Mois : octobre 2026

Years ago, I taught a course on the history of Christianity in the U.S. At the beginning of the semester, I would ask the students where their ancestors were from. Most said something like Kansas, Nebraska or Illinois. A few proudly claimed some portion of Native American lineage. Very few named the country from which their predecessors had immigrated. The students felt that they belonged to their present-day place and gave little thought to why their ancestors left distant homelands.

They were missing out by not being aware of one of the greatest influences on our U.S. culture. A majority of our population has ancestral roots in Europe, mostly from the British Isles, Germany and Italy, with every other European country represented as well. Approximately 40 million immigrants came to our country from Europe and Asia between 1820 and the 1950s. Our population of Mexican Americans jumped when the U.S. took over about half of the territory of Mexico in 1848.

Our earliest migrants came as colonizers, presuming ownership of « the new world. » After that, the motives for immigration included religious freedom, free land and avoiding military service. Most of all, masses of poor people came to escape death from the effects of dire poverty. Most of our immigrants shared a similar hope: to be part of creating a better world.

We have a lot in common with the Israelites whom God addresses in today’s excerpt from Exodus. God commands them to care for widows and orphans and to treat foreigners well because they, too, had been aliens.

We might ask if some divine wit or wisdom brings us these readings when we are 10 days away from our midterm elections.

We’ve heard the message of today’s Gospel so often that it hardly sounds radical. It was probably the same for Jesus’ Jewish audience. Twice each day, faithful Jews repeated the Shema, a Scripture-based prayer that proclaims that the God of Israel is the one true God and goes on to repeat Deuteronomy 6:5: « You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. » 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus put that command together with Leviticus 19:18: « You shall love your neighbor as yourself. »

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus said this to a lawyer trying to trip him up. Why did he give this two-pronged response to the question about the commandments? It seems that he wanted the two commands to interpret one another. 

According to Scripture scholar Douglas Hare, « Biblical love is not affection, but commitment, » and to love our neighbors « is to imitate God by taking their needs seriously. » Love of God necessarily implies prayerful attention to others and active care for anyone in need.

Pope Leo XIV spells this out in Magnifica Humanitas, by citing the Second Vatican Council and Pope Francis, reminding us that Christian faith « calls for a Church capable of listening to the cry of the poor, migrants and victims of new forms of slavery. » Leo challenges us to build a world in which all can flourish.

Closer to home, this past July, Texas Bishops Daniel Garcia and Brendan Cahill published a pastoral reflection that decreed, « Acts that diminish or disregard the dignity of any person or group of people should never be normalized in our society. The dehumanization of immigrants, regardless of their legal status, is one such example of this; the vilification of law enforcement officers is yet another. »

Leo tells us that the pursuit of the common good gives life to a people as they « learn to recognize that they themselves are interconnected and jointly responsible. » He reminds us that we are capable of building forms of cooperation that make it possible for all people to live a full and just life.

Church teaching on both the universal and local levels gives us a very clear commentary on today’s Liturgy of the Word. If we are to be faithful Christians, we will take our neighbors’ needs seriously. Indeed, we are called to take others’ needs as seriously as does the God who hears the cries of the poor and responds with compassion. 

As a people of God, we are called to love God and neighbor — especially the poor — with all our heart, mind and soul, and never fail to act on that love.

Like Israel, we are a pilgrim people with immigrant ancestors. In Magnifica Humanitas, Leo teaches that we share the vocation to shape our own era by carrying out the Gospel mission of transforming the structures of society from within and forging paths toward a greater humanity.

Love of God and neighbor demand the commitment to act with justice. 

Pope Leo XIV has joined a roster of tech executives and political power brokers named among the world’s most influential people by Vanity Fair magazine.

The pontiff was placed at 18th on the magazine’s « New Establishment list » which, since 1994, has « identified the people who have defined the moment  — from the Information Age to the dot-com bubble, the financial crisis to the social media tidal wave. »

The list’s top four spots were occupied by tech executives who have played leading roles in the development of artificial intelligence: OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, Tesla and SpaceX head Elon Musk and Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang.

By contrast, the magazine cited how Leo, dubbed « His Holiness the Humanist » had declared in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas on humanity in the age of AI « that technology should serve us, not the other way around. »

Vanity Fair, which claims to exclude heads of state for consideration on its list but seems to have made an exception for the pope (who is the head of Vatican City), wrote that never before « have the stakes of individual influence felt so high » and said the list is not « a ranking of net worth or follower count but a measure of hard power. »

Leo’s write-up in Vanity Fair included reference to his advocacy for the poor as a missionary in Peru, his crackdown on a group of schismatic Catholics as pope and divergence from the Trump administration on the United States’ war in Iran. 

