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Hello, I'm Gina Christian, and you're listening to our OSV Newscast for Thursday, May 28th, 2026. Let's catch you up on the Catholic news of the day. Here we go. Pope Leo XIV will preside over a worldwide Rosary for Peace on May 30th, uniting Mary and shrines across continents in simultaneous prayer to close out the Catholic Church's month of devotion to the Virgin Mary. The Pope will lead the prayer from the Lord Grotto in the Vatican Gardens at 7 p.m. local time on Saturday. Participating shrines will join via live stream. In the U.S., the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington will take part at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. The Rosary Initiative is being coordinated by the Vatican's Dicastery for Evangelization, and it brings together some of the most visited Marian pilgrimage sites in the world. Those include the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Fatima, Portugal, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lord in France, and the Sanctuary of Our Lady Queen of Peace in Mejegoria, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In war-torn Ukraine, the Sanctuary of the Mother of God in Zarvanitsia will take part, as will the Shrine of Saint Charbel Anaya in Byblos, Lebanon. The live stream will be available at VaticanNews.va and via the Washington Basilica at nationalshrine.org forward slash Mass, where those gathered in person will pray from the Great Upper Church. That's according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Two-thirds of those who attend some form of religious service at least once or twice a month said their minister, priest, rabbi, or other clergy person has spoken on at least one such issue in the past few months. Respondents identified abortion, Israel, homosexuality, immigration, the U.S. war on Iran, the environment, and people who are transgender as the most prevalent topics they've heard about. In general, Pew found messages on the three most common topics were more likely to be against abortion, against homosexuality, or in support of Israel. Among the respondents, 19% said they think their clergy are mostly Republicans, while 8% said they think their clergy are mostly Democrats. But 27% described their clergy as politically mixed. Another 44% said they're unsure about their clergy's political leanings. Catholics were most likely to report being unsure about their clergy's political views. Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, addressed sexual exploitation as one of the human dignity concerns posed by artificial intelligence. That issue is one U.S. lawmakers took a first step toward addressing last year with the Take It Down Act, which the Federal Trade Commission began enforcing on May 19th, just a few days before the encyclical's publication on May 25th. In the encyclical, Pope Leo highlighted the risk of dehumanization in the development of AI technology, including easy access to violent or degrading content that offends sensibility, to pornographic and hypersexualized material, to messages that trivialize the body and emotions, and to proposals that normalize risky behavior. Pope Leo said, online phenomena such as grooming, blackmail, and the sexual exploitation of minors are not uncommon, and are made more insidious by the use of fake profiles, algorithms that facilitate dangerous contact, and AI tools capable of manipulating images and videos. The nonconsensual online publication of sexually explicit images and videos, both authentic or generated by AI and sometimes called deep fakes, was targeted by a bipartisan group of lawmakers and First Lady Melania Trump last year. Cardinals and bishops gathered on May 23rd for a massive reparation in Catacaos for the Talan community. The bishops noted the death of leader Guadalupe Zapata Sosa, who was shot and killed in 2011, and they also noted the persecution, threats, and false accusations against those who dared to defend their land. Spanish Monsignor Yore Batomeo was the papal envoy who oversaw the dissolution of the Sodolitium Christiana Vite, which is also known as the Society of Christian Life, and formerly an influential Catholic Society of Apostolic Life. The Monsignor told the congregation, we could have arrived 20 years ago. We ask for forgiveness because we haven't always been on the right side. Pope Francis formally dissolved the scandal-plagued movement back in early 2025, just months before his death, and following decades of psychological and sexual abuse allegations. Peruvian bishops say the historic apology sets a supportive tone ahead of an expected visit by Pope Leo XIV late this year. And finally, a French blockbuster is coming to theaters in the U.S. just in time for the consecration of the nation to the sacred heart of Jesus. The docudrama Sacre Queu was released in France back in October, and it focuses on the apparitions of Jesus to French visitation religious sister Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. In those encounters, which took place from 1673 to 1675, Jesus showed the sister his heart and the burning love he has for mankind. The film was produced to mark the 350th anniversary of the apparitions, and the docudrama combines historical reenactments, testimonials, and expert analysis. It also includes accounts of personal encounters with Christ, often during adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Sacre Co will be shown in U.S. theaters from June 9th to 11th and again on June 14th. Tickets and theater information are available at SacredHeartfilm.us, and the showings coincide with the U.S. Bishop's June 11th consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And that's your OSV Newscast for today. I'm Gina Christian. Check out the show notes for a link to our website where you can find the stories in this episode. As always, make sure to subscribe to this podcast, give us a follow on social media, and bookmark osvnews.com. Wherever you are in the world as you're tuning in, thanks so much for listening and God bless.

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