Fides News - English

Somalia between security transition and terrorism

Sun, 06 Sep 2026 16:43:30 +0200

Mogadishu – Somalia’s National Internal Security Conference was held in Mogadishu on September 1 and 2, bringing together members of the federal government, including the ministers for Internal Security, Interior and Defence, representatives of the country’s state governments, and other key actors in the security sector, including representatives of the African Union.

The Conference was organized around three sessions. The first focused on domestic security issues, including oversight of local police forces and the development of the National Security Agency and the Immigration and Citizenship Agency. The second addressed organizational gaps among the various agencies and ways to improve coordination between them. The third session focused on the sustainability of security measures, highlighting the need to address these challenges while progressively reducing reliance on international donors.

Commenting on the Conference, Minister for Internal Security Abdullahi Fartaag said that the dialogue between the various parties took place within the transition process being supported by the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia .
The mission began on January 1, 2025, with the aim of transferring full responsibility for security to the Somali state by the end of 2029. AUSSOM’s mandate covers both military and civilian areas, and its activities are aligned with two Somali government security plans: the Security Sector Development Plan and the National Security Architecture .
Security remains one of the most pressing issues facing the Horn of Africa country. The most serious challenge is posed by Al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group active in Somalia and northern Kenya.

According to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies , Somalia is the second-most dangerous area on the African continent in terms of violence linked to such groups, after the Sahel. The research centre recorded more than 7,300 deaths linked to terrorist attacks between 2023 and August this year, with Al-Shabaab responsible for 95 percent of them. This represents an exponential increase: between 2013 and 2022, the total number of deaths resulting from such attacks exceeded 3,500.

Al-Shabaab is becoming a challenge not only for Somalia, which is confronting the militant group amid growing internal instability driven by demands for greater autonomy, as in Puntland, and even independence, as in Somaliland’s campaign for international recognition. The ACSS also points out that in recent years Al-Shabaab has established contacts with the Houthis across the Gulf of Aden, as well as with pirates operating in those waters. This makes Al-Shabaad an actor whose actions could soon have far-reaching international consequences.

Manuel “Tatay Maning”, father of Cardinal Tagle, returns to the Father’s House

Sun, 06 Sep 2026 16:29:43 +0200

Vatican City/Manila – Mr. Manuel “Tatay Maning” Tagle Sr., father of Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization – Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches, has returned to the Father’s House.

“In this moment of separation,” states a communiqué issued by the missionary Dicastery, “we gather with affection and in prayer around Cardinal Tagle, his beloved mother, Mrs. Mila Tagle, wife of the deceased, his brother Manuel Tagle Jr., and all their family members. We entrust dear ‘Tatay Maning’ to the infinite mercy of the Father, grateful for the gift of his life, and we ask the Risen Lord to welcome him in peace and joy into His House and to grant consolation and strength to his loved ones.”

Just a few days ago, on August 26, Manuel “Tatay Maning” Tagle celebrated with joy, surrounded by his family and loved ones, his 70th wedding anniversary with Mrs. Mila. On that festive occasion, the Mass for his parents’ “Titanium Wedding Anniversary” was celebrated by Cardinal Tagle himself at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Pillar, in Imus.

Messages expressing closeness and prayerful solidarity in their grief are being conveyed from many quarters to the bereaved family of Manuel Tagle Sr.

VATICAN - Course for new Bishops: Bishop García Macías: Inculturation can become one of the most beautiful forms of Evangelization, “when it enables a people to recognize that Christ is no stranger to them”

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 22:02:09 +0200

Vatican City – As part of the formation course for new Bishops organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization , this year dedicated to the theme “Servants of Communion in the Church,” Aurelio García Macías, Titular Bishop of Rotdon and Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, delivered a presentation on September 4 entitled “The Liturgy in the Episcopal Ministry. Continuity and Newness in the Liturgy in the Context of First Evangelization,” addressing the 49 newly appointed Bishops gathered at the Pontifical Missionary College St. Peter the Apostle.

Recalling the opening words of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium, according to which “this sacred Council has several aims in view: it desires to impart an ever increasing vigor to the Christian life of the faithful; to adapt more suitably to the needs of our own times those institutions which are subject to change” , the Bishop recalled that “the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows” . The liturgy, he explained, “does not belong to the priest who celebrates it, to the group that prepares it, or to the particular community that takes part in it. The liturgy belongs to Christ and to the Church,” reaching us today, as the Council teaches, per ritus et preces.

The heart of his presentation concerned liturgical inculturation, an issue which, for many of the Churches entrusted to the new Bishops, “is not a theoretical problem, but a daily pastoral concern.”

For inculturation, “introducing a dance is not enough”

The Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments stressed that inculturation “does not simply mean introducing elements of local culture into the liturgy.” It is not enough to “add a traditional song, introduce a dance, use a local musical instrument or translate a text.”
Inculturation, he explained, takes place almost “by osmosis,” when the mystery being celebrated truly encounters a culture”: the Gospel takes on what is “authentically human, true, good and beautiful” in that culture, while at the same time purifying and transforming it, because “no culture is the Gospel.”
“This applies to African, Asian, Latin American and Oceanic cultures, but it also applies to European culture,” he added, recalling that “every culture needs to be evangelized. Every culture contains the semina Verbi, but every culture also bears the wounds of sin. For this reason, the Gospel welcomes and purifies, embraces and transforms, confirms and corrects, elevates and, when necessary, calls for a break.”

Three risks to avoid

The prelate identified three risks to be avoided: unnecessary innovation, recalling that according to Sacrosanctum Concilium no innovations should be introduced “unless a genuine and proven benefit to the Church requires it” ; syncretism, “particularly sensitive issue in areas where traditional religions remain culturally very much alive”; and folklore, since “the liturgy is not a cultural performance” and “a cultural element is incorporated into the liturgy not because it is picturesque, but because it can serve the mystery being celebrated.”
Quoting the 1994 instruction Varietates legitimae, he reiterated that “the first significant measure of inculturation is the translation of liturgical books into the language of the people” , while emphasizing that every translation “must be faithful to the original text.”

The Undersecretary recalled that inculturation “cannot be improvised; it cannot be decided on the basis of a single successful celebration, nor can it depend on the enthusiasm of a bishop/priest or a group. It requires study, prayer, experience, evaluation and growth in faith.”

The Spanish Bishop stressed that it is always necessary to bear in mind that “when we celebrate the Eucharist in the smallest village of a missionary diocese, that celebration is an action of the universal Church. That small community is not isolated: it is in communion with its own Bishop and, through the Bishop, with the College of Bishops and with the Successor of Peter, as expressed in the Eucharistic Prayer when the Pope and the bishop are mentioned. The liturgy makes this communion visible.”

The Bishop is not the “liturgical policeman”

With regard to the liturgy and processes of inculturation, García Macías clarified that the Bishop’s task is not to be the “liturgical policeman,” but rather to be himself “the «liturgo» of the diocese and, precisely for this reason, the one primarily responsible for the liturgical life of his Church; to “have the courage both to promote what is genuinely beneficial and to curb what is not yet mature,” because “not all prudence is fear, and not all innovation is courage.”
Inculturation can become one of the most beautiful forms of
evangelization, “when it enables a people to recognize that Christ is no stranger to them,” he added. “The does not destroy what is authentically human, but brings it to its fullness.

Precisely for this reason, inculturation requires pastors capable of discernment. We must not be afraid of cultures, neither must we idealize them. We must not be afraid of diversity, neither must we sacrifice communion. We must not stifle the authentic creativity of the Spirit, neither must we confuse it with arbitrariness. We must not turn the liturgy into a museum of immutable forms, neither must we turn it into a permanent laboratory.”
Between these “extremes,” Bishop García Macías concluded, lies “the difficult and beautiful task of the Bishop.” It requires “prudence,” “expertise” and “communion,” but above all “faith.” For, “ultimately, the liturgy is not our own doing. It is Christ who continues to act within his Church.”

Pope to Latin Catholic Bishops in the Arab Regions: “Do not be afraid of your smallness”

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 16:42:09 +0200

Vatican City – “Do not be afraid of your smallness”: with these words, Pope Leo XIV encouraged the thirteen prelates of the Latin Episcopal Conference in the Arab Regions on Thursday, September 3, whom he received in audience at the Vatican at the conclusion of their annual meeting in Rome.

The Conference brings together the Latin-rite jurisdictions present in 17 countries across the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa: Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Cyprus, Djibouti, Somalia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Addressing the bishops, the Pope recalled the local Churches “operating in contexts often marked by political, social and religious tensions” and paid homage to the martyrs of those lands: Sister Leonella Sgorbati, a Consolata missionary; the Missionaries of Charity who were killed in Yemen while serving the most vulnerable; and of the many priests, men and women religious and members of the faithful who have given their lives in Iraq, Syria and “in other lands marked by violence.” “Their names may not be known to the world, but they are well known to God,” the Pope said, urging the communities “not to give in either to fear or resignation.”

The Pontiff urged the prelates to always be “pastors close to your people”, especially in the face of the forced emigration of many Christian families. “The fruitfulness of the Church is not measured in numbers, structures or resources, but in fidelity to the Gospel,” he stressed, calling for communities capable of “living, serving and hoping together” in the heart of societies marked by conflict.
“A small community, if rooted in Christ, can be a valuable presence: not because it seeks power, but because it serves,” he said; “not because it imposes itself, but because it bears witness; not because it responds to violence with more violence, but because it counters force with charity.”
He also urged the bishops not to lose sight of “the essence of the Church’s mission: the proclamation of the Gospel, prayer, the Sacraments and Christian formation”, recommending particular attention to families and young people, “often torn between high aspirations and an uncertain future”.

Particular attention was devoted to migrants, who are numerous in the Gulf countries and often experience loneliness and precarious living conditions. “Recognize in every migrant a brother and a sister,” Leo XIV said, encouraging Christian communities to become “homes where no one feels like a stranger”.
The Pope also encouraged communion among the different rites present in the region and a “sincere dialogue” with other Christian denominations and with Muslims, “without renouncing one’s own identity”.

In conclusion, the Pontiff urged the bishops not to seek “success or recognition above all else”, but fidelity: “Be a voice for truth, justice and peace; men of prayer, shepherds close to your people, artisans of reconciliation and witnesses to mercy.”
He entrusted the Churches in the Arab regions to the protection of the Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, assuring the bishops: “You are not alone. The universal Church looks upon your communities with affection.”

