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Hello, I'm Maggie Murray of OSV News, and this is your OSV Newscast for Tuesday, August 18th, 2026. Let's catch you up on the Catholic News of the Day. Here we go. Pope Leo XIV is offering prayers and consolation to Zimbabwe following a devastating ferry disaster on Lake Kariba that has claimed at least 92 lives. In a Vatican telegram sent today on the Pope's behalf, Cardinal Pietro Perilin, the Vatican Secretary of State, said the pontiff entrusted the deceased to God's mercy and invoked consolation, healing, and strength for grieving families and emergency rescue workers. Police say the vessel was carrying more than 150 passengers, well over its 90-person capacity, when it overturned on August 11th amid rough waters. Zimbabwe's Catholic bishops have called for national solidarity and prayer, describing the tragedy as a wound felt across the entire country. Bishop Patrick Nouena of Chinoe, whose diocese includes the accident site and several of the victims, said local parishes are actively coordinating pastoral care and relief efforts for the families left behind. The disaster stands as one of the deadliest transportation accidents in the region in recent memory, and church leaders continue calling on the faithful to remember the victims in prayer. Local parish priest, Father Bashar Fwadle, told OSV News the entire community feels targeted, with farmers now fearing they'll lose their upcoming olive harvest entirely. Unfortunately, we are all targeted by the fanatic and radical settlers, he said, adding that residents still don't have clarity on what the military zone designation actually means in practice. During his Sunday Angelus, Pope Leo XIV condemned the repeated violence against Palestinians and renewed his call for an urgent return to two-state peace efforts. The United Nations has recorded more than 1,000 settler attacks across the West Bank this year alone. Father Fwadle said residents continue placing their trust in God while pleading for international diplomatic support to end the violence. As students across the country head back to class, John Djak, director of the USCCB's Secretariat of Catholic Education, is offering a snapshot of Catholic education in America today. Speaking with OSV News, DJ, a former teacher and administrator with decades of experience in both diocesan and independent schools, noted that the nation is now home to approximately 5,800 Catholic schools, educating nearly 1.7 million students. He emphasized that the church has always respected the ability of parents to choose the educational environment best suited to their family circumstances, whether that's a Catholic school, homeschooling, or public education. Still, he said, Catholic parents carry an enduring obligation to form their children in the faith. DJ described the current renewal in Catholic education as really a recovery of a coherent view of reality, born from the heart of the Church, one that helps students understand, as he put it, where they come from, where they're going, and why they're here. A priest from the Archdiocese of San Antonio has been lacized and excommunicated after a Vatican-authorized tribunal found him guilty of schism. Archbishop Gustavo Garcia Sierra announced last week that John Mary Foster was found guilty of a crime against the faith for his refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff, after publicly referring to both Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV as usurpers. Foster, ordained in 1987 for the Congregation of St. John, founded an organization in Canyon Lake called the Mission of Divine Mercy in 2001, a group the Archbishop suppressed in 2024 after it began publishing alleged prophetic messages from God in defiance of his authority. In the letter announcing the April 20th sentence, Archbishop Garcia Sierra said Foster had chosen to reject the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church by his words and actions. The Archbishop is now prohibiting all Catholics from attending any mass or liturgical event held by Foster or his organization, warning that doing so would constitute a formal act of disobedience. As preparations are underway for the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen in St. Louis next month, attention is rightly turning to the celebrated television preacher whose broadcasts reached millions of American homes. But behind his extraordinary public ministry stood a largely unknown group of women whose quiet labor made much of that work possible. Archbishop Sheen served from 1950 to 1966 as national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, one of the four Pontifical Mission Societies, which coordinates World Mission Sunday and supports the church's work in more than 1,100 mission territories worldwide. During those years, dozens of women staffed an operation substantial enough to resemble a small print shop, opening thousands of letters, recording donations, and thanking contributors, all in support of missionaries around the globe. A sign at the office's entrance captured their spirit. The impossible we do immediately. Miracles might take a little longer. Most of these women are no longer living, and their contributions were often known only to close colleagues and family. 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.