mental health," the archbishop said, noting that the recent news of the resignation of German Bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann after a period of serious psychological strain is "a timely reminder that priests and bishops are not immune to exhaustion, depression, or burnout."

"We need proper rest, healthy boundaries, supportive relationships, and, when necessary, professional help. Caring for oneself is not stepping away from ministry; it helps us remain well enough to serve," the Nigerian-born Vatican official emphasized during the launch, which was held virtually on Aug. 26.

Organizers of the program seek to explore priestly life, starting with Nigeria, amid mounting mental health concerns among Catholic priests.

According to organizers, participants in the program will look at "the quality of life, service, joy, aspirations, fears, and anxieties" that they say are "gradually pervading the cycle of a priest's life and ministry."

Guided by the theme "Fully Alive in Christ: Caring for the Self — The Priest as a Living Gift," the program also seeks to explore priestly self-care, spiritual renewal, emotional well-being, burnout, healthy relationships, and living out the Church's mission with confidence and joy.

Participants in the formation will have access to training materials and will also receive a certificate of participation.

In his presentation, Nwachukwu recalled the situation in the Diocese of Aba, where he said the age at which many priests have died points to the need for greater attention to the well-being of clergy.

"Each time I visit the priests' cemetery of the Diocese of Aba, close to the cathedral, I am struck and left sad by the age bracket of the colleagues whose remains are already lying there," said the Vatican official, who also serves as the representative of the Holy See to the United Nations and Specialized Institutions in Geneva following his December 2021 appointment.

Many of the priests, he added, died before reaching the age of 50. "Only very few crossed the bars of 60 and 70 years," he said.

Beyond the premature deaths of priests, Nwachukwu noted the growing number of young priests experiencing mental health challenges, raising the question of what can be done to address the situation.

He said the concern was not about questioning God's will but about examining how seriously the Church takes Jesus' teachings and example regarding the self-care of those entrusted with ministry.

Nwachukwu reflected on Mark 6:31-32 as a guiding text for understanding the importance of rest in priestly ministry. In the passage, Jesus tells his disciples: "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while."

The Nigerian Church leader explained that Jesus invited his disciples to take a pause from their ministry and join him in a period of rest. He noted that Jesus himself demonstrated the importance of taking a break — particularly after receiving news of the death of his cousin, John the Baptist.

The archbishop said the Gospel accounts show that Jesus' decision to withdraw was connected both to grief and to the demands of ministry.

He said St. Matthew presents the withdrawal after Jesus receives news of John the Baptist's death, while Mark and Luke place the invitation to rest after the disciples returned from a successful missionary assignment.

The disciples had been so occupied with their mission that "many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat," he noted, adding that their missionary work had included casting out demons as well as anointing the sick with oil and healing them.

Nwachukwu said the experience offers an important lesson for priests who devote themselves intensely to ministry.

"God-given energy needs God-given direction," he said, explaining that strength, passion, and drive must be directed toward one's vocation and mission. Otherwise, he warned, such energy can easily be spent elsewhere.

He said this spiritual energy, when properly directed, can lead a person to Christ and enable him or her to bring others to Christ.

He recalled Pope Benedict XVI's homily at his episcopal ordination on Jan. 6, 2013, in which the late pontiff described the spiritual restlessness of the Magi as the force that led them from the East in search of the newborn Jesus.

According to Nwachukwu, such restlessness finds its fulfillment in Christ.

The archbishop also reflected on Jesus' invitation in Matthew 11:28: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

He cautioned that rest detached from Christ can be harmful to priests, emphasizing that the rest Jesus offers is not simply an escape from work but a source of renewal.

He explained that the Greek expression used in the passage, "kago anapauso humas," means "and I will give you rest." The verb "anapauo," he noted, conveys the idea of an elevating or renewing rest.

For priests, Nwachukwu said, this kind of rest should include periods of detachment from routine activities to allow for physical renewal and to strengthen relationships with God, fellow priests, family members, and the faithful.

He added that physical refreshment should include ordinary needs such as taking adequate time to eat and drink, while mental and spiritual renewal should involve learning how to direct one's energies toward Christ through prayer and genuine charity.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.

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