AMERICA/HAITI - Father Miraglio: “In a country in disarray, we are building communities of peace and solidarity”

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 16:13:20 +0200

Pourcine Pic Makaya – Five hours on foot from the nearest paved road, across steep hills, valleys and riverbeds now almost devoid of water. This is the journey required to reach Nan Miel, one of the most isolated areas in the Haitian hinterland, where Father Massimo Miraglio, MI, parish priest of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Pourcine Pic Makaya, recently visited the Chapel of St Bernard on the occasion of the patron saint's day.

“It is a difficult area to reach,” the missionary tells Fides. “Along the way, one encounters small villages inhabited mainly by farming families who lack basic services. There are no schools, clinics or access to drinking water. Electricity is not even something people can dream of.”

Despite the difficulties, the community warmly welcomed the missionary, and the celebration of the feast drew faithful also from neighbouring areas, many of whom had walked for several hours to attend. In the afternoon, there was a football match, followed by music until the small generator ran out of petrol. “With a football and two speakers,” Father Miraglio recounts, “the people spent a wonderful day, without any incidents.”

During his three-day visit, there were numerous meetings with the local residents. The recurring theme was the abandonment of the most isolated areas by the State, compounded by the effects of drought. “The last harvest failed just as the new school year was about to begin. With the shortage of agricultural products, meals are reduced to very little for everyone, children and adults alike.”

The return journey took place with a small delegation. Along the way, mules continue to be an indispensable means of transporting the few goods available. “From time to time we greeted the people we met, and we committed ourselves to returning as soon as possible.”

One of the priorities identified by the community is the construction in Nan Miel of a small wooden and corrugated-metal structure to host religious celebrations, community gatherings and the first steps towards establishing a school. A second initiative concerns the restoration of the local spring, which is essential for the community’s water supply.

“As in the time of the first Christian communities, visits to other communities are important today as well: they foster hope, strengthen faith and, in the long term, help improve people’s living conditions,” Father Massimo stresses.

The missionary describes a difficult situation throughout the country, not only in the major cities, where armed gangs have brought increasing insecurity. “Every time I travel, I see first-hand the enormous difficulties of the Haitian reality. Haiti is a country in disarray, not only in the major cities because of the armed gangs, but also in the most remote inland areas. Here, a ‘war on the home front’ is being fought, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain.”

In this context, the Church’s mission continues to focus on standing alongside the most vulnerable. “In our effort to pass on the faith,” the Camillian concludes, “we are working to build communities marked by peace and solidarity.”

AFRICA/EQUATORIAL GUINEA - Government says it foiled coup attempt thanks to Russian help

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:46:40 +0200

Malabo – Authorities in Equatorial Guinea say they have foiled a coup attempt thanks to information received from Africa Corps, the Russian Defence Ministry-linked force operating in several African countries.

According to French weekly Jeune Afrique in an article published today, September 4, the seizure of an arsenal hidden in a container at the port of Bata triggered the operation that led to the foiling of the coup attempt.

The operation was launched at the end of June 2026, but was only made public now, following a report from Russian intelligence. Moscow is said to have alerted the government in Malabo of the arrival of a container carrying weapons from a European country. Based on intercepted telephone communications, Russian authorities reportedly informed the government that, according to the reconstruction provided by the Malabo authorities, the weapons were intended for a coup attempt.

Since 2024, Russia has strengthened its presence in the security sector, with an estimated 100 to 300 Africa Corps instructors and military personnel deployed mainly in Malabo and Bata, tasked with protecting and training presidential forces. Moscow is also reported to have established a dedicated intelligence “station” in the country.

The government accuses Filiberto Manale Andem, a prominent figure and self-styled “military chief” of CORED , of orchestrating the coup attempt and arranging the shipment of weapons. Local security forces have carried out numerous arrests among the associates of Manale Andem and of CORED leader Salomon Abeso Ndong. The opposition coalition’s leadership has firmly rejected the allegations, arguing that the Malabo authorities fabricated them in an attempt to discredit their opponents.

Equatorial Guinea is no stranger to coup attempts, all of which have so far been thwarted by the regime of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been in power since the 1979 coup d’état in which he overthrew his uncle, Francisco Macías Nguema.

In 2004, a group of mercenaries led by Simon Mann, a former member of the British special forces, was arrested in Zimbabwe before they could fly to Equatorial Guinea to overthrow Obiang. On December 27, 2017, another coup attempt was foiled when Cameroonian and Equatorial Guinean authorities arrested at the border between the two countries a group of mercenaries from Chad, Sudan and the Central African Republic .

Equatorial Guinea is at the centre of the interests of major powers because of its oil and gas reserves and its strategic geographical position. France and the United States had targeted Obiang and his son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the current vice president and likely successor, accusing them of corruption, embezzlement and money laundering, thereby opening up space for China and Russia to expand their influence.

Now the Trump administration is moving closer again to the Obiang family, also in an effort to prevent China from building its first naval base in the Atlantic Ocean.

ASIA/PAKISTAN - Thousands of pilgrims gather in Mariamabad for the 77th national pilgrimage in the rain

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:38:12 +0200

Lahore – The rain, the inconvenience and the forecasts of bad weather have not dampened the deep Marian devotion of the faithful in Pakistan. Today, September 4, celebrations begin at the Shrine of Mariamabad for the 77th National Pilgrimage, a cornerstone of Marian devotion among Pakistani Catholics, which will conclude on September 6.
“It is deeply moving. Despite forecasts of severe weather, with heavy rains that could cause flooding and make it extremely difficult for the faithful to remain in the open area in front of the Shrine, where pilgrims set up their camps, they remain steadfast in faith and in their deep bond with the Virgin Mary: nothing can separate them from the love of Christ,” Father Qaisar Feroz OFM Cap, parish priest in Lahore and spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, tells Fides Agency. He is present in Mariamabad with his community.
“Many people have already reached Mariamabad, while thousands more from all the dioceses of Pakistan are travelling in pilgrim caravans: on foot, by bicycle, motorcycle, truck and bus. It is an impressive nationwide mobilization of faith: families travel thousands of kilometres to pray to Mary, place themselves under her mantle, entrust their lives and difficulties to her, and implore graces from their heavenly Mother,” the Capuchin friar explains, as more than 500,000 faithful are expected to attend.
The pilgrims are taking part in the opening Mass celebrated by the Archbishop of Lahore, Khalid Rehmat. “Among them are also Muslims and Hindus: Mary draws the hearts of everyone,” Father Feroz notes.

This year’s pilgrimage will also have a distinctly “Franciscan character”, marking the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi. The Franciscans in Pakistan will lead the meditated Rosary at Mariamabad, using texts and passages from the Franciscan Sources that reflect St Francis of Assisi’s profound love for the Virgin Mary.
“The Rosary will be an immense prayer for peace, joined by the thousands of pilgrims,” Father Feroz says.

Mariamabad, also known as the “City of Mary”, is Pakistan’s most important national Marian shrine. Located in Punjab province, about 80 kilometres from Lahore, its history, Father Feroz recalls, “is linked to the work of the Belgian Capuchin missionaries and, in particular, to the figure of Father Felix van de Putte, its founder.”
At the end of the 19th century, the Capuchin missionaries in Pakistan realized that the new converts to Christianity, most of them ethnic Punjabis belonging to the poorest sections of society, were subjected to severe discrimination, oppression and conditions of semi-slavery by local landowners.
To free these families from poverty, Capuchin Bishop Emmanuel Van Den Bosch purchased from the British government around 150 acres of barren and undeveloped land in the Sheikhupura district, with the aim of establishing a village for Christians.
In January 1893, three Christian families, accompanied by the missionaries, undertook a six-day journey to reach the new land and founded an agricultural village, which they named Maryabad , meaning “City of Mary”.

Father Felix arrived in Mariamabad in 1896 and became its true pillar and builder. He expanded the colony and promoted the agricultural, social and spiritual development of the community. He organized cultivation systems so that Catholic families could finally work their own land, build permanent homes and live from their labour with dignity and security.
Father Felix also directed the construction of the new church, which was consecrated on December 8, 1898. Since then, the faithful developed a deep devotion to the Virgin Mary, praying the Rosary every day.

In the following years, the Capuchin friars built a grotto like the one at Lourdes, France, placing a statue of Our Lady at the top of a small hill near the church.
In 1949, Mariamabad was officially declared the National Marian Shrine of Pakistan. The site has also become a rare and extraordinary place of interreligious dialogue, regularly visited not only by Christians but also by large numbers of Muslims and Hindus, who come to honour Mary and seek her intercession.

ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - Bishop Kwak: Faith always begins with an encounter, even in the age of artificial intelligence

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:14:05 +0200

by Pascale Rizk

Rome – Faith in Jesus can always arise from a real encounter, even in the age of artificial intelligence. This is the conviction of Germanus Kwak Jin-Sang, auxiliary bishop of the South Korean Diocese of Suwon. He also envisions fruitful encounters between young people who will take part in World Youth Day in Seoul in 2027 and the Korean families who will host them in their homes.

Born in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on December 20, 1964, Germanus Kwak Jin-Sang entered the seminary in 1983. After earning a licentiate in theology from the Catholic University of Suwon in 1993, he was ordained a priest on February 2, 1993. Following several parish assignments, he pursued advanced studies at the Institut Catholique de Paris, earning a licentiate in pastoral theology and catechetics in 1999 and a doctorate in systematic theology in 2005. He later served as a parish priest, a professor at the Major Seminary of the Catholic University of Suwon, and rector of the Catholic University of Suwon from 2018 to 2022. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Suwon on December 20, 2025, and received episcopal ordination on February 11, 2026. He also holds responsibilities within the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea , including serving as President of the Bioethics Committee.
Fides News Agency interviewed Germanus Kwak in Rome, where the Korean bishop had arrived to take part in the formation course for new bishops organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization, which began on Wednesday, September 2, at the Pontifical College of St. Peter the Apostle.

Looking back at the origins of the Catholic Church in Korea, what does the early experience of a faith passed from person to person by laypeople teach us today? And how can the legacy of the martyrs, preserved despite centuries of persecution, still inspire the Church and contemporary society?

