Home Opinion Pope ‘deepfake’ video, Fr. Mike Schmitz, Catholic charter school | Week in Review

Pope ‘deepfake’ video, Fr. Mike Schmitz, Catholic charter school | Week in Review

by Megan Marley

1. All speeches and messages from Pope Leo XIV since his May 8 election are available on the Vatican website and should be consulted before sharing alleged quotes or videos, Vatican News said. The warning, published May 21, follows the release of a 36-minute AI-generated “deepfake” video on YouTube — one of several social media hoaxes involving the new pope.

2. On May 18, eight young adults set out for a 36-day National Eucharistic Pilgrimage going from Indiana to California. The St. Katharine Drexel Route will cross 10 states, concluding on the feast of Corpus Christi, June 22, in Los Angeles. A live blog of pilgrim updates can be found on our website.

3. The Catholic University of America has cut 7% of its workforce, as part of a financial restructuring to tackle a $30 million deficit amid declining enrollment revenue and rising overall costs. The cuts, which will save the university some $9.7 million annually, “were necessary to achieve a balanced budget for the current fiscal year,” said University president Peter Kilpatrick.

Father Mike Schmitz, a priest of the Diocese of Duluth, Minn., and host of “The Bible in a Year” podcast, speaks to the crowd at a previous Parables Tour in 2025. Father Mike took the tour to Constitution Hall in the nation’s capital May 19, 2025. (OSV News photo/courtesy Ascension)

4. Known for his hit podcasts “The Bible in a Year” and “The Catechism in a Year,” Father Mike Schmitz is now taking his message on the road with a nationwide speaking tour titled “Parables. A Time of Reflection with Fr. Mike Schmitz.” Proceeds will support the Seeds of Faith campaign, which aims to expand the Newman Center where Father Schmitz has served as chaplain for 20 years. 

5. The Archdiocese of New Orleans has reached a memorandum of understanding with creditors in its long-running bankruptcy case, which spanned five years and more than $41 million in archdiocesan legal fees in aiming to settle some 500 abuse claims

Father Stanislaw Streich, a humble parish priest murdered at the altar by a radical communist in 1938 in Lubon, Poland, is pictured (sitting in first row, on the right) with first Communion children in an undated photo. Father Streich will be beatified in Poznan May 24, 2025, as a martyr killed “in odium fidei” — “in hatred of the faith.” (OSV News photo/courtesy St. John Bosco Parish in Lubon, Poland)

6. The church in Poland is preparing to celebrate the beatification of Father Stanislaw Streich, a humble parish priest murdered at the altar in 1938. On May 24, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro will preside over the ceremony, recognizing Father Streich as a martyr killed “in odium fidei” — “in hatred of the faith.”

7. An evenly-divided U.S. Supreme Court on May 22 sidestepped a major ruling in a case over what would have been the nation’s first Catholic charter school, effectively blocking the effort. The high court’s 4-4 ruling means that a decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which found the establishment of the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School as a publicly-funded religious school unconstitutional, will stand for now.

8. Catholic bishops from Europe and Africa have issued a strong joint statement warning that Africa is once again becoming a “battleground for external interests” — particularly over land, resources, and Europe’s climate agenda. In the lead-up to the May 21 European Union and African Union foreign ministers’ meeting, the bishops condemned large-scale land deals for green energy and carbon offsets, calling them unjust and exploitative.

Pope Leo XIV blesses a baby as he rides in the popemobile around St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican before his first weekly general audience May 21, 2025. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

9. Pope Leo XIV inaugurated his papacy with Mass May 18, and, in the week following, had audiences with the Ukrainian president, the U.S. vice president, religious leaders, the national directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies and other groups. He also made several appointments, including his first appointment of a top-level official of the Roman Curia, naming Sister Tiziana Merletti as secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. He also advanced the sainthood causes of two murdered missionaries, and his June calendar of events includes a consistory of cardinals to vote on canonizing some sainthood candidates. His first Wednesday general audience May 21 was on the Gospel parable of the sowerread the full text of his address.

10. In Washington, President Donald Trump on May 19 signed into law the Take It Down Act, a measure that will prohibit the nonconsensual online publication of sexually explicit images and videos — both authentic or generated by artificial intelligence. The U.S. House of Representatives on May 22 passed a sweeping package for President Donald Trump’s agenda, sending the bill to the Senate for consideration; Catholic leaders have alternately praised and criticized various provisions in the House’s version of that package. Former U.S. President Joe Biden, the nation’s second Catholic president, also revealed May 18 that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

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