SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello, I'm Maggie Murray of OSV News, and this is your OSV Newscast for Friday, May 8th, 2026. Today we celebrate the first anniversary since the election of Pope Leo XIV as the 267th successor of St. Peter and the first American Pope. With that, let's catch you up on the Catholic News of the Day. Here we go. One year into his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV marked the anniversary of his election in a deeply personal and fitting way, on pilgrimage to honor Our Lady. Today, the Pope traveled to the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Pompeii, celebrating Mass before an estimated 20,000 people and entrusting his ministry to the Virgin Mary. The occasion carried special significance as his election last year on May 8th coincided with the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii. I therefore had to come here to place my ministry under the protection of the Blessed Virgin, the Pope said. In his homily, Pope Leo spoke at length about the rosary and urged Catholics to anchor their hope in Christ alone. No earthly power will save the world, but only the divine power of love, he said. The Pope also honored Saint Bartolo Longo, the former Satanist turned saint who founded the shrine and its charitable works for orphans and the children of prisoners. He closed with a renewed appeal for peace before continuing on to Naples and returning to Rome by helicopter this evening. According to Father McCarthy, sometime after his election, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, called his Chicago bank to update his phone number and account information. After passing multiple security questions, he was told the changes required an in-person visit. When he explained he was out of town and finally added, Would it matter if I tell you I'm Pope Leo? The representative hung up. The matter was eventually resolved after a fellow Augustinian contacted the bank president directly, who agreed to make the change rather than risk losing, as Father McCarthy put it, the account of the Pope. The image, shared online Wednesday, appears to show an IDF soldier holding a cigarette to the mouth of a Marian statue in the Lebanese village of Debol. IDF spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, condemned the act, saying the soldier's behavior completely deviates from the values expected of military personnel and confirmed the incident is under investigation. The photograph reportedly was taken weeks earlier. It follows another recent incident in the same area, in which a soldier was photographed striking a statue of Jesus with the blunt side of an axe. Poland's foreign ministry sharply criticized the latest episode, warning such actions offend Christians' religious sentiments and undermine peace efforts across the Middle East. The incidents also come just days after an Israeli settler was charged in the violent assault of a French nun near the Senegal in Jerusalem. Catholic health workers in Bangladesh are playing a critical role in combating a deadly measles outbreak that has already claimed the lives of at least 336 children. Since mid-March, more than 32,000 suspected measles patients have been hospitalized nationwide. Karitas Bangladesh, along with hospitals and clinics run by Catholic religious sisters, is providing care and public health education in both urban centers and remote communities. Sister Mary Paiusha, who oversees St. Paul's Hospital in the Diocese of Kolna, said Catholic health workers are actively informing patients about measle symptoms and providing rapid treatment when cases arrive. The human toll is devastating. Bilal Hossein, whose 12-month-old son was hospitalized in Dhaka, said he fears for his child's life after watching other children die in the same ward. Church leaders note that Catholic institutions continue to carry an outsized role in Bangladesh's healthcare system, despite Christians making up less than 1% of the population. The crisis has been worsened, reports say, by Bangladesh's 2025 decision to halt measles vaccine procurement through UNICEF, despite repeated warnings about the risk of disruptions. It was a personal call to courage. Thirty-six relics belonging to martyrs from the Cristero War were brought to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on April 18th, as part of a one-day Congress marking 100 years since the beginning of the conflict. The Cristero War, which lasted from 1926 to 1929, saw thousands of Catholics, many of them priests, executed during a popular uprising against anti-clerical laws in Mexico. Following the cathedral stop, the relics toured several parishes across the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of Orange for two weeks, concluding May 4th at St. Matthias Church in Huntington Park. For attendees like Kathleen Orozco, whose great-grandfather lived through the conflict, and Maria, who grew up hearing stories of the Cristeros from her grandmother, the relics carried deep family resonance. It's about not being afraid to say, This is my religion, Maria said, and to defend it. And that's your OSV Newscast for today. I'm Maggie Murray of OSV News. Check out the show notes for direct links to the stories in this episode. Make sure to subscribe to this podcast, follow us on social media, and bookmark osvnews.com. Thanks so much for listening and God bless. This has been an OSV News production. To learn more, visit osvnews.com.