« An American pope who prizes the dignity of immigrants and opposes the concentration of economic power in the hands of a select few? He’s bound to get in a few dustups, » wrote the magazine.

Fellow Catholics JD Vance, Marco Rubio and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez came in ahead of the pope on the list at No. 6, 7 and 17, respectively. Those entries, along with Leo, were all projected to have a positive year ahead with the exception of Vance, who was cast as « one of the least popular figures in the entire Trump administration. » 

As pope, Leo has been set on inserting the church’s voice into public debates over how artificial intelligence is developed and applied. Breaking with custom, the Vatican invited Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah to Rome to participate in the launch of the pope’s encyclical on AI, and Leo again waded into debates over AI regulation after his recent trip from France. 

Concerns over catastrophic risk to humanity posed by AI are not « fake news » and « should be taken seriously, » the pope said Sept. 28 in response to a question from National Catholic Reporter. 

How extensively political leaders and technology executives will take up the pope’s guidelines remains to be seen, but there have been signs that the document is making waves beyond the church.

Over the summer, Silicon Valley Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Ca.) sent letters to the CEOs of several tech companies in his district asking how they intend to align their technology with the pope’s encyclical, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates wrote in a blog post that Leo’s document « lays a strong foundation for the work that needs to be done. »

Ten years after Pope Francis sent shock waves through the Catholic Church with his outreach to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, Pope Leo XIV is inviting church leaders to Rome next week to understand how Francis’ document has been implemented.

Vatican officials on Friday stressed that Francis’ 2016 text « The Joy of Love » isn’t up for rewriting, amending or scrapping. Rather, the weeklong closed-door conference starting Wednesday is meant to understand how bishops have incorporated the document’s teaching into their local communities.

Francis’ document covers a host of issues relating to how the Catholic Church can better minister to families today. But when it was released after a yearslong consultation, « The Joy of Love » immediately sparked controversy because it opened the door to letting civilly remarried Catholics receive Communion.

Church teaching holds that unless these Catholics obtain an annulment — a church decree that their first marriage was invalid — they cannot receive the sacraments, since they are seen as living in sin and committing adultery.

Francis didn’t create a church-wide pass for these Catholics, but suggested — in vague terms and a single, strategically placed footnote — that bishops and priests could do so on a case-by-case basis after accompanying them on a spiritual journey of discernment.

Subsequent comments and writings made clear Francis intended such wiggle room, part of his belief that God’s mercy extends in particular to sinners and that the Eucharist isn’t a prize for the perfect but nourishment for the weak.

The document became one of the most divisive of Francis’ pontificate and in many ways became the focal point of conservative opposition to his papacy. Mostly conservative Catholics said it had sown confusion among the faithful about the church’s teaching on the indissolubility of marriage. Some even accused Francis of heresy.

A conference not to rewrite the text, but see what next steps are

On Friday, Vatican officials said it would be up to the 187 participants whether specific points of Francis’ document would be discussed and how, insisting there was no prewritten final document.

« We can’t foresee what themes will emerge from the bishops’ reflections, from their experiences, » said Gabriella Gambino, undersecretary in the Vatican’s family office, which is organizing the meeting.

Fr. Giacomo Costa, of the Vatican’s synod office, said the Oct. 7-14 meeting was not a continuation of the synod on the family that provided the consultation leading to Francis’ text or a chance to rewrite it.

« This is not a continuation of the synod itself, but rather an opportunity to assess where we stand, » he told a Vatican briefing. « It does not mean passing judgment as in school — praising or criticizing the text itself — but rather learning from the experience gained since its publication. »

He said organizers expect differences, disagreements, tensions and open questions to emerge.

« We don’t want to arrive at an artificial consensus, » he said, though he added a final summary was expected to be published.

After Tennessee officials failed in their Sept. 30 attempt to execute death row inmate Christa Gail Pike for a 1995 murder, a number of faith leaders, including Tennessee’s Catholic bishops, have called for her sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment.

The state’s Gov. Bill Lee also halted the one remaining execution for the rest of the year pending an investigation, he said.

Officials administered two doses of a lethal drug to Pike, but her attorneys told media outlets that she remained « alive and loudly snoring » after the attempted lethal injection and was later taken by ambulance from the prison to a hospital.

Pike, now 50, the first woman Tennessee planned to execute in 200 years, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 for beating, torturing and killing Colleen Slemmer, who was 19 at the time. Pike admitted to the murder, which she carried out with her then-boyfriend, who received a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

« Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective, » Lee said in a statement to The Associated Press.