—At the dawn of Christianity in Korea, faith was passed on through personal encounter. In a deeply hierarchical society, shaped by Confucianism and a rigid division of social roles, this was profoundly innovative. The scholars and intellectuals who had discovered Christian texts began to welcome not only people of their own social rank, but also the poor, servants, and marginalized. To say to a servant, “You are not my servant; you are my brother,” or “you are my sister,” was truly revolutionary at the time. This conviction that all human beings belong to one family, regardless of their social status, remains highly relevant today. It invites us to reflect on our world, still marked by conflict, war, domination, and the desire to possess other people or their resources. Today, this issue takes on particular importance in the face of the development of artificial intelligence as well.

In what way?

—The Church rightly asks how to preserve what constitutes the irreplaceable value of the human person: freedom, concrete experience, the capacity to feel joy, sorrow, love, and suffering, and to build authentic relationships. Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool, but it must not lead us to confuse the virtual with the real, or to accept a distortion of human reality. Returning to the dignity of every person therefore means remembering that faith, like social life, always begins with an authentic encounter with another person.

In contemporary society, social media and their algorithms sometimes create the illusion of an encounter, while often encouraging fleeting contacts mediated by a screen. Can this illusion, in some way, also affect missionary work?

—The essence of an encounter with God is realized in a living relationship: in meeting another person, in the Blessed Sacrament, and in the concrete experience of everyday life. That is why the Church today finds herself at the center of a fruitful tension. On the one hand, she can and must use contemporary means of communication to reach people where they are, including on social media. These tools can draw attention, spark curiosity, and open a first door to faith. On the other hand, it is essential to preserve what must not be distorted or destroyed: the depth of spiritual experience, the reality of the encounter with Christ, and the irreplaceable character of the liturgy.

Indeed, the liturgy is a privileged place for handing down the faith. It is not only a moment when one hears teaching or celebrates a familiar tradition; it also makes it possible to see, live, and encounter the reality of Christ. This encounter can touch a person, transform that person inwardly, and then accompany that person beyond the walls of the church.

Short-form formats and social media can be useful for generating interest or recalling the importance of faith, but they cannot, for example, replace the liturgical experience. If a person moves directly from a short, spectacular video to a celebration whose depth and rhythm they do not understand, they may feel confused, or even disconnected. This transition must therefore be accompanied, showing that the liturgy offers a reality different from that of the screen.

In your view, how do you explain the success of certain ways of presenting Christianity that are typical of evangelical movements?

—In the Korean context, Protestant evangelical movements know how to reach people in a direct and sensitive way. They deeply touch emotions: joy, sorrow, need, and comfort. Koreans are generally very receptive to this affective and expressive dimension. Some people, after attending evangelical communities for some time, then distance themselves from them or occasionally return to the Catholic Church. Others, however, sometimes consider Catholic celebrations too “quiet,” too traditional, or even “boring” compared with more expressive and dynamic forms of worship. This perception should not be ignored, but above all it invites reflection on the deeper meaning of the liturgy and of faith.
My course of study in France initially led me to rediscover the importance of reason in relation to faith. This stage was essential: faith is not opposed to reason, nor does it require giving up reflection. On the contrary, it embraces reason and brings it to fulfillment, while opening us to a broader reality: the mystery of God, the human person, and life.

This conviction shaped my priestly ministry, especially when I served in a parish in the Seopangyo neighborhood, an area where many doctors, engineers, academics, and professionals lived who were strongly attached to a rational approach to things. In my homilies, I tried to begin with their questions, their way of reasoning, and the concrete issues that reality raised for them. It was not a matter of presenting faith as an abstract idea or as an answer that disregarded intelligence, but of showing that reason itself sometimes leads to questions that remain open and cannot be answered exhaustively.

In the underlying Korean culture, which largely shapes the norms of social coexistence, distinctions between social classes and generations are emphasized. In the testimonies gathered among Korean missionaries and the Korean diaspora, intergenerational relations have had a strong impact on whether faith is passed on—or not. In your view, how can parishes and dioceses help young people live out this communion with other generations in concrete ways?

—As a son of the Church in South Korea, I would like to emphasize a fundamental priority: the intergenerational dimension of preparations for World Youth Day. This event should not be seen as an initiative reserved for young people.

WYD concerns the whole Church and can become an opportunity to renew the faith of every generation. Young people, including those coming from abroad, will bring their enthusiasm, their culture, their way of praying, and their witness; older people, for their part, can offer their homes. Regular meetings are currently being held to explain to families how they can contribute. Older people are concerned about the age gap or their limited knowledge of foreign languages. But I keep telling them: “Offer a room, a place of welcome, and the young people will communicate with you through translation apps.”

One of the most important aspects of this preparation is family hosting, or homestays, especially for the diocesan phase of the event. Cultural events, K-pop, concerts, and initiatives connected with Korean culture can be very attractive, but the deepest experience will not arise from those activities alone. It will come above all from time spent in a home, within a family, in a simple and authentic daily relationship.

What matters most is to open one’s door and offer the essentials: a room, a bed, sheets, a blanket, and a welcoming presence. In Korean culture, hospitality is a great virtue, but it can sometimes become a source of anxiety because people think they need to clean everything, cook abundantly, and prepare many dishes, such as rice, japchae , or bulgogi . Yet simple hospitality is enough.

This invitation is all the more meaningful in a society that has become highly individualistic. In Korea, where many people live in secured apartment complexes, access to buildings and homes is often protected by codes, locked doors, and multiple security checks. It has become less natural to enter a neighbor’s home or to spontaneously welcome someone into one’s own. WYD can therefore be an opportunity to symbolically reopen doors, overcome the fear of the unknown, and rediscover the meaning of hospitality. This does not mean denying the necessary precautions, but daring to trust.

Statistics indicate that younger generations are less favorable to reconciliation with North Korea and instead speak of the economic well-being achieved by South Korea, which they do not want to share with the North. What does this attitude reveal?

—There are already many initiatives in Korea in favor of reconciliation, unity, and peace. However, beyond official structures and events, the Korean War and its consequences are not part of the direct experience of many young people. Unlike their parents’ or grandparents’ generation, they have not necessarily known people in their own surroundings who went missing, families that were separated, or direct victims of the conflict. Reconciliation with North Korea may therefore seem distant, abstract, or unrelated in any obvious way to their everyday lives. This is not a lack of sensitivity, but a generational gap.

That is why it is necessary to rethink the language and paths of reconciliation starting with this new generation. Peace should not be presented only as an inheritance from the past, nor as an exclusively political or economic issue. In a society where individualism, competition, and economic concerns occupy an important place, the challenge is to recall that human life cannot be reduced to material success or immediate interests.

VATICAN - Tribalism and the Church, Archbishop Nwachukwu to new bishops: “A bishop is not bishop of one group or another; he is bishop of all”

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 19:48:06 +0200

Rome – “He is not bishop of one group or another; he is bishop of all.” Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, Secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization, addressed newly ordained bishops taking part in a formation course in Rome .
In his reflection on “Ministers of Communion in the Church: Tribalism, Casteism, Racism and Exclusive Regionalism in the Contemporary Church,” he urged them to make communion a criterion of their ministry and governance.
“Communion is the First Name of Our Ministry,” Archbishop Nwachukwu said. Recalling Pope Leo XIV’s Meditation for the Jubilee of Bishops, he said that the Bishop is the “visible principle of unity” in the particular Church, called to build communion within the diocesan community and with the universal Church while fostering the variety of gifts and ministries entrusted to the Church. “The bishop does not create unity by making everyone alike; he guards the unity that allows different persons and different gifts to serve one Gospel,” the Secretary of the Dicastery said. Communion, therefore, “cannot remain a beautiful word in the Bishop’s pastoral letters. It is to be a criterion of government.”
According to Archbishop Nwachukwu, this criterion must shape the discernment of candidates, the appointment of priests, the formation of seminarians, the distribution of responsibilities, the use of resources, the handling of conflicts and the welcome extended to those who come from elsewhere. Every episcopal decision, he added, should be able to answer a fundamental question: whether it strengthens “the communion and mission of the Church” or merely protects “an existing circle of familiarity and influence.”

Diversity and inculturation

Addressing the relationship between communion and culture, Archbishop Nwachukwu stressed that diversity itself is a gift, whereas exclusion distorts that gift. Recalling Saint Paul’s teaching that “You are all one in Christ Jesus,” and that those who were once “strangers and aliens” have become “members of the household of God” , he warned against a mistaken understanding and application of inculturation.

While the Incarnation gives Christians confidence to honour culture, he said, inculturation reaches maturity only when culture “allows itself to be purified, transformed, and opened by the Gospel.” “A culture evangelized by Christ becomes capable of giving and receiving,” Archbishop Nwachukwu affirmed. “It does not need to raise walls in order to remain itself.”

Four forms of exclusion

The Archbishop described tribalism, casteism, racism and exclusive regionalism as distinct forms of exclusion stemming from the same temptation: making a particular identity — tribe, caste, race, region, language, family or social standing — more decisive than the common Christian identity rooted in belonging to Christ.
Speaking of tribalism, Archbishop Nwachukwu said attachment to one’s own community is not itself the problem. The distortion begins when solidarity becomes systematic preference and “‘one of ours’ is presumed trustworthy simply because he or she is ‘one of ours.’” The problem arises “when ‘ours’ becomes synonymous with ‘better,’ and ‘others’ becomes synonymous with ‘foreign’ and ‘unacceptable.’”
Casteism, he continued, introduces inherited social hierarchies into ecclesial life. Whenever access to formation, ministry, responsibility or opportunity is determined by caste or comparable categories, “the dignity received in baptism is contradicted.” Such discrimination may be open, but can also be more subtle: in who is heard, promoted, invited into decision-making, entrusted with responsibility or quietly kept at the margins.
Racism, he said, may appear not only through overt contempt, but also through stereotypes, suspicion, humiliating language, exclusion or assumptions that some cultures are more suited to leadership, theology, administration or holiness. Recalling Pope Francis’ warning in Fratelli Tutti that doubts and fears can make people “intolerant, closed and perhaps even — without realizing it — racist” , he stressed that a Bishop must become “an educator of communion.” “In the house of God, dignity does not depend on blood, colour, passport, or language,” Archbishop Nwachukwu said. “It is grounded in the dignity of the human person and elevated by the grace of baptism.”
The Archbishop also warned against exclusive regionalism, which can be presented as pastoral prudence when geographical origin becomes a decisive criterion for responsibility. A particular Church possesses a real culture and history, he observed, but “it is never a cultural fiefdom.” Although a priest may need particular pastoral competencies to serve effectively in a certain place, “birthplace can never become a condition of ecclesial dignity or a permanent barrier to responsibility.”

Discernment and appointments

In this context, Archbishop Nwachukwu referred to the “Son of the Soil” syndrome: the assumption that those born in a certain territory have a natural priority for leadership there. Recalling Pope Leo XIV’s call to the Bishops of Spain to offer “a witness to unity in diversity” in a time marked by polarization and division, he said that local origin must not override genuine discernment. “The decisive question should not be, ‘Where does he come from?’ It should be, ‘Who is he?’” Archbishop Nwachukwu said. He indicated faith, prayer, maturity, the capacity to listen and collaborate, freedom from personal ambition, love for the poor and the capacity to serve people outside one’s own group as criteria for discernment. Referring to the selection of the Seven in the early Church, he recalled that the Apostles sought men “‘of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.’”
At the root of these forms of exclusion, Archbishop Nwachukwu identified “the temptation to confuse responsibility with possession.” A Bishop may come to think, “‘This is my diocese.’ But in truth, it is not ‘mine.’ It is Christ’s.” “We are administrators, not owners; servants, not masters,” he added. This freedom, he continued, enables a Bishop to resist pressure from his own region or group, the temptation to protect a circle of influence, fear of losing popularity and the desire always to be understood or applauded. His first loyalty, he said, is to Christ and to the good of souls.
Appointments are a particular test of communion. “A nomination is never merely administrative. It communicates an ecclesial message,” Archbishop Nwachukwu said. It can say, “This Church is a home for all.” Or, without anyone intending it, it can say, “This Church belongs to them.” He also cautioned against reducing representation to a form of entitlement. Diversity in the People of God should be visible, he said, but “representation must never become a new form of tribal entitlement.” The decisive criterion remains a person’s ability to serve the Church; his presence can then become a sign that the Church belongs to everyone.

Babel, Pentecost and mission

Drawing on the biblical movement from Babel to Pentecost, Archbishop Nwachukwu recalled that Pentecost does not eliminate languages or impose uniformity. Peoples remain different, but hear and understand the one Gospel.“We are not called to create uniformity. We are called to prevent plurality from becoming Babel,” he said.
For the first years of episcopal ministry, the Archbishop proposed four commitments: examining one’s own heart and preferences; making discernment in appointments freer through consultation, verification and consideration of candidates beyond customary circles; educating the presbyterate for fraternity; and defending concretely those exposed to exclusion.“Silence from the pastor can be interpreted as consent,” Archbishop Nwachukwu warned, noting that circumstances may require a Bishop to speak clearly against tribalism, casteism, racism or regionalism.

The issue is inseparable from evangelization, he added. “The credibility of mission therefore depends, in part, on the quality of our communion.” Referring to Pope Leo XIV’s episcopal motto, “In Illo Uno Unum — in the One, we are one,” Archbishop Nwachukwu said that the Church’s unity is received in Christ and must become visible “in the way we govern, form, appoint and welcome.” “Our deepest identity is baptismal: children of God, members of the Body of Christ, brothers and sisters within one household,” Archbishop Nwachukwu said. “That is Catholicity. Not uniformity, but unity. Not the isolation of cultures, but their encounter. Not competition among groups, but shared responsibility for the mission.”

Concluding his address, the Secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization urged the new Bishops not to create personal systems of influence. “You do not need to leave behind a personal system. You should desire to leave behind a more united and faithful Church,” he said. “You do not need to be remembered because you increased your influence. You should desire that, after your ministry, people will recognize more clearly the face of Christ.”

AFRICA/GHANA - First parish dedicated to St Matthew Ayariga, the only Ghanaian among the 21 martyrs killed by ISIS in Libya, established in Texas

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 19:30:01 +0200

Accra –The first parish dedicated to St Matthew Ayariga, the Ghanaian Catholic who was martyred in Libya on 15 February 2015 together with the 20 Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Christians killed by jihadists of the Islamic State , has been established in Texas .

“It is with profound gratitude to Almighty God and with great joy that I announce the establishment of Saint Matthew Ayariga Catholic Church in Arlington as the newest parish of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth,” Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, Texas, wrote in the pastoral letter announcing the establishment of the new parish.
Bishop Olson stressed that this is “the first Ghanaian National Catholic parish in the United States and the first Catholic parish anywhere in the world to be established under the patronage of Saint Matthew Ayariga, the Ghanaian Catholic migrant whose courageous profession of faith in Jesus Christ led to his martyrdom in Libya in 2015”.

The establishment of the parish crowns almost two decades of worship and community commitment among Ghanaian Catholics in the area. The journey began in 2007, when Ghanaian-origin faithful began gathering every week at St Joseph Catholic Church in Arlington to participate in Mass celebrated in the Twi language.

The number of faithful from Ghana gradually increased through cooperation between the Diocese of Fort Worth and the Archdiocese of Kumasi, which provided priests to offer pastoral care to the Ghanaian community.

According to accounts of the massacre that took place in the area of Sirte, Matthew Ayariga, the only non-Egyptian among the captives, was given the opportunity to renounce his Christian faith and save his life. Faced with his refusal to deny his faith, the young Ghanaian was killed together with the other captives. In the video released by the jihadists themselves, some of the faithful can be seen pronouncing the name of Jesus Christ before being killed .

On 21 February 2015, seven days after their death, Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria canonized the 21 Coptic martyrs as saints.

On 11 May 2023, Pope Francis met with Pope Tawadros II on the occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the agreement between the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, held in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. In his address, Pope Francis announced his decision to inscribe the 21 martyrs in the Roman Martyrology.

As early as 2021, commemorating their martyrdom, Pope Francis had said that, by dying while confessing the name of Jesus, they had “received the greatest gift a Christian can receive” .

ASIA/SINGAPORE - Support for families to tackle demographic winter, “but money alone is not enough”

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 19:17:08 +0200

Singapore – The Singapore government has introduced a package of financial incentives aimed at encouraging families to have more children. In a country with one of the lowest fertility rates in the world the population is ageing rapidly.
During the National Day Rally at the end of August 2026, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong unveiled a new and more generous support scheme, known as the “Child Support Package”. Under the scheme, the State will provide a total of almost 70,000 Singapore dollars in direct assistance for each new child who is a Singapore citizen, from birth to the age of 17.
The package includes S$10,000 in cash at birth, 2,000 per year from the age of one to 16 , contributions to an account earmarked for children’s expenses, and 10,000 dollars towards post-secondary education at the age of 17. Other existing benefits bring the overall value of the support to around S$70,000.
Other related measures include lower childcare fees, additional parental leave – particularly for parents with more than one child – as well as grants and tax relief for families with children purchasing their first home.

The measure does not require parliamentary approval, as it is an executive initiative announced by the Prime Minister. The subsidies will take effect in April 2027. Babies born on or after 1 April 2027 will receive the full new package, while children already benefiting from the previous schemes will automatically transition to the new system, with the necessary adjustments.
The government has described the initiative as a “fundamental change”, moving from support concentrated around the time of birth to sustained assistance throughout a child’s growing years. It is also part of efforts to give families “greater confidence in having children”.
Terence Ho, an analyst at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, welcomed the inclusion of children born to unmarried parents, describing the more inclusive approach as support for “new life”, regardless of the parents’ marital status.

While the measure provides families with concrete financial assistance, however, the question lies further upstream. A recent YouGov survey found that around one in four Singaporeans openly say they do not want to have children, citing reasons such as stress, an intense pace of life, fierce competition in education and employment, and the difficulty of balancing career and family life.
The government itself acknowledges that “the decision to have children is deeply personal”. The aim of the package, it says, is therefore to make life easier for those who already wish to become parents.

In messages and comments from members of the National Council of Churches of Singapore stressed that “money alone is not enough” in the face of structural challenges such as long working hours, a corporate culture that is not sufficiently family-friendly, stress and extremely high educational expectations.
“Singapore is now facing demographic decline after having pursued family-planning policies that, as early as the 1960s, discouraged childbearing,” Joseph Masilamany, a senior Catholic journalist and analyst based in Malaysia, told Fides.

The “Stop at Two” campaign became official and particularly intensive from 1972 onwards, and remained in place until the mid-1980s, with slogans such as: “Girl or Boy, Two is Enough”.
“The system,” Masilamany recalls, “was based on strong incentives and disincentives, including higher hospital costs for a third child and subsequent children; the reduction or elimination of paid maternity leave after the second child; and less favourable treatment in the allocation of public housing and school places for larger families.” Abortion and sterilization were also liberalized and promoted.

“Singapore,” the analyst continues, “is now facing the opposite problem. Later marriages, people choosing not to marry at all, and couples deciding to have few or no children are becoming increasingly important demographic factors. A growing number of women pursue university education, build careers and seek financial independence before considering marriage and motherhood. For many, motherhood is no longer seen as an essential stage of life.”
“Singapore has been remarkably successful in shaping public behaviour through laws, regulations and campaigns,” he observes, “but love, marriage and parenthood cannot be managed as a system in which pressing a button automatically produces the desired result.”
“A government can offer baby bonuses, tax incentives, housing subsidies and childcare support. Such measures can reduce the costs of forming and maintaining a family, but they cannot make young people fall in love, marry earlier or decide that they want children: the government cannot create the desire for parenthood.”

Cardinal Tagle to the new Bishops of the new Churches: let us walk together in this time of “missionary conversion”

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 18:58:10 +0200

Rome – The Dicastery for Evangelization is called to accompany, support and collaborate with the new particular Churches, “whilst respecting their rightful autonomy”. This was emphasized by Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, speaking this morning, Thursday 3 September, at the formation course for the new Bishops of the territories overseen by the missionary Dicastery.
The first day of the course, attended by participants at the Pontifical College of St Peter the Apostle, began with a Eucharistic concelebration presided over by Cardinal Tagle himself in the College chapel.

In his address, which focused on the theme “The service of the Dicastery to the New Particular Churches”, the Cardinal outlined the tasks, structures and activities of the Section for First Evangelization and the New Particular Churches, whilst also highlighting the Dicastery’s expectations of the Pastors of the Churches entrusted to its jurisdiction.

The missionary conversion of the Curia

Cardinal Tagle began by referring to the reform of the Roman Curia established by Pope Francis through the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium, promulgated on 19 March 2022 and which came into force on 5 June of the same year. The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples is now called the Dicastery for Evangelization. The new Dicastery, born from the merger of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples with the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.

The Dicastery is made up of two Sections: one for the fundamental questions regarding evangelization in the world, and one for the first evangelization and new particular Churches in the territories under its competence. The distinctive feature is that the Prefect of this Dicastery is the Pope himself.

