Benedictine College launches AI center on Carlo Acutis' canonization day

Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. / Credit: "EWTN News in Depth"Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 11, 2025 / 18:37 pm (CNA).Here's a roundup of the latest Catholic education news in the United States:Benedictine College launches AI center on Carlo Acutis' canonization dayIn response to calls by Pope Leo XIV to the rise of artificial intelligence, Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, launched its new Center for Technology and Human Dignity to promote Catholic digital and biomedical ethics on the same day as Carlo Acutis' canonization on Sept. 7 in Rome. "We are excited to dedicate this center under the patronage of St. Carlo Acutis, a model of how Catholics should use new technology thoughtfully but without fear. And its biomedical emphasis will help as we pursue a medical school," said Benedictine College President Stephen Minnis in a press release. The center will be directed by Benedictine College Professor of Theology and Bioethics Mariele Courtois, who is ...

'I don't have a village anymore': Priest decries insecurity, persecution in Nigeria

Father Vealumun Paul Ansbert Mom, the superior general of the Via Christi Society in Nigeria, has decried the state of insecurity in his diocese, saying he can no longer travel to his village because "everyone has been driven away by killer herders." / Credit: ACI AfricaACI Africa, Sep 11, 2025 / 11:34 am (CNA).The superior general of the Via Christi Society in Nigeria has decried the state of insecurity in his native Makurdi Diocese, saying he can no longer travel to his village.In an interview with ACI Africa on the sidelines of a canonical visit to St. Matthew Kuchikau Parish of the Diocese of Lafia on Sept. 7, Father Vealumun Paul Ansbert Mom described the current insecurity in Benue state and others in the north-central region of Nigeria as "deliberate persecution of Christians in the West African nation.""St. Paul Parish Ayititwa in Katsina-Ala Diocese was burnt down and destroyed. The parish house, rectory, and church building were reduced to ashes. From every evide...

Cardinal Parolin on Charlie Kirk death: 'We are against all types of violence'

A general view of a wreath laid by mourners outside the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria on Sept. 11, 2025, following the fatal shooting of U.S. youth activist and influencer Charlie Kirk while speaking during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. / Credit: PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty ImagesVatican City, Sep 11, 2025 / 12:11 pm (CNA).In response to the Sept. 10 fatal shooting of Christian conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the Vatican's secretary of state condemned the use of violence against those with whom one disagrees."The Vatican stand is that we are against all types of violence. And we think that we have to be very, very tolerant, very respectful of everybody, even though we don't share the same view," Cardinal Pietro Parolin told journalists at the sidelines of a conference at the Vatican on Sept. 11."If we are not tolerant and respectful, and we are violent, this will produce a really big problem inside the international community and the national community," he a...

Politicians, faith leaders condemn political violence after Charlie Kirk assassination

A makeshift memorial is seen at Timpanogos Regional Hospital in honor of political activist Charlie Kirk on Sept. 11, 2025, in Orem, Utah. / Credit: George Frey/Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 11, 2025 / 13:04 pm (CNA).Faith leaders and political leaders are uniting their voices to condemn politically motivated violence following the assassination of Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk.Following the confirmation of Kirk's death by President Donald Trump, some hours after the TPUSA founder was shot at a Utah Valley University event on Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 10, countless faith and political leaders began to speak out against the scourge of political violence.In a statement, Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, railed against the "vicious pattern of political and social disorder" of the past several weeks, citing the Annunciation Catholic school shooting, the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, "and now the political assassinati...

Catholic and U.S. leaders offer prayers on 24th anniversary of 9/11

Memorial lights commemorate the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. / Credit: Brian E Kushner/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 11, 2025 / 13:34 pm (CNA).On the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Catholic and U.S. leaders offered prayers and paid tribute to those who lost their lives that day and for all those who continue to grieve."Today we remember Sept. 11, 2001," Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York wrote in a joint post to social media. "We continue to pray for the souls lost that day, the families who still mourn, the heroes who served, and all those who have since died from 9/11-related illnesses or continue to suffer."null Dolan's post offered a prayer to be said on the anniversary: "Lord, on this Sept. 11, we remember all who died 24 years ago in our city and throughout the country. We hold in our hearts those who still carry loss and grief from that day.""Grant eternal rest to the departed, strength to survivors and th...

