A flash flood this week devastated a region of Nepal as a Catholic charity led by a religious sister addressed the community’s needs. More than 1,900 people in Nepal and Tibet are missing, and hundreds have been killed. Pope Leo XIV offered prayers for the people of the region that straddles the two countries in the Himalayan mountains.
A climatologist warned of future floods and landslides on the world’s mountain glaciers due to climate change: “Globally, there is a greater likelihood of large-scale landslides occurring, which may affect glaciers. The retreat of glaciers and the thawing of permafrost are leading to a general destabilization of high-mountain regions.”
Church Works for End of War in Ukraine
The Vatican intensified efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine as a Church diplomat visited Russia this week. Archbishop Paul Gallgher, after a visit to Moscow’s Orthodox cathedral, called for a swift end to the war, which began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, urged solidarity with all the nations of the world, saying freedom must never be taken for granted.
As Ukraine observed its 35th anniversary as an independent country and the grim catastrophe of war in its land, one religious sister showed the resilience of prayer, the will to live and the desire for freedom amidst the daily fears of death from Russian missiles and drones.
Pope Leo Promotes Pope Francis’ Letter on Families, ‘Amoris Laetitia’
Pope Leo XIV will celebrate a Mass in October marking the anniversary of the letter by Pope Francis, “Amoris Laetitia,” on love in the family. This year, 10 years after its publication, Pope Leo invited bishops to a meeting in Rome to discuss the teachings of the letter and how to proclaim the Gospel to families today.
Separately Pope Leo told Latin American bishops that the Church must help broken families heal from drug abuse.
AI Explored by Church Worldwide
Pope Leo said in Rome that “the good of the human family must not be sacrificed to private interests,” referring to a theme he outlined in his encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas.”
“The speed at which innovations in artificial intelligence,” he said, “are developing prompts us to ask whether, in the future, we will be able to control these machines, and whether humanity runs the risk of becoming victim of its own inventions.”
Catholic theologians in the Philippines addressed questions of how the Church should respond to the rise of artificial intelligence.
In Philadelphia this week, the Cardinals’ Forum at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary also examined the pope’s encyclical on AI.
The head of the Catholic Church in Myanmar, speaking to Christian lawmakers in Assisi, Italy, urged laws banning autonomous lethal weapons.
“By permitting algorithms to discreetly pre-package what our citizens read, purchase, believe, and value, we are systematically infantilizing entire societies,” said Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon.
Pope Leo Encourages Deeper Relationship With God Through Mass
In talks this week Pope Leo offered spiritual guidance and teaching.
Continuing his series of talks on the Second Vatican Council’s reforms of the Mass, he said Catholics’ active participation in the liturgy leads the faithful to a deeper relationship with God.
He also urged listeners during his Sunday Angelus message not to “retreat into our own convictions and religious certainties,” but instead to develop a personal relationship with Jesus and renew it every day in order to transform our lives and the world.
He told young people receiving the sacrament of confirmation that “the most beautiful gift, the Holy Spirit” conferred upon them “is not a treasure to be kept hidden but a light that you must make shine every day.”
Prayer and the work for social justice, he told members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of the United States, “are not merely complementary but in fact are inseparable,” he said.
Christians, he said, believe that “caring for others, when motivated by love, not only helps those in need but also opens the heart of the giver to God’s grace.”
Woman Becomes First in World to Lead Catholic Shrine
A Marian shrine in Africa has become the first in the world to be led by a woman. Anna Medeossi is originally an architect from Italy. She became a consecrated virgin and now is the rector of Notre-Dame de Santa Cruz in Oran, Algeria, a predominantly Muslim country.
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