Whilst expressly affirming that the bodies of the Roman Curia are “all juridically equal among themselves”, Praedicate Evangelium places the Dicastery for Evangelization first among the Dicasteries. A choice which, as Cardinal Tagle observed, highlights “the missionary orientation that permeates the reform of the Roman Curia”: the proclamation of the Gospel and service of the Church’s evangelizing mission are placed “at the heart of the Curia’s service to the Roman Pontiff and to the universal Church”.

Accompanying the young Churches

The Section for First Evangelization is at the service of the new particular Churches and its specific purpose is missionary activity and the establishment of Churches among newly evangelized peoples. From the “seed of the Word of God”, indigenous particular Churches are born and develop, called to reach maturity. Quoting Article 61 of Praedicate Evangelium, the Cardinal recalled that the Section “supports the proclamation of the Gospel and the deepening of the life of faith in territories of first evangelization” and is responsible, amongst other things, for the establishment or modification of ecclesiastical circumscriptions and their provision.

In the relationship between the Roman Curia and the local Churches, he added, a new ecclesial and missionary awareness is emerging. The new particular Churches have become capable of assuming their own responsibilities in pastoral ministry and governance. For this reason, the role of the Dicastery is “to accompany, support and collaborate with them, while respecting their legitimate autonomy”. Missionary activity does not end with the establishment and organization of the local Churches. “Even once these stages have been completed, the Church’s missionary activity does not cease,” emphasized Cardinal Tagle, referring to the conciliar decree Ad gentes. Indeed, the Bishops and local Episcopal Conferences are the primary agents responsible for the mission.

The Churches in mission territories

In his address, the Pro-Prefect cited statistical data of the Holy See as of 31 December 2023: out of a world population of 7,914,582,000 people, there were 1,405,454,000 Catholics, an overall increase of 15,881,000 compared with the previous year. The increase in the number of Catholics is recorded across all five continents, but it is most pronounced in Africa, with an increase of 8,309,000 faithful, and in the Americas, with 5,668,000. These were followed by Asia, with 954,000 more Catholics, Europe, with 740,000, and Oceania, with 210,000.

According to Cardinal Tagle, this data shows that the most significant increase in the Catholic population is taking place in the missionary world. “The initial proclamation remains both an urgent priority and a pressingnecessity,” he stated, adding that the rapid growth of the Church in Africa requires “further efforts to deepen the faith”.
Between 2024 and 2026, ten new Ecclesiastical Circumscriptions were established in the territories dependent on the Dicastery: seven in Africa, two in Asia and one in mainland China. There are a total of 1,129 circumscriptions under the jurisdiction of the Dicastery: 529 in Africa, 483 in Asia, 71 in the Americas and 46 in Oceania. Furthermore, from July 2025 to early August 2026, 78 Bishops were appointed in the territories under the Dicastery’s jurisdiction.

Formation and support for the mission

The Dicastery’s service also covers the pastoral care of vocations, the formation of diocesan clergy, seminaries and the appointment of rectors, religious and consecrated life, the apostolate of catechists and the life of the lay faithful. In the territories under its jurisdiction, the Dicastery promotes the establishment of seminaries and oversees their functioning; it collaborates with the Episcopal Conferences in the establishment of interdiocesan and National Seminaries. It is also within the Dicastery’s competence to study and approve the Ratio Nationalis prepared by the individual Episcopal Conferences in the mission territories.

Cardinal Tagle also highlighted the work of the Pontifical Colleges in Rome, for the formation of priests and seminarians from mission countries. Each year, the Dicastery welcomes more than 200 new students into its various Colleges, granting them, following a careful selection process, scholarships for studies in the various fields offered by the Pontifical Urbaniana University or by other Pontifical Universities in Rome. The Pontifical Urbaniana University, he added, is characterized by a specific missionary identity. In the 2025–2026 academic year, it has 1,130 students, 41 permanent lecturers and 42 visiting or guest lecturers. Its four faculties – Philosophy, Theology, Canon Law and Missiology – are affiliated to 97 higher institutes of formation in 40 countries. Through the Pontifical Society of St Peter the Apostle, the Cardinal noted, the Dicastery contributes to the formation of novices, including through financial support. The formation of catechists and support for local Churches are also key areas of the Dicastery’s work. Through the Pontifical Mission Societies, an annual subsidy is provided to dioceses to support catechists.

Listening, dialogue and collaboration

In the concluding part of his address, Cardinal Tagle outlined the principle that should guide the relationship between the Dicastery and the new particular Churches. The Roman Curia, he said, “does not have all the answers”, rather it must “listen to and welcome the experiences and initiatives that come from the particular Churches”, so that they may be shared at the level of the universal Church. In this way during the ad limina visits, the participation of all in the life of the universal Church is fostered. The Dicastery, the Pro-Prefect explained, has certain expectations of the Bishops of the territories under its jurisdiction. The Dicastery expects to receive information, proposals, and suggestions concerning the life of the Church, in order to improve its services.

The bishops are also invited to “seek the Dicastery’s opinions and advice on difficult issues or on new initiatives that are being undertaken”. The Apostolic Nunciature remains “the preferred means of communication”. “I therefore encourage you, dear Brother bishops, to cultivate a dialogical relationship with our Dicastery,” concluded Cardinal Tagle.

ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Season of Creation: from prayer to the defence of forests and indigenous peoples

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 20:47:58 +0200

Manila – In the Philippines, the “Season of Creation” – the period from 1 September to 4 October, which in 2026 is centred on the theme “Living Water” – is not merely a liturgical observance, but a journey involving parishes, dioceses, religious congregations and movements, bringing together prayer, ecological awareness and concrete commitment to the protection of ecosystems. The season is particularly significant in a country where deforestation, mining activities and pressure on terrestrial and marine ecosystems pose a threat to communities and to the most vulnerable populations.

For 2026, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has invited all ecclesial communities to celebrate the Day of Creation on the first Sunday of September, using the new “Missa pro custodia creationis,” the Mass for the Care of Creation. The invitation forms part of a journey that has already taken root in recent years and which, in the Philippines, often continues until the second Sunday of October, coinciding with the National Day for the Defence of Indigenous Peoples. This highlights the close link between environmental protection, the rights of indigenous peoples and social justice.
In this context, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, Bishop of Kalookan, has stressed the need for an “authentic ecological conversion”, linking it to justice for the poor and to concrete choices for the protection of forests and seas. The liturgical celebration, he said, is the starting point for a commitment to the daily life of communities.
An important role is played by the Laudato Si’ Movement in the Philippines, which for years has promoted an Ecumenical March for Creation in Manila, bringing together people from different Christian denominations. The initiative, structured around nine “prayer stations” of the “Via Creationis”, combines spiritual moments with reflection on the shared responsibility for our “common home”, also thanks to collaboration with ecumenical organizations and networks.

National commitment is reflected in numerous local initiatives. In the Archdiocese of Manila, the Season of Creation is being observed through a series of events which, inaugurated by a Mass celebrated on 1 September, include a screening of ‘The Letter’, a film inspired by the Encyclical Laudato Si’, as well as reflection and prayer materials for parishes. Ateneo de Manila University is also taking part with artistic, photographic and cultural initiatives, with young people playing a leading role. The culmination will be on 4 October, the Feast of St Francis of Assisi, with the public initiative “Jubilee for Creation.”
In the Diocese of San Pablo, in Laguna Province on the island of Luzon, the Commission on Ecology is proposing a weekly program of meetings and webinars on environmental inequalities, together with awareness-raising initiatives concerning a local issue: the Ahunan Dam project in Laguna Province has met with strong local opposition because its construction raises serious environmental, social and cultural concerns.

For the faithful of the Diocese of Imus , the Season of Creation opened with a gathering at the Laudato Si’ Farm, attended by priests, religious and parish representatives. Further south, in the Prelature of Isabela , several tree-planting initiatives and ecotourism projects are being promoted with the aim of creating sustainable livelihoods. In the Archdiocese of Davao, , a pilgrimage is scheduled for 13 September to “Bukid sa Kaluoy” on Samal Island, with the Way of the Cross, the symbolic planting of trees and a Mass organized by the Social Action Center.
These experiences share a common approach: care for Creation is not separated from pastoral life and, when necessary, is accompanied by advocacy initiatives opposing projects considered harmful to the environment, including dams, land exploitation, deforestation and mining activities.

The relationship between resource exploitation and Christian responsibility was also addressed by Bishop Broderick Pabillo, Apostolic Vicar of Taytay on the island of Palawan in the central Philippines, during the opening Mass of the second National Congress of the Conference of Major Superiors of the Philippines, which brought together 233 religious superiors from 159 religious congregations.
Bishop Pabillo recalled the permanent damage caused to forests. “Trees can be planted, but forests cannot be replanted,” he said, challenging the use of the term “reforestation” when the destruction of mature or near-pristine forests is supposedly offset by new tree planting. “It is a great lie,” he stressed, criticizing permits that allow thousands of large trees to be felled to make way for mining activities. The Bishop referred in particular to the case of southern Palawan, where around 57,000 trees are reportedly set to be felled as part of a local mining project.

“Creation must not be used, but respected,” he said, linking the destruction of ecosystems to its consequences for local populations, from flooding to other disasters aggravated by the loss of natural balances. According to Bishop Pabillo, care for our common home belongs to the very mission of consecrated life: “Creation is part of God’s redemptive work,” he said, inviting religious to recognize environmental protection as a truly Christian responsibility.
The next step, therefore, is “to pray for Creation, but also to learn how to defend it.”

AFRICA/NIGER - Military uprising and accusations against “foreign powers”

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 19:42:58 +0200

Niamey – “Truth is the first victim of war.” This well-known aphorism can also apply to situations other than an open conflict, such as coups or military uprisings, like the one that took place in Niger on the night of 28–29 August .

The insurgents, belonging to several units commanded by officers serving in the Tillabéri and Dosso regions, attacked several strategic sites in the capital, Niamey. The rebel soldiers have made no political demands, but according to local sources, they may belong to anti-terrorism special forces. The uprising is believed to have been prompted by protests over the disorganization of efforts to combat jihadist groups operating in the Sahel.

It should be recalled that the military junta that seized power in the coup of 26 July 2023 justified the overthrow of President Mohamed Bazoum by accusing him of failing to ensure the country’s security.

After suppressing the insurgency with Russian assistance and external support from Algeria, the authorities in Niamey accused foreign powers of having promoted and supported the attempted coup.

