SPEAKER_00
0:01
Hello,
I'm
Maggie
Murray
of
OSV
News,
and
this
is
your
OSV
Newscast
for
Thursday,
August
20th,
2026.
Let's
catch
you
up
on
the
Catholic
News
of
the
Day.
Here
we
go.
Ahead
of
next
month's
World
Day
of
Prayer
for
Creation,
Pope
Leo
XIV
is
offering
a
challenging
diagnosis
of
the
world's
twin
crises,
war
and
environmental
destruction.
In
his
message
marking
the
September
1st
observance,
the
Pope
said
both
are
not
merely
political
failures,
but
symptoms
of
a
deeper
moral
crisis
in
the
human
heart.
He
warned
that
armed
conflict
and
ecological
degradation
feed
a
vicious
cycle,
destroying
ecosystems,
poisoning
natural
resources,
and
destabilizing
communities
for
generations.
Drawing
on
the
prophet
Isaiah's
call
to
beat
swords
into
plowshares,
Poplio
urged
nations
and
individuals
alike
to
turn
away
from
violence
and
the
pursuit
of
domination.
Lasting
peace,
he
stressed,
requires
genuine
inner
spiritual
renewal
and
a
redirection
of
resources
once
devoted
to
destruction,
toward
feeding
the
hungry,
caring
for
the
poor,
and
protecting
God's
creation.
The
prayer
day
opens
the
ecumenical
season
of
creation,
which
concludes
October
4th,
the
Feast
of
St.
Francis
of
Assisi.
For
the
second
time
this
month,
Arizona's
Supreme
Court
has
issued
a
unanimous
ruling
with
potential
implications
for
the
Catholic
Church's
confessional
seal.
In
Rodriguez
Ramirez
v.
Arizona,
decided
August
12th,
the
court
ruled
that
a
defendant's
admission
of
wrongdoing
to
a
fellow
pastor
could
be
admitted
into
court
because
it
didn't
meet
the
legal
definition
of
religious
confession.
While
the
case
doesn't
involve
Catholic
clergy,
canon
law
expert
Monsignor
John
Paul
Kimes
of
the
University
of
Notre
Dame
Law
School
said
the
precedent
matters.
He
explained
that
while
the
sacramental
seal
of
confession
remains
absolutely
inviable,
conversations
that
occur
outside
the
confessional,
such
as
spiritual
direction,
may
not
receive
the
same
protection.
Monsignor
Kimes
was
emphatic
about
one
point
regardless
of
the
ruling's
reach.
The
seal
doesn't
belong
to
the
penitent.
It
doesn't
belong
to
the
priest,
it
belongs
to
the
sacrament,
so
no
one
can
waive
the
sacramental
seal.
Eighty
Catholic
clergy
from
the
Archdiocese
of
Bogota
set
out
this
week
on
a
five-day
mission
to
bring
what
they
called
spiritual
first
aid
to
Colombian
communities
devastated
by
the
7.4
magnitude
earthquake
that
rocked
the
country
earlier
this
month.
Led
by
Cardinal
Luis
Jose
Rueda
Aparicio
and
his
auxiliary
bishops,
the
team
of
priests
and
deacons
departed
by
bus
Tuesday,
divided
into
six
groups
to
visit
the
hardest-hit
cities,
including
Cali,
Pereira,
and
Buenaventura,
offering
prayer,
pastoral
support,
and
the
sacrament
of
reconciliation.
The
August
10th
quake,
centered
in
the
department
of
Choco,
was
Colombia's
strongest
in
a
decade,
leaving
at
least
319
people
dead,
nearly
4,500
injured,
260
still
missing,
and
more
than
30,000
homes
destroyed.
Cardinal
Rueda
described
the
mission
as
the
first
of
several
planned
outreach
efforts,
praying,
May
the
Lord
rebuild
us
all
from
the
heart,
and
may
the
Virgin
Mary
accompany
us
with
her
motherly
love
to
guide
the
path
of
hope
after
the
earthquake.
In
an
interview
with
OSV
News
last
week,
Archbishop
Visvaldas
Kobolkas,
papal
nuncio
to
Ukraine,
said
plainly,
I
still
believe
that
prayer
is
our
number
one
weapon.
We
need
to
have
our
heart
in
our
prayer.
While
Russian
aggression
cannot
destroy
Ukraine's
spiritual
life
directly,
the
Archbishop
warned
it
could
provoke
something
more
dangerous
within
disbelief,
lost
hope,
or
anger
toward
God
and
one
another.
That
inner
surrender,
he
said,
would
be
even
more
dramatic
and
tragic
than
the
war
itself,
representing
genuine
spiritual
defeat.
Archbishop
Kobolkus
urged
the
faithful
to
hold
on
to
hope
found
not
in
worldly
circumstances,
but
in
Jesus,
not
this
life,
while
still
using
whatever
small
talents
and
possibilities
they
have
to
build
peace.
He
pointed
to
the
gospel's
multiplication
of
loaves
and
fishes
as
a
model.
Offer
what
little
you
have
and
trust
Christ
to
multiply
the
effort.
Thousands
gathered
along
the
Louisiana
Bayou
last
weekend
for
one
of
the
most
distinctive
Catholic
traditions
in
the
country,
a
Eucharistic
procession
that
travels
not
on
foot
but
by
boat.
The
Fete
du
de
Tech,
organized
by
Father
Michael
Champagne
and
the
community
of
Jesus
Crucified
in
the
Diocese
of
Lafayette,
took
place
Saturday
along
the
Bayou
Tech,
coinciding
with
both
the
Solemnity
of
the
Assumption
and
National
Acadian
Day.
This
year's
40-mile
procession
by
water
and
land
retraced
the
paths
used
by
exiled
French-Canadian
Catholics
who
settled
in
Louisiana
in
the
1760s,
carrying
the
Eucharist
exposed
in
a
monstrance
alongside
statues
of
Our
Lady
of
the
Assumption
and
Saint
Joseph
with
the
child
Jesus.
Despite
sweltering
heat,
the
faithful
sang
hymns
and
joined
in
Eucharistic
adoration
along
the
water's
edge.
It
brings
people
together
from
different
walks
of
life,
said
Father
Abelardo
Gabriel
of
Notre
Dame
du
Perpetual
Secur
in
celebration
of
victory
and
in
gratitude
to
Jesus
and
our
Blessed
Mother.
The
next
procession,
in
December
2027,
will
travel
an
unprecedented
eight
days
from
St.
Louis
to
New
Orleans.
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.
Be
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Thanks
so
much
for
listening
and
God
bless.
This
has
been
an
OSV
News
production.
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more,
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