Eighty years after the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a small Franciscan monastery in Nagasaki founded by Polish missionary Father Maximilian Kolbe — later martyred at Auschwitz — survived, and still stands as a quiet witness to peace. Pope Leo XIV also wrote a message to Bishop Alexis Mitsuru Shirahama of Hiroshima for the anniversary.
The Archdiocese of Miami celebrated the first Mass for detainees at the Trump administration’s controversial immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades named “Alligator Alcatraz,” on Aug. 2, per a statement from the diocese dated Aug. 1 and released Aug. 3.
Staff of a charity serving Haiti are pleading for the return of kidnapped Irish lay missionary Gena Heraty and her companions — including a 3-year-old child — taken by armed gunmen who stormed Saint-Hélène orphanage near Port-au-Prince Aug. 3, amid the Caribbean nation’s long-running armed gang violence and political instability.
The 143rd Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus opened Aug. 5 in Washington with a strong call to charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism. Pope Leo XIV’s video message to the Knights noted the convention’s theme, “Heralds of Hope,” was timely amid the Jubilee Year. International Program Awards were given to councils with outstanding programs supporting faith, family and community life in Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Quebec and Ukraine; the state chaplain for the District of Columbia received the Blessed Michael McGivney Medal, and the Duppong family — whose late daughter Michelle Duppong is being considered for sainthood — was named “International Family of the Year.”
The Trump administration said Aug. 1 that it would revoke its predecessor’s policy rule that included abortion as a covered health benefit for veterans and their dependents, and return to a policy of fully excluding abortion and abortion-related counseling.
As German bombs closed in on their convent and church during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, 34 Benedictine nuns made a choice that would mark them as heroes of faith: Staying to feed the hungry, tend the wounded and keep perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament until an Aug. 31 airstrike buried them. Beatification efforts have been difficult, but twice a year, the faithful gather in the convent’s rebuilt basement to pray for their recognition as martyrs.
Two Catholic nuns and an Indigenous youth accused of human trafficking and forced conversion in central India are out on bail, after a special court dealing with terror cases in Bilaspur granted their release on Aug. 2. Catholic leaders and rights groups call the arrests part of a rising wave of anti-Christian harassment in India, where documented incidents of persecution have surged from 127 in 2014 to over 800 in 2024.
The Trump administration has no plans to implement a campaign promise to require the government or insurance companies to pay for in vitro fertilization treatments, the Washington Post recently reported. As in vitro fertilization (IVF) continues to make headlines, the status of the many embryos created and frozen in this process is a key concern for Catholics.
With the canonization of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati coming up Sept. 7, the spirit of his faith life — rooted in frequenting the Eucharist, prayer and study, as well as service to those in need, and a great love of the outdoors — is alive and well among more than three dozen young adult groups across the United States.
The fullness of life depends on how much one joyfully welcomes and shares in life while also living with a constant yearning for those things that only come from God, Pope Leo XIV told young people in his homily during Mass concluding the Jubilee of Youth Aug. 3. The pope also gave a post-Angelus message of solidarity and peace for young people suffering in war-torn areas, including Gaza and Ukraine. Pope Leo also visited a Spanish teenager who had to be hospitalized during the Jubilee, penned a letter to young pilgrims meeting for a youth festival at the Marian shrine in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, offered his prayers for people impacted by the latest migrant boat shipwreck off the coast of Yemen, and spoke onresponding to “the Lord’s invitation to prepare our hearts” through participating in Mass and acts of charity in his Wednesday general audience message.
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