Nigerien Captain Roger Gabriel, in a statement read on state television, accused several figures close to former President Mohamed Bazoum, as well as officers from France, Chad, Benin and Côte d’Ivoire, of supporting the attempted coup.

The officer also said that he had received telephone calls from foreign numbers, particularly from the United Arab Emirates and Belgium, urging him to join the rebels. His interlocutors allegedly also claimed that French special forces would soon arrive at Niamey airport to provide support to the insurgents.

Posts subsequently appeared on social media claiming that Nigerien authorities had decided to close several religious centres funded by the United Arab Emirates, which some suspected of being training centers for “terrorists”. An unverified video was also released online, allegedly showing the destruction of a UAE-funded religious center, carried out just days after the failed military uprising.

For the time being, therefore, the situation remains uncertain. It nevertheless appears that the military junta is seeking to conceal internal divisions within the armed forces by attributing responsibility for inspiring and supporting the uprising to “foreign powers”.

POPE IN FRANCE/IV - A song to welcome the Successor of Peter

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 19:34:30 +0200

by Marie-Lucile Kubacki

Rome – Dawn is breaking over the domes of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. On the Janiculum Hill, Grégory Turpin sings the opening notes a cappella of Pour que le monde ait la vie, a song he will perform at the Stade de France and in Lourdes in a duet with French-Canadian singer Natasha St-Pier during Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France. His voice rises into the cool morning air, under the attentive gaze of Leonardo, an Italian journalist and videomaker.
A Christian artist active for many years, Grégory Turpin is particularly known for his musical projects inspired by the figure of St Thérèse of the Child Jesus and by Carmelite spirituality, the spiritual family closest to his heart. His latest composition, created for the Pope’s forthcoming visit to France, has received the support of the Pontifical Mission Societies of France, with all proceeds being donated to support the mission in France and throughout the world. This is not, in fact, the artist’s first collaboration with the PMS. Between music and the proclamation of the Gospel, he has taken part in several initiatives, including a tour with the Pontifical Mission Societies in Benin.
“When I heard that the Pope was coming, like many others, I felt the desire to do something,” he tells Fides as he makes his way towards St Peter’s Square.

For the singer, the main challenge was not to place himself at the centre of the event. “Above all, I hope to be of service,” he explains. “Throughout this project, I have tried to place myself at the service of the Pontifical Mission Societies and of the event itself. I am not doing this for myself.” While he sees the invitation as recognition of his “twenty-five years of mission”, his foremost desire is to involve other artists.

Mission itself continually returns in his reflections. In his view, young generations today are seeking coherence between the faith they profess and their concrete lives. “For a long time, we tended to separate our professional lives from our Christian lives. Increasingly, young people want to establish a connection between their faith, their work, their mission and the way of being present where they live.”
For Turpin, proclaiming the Gospel does not mean confining faith to the private or family sphere, however precious that sphere remains. It means becoming “lights where we have been placed”.
Such coherence requires a faith that is “simple, at ease and, above all, consistent”, he continues. What does this mean? Grégory Turpin stresses the unity of life and the quality of fraternal relationships within the Church, seeing communion as a powerful witness. “It is by the love you have for one another that you will be recognized,” he quotes. Therefore, he adds, if Christians are “neither kind nor loving”, they risk hiding rather than revealing the love of God. “To be lights, we must become transparent to God’s love so that we can shine with His light.”

But there is more. The artist rejects any attempt to present Christian life as an unattainable ideal or as a succession of successes. “It is the exact opposite of Instagram,” he observes, referring to the polished and idealized images that social networks can impose. “We should not try to hide our difficulties. Christian life is not a life without problems; it is a life in which we receive the strength to overcome problems.” He evokes the biblical image of Moses standing before the Red Sea: God does not make the obstacle disappear, but gives his people the possibility of overcoming it. “The sea remains, but it opens,” he says.

Grégory Turpin recounts that he went through a period of profound psychological exhaustion, marked by burnout, anxiety and great difficulty in returning to the stage. “Today I am gradually beginning to approach the public again. I have the feeling that the Lord has begun to heal me from this, but I also needed this pause.” This experience leads the artist to recall that faith does not exempt us from the need for human and professional support. Faced with the existential crises affecting many young people, he stresses the importance of being able to seek help, including psychological assistance. “Priests are not psychologists,” he points out. Trust in God, he explains, goes hand in hand with the search for a balanced life, especially at a time when social networks and the endless scrolling of content can contribute to distress. “God can also act through genuine psychological support. These dimensions should not be set against each other: I myself needed both.”

Behind public recognition and exposure, Grégory Turpin finally identifies another spiritual question: where one’s gaze is directed. Media exposure did not come naturally to him; what proved more difficult, he explains, was “the change in the way others see things”. At a time when people compete for “likes”, he invites people to discern what constitutes their personal identity: public recognition and the approval of others, or God’s gaze. “Is it the public that gives me my value, or God’s gaze? Am I serving God, or am I using God for my own ends? Am I serving the Church, or am I using the Church?” Referring to Jesus’ Baptism and the words he heard before beginning his mission – “You are my beloved Son” – he says: “It is in this received identity that the freedom not to depend on external approval takes root. This freedom, lived as a purification from the human desire for recognition, is also a condition for service.”

Between the echo of the Red Sea opening and the trap of virtual mirrors, Grégory Turpin recalls what is essential: faith is not about shining in the spotlight, but about allowing the light to pass through our very cracks.

VATICAN - “September courses” in Rome for 147 newly appointed Bishops

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 19:14:00 +0200

Rome – This year, 147 newly appointed Bishops from the five continents will take part in formation courses in Rome from today, Wednesday 2 September, to Thursday 10 September. The courses are organized for them by the Dicastery for Evangelization and the Dicastery for Bishops.
Forty-nine of them are enrolled in the course organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization through its Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches. The others will take part in a similar formation program offered by the Dicastery for Bishops.
The Bishops enrolled in the course organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization come from Algeria, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Colombia, the Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Ghana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Myanmar, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Central African Republic, Senegal, Seychelles, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Kyrgyzstan and Thailand.
Also this year, in accordance with the new structure of the courses introduced in 2024, the working sessions on Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 September will be held at the Pontifical Urbaniana University. They will bring together the Bishops enrolled in the course organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization – Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches – and those taking part in the corresponding formation course organized by the Dicastery for Bishops.

The format, introduced in 2024, is intended to express and foster communion among newly appointed pastors from particular Churches throughout the world, offering them an opportunity for encounter, exchange and fraternity, despite the diversity of the ecclesial, cultural and social contexts in which they are called to exercise their ministry.

The missionary course

The formation course for the 49 Bishops belonging to ecclesiastical jurisdictions entrusted to the Dicastery for Evangelization will be held at the Pontifical Missionary College “Saint Peter the Apostle” under the theme: “Servants of Communion in the Church.” The gathering will begin on the evening of Wednesday 2 September with the welcome and presentation of the participants.
The first day of the course, Thursday 3 September, will focus on the Dicastery for Evangelization and its service to particular Churches in mission territories. Holy Mass, followed by Lauds, will be presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization. Cardinal Tagle will then present the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches.
Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, Secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization, will give a presentation entitled: “Servants of Communion in the Church: Tribalism, Casteism, Racism and Exclusive Regionalism in the Contemporary Church.”

In the afternoon, Father Joseph Koonamparampil, C.M.F., a collaborator and consultor of the Dicastery, will speak on “Special faculties and the practice of the Dicastery for Evangelization: discipline of the clergy, consecrated life and the administration of assets.”
Monsignor Erwin Balagapo, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization, will address the associations of the faithful.
Father Anton Paul Padinjarathala, S.D.B., an official of the Dicastery for Evangelization, will focus on practical questions concerning consecrated life in the missionary Church.

Friday 4 September, dedicated to the theme “Faith and Inculturation,” will begin with Holy Mass presided over by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See. Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, will speak on “Interreligious Dialogue in the Present Context.”
Archbishop Aurelio García Macías, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, will give a presentation on “Continuity and Newness in the Liturgy in the Context of First Evangelization.” Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, will conclude the day with a presentation on “The Phenomenon of Sects and New Religious Movements: A Pastoral Challenge.”

Saturday 5 September will focus on juridical competence in episcopal governance. Holy Mass will be presided over by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches.
Archbishop Anthony Randazzo, Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, will speak about diocesan structures of communion and collaboration and about tribunals, with particular reference to the motu proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus and Vos Estis Lux Mundi.
Archbishop John Joseph Kennedy, Secretary for the Disciplinary Section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will address the handling of cases concerning delicta graviora. In the afternoon, Archbishop Dario Gervasi, Secretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, and Dr Gabriella Gambino, Undersecretary of the same Dicastery, will offer a reflection on “Laity, Family and Life: Accompaniment and Formation in the Pastoral Care of the People of God.”

The joint sessions

On Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 September, the joint sessions at the Pontifical Urbaniana University will bring together the 147 Bishops taking part in the two courses. Monday’s Holy Mass will be presided over by Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, S.D.B., Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., Prefect Emeritus of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, will present Pope Leo XIV’s Encyclical Magnifica Humanitas. In the afternoon, Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, and Cardinal Roberto Repole, Archbishop of Turin, will speak on the theme: “Towards a Synodal Ecclesiology: Communion, Participation, Mission.”

On Tuesday 8 September, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Holy Mass at the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major will be presided over by Cardinal Baldassare Reina, Vicar General of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome. Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, and Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, will address the theme of priestly formation in today’s context.
The afternoon session on the missionary bond with the Holy See – Peter’s Pence, Canon 1271 and the Pontifical Mission Societies – will feature Archbishop Filippo Iannone, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops; Archbishop Samuele Sangalli, Adjunct Secretary for Administration of the Dicastery for Evangelization; and Father Tadeusz Nowak, O.M.I., Secretary General of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
On Wednesday 9 September, Archbishop Samuele Sangalli will preside over Holy Mass with the prayer of Lauds. Monsignor Peter Beer, professor at the Institute of Anthropology of the Pontifical Gregorian University, will give a presentation on “The Bishop and Crisis Management, Especially with Regard to the Clergy.”
Father Hans Zollner, S.J., Dean of the Institute of Anthropology of the Pontifical Gregorian University, will address “The Responsibility of Particular Churches for the Safeguarding of Minors and Vulnerable Adults.” The Institute of Anthropology will also lead the workshop scheduled for the afternoon, organized into language groups.