But Richard Garnett, director of the Notre Dame Program on Church, State and Society, said in written comments, « The failed attempt to execute Christa Pike illustrates, yet again, the delusion that by making executions look more ‘medical,’ ‘technical’, or ‘scientific’ we are somehow changing what they are, namely, killings of helpless human beings — who have, to be sure, committed horrible crimes — by our governments, in our names. »

In a letter to Lee dated Oct. 1, Tennessee faith leaders, including the state’s Catholic bishops, urged him to commute Pike’s sentence to life imprisonment in the wake of the incident.

The letter said they « respectfully and urgently ask you to commute the death sentence of Christa Gail Pike and ensure that the State of Tennessee does not attempt to execute her again. »

They said, « Such an act does not deny justice. It declares that justice need not become vengeance and that the State of Tennessee can choose restraint, human dignity, and mercy. »

« We make this appeal mindful of the horrific murder of Colleen Slemmer and the immeasurable grief endured by her family and those who loved her, » the letter said. « Nothing in our request diminishes the gravity of that crime, the preciousness of Colleen’s life, or the legitimate responsibility of the state to hold those who commit violence accountable. Yet accountability need not require another death. »

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, a group that advocates for the abolition of capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching, said in a statement, « We are stunned and bewildered by this unprecedented news. »

« We pray for Ms. Pike’s current condition, and we pray for the victim Colleen Slemmer’s family as this situation must surely be retraumatizing, » she said.

« There is nothing normal about taking a life, and last night’s horrifying events reminds us of that, » Valliancourt Murphy continued. « For Tennessee to have two botched executions in a matter of months is beyond alarming. It is the epitome of ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ under the Eighth Amendment. »

Noting Lee’s suspension of executions for the rest of the year pending an investigation, Vaillancourt Murphy said, « We pray this is the needed wake up call for Gov. Lee — in fact, for everyone — to recognize the barbarism of capital punishment. »

« The Church teaches that the death penalty is ‘inadmissible’ because every human life is sacred, no matter the harm one has caused or suffered, and because we have more effective ways to protect society than to take another life, » Vaillancourt Murphy said.

« Last night’s events were particularly jarring, and another reason we should never accept state-sanctioned killing, » she continued. « We don’t make our communities any safer or deter any violence by perpetuating that cycle with executions. »

The Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement that it « followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office. »

« The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening, » the statement said. « Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility. »

Shortly before the scheduled execution, Pike’s lawyers filed last-minute legal challenges, arguing the courts did not consider Pike’s history of trauma from sexual abuse in her sentencing; however, the Supreme Court ultimately allowed the execution to proceed.

But Valliancourt Murphy said, « It is sobering to know that were Ms. Pike sentenced today, she would not receive the death penalty because of how young she was when she murdered Ms. Slemmer. »

« Ms. Pike’s case had already attracted particular attention for being the first woman to face execution in Tennessee for 200 years, for the almost three decades she has spent in solitary confinement and today remains alive, surviving a botched execution at 50 years old, » she continued.

Others pointed to a previous botched execution in the state in May, when officials paused an execution because they could not find a vein in which to administer the lethal injection.

Laura Porter, executive director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty, said in a statement, « Since the botched execution in May of this year, people from diverse political backgrounds across Tennessee have called for a pause in executions to examine the problems with the execution process. These pleas were ignored. »

« The state of Tennessee has shown the world it cannot be trusted to implement capital punishment in a way that preserves human dignity and the rule of law, » Porter said. « This has to stop now. »

The Catholic Church’s official magisterium opposes the use of capital punishment as a violation of the inherent sanctity of human life, and advocates for the practice’s abolition worldwide.

The late Pope Francis revised the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 2018 to clarify the church’s teaching that capital punishment is morally « inadmissible » in the modern world « because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person. »

In his 2020 encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis cited the writings of St. John Paul II, writing that his predecessor « stated clearly and firmly that the death penalty is inadequate from a moral standpoint and no longer necessary from that of penal justice. »

Earlier this year, Pope Leo XIV delivered a video message to Catholic death penalty abolitionists marking 15 years since the abolition of the death penalty in his home state of Illinois.

« The Catholic Church has consistently taught that each human life, from the moment of conception until natural death, is sacred and deserves to be protected, » Pope Leo said in his April message. « Indeed, the right to life is the very foundation of every other human right. »

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the creation of a new « Office of Religious Affairs » during a speech Sept. 30 on Pentagon policy.

Hegseth — who uses the moniker « secretary of war » since Trump signed an executive order last year adding the « Department of War » as a secondary, ceremonial title for the Department of Defense — announced the new office during a speech at U.S. Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia.

« The experts, our chaplains, will finally have an advocate at the highest levels, » Hegseth said. « Policy and resources will serve the mission, not smother the mission. »

Elsewhere in the speech, Hegseth also announced the « Autonomous Warfare Command, » an effort to develop autonomous capabilities across the military.

Catholic leaders, particