All posts tagged: Catholic

Pope Leo tells secular Spain not to leave Catholic faith in the ‘museum of the past’

Pope Leo tells secular Spain not to leave Catholic faith in the ‘museum of the past’

Published by Sam Flores

MADRID (RNS) – Over 1.2 million people gathered at Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid on Sunday (June 7) to catch a glimpse of Pope Leo XIV celebrating Mass and leading the Corpus Christi procession, a major celebration where the Eucharist is paraded through the streets. During his homily, Leo urged Catholics to “remember” and “return” to their faith, using the procession as an opportunity to renew Catholic beliefs in a secularized Spain. “The task of Spain,” Leo said, is “to ensure that the religiosity which has shaped and defined this country for centuries is not a museum of the past to be visited, but a school of faith from which to draw even today.” Embracing faith means drawing away from “our selfishness and indifference, of a comfortable, private faith,” he continued. Only this way can Catholics become “builders of a new world,” he said. The event occurred on the second day of the pope’s week-long trip to Spain, the first major European destination of his pontificate. While the majority of Spaniards still identify as Catholic, …

Why Mary, as the Immaculate Conception, became the patron saint of the US in the 1840s

Why Mary, as the Immaculate Conception, became the patron saint of the US in the 1840s

Published by Sam Flores

(The Conversation) — Every year in March, tens of thousands of Americans take to the streets – and bars – to celebrate St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Similarly, Mexican Americans celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico’s patron saint, in December. But did you know that the U.S. has its own patron saint? Nearly 200 years ago, in May 1846, Catholic priests and bishops named the Virgin Mary patroness of the United States of America – specifically, under her title as the Immaculate Conception, referring to the belief she was conceived without sin. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which summarizes doctrine, a saint is a holy person who “leads a life in union with God through the grace of Christ and receives the reward of eternal life.” Catholics may venerate saints and ask them to intercede with God on their behalf. Some are recognized, whether formally or informally, as “patrons” of particular situations, conditions, identities or places, often inspired by their life on Earth. We are librarians at …

Catholic sisters push Palantir on human rights as faith leaders rally in New York

Catholic sisters push Palantir on human rights as faith leaders rally in New York

Published by Sam Flores

NEW YORK (RNS) — Catholic sisters, investors and immigrant rights activists plan to rally on Wednesday (June 3) outside of Palantir Technologies’ New York office, 30 minutes before the company holds it annual general meeting and considers a shareholders’ proposal calling on Palantir to conduct a human rights review of its work.  “We’re investors, but we’re also Catholics,” said Sister Susan Francois, assistant congregation leader and treasurer of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace and the lead filer of the shareholder proposal, called Proposal 5. “When we see potential risks to the company that are also causing harm to the human community, we feel that it is of a moral and business imperative to raise the question.” Proposal 5 calls on Palantir to conduct and publish a human rights impact assessment of its work, which includes selling artificial intelligence tools to U.S. and foreign militaries and governments. Last year Palantir won a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to develop surveillance systems for immigration enforcement. Proposal 5 raises concerns about Palantir’s work …

Returning to the fold? Some young Spaniards embrace Catholicism and can’t wait for Pope Leo’s visit

Returning to the fold? Some young Spaniards embrace Catholicism and can’t wait for Pope Leo’s visit

Published by Sam Flores

Until three years ago, Sara Cabral’s faith experience was on trend with other Southern European youth — a “Catholic but never practicing” upbringing with little relevance to her life on Spain’s Canary Islands. Then she listened to a song from a faith youth group that felt as if God were speaking to her. She joined the group, and now in addition to its weekly adoration with music sessions, Cabral is excitedly preparing to attend Pope Leo XIV ’s Mass in Gran Canaria with her friends. “You get a restlessness about an emptiness that you don’t know how to fill,” Cabral, 26, says of her embrace of Catholicism. “God is the one looking for you first, but you need to go meet him.” On trips to Spain this month and France in September, Leo will find thousands of young people like her in these traditionally Catholic but now staunchly secular countries, where historic churches are abundant and Mass attendance is sparse. Church leaders and some experts see the success of youth movements and the surge in …

Trump administration pledges 0M in aid for Cuba, but only if Catholic or other faith-based groups distribute it

Trump administration pledges $100M in aid for Cuba, but only if Catholic or other faith-based groups distribute it

Published by Sam Flores

(The Conversation) — The United States is prepared to provide US$100 million in humanitarian assistance to Cuba, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on May 13, 2026. But there’s a catch. Neither the Cuban government nor its military would be allowed to manage its distribution. Instead, only humanitarian and faith-based partners, such as Caritas – the Catholic Church’s humanitarian aid network – and other nonprofits would deliver the aid. That is, the U.S. is willing to provide assistance that will help the Cuban people, but it does not trust the Cuban government to distribute it. A week later, on May 20, Rubio reinforced the caveats that came with the Trump administration’s announcement during a 5-minute video address directed at the Cuban people. In his remarks, which coincided with Cuban Independence Day, he blamed Cuba’s economic problems and chronic energy shortages on its own government. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has said Cuba would accept the U.S. offer of aid “without ingratitude,” while also criticizing the new approach and urging the U.S. to lift or ease the …

Right-wing mogul ignites culture war in French cinema – POLITICO

Right-wing mogul ignites culture war in French cinema – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

“After literature, the censor Bolloré now wants to control filmmaking. It is unacceptable to allow a billionaire to threaten artists in this way,” said hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, threatening to dismantle Bolloré’s empire. Socialist leader Olivier Faure slammed the move by Canal+ as a sign that “the far right has never liked freedom, creativity, or public service.” More diplomatically, Culture Minister Catherine Pégard regretted Canal+’s “disproportionate, to say the least” reaction to “the very real concerns that were raised.” The conservative mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, slammed the artists as masochists for “biting the hand that feeds them.” Canal+ declined POLITICO’s request for comment, but Bolloré’s son, Cyrille, president of the Bolloré group, brushed off fears on Wednesday that Canal+ would choose projects based on political orientation. “No, there is no political project,” he said. France’s Citizen Kane The uproar has illustrated how deeply connected French cinema is to Canal+, which financed seven of the nine movies that won awards at Cannes this year, including the prestigious Palme d’Or. Source link

A Catholic solution to gender bias in AI

A Catholic solution to gender bias in AI

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — The widespread analyses of Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” overlook one thing: Artificial intelligence is inherently male.  Most people think of AI as a tool to summarize information through what are called large language models. The problem: LLMs are trained by men, and most of the data and information available has been created by men. Most of the programmers teaching AI to “think” are men. So, AI decision-making and prediction behaviors are essentially male. No wonder the pope has called for “disarmament” of AI. Men go to war. The world is a mess. Can AI help? Maybe yes. Maybe no. These are Pope Leo’s answers in “Magnifica Humanitas,” which he released on Monday (May 25) along with three cardinals, two female professors and Christopher Olah, co-founder of the AI giant Anthropic. Olah specializes in reverse engineering neural networks at Anthropic. That means he looks inside the machine, as it were, trying to understand how it learns, how it “thinks,” how it makes decisions. But almost everything he studies comes from the male …

Spurning Just War, Pope Leo Ends Catholic ‘Permission Slip’ for Conflicts

Spurning Just War, Pope Leo Ends Catholic ‘Permission Slip’ for Conflicts

Published by Sam Flores

VATICAN CITY, May 28 (Reuters) – Pope Leo this week repudiated a major teaching used ⁠by ⁠the Catholic Church since at least the fifth century ⁠to evaluate when countries might be justified in waging wars, in a move experts said could have long-reaching impact for ​global powers. The disavowal of the doctrine came in the pope’s first major document, issued on Monday, which also urged global regulation of AI systems and made the clearest apology yet for ‌the Catholic Church’s historic role in supporting transatlantic slavery. “The ‘just ‌war’ theory which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated,” wrote Leo in the encyclical, entitled “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity). “Humanity possesses far more effective ⁠and capable tools ⁠for promoting human life and resolving conflicts, such as dialogue, diplomacy and forgiveness,” he said. Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, ​a close ally of Leo who was at the Vatican for the presentation of the text on Monday, told Reuters the pope is concerned with how the theory has been used by …

Catholic priest said ‘we are but men’ when challenged over sex with spiritual directee, court hears

Catholic priest said ‘we are but men’ when challenged over sex with spiritual directee, court hears

Published by Sam Flores

A Roman Catholic priest replied “we are but men” when confronted after the son of a woman to whom he was providing spiritual guidance caught the clergyman having sex with his mother, according to court testimony in Texas on Wednesday. That version of events emerged at the second day of the trial of Anthony Odiong, who has been criminally charged with illicitly abusing his status as a clergyman to pursue sex with spiritually vulnerable female congregants. A son of one of those women, now 29, told jurors at the state courthouse in Waco, Texas, that he was about 14 in 2011 when his devoutly Catholic mother – fresh from a tumultuous divorce – hosted a party at the home she shared with her seven children. Among the guests was Odiong, who was a priest at a Catholic church attended by students and employees of Waco’s Baylor University, where the son’s mother worked. Odiong had been meeting the mother frequently in the aftermath of her divorce, ostensibly to provide her with spiritual direction, in sessions at …

Amid protests at Delaney Hall, a Catholic nun has been offering ‘radical hospitality’

Amid protests at Delaney Hall, a Catholic nun has been offering ‘radical hospitality’

Published by Sam Flores

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) — For five days, Delaney Hall, an immigrant detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, has been in the news for large and loud protests over conditions inside the facility. After some 300 detainees began a hunger and labor strike over what they said were inhumane conditions, the protests have grown to include members of Congress, such as Sen. Andy Kim and Rep. Robert Menendez, both Democrats from New Jersey.  But for the last year, one woman, Sister Susan Francois, has overseen a “Radical Hospitality” tent outside Delaney Hall, bearing witness and ministering to families and friends visiting detainees. She started coming in May 2025, when there was a major protest over conditions in front of Delaney Hall, and a New Jersey gubernatorial candidate and a member of Congress were arrested. Soon after, Francois started visiting about twice a week and documenting her work on TikTok, hoping to inspire other people to take action and spread hope. Watch a day in her life and the first episode of  “Faith on the Immigration Frontline,” …