Edition of Wednesday, September 16

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue published a joint note titled "A Path of Hope" to mark the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's declaration, Nostra aetate.

The document serves as a reflection on the history of relations between Catholics and believers of other faiths. It calls for the Church to combat fundamentalism and extremism while rejecting the logic of defense, hostility, or conquest. The note also encourages the protection of religious freedom and the building of coexistence based on brotherhood.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See Secretary of State, said there is an urgent need to regulate artificial intelligence through supranational responsibility. Speaking to journalists at a symposium in Rome titled "Faith and Reason in the Era of Artificial Intelligence," Parolin expressed concern that some countries might attempt to regulate the technology on their own rather than through international cooperation.

Parolin echoed a call from Italian President Mattarella for global oversight, stating that slowing down the development of AI is important for the future of humanity.

President Donald Trump appointed Robert E. Barron, bishop of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the commission announced September 16.

The Diocese of Arlington is beginning an investigation into a potential sainthood cause for Thomas Vander Woude. The diocese will start the information gathering stage to examine his life and potential for canonization.

Vander Woude, a farmer and airline pilot, died 18 years ago while saving his youngest son, Joseph, from drowning in a septic tank. Joseph has Down syndrome. Vander Woude was a father to seven sons.

Pope Leo XIV will conduct an apostolic journey to France from September 25 to 28.

French Catholics hope the visit will provide new energy to a Church facing long-term secularization. According to a recent survey, many in the country are looking for a sense of renewal from the pope, whom they do not know well. Some observers noted that the community is looking for momentum similar to the impact of the 1997 World Youth Day visit by St. John Paul II.

Bishop Benoît Bertrand, the bishop of Pontoise and president of the organizing committee for the trip, is overseeing final preparations. These preparations include managing local mobilization for the pope's various movements and handling the trip's budget.

Father Brent Bowman, a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, wept for more than a minute during the Eucharistic prayer at a Mass on September 14. Bowman, who serves as the chaplain at Chesterton Academy, experienced this during the consecration at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Hopkins, Minnesota.

A video of the event showed Bowman struggling with emotion while celebrating the Mass. The footage spread on social media, where some viewers described the event as a possible Eucharistic miracle in the United States.

Jeff Anderson and Associates, a law firm based in St. Paul, Minnesota, has launched a national database of clergy members who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The firm unveiled the database on its website alongside the announcement of a new abuse settlement with the Archdiocese of Chicago.

The Archdiocese of Chicago reported that it has paid more than $400 million to survivors of abuse. The firm's new database tracks priests and other clergy members identified as having credible accusations against them.

A Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report found inhumane and unhygienic conditions at the now-closed Florida Soft-Sided Facility, also known as Alligator Alcatraz.

The report states that dozens of immigrants were held in 18-square-foot outdoor cages, which are roughly the size of telephone booths. These enclosures were used as part of a monitored calming area. An unannounced inspection of the facility took place on January 21, 2026.

Pope Leo XIV said martyrs are among the greatest resources for proclaiming the Gospel because they demonstrate faith through daily life rather than through ideology. The pope made these remarks during a private audience on Sept. 16 to conclude a conference in Rome titled "The 21st Century: A New Time of Martyrs?"

The conference, held Sept. 15–16 at the Patristic Institute Augustinianum, was organized by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. Participants discussed the Commission for New Martyrs – Witnesses of the Faith, an ecumenical initiative established by Pope Francis in 2023 to document Christians of all denominations killed for their faith since 2000.

Among the cases discussed was Sister Dorothy Stang, an American nun killed in Brazil in 2005 while serving people in the Amazon. Pope Leo XIV praised the work of the dicastery in cataloging these lives and noted that the holiness of these witnesses serves as a powerful tool for evangelization in the modern world.

Holy Family School in the old city of Gaza reopened for approximately 1,000 students following a closure of nearly three years due to war. The school serves the local Holy Family Catholic parish.

Father Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest of Gaza, told a visiting delegation that he hopes the reopening brings a sense of normality to students and their families. He also described the reopening as a sign of hope for people in the territory.

Bishops from Mexico, the United States, and Canada met in Cuernavaca, Mexico, to discuss ways to increase cooperation across North America. The meeting brought together representatives from the Mexican, USCCB, and Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to address shared challenges facing the Church in the region.

The bishops focused their discussions on migration and artificial intelligence. In a statement, the bishops noted that millions of Catholics across the three nations share the same faith and belong to one Church, adding that national borders should not become barriers between hearts.

Experts consulted by OSV News suggest that many online antisemitic attacks against Amy-Jill Levine, the first Jewish president of the Catholic Biblical Association of America, may be coordinated by known extremist actors to advance anti-Israel and anti-Jewish narratives.

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Michele Di Tolve as the bishop of Chioggia, Italy. The announcement was made on September 16 at the Lateran Palace.

Di Tolve previously served as the auxiliary bishop of Rome and the titular bishop of Orrea. His roles in Rome included vicar episcopal and coordinator for the diaconate, clergy, religious life, and the ordo virginum, as well as interim director of the Office for the Clergy and rector of the Pontificio Seminario Romano Maggiore.

Born in Milan on May 19, 1963, Di Tolve was ordained a priest on June 10, 1989. His previous ministry in the Archdiocese of Milan included serving as a parochial vicar in Novate Milanese and Cassina De’ Pecchi, managing Catholic religious teaching and school pastoral services, and serving as rector of the Archbishop's Seminary of Milan from 2014 to 2020.

Advocates are calling on President Donald Trump to demand the release of Jimmy Lai during an upcoming summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The request comes as President Trump prepares to host Xi Jinping at the White House in late September. Advocates suggest that Trump use the meeting to push for the release of Lai, a prominent Catholic media tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner from Hong Kong who is currently in prison.

Bukavu held funerals on September 14 for 27 people killed in a school fire in the Cimpunda district. The blaze occurred on September 10 and claimed the lives of six adults and several minors who were students at the school.

The provincial coordination of the Civil Society of South Kivu described the situation as a humanitarian catastrophe. The group noted that a series of fires has affected the city for at least a week, destroying hundreds of homes, two schools, a church, and 66 shops in the Kadutu market. In Ponzi, 40 homes were destroyed and three people died, while 174 families in Nyamugo were left homeless. The civil society also cited Congolese administration figures from Uvira stating that 2,500 homes were destroyed by fire between July and August.

The civil society expressed concern that the M23 rebel administration, which currently controls Bukavu, has not investigated the causes of these fires or deployed fire services. The group also stated that the administration is collecting taxes from the local population without providing necessary services.

Pope Leo XIV declined a request from French President Emmanuel Macron to walk together through Notre Dame Cathedral during the pope's visit to France. According to Vida Nueva, Macron requested a private moment with the pope inside the cathedral, which the French state has funded for reconstruction, rather than attending the Vespers scheduled for September 25. The Vatican rejected this diplomatic request to keep the pope's apostolic journey separate from a state visit.

The trip to France includes several other changes to traditional protocol. Vida Nueva reports that the Vatican has downgraded the visit by removing a state dinner and the presentation of the Legion of Honour. Religión Digital noted that this effort to separate the religious nature of the trip from political appearances was also a pattern during the pope's previous travels in Spain.

More than 100 Catholics participated in a Mass, procession, and rally in Washington to show solidarity with migrants. Following the event, some participants met with congressional staffers to discuss the human dignity of migrants.

A recent study shows that abortion providers rarely screen for coercion, even though women pressured into the procedure face a high risk of negative outcomes.