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Hello, I'm Maggie Murray of OSV News, and this is your OSV Newscast for Tuesday, June 16th, 2026. Let's catch you up on the Catholic News of the Day. Here we go. The numbers are in for Pope Leo XIV's historic visit to Spain last week, and the organizers are calling it an overwhelming success. At a press conference this morning, organizers said the trip surpassed all expectations, drawing an estimated 2.5 million participants across Madrid, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands. While the trip cost approximately 26 million euros, its economic impact is expected to exceed 150 million euros. But the visit wasn't without drama. In Barcelona, police quietly removed dozens of choir members who planned to disrupt the Sagrada Familia event by unfurling Catalan separatist flags. And on the final day, a mechanical failure grounded the papal flight, prompting King Felipe VI to step in and fly the Pope back to Rome on his royal jet, canceling the traditional in-flight press conference. Trip organizer Iago de la Sierva praised Iberia for prioritizing safety above all. If they had to tell the Pope we can't fly, he said, it seems to me like a tip of the hat to put the most important thing of the trip first, which is safety. Nine Polish Salesian priests who died in Nazi concentration camps during World War II were beatified earlier this month, and Pope Leo XIV has been reflecting on their witness. The priests, all members of the Silesians of Don Bosco, were killed at Auschwitz and Dachau between 1941 and 1942, following their arrest during the German occupation of Poland. Their beatification took place June 6th at Krakow's Sanctuary of St. John Paul II, drawing thousands of faithful and church leaders from across Poland and abroad. Populi overcalled them Saturday, saying they were persecuted and killed because of their fidelity to Christ. The men served as pastors, teachers, seminary professors, and youth ministers. Church leaders noted the Nazis specifically targeted clergy and educators because they helped preserve Polish identity and form young people in faith and freedom. Organizers chose to highlight personal items from their lives rather than relics of suffering, underscoring their legacy as educators, mentors, and witnesses of hope, whose faith endured even in the face of death. Released Monday, the report found that more countries experienced spikes in religious hostility in 2023, the latest year for which data is available, driven in part by harassment of religious minorities and the ongoing impact of the Israel-Hamas war. At the same time, Pew found that governments have been steadily cracking down on religious belief and expression since 2007. Among the world's 25 most populous nations, China, Iran, Indonesia, Egypt, and Russia showed the highest levels of government restrictions on religion. Nigeria, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Egypt recorded the highest levels of social hostilities involving religion. The United States ranked among the countries with the lowest levels of both government restrictions and social hostilities, though the report notes the ongoing challenges facing religious minorities across many regions. Pew drew its findings from multiple vetted sources, including data from the European Union and the U.S. government. In the United States, the Burning Cross has historically served as a symbol of racial hatred, most associated with the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacist groups, and has also been used to target Catholics, Jews, and immigrants. Cardinal Supic pledged to work with faith and community leaders to redouble our efforts to share the gospel message that we are all children of God. Homeboy Industries, the acclaimed Los Angeles program founded by Jesuit father Greg Boyle and Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, announced a partnership to support a $100 million fundraising campaign to expand the organization's reach. The campaign was promoted last week at a global Homeboy Network Summit in Washington. Leading the effort is Frank McCourt Jr., a billionaire Georgetown alumnus who launched the school with two $100 million donations, with an initial gift of $10 million. The funds will support the Father Gregory Boyle Center for Radical Kinship, a major expansion of the Homeboy campus set to become the centerpiece of Hope Village, described as a visionary initiative reimagining re-entry in Los Angeles. Father Boyle said Homeboy was inspired by the Ignatian practice of finding God in the lowly place. You stand in awe of what the poor have to carry rather than judgment, he said. That is where the joy is.com. Thanks so much for listening and God bless. This has been an OSV News production. To learn more, visit osvnews.com.