The meeting with the Pope

The program will conclude on Thursday 10 September with Holy Mass and the veneration of the relics of the Apostle at the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican, presided over by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, O.F.M. Conv., Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican. The 98 newly appointed Bishops will then be received together by Pope Leo XIV.

The meeting with the Successor of Peter will constitute the culmination of these days of formation, prayer and fraternity in Rome.
Addressing Bishops ordained during the previous year on 11 September 2025, Pope Leo XIV recalled that “the gift you have received is not for yourselves, but to serve the cause of the Gospel.” The Bishops, he added, are “chosen and called to be sent, as apostles of the Lord and as servants of the faith.” The Pope stressed that service is not merely an external dimension of the exercise of the ministry, but concerns the very identity of the Bishop: “The Bishop is a servant; the Bishop is called to serve the faith of the people.” For this reason, he invited the new pastors to “walk in humility and prayer,” becoming “servants of the people” to whom the Lord sends them.
Referring to Saint Augustine, Leo XIV recalled that “those who preside over the people must understand that they are servants of many.”
In his address, the Pope also linked episcopal service to concrete closeness to individuals, communities and priests. The Church, he stressed, needs “caring and attentive pastors who know how to share in the journey, questions, anxieties and hopes of the people”; pastors who desire to be “guides, fathers and brothers to priests and to their sisters and brothers in the faith.”

Pope Leo XIV also drew attention to the urgent challenges facing local Churches today: the crisis of faith and its transmission; the difficulties surrounding ecclesial belonging and participation; the spiritual search of those who appear distant from the faith; the tragedy of war and violence; the suffering of the poor; the aspiration for a more fraternal and supportive world; as well as ethical questions concerning the value of life and freedom. In this context, he noted, there is a need to rediscover “the passion and courage for a new proclamation of the Gospel.”
The formation courses for newly appointed Bishops serving in ecclesiastical jurisdictions entrusted to the Dicastery for Evangelization are intended to provide a time for prayer, reflection, fraternity and exchange on the pastoral, canonical and missionary responsibilities inherent in episcopal ministry. The 2026 programme explicitly places this journey under the sign of service to communion in the Church.

ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - “I’ll be waiting for you in Seoul”: Fr. Bordo, from street children to WYD 2027, a Church that goes out to meet humanity

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 10:46:43 +0200

Seoul – “There are an estimated 250,000 street children in Korea. That is an enormous number. So we said to ourselves: if they do not come to us, we will go to them.” That was how “Azit” came into being, a movement that takes staff and volunteers onto the streets of the city to reach young people and offer them a path towards recovery and social reintegration. Fr. Vincenzo Bordo, OMI – known in Korea as Fr. Kim Ha-jong – told Fides about his work with street children in South Korea, “a rapidly changing society where new forms of poverty are constantly emerging.”
“We created the Azit movement,” he explains, “and we go out in a bus from 4 p.m. until 11 p.m., driving through the city looking for young people living on the streets. This is God’s way of doing things.”
“I am working to establish Azit in every diocese in Korea, and I would be very happy if Azit could become a message for the universal Church. Azit is Jesus’ method. When Jesus began his ministry, he did not build a church in Nazareth and wait for people to come. He went out onto the streets of Palestine to meet people and be with them.”
This is one of the experiences recounted in I’ll Be Waiting for You in Seoul, a book the Missionary of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate is presenting in Italy. The book is closely linked to next year’s major event: World Youth Day , which will be held in Seoul in August 2027.

Fr. Bordo spent 36 years in pastoral ministry in Korea, dedicating himself to some of the most vulnerable people in Korean society, including people experiencing homelessness, young people who had run away from home and elderly people living alone.
“Fr. Bordo’s experience is closely connected with the preparations for WYD 2027 and with the expectations surrounding the arrival in Seoul of young people from all over the world,” said Shin Hyung-sik, Korea’s Ambassador to the Holy See, who organized the book presentation. “We hope that World Youth Day in Seoul will be not only an important occasion for Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Korea, but also an opportunity for young people to grow in faith and engage in cultural exchange, bringing together youth from every part of the world.”
“The Korean government,” Shin added, “will do everything necessary to ensure that WYD is successfully and safely held, so that it can become a moment of encounter and an opportunity for young people from around the world to share a message of peace and solidarity.”
“Together with the Holy See, our government will continue to do its part for peace on the Korean Peninsula and throughout the world, for human dignity and for the common good,” the Ambassador said.

For Fr. Bordo, WYD cannot be separated from the streets and from the people he encounters every day. This, he says, is at the heart of the Azit approach: “We should not wait for the most vulnerable people to come into Church structures. We have to go out and meet them where they are.”
For the missionary, this experience goes far beyond social work.
“In the poor, in elderly people who live alone, in people on the streets, in street children, and in the volunteers who dedicate themselves to serving others, I saw God. I felt him. I encountered him, and he embraced me.”

Among the many encounters that have shaped his ministry, Fr. Bordo remembers one in particular.
“One evening in January – and it is very cold in Korea at that time of year – we were going around with backpacks, sandwiches and milk, looking for our homeless friends. I remember a man who was very ill. I said to him, ‘I’m sorry you are feeling so unwell.’ And he replied, ‘No, Father. Life is beautiful.’”
“He was a homeless man telling a priest that life is beautiful. That man became one of my teachers. He helped me go deeper into life and discover what really matters.”

That experience found a concrete expression at Casa di Anna, a center established to welcome and accompany people facing situations of vulnerability.
“Casa di Anna serves people living on the streets, children, young people, homeless people and elderly people who live alone. We have various programs and initiatives.”
Around 500 meals are served every day.
“It is a dinner for people who are poor. We also have showers, a barber and basic clothing.”
Over the years, Casa di Anna has provided more than three million meals to some of the most vulnerable people in Korean society and supported thousands of people as they worked to rebuild their lives.
The second floor houses a range of additional services: “We have a group of lawyers, a group of doctors and a clinic that provides medicines free of charge. We help people looking for work, guiding them and helping them find employment. We also offer music therapy, art therapy and many other programs.”
The center also has a dormitory.
“On the third floor we have a dormitory for homeless people, where 30 people live. And on the fourth floor, we have a small workshop for them. The aim is to help these people reintegrate into society.”
Ten residential homes have also been established for street children.

Over the years, Casa di Anna has also become a place of formation for the Korean Church.
“In recent years, more than 100 seminarians have spent three or six months at Casa di Anna as part of their formation. Today, they are all priests.”
Fr. Bordo recalls the surprise of many seminarians when they encountered a reality that often remains distant from seminary life.
“They would ask us: ‘Are there places like this in Korea?’ Normally, formation takes place in the seminary, then you return home and go to a parish. This is a reality outside those familiar surroundings.”
Many religious men and women have also visited Casa di Anna.
“They came to see what we were doing, and some have started soup kitchens like ours. That was a small contribution.”
Fr. Bordo also sees a connection with the ministry and teaching of Pope Francis.
“What Pope Francis brought to the Church, his closeness to the poor, was something we were already living. So many people came to see our work. Perhaps this was a small contribution to raising awareness of mercy.”

“In my view,” Fr. Bordo says, “Casa di Anna has two functions. The first is to help the poor. The second is to help Korean society become aware of this reality.”
Around 1,500 volunteers pass through the center every month.
“Every month we choose a theme for volunteer formation. People are educated in volunteer service, sharing, fraternity, justice and love.”
In this way, Fr. Bordo explains, charity also becomes an experience that transforms those who serve.
“We are not only helping the poor. We are also helping society to see them, to know them and to share the lives of these people.”

The title of the book, I’ll Be Waiting for You in Seoul, directly evokes the expectations surrounding WYD.
“But it also expresses another expectation,” Fr. Bordo explains: “that of the poor we encounter every day. The book has this title because so many people are waiting for the Pope, waiting for the young people who will come. But the poor are waiting too. They have their own hopes and expectations.”
Fr. Bordo experienced this particularly during the visit of the Jubilee Cross for young people to Casa di Anna.
“We had the joy of welcoming the Jubilee Cross for young people twice. On one occasion, we placed it outside Casa di Anna. We prepared our guests, most of whom were neither Catholic nor Christian.”
Then something happened that the missionary had not expected.
“We prayed before the Cross, with hymns. Our young people, the people living on the streets, our poor – each one came forward, touched the Cross and prayed for a moment.”
“There is a desire for spirituality, for truth, for a message, for Good News,” he says. “That is why I believe WYD will help all of us, including our friends who are not Catholic and who do not share our experience of faith.”

From the missionary’s perspective, WYD Seoul can therefore become an opportunity to move beyond the visible boundaries of the Church: not simply a major gathering of Catholic young people, but a place of encounter with a society undergoing profound change and facing new forms of poverty.
I’ll Be Waiting for You in Seoul thus becomes more than the title of a book. It becomes a promise: that of a Church that does not simply wait for people to come to it, but, like Jesus on the roads of Palestine, chooses to go out and meet humanity.

ASIA/CHINA - The pastoral dynamism of the new Bishop of Chifeng

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 15:57:14 +0200

Chifeng – One month after his episcopal consecration, celebrated in full communion with Pope Leo XIV, Joseph Chang Yanfeng, Bishop of the Diocese of Chifeng, in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia, has already begun his episcopal ministry with enthusiasm, visiting parishes, celebrating the sacraments and devoting himself to the ordinary administration of the diocese.

On 27 August, the Bishop ordained a new diocesan priest. On 23 August, he had conferred diaconal ordination on a seminarian. The two ordinations, attended by the 38 diocesan priests, religious sisters and many lay faithful, offered an image of a vibrant diocesan community, united in apostolic work around its Bishop.

Joseph Chang was consecrated Bishop on 22 July. On 15 June, Pope Leo XIV appointed him Bishop of Chifeng, “having approved his candidacy within the framework of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China”, as stated in the communiqué released by the Holy See Press Office.

The new Bishop’s vocational and academic formation, together with his long pastoral experience, has made him particularly attentive and sensitive to the urgent need for vocational formation.

In his homily, Bishop Chang urged the newly ordained deacons and priests to recognize that the heart of ecclesial ministry consists in imitating Christ, loving others with humility and serving them wholeheartedly. He expressed the hope that the new priests and deacons, by God’s grace, may remain “always faithful” to their vocation, exercising their ministry diligently and with generous and selfless dedication.

Vocations are also flourishing in other Chinese dioceses. On 24 August, the liturgical feast of the Apostle St Bartholomew, Joseph Han Yingjin, Bishop of the Diocese of Sanyuan, ordained two diocesan priests. Joseph Li Shan, Bishop of the Diocese of Beijing, ordained three deacons from the Beijing Seminary, encouraging them with these words: “Believe what you proclaim, teach what you believe, and put into practice what you teach.”

BEATIFICATION OF FULTON SHEEN/I - Roger Landry (PMS USA): Fulton Sheen, Blessed, and the present of the mission

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 15:47:36 +0200

by Pascale Rizk

Rome – The missionary zeal that permeated the entire life and work of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was neither an effort nor a strategy. It was not driven by a desire for conquest. Everything in him flowed simply from being a “fervent apostle of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world”. He was a disciple made both ingenious and realistic by the very faith that recognized that, without the love of Christ, even the most sophisticated strategies and tools used to proclaim the Gospel ultimately become like “a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal”, as St Paul writes in the First Letter to the Corinthians.
Archbishop Sheen’s missionary vision and its relevance today are highlighted by Msgr Roger J. Landry, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, as he reflects on the life and legacy of the American Archbishop, who will be proclaimed Blessed on 24 September in Saint Louis, Missouri, during a solemn liturgy presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.

Below we publish the text of the video interview that Msgr Roger J. Landry gave to Fides during the most recent General Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies.
Venerable Fulton J. Sheen himself led the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States from 1950 to 1966.

What does Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen's legacy specifically mean for the missionary identity of the Church in the United States of America today?

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, soon to be blessed, Fulton Sheen. His whole life is defined by his ardent love for Jesus Christ. The thing he did was to try to serve Jesus well and to bring as many people as he possibly could to come to know Jesus, to feel loved by Jesus, to love Jesus back, and to try to spread love of him.

That’s why he studied so hard and became one of the most educated priests in American history. That's why he worked so hard on preaching and why he was able to make pulpits explode with the fire of the Holy Spirit as he passed on his love for Jesus. That's one of the reasons why every morning for the 61 years of his priesthood, he made a solid hour of adoration before the Lord. And that is the reason why he was able to say that his greatest love has always been for the missions of the Church. He gave everything he could, so much energy, so much talent, so much money that he raised through his various ventures, in order to try to spread the faith all across the globe.

Everything flows from the fact that he was a devout disciple and an ardent apostle of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.

What aspects of his personal spirituality do you find most relevant for missionaries on the ground today and which one touches you most personally and why?

Fulton Sheen was not just a great missionary to missionaries, but he also trained the entire church out of the effect of a mission. Two things I'd say about his piety that all of us can emulate. The first is, he took Jesus' real presence in the Holy Eucharist seriously. For him, the Eucharist wasn't a thing or it was someone. And it was a no-brainer for him to prioritize time with Jesus every single day.The mission of the church is not just bringing the words of the gospel to the ends of the earth. It's not even just founding churches. The mission of the church is to bring Jesus Christ to the end of the earth. lives with us, God with us, is still with us in the Holy Eucharist, in his body, blood, soul, and divinity. And so Fulton Sheen’s love for the Eucharistic board really inspired his missionary spirituality so that churches would be built, not edifices and physical structures, but churches that are made the mystical body through Jesus working in the Holy Eucharist. And then the second great thing I'd say about Sheen is that he worked in the art of communication.He knew that it wasn't enough just to have faith. It wasn't enough just to have the desire to spread the faith. He needed to be effective in spreading the faith. He needed to show the fire. of love that God has for us in one's words as one preached the gospel. Fulton Sheen always had that. And one of the biggest influences of his life has been that he has encouraged not just few media, old and new, as pulpits in order to shear with ardor the treasure of our faith. And so those are the two things that I think he's taught the whole church about doing mission well. For me, the most powerful thing about Fulton J. Sheen is his love for the priesthood. Fulton Sheen was a priest's priest, and when he finally retired, he spent the last decade of his life preaching three weekly retreats to priests every month, because he wanted to form his brother priests with a real missionary Christ-like heart, so that they could go as salt-like leaven and transform the whole. world. I started listening to Fulton Sheen's cassettes when I was an 18-year-old on long drives in my car, and his thought penetrated my mind, his fire penetrated my heart, and I like to think now as his successor, he was the fifth National Director of the I not only have his example to follow, his playbook to implement, but I have his powerful intercession from Jesus' eternal right side. So I really love Fulton Sheen.

What can today’s “digital missionaries” learn from Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, not just in terms of technique, but in terms of that spiritual grounding? What would he think also in a critical way about the illusions of our era of communication?

What would he think also what would be his criticism in light of what's happening today in the world of digital media and digital missionaries world Archbishop would encourage all of today's digital missionaries and influencers to start first and foremost with their with Jesus.

If they don't have that experience of the Lord's personal love for them, if they're not really trying to grow in faith, hope, and love in that personal relationship with Jesus, then to use St. Paul's words to the Corinthians, they'll just be noisy gongs and clashing cymbals. For them to bear great fruit, they have to be attached to Jesus as branches on the vine. And so that would be the first piece of advice that Fulton Sheen Sheen did. For Fulton Sheen, it wasn't the medium that was important. It was the message that was being broadcast through whatever media he used, whether it was books, whether it was radio, whether it was television, or to use today, whether it would be videos or podcasts or even artificial intelligence, etc.

Fulton Sheen was always focused on that message, and that message... was what God wants to do with us that he wants to live life in tandem with us that he not only has suffered died and risen for us but he walks with us still today christ is risen he just as it has.
And that truth was very much known to Fulton Sheen, and he lived every day, starting with an hour before the risen Lord Jesus in the tabernacles of his private chapels. With regard to artificial intelligence, Fulton Sheen would first and foremost see its great potential. Second, he would want to make sure... That that great possible means to help the church and help humanity wouldn't come back to harm humanity. That we shouldn't be followers of artificial intelligence, eventually be dominated by it.

But we've got to exercise dominion, just as the Lord told us in the book of Genesis, over the works of our hand, over the creativity that he has inspired. So Fulton Sheen would first and foremost see the possibilities in these new means.God has placed before us, but he would likewise call everybody to recognize that the devil actually can use those same means. And so we have to be on guard to make sure they're always ordered to God, because if they're not ordered to God, they, and we through them, will become disordered. As you said, Fulton Sheen built his missionary action on a daily holy power before the Blessed Sacrament.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, built his entire missionary action on a daily holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament. You walked 65 days carrying the Eucharist across the United States in 2024. What is the substantial link between the Eucharist and mission?

As Cardinal Tagle, the pro-prefect of the Dicastery of Evangelization, said to the Church in the United States during the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis,"The Eucharistic Jesus is inherently missionary." He gives his body and blood for us, and then he says, do this in my memory. Which doesn't mean merely celebrate the Mass in memory of him, but it means make our life truly Eucharistic. That we, like Jesus, are meant to be broken for others.That we are supposed to be able to say to others, this is my body, this is my blood, these are my calluses, this is my sweat, these are my tears, this is my heart, all that I am and have, give it out of love for you. A Eucharist that doesn't turn into mission, as St. John Paul II once told us, is intrinsically fragmented it's broken but just as we receive the Lord's outpoured love for us when we're able to receive Jesus worthily in Holy Communion so Jesus now within us wants us to continue that communion with him by sharing in his mission for the salvation of the world That's one of the reasons why the celebration of every Mass finishes with God giving us his blessing and then saying, go in a... the Gospel of the Lord. "Ite missa est" means the goal of the church has been set and so Christ who makes us his body sends us out together with him so that transformed by him the Eucharist we might transform the whole world.

Pope Leo XIV is often described as a missionary Pope but above the slogans, how do you analyse his missionary perspective and vision?
Pope Leo served for 22 years as a missionary seminarian, priest, and bishop in Peru. And then for 12 years, he went to 50 different countries as the prior general of the Augustinians. So for half of his life, he was a missionary.When he was elected May 8, 2025, he was the first pope since Saint Peter who had dedicated part of his life to going far away from home to proclaim the gospel to people who hadn't heard Jesus, as Leo did among the mountains in the north of Peru. So he brought that experience, he brought that much-marked passport. with him to the chair of Saint Peter.

And just like Pope St. Pius X would have been the first pope in centuries to have been a pastor, use that pastoral experience to transform the papacy. So Pope Leo, who's the first missio agentes pope since Simon Barjona of Betsaida in Galilee, crisscrossing the globe to strengthen his brothers and sisters in the faith with him to the Apostolic Palace. It's not by surprise. That in his opening homily, not only did he greet the people in Sheklaio, where he'd been a missionary bishop, but he said, together we must look for ways to become a missionary church. When you think about what makes unique his missionary experience, it's that he... recognizes that mission work is the joint effort of the entire church, that it's not one missionary's labors, it's not a few in a missionary congregation, but for the church's mission to succeed, it's all hands on deck. And from his first words, As the 267th Peter, he's been asking all of us to join him with missionary zeal in bringing the world's greatest gift, Jesus Christ. Christ himself to everyone, all 8.1 billion, out of the 8.1 billion alive today, for whom Jesus lovingly gave his life. That's what makes him truly unique and how blessed we are, not just to have an American Pope, I can say that as an American. but also to have a truly missionary Pope and that desire to spread the faith is in his bones.

AFRICA/SOUTH SUDAN - Two religious sisters ambushed in South Sudan

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:49:27 +0200

Juba – On Sunday, 30 August, two Carmelite religious sisters, identified as Sr Helen and Sr Ansa, were attacked while travelling from Torit to Juba after attending morning Mass. Their vehicle was ambushed along the road.

According to Radio Emmanuel 89, during the attack, one of the bandits struck Sr. Helen on the head with the barrel of a gun, injuring her. The Sisters and other passengers were robbed of all their belongings. Preliminary reports also indicate that two children were abducted during the incident.

Preliminary reports also indicate that two children were abducted during the incident.
Upon receiving the information, Bishop Emmanuel Bernardino Lowi Napeta immediately arranged assistance from Juba. The Sisters are now on their way to Juba, where Sr. Helen will receive further medical attention.

On the same road, on 16 August 2021, two religious sisters from the Congregation of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus were killed: former Superior General Sr Mary Daniel Abut and Sr Regina Roba, who had served twice as a member of the General Council. The two sisters were “killed in cold blood” as they were returning to Juba after taking part in celebrations marking the centenary of the Parish of the Assumption of Our Lady .