Mozambique Church leaders decry silence after mosques built on land taken from Church

Archbishop Inácio Saure of Mozambique's Catholic Archdiocese of Nampula has denounced illegal occupation of Church land in the country and the inaction on the part of relevant authorities in the country. / Credit: ACNACI Africa, Sep 11, 2025 / 14:04 pm (CNA).Archbishop Inácio Saure of the Archdiocese of Nampula in Mozambique and other Church leaders in the southern African country have denounced the illegal occupation of Church land in the country and the inaction of authorities there.In a report by the pontifical and charity foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International, the leaders said mosques are springing up on land snatched from the Church in what they say raises fears of worsening interreligious relations in a country that is already suffering from an Islamist insurgency in Mozambique's northern province of Cabo Delgado, which neighbors Nampula.The land includes plots on which the female religious congregation of the Servants of Mary, two seminaries, and the p...

'God is with Nicaragua!' exclaims first Nicaraguan consecrated bishop in the U.S.

Bishop Pedro Bismarck Chau at his episcopal consecration Mass as the new auxiliary bishop of Newark, New Jersey, on Sept. 8, 2025. / Credit: Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred HeartACI Prensa Staff, Sep 11, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA)."Today, we Nicaraguans are making history again. Do not forget: God is with us and God is with Nicaragua!" said Pedro Bismarck Chau, the new auxiliary bishop of Newark, New Jersey, at the Sept. 8 Mass for his episcopal consecration, making him the first Nicaraguan-born bishop in the United States.Amid a festive atmosphere and before a packed Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark, where he had been rector since 2020, Chau received episcopal consecration through the laying on of hands by several bishops. The principal consecrator was Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark.As part of the celebration, Cardinal Christoph Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, read the letter in which Pope Leo XIV officially appointed Chau as bishop and encouraged h...

Catholic nursing students live faith on hospital ship in Madagascar 

Erik Dike, a rising senior nursing student at Belmont Abbey College, carries a patient onboard a hospital ship in Madagascar during a two-week program with Mercy Ships. / Credit: Joshua Kiew Wing ChauCNA Staff, Sep 11, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).Three nursing students from a Catholic liberal arts school in North Carolina spent two weeks on a hospital ship in Madagascar this summer.Emma Harris, who will graduate from Belmont Abbey College in Charlotte in May 2026, joined fellow students Caroline Gutierrez and Eric Dike on a service-oriented internship in Madagascar with an international faith-based group called Mercy Ships. After returning to the U.S., Harris said she was "transformed."Mercy Ships operates the two largest nongovernmental hospital ships worldwide, delivering free surgeries and health care services "to those with little access to safe medical care," according to the organization. The three Belmont students, along with two other students, were selected to make up the fi...

3 teenagers in critical condition after Colorado high school shooting

Police officers are on the scene at Evergreen High School where a shooting occured earlier in the day, in Evergreen, Colorado, on Sept. 10, 2025. A shooting at Evergreen High School in Colorado critically injured three studentsincluding the suspected shooter. Authorities say there is no longer an active threat. / Credit: CHET STRANGE/AFP via Getty ImagesDenver, Colo., Sep 10, 2025 / 20:14 pm (CNA).At least three teenagers, including the suspected shooter, are in critical condition after a shooting at Evergreen High School in Jefferson County, Colorado, on Wednesday.One of the three students who has been hospitalized is the suspected shooter, the Jefferson County Sheriff's office confirmed in a post. The students are being treated at CommonSpirit St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, Colorado. The shooting took place at midday about 30 miles southwest of Denver at a high school of 900 students. Hundreds of law enforcement rushed to the scene. The school has since been cleared b...

Pope Leo XIV: Israeli attack in Qatar a 'very serious' development

Pope Leo XIV preaches at the historic Rotonda church in Albano, Aug. 17, 2025. / Credit: Vatican MediaACI Prensa Staff, Sep 10, 2025 / 13:18 pm (CNA).On the evening of Sept. 9, when leaving Castel Gandolfo, where he had spent the day, Pope Leo XIV described Israel's attack earlier Tuesday against leaders of the Hamas terrorist group in Doha, Qatar, as "very serious."Referring to the growing tension in the Middle East conflict, the pontiff stated: "We must pray a lot and keep working, searching, insisting on peace." On Wednesday, at the end of the general audience in St. Peter's Square, the Holy Father encouraged the faithful to remember "in their prayers and in their humanitarian projects also the children of Ukraine, Gaza, and other regions of the world affected by war."At Castel Gandolfo, the pontiff specifically expressed his concern about the situation in Gaza, after Israel ordered the immediate evacuation of residents in anticipation of an imminent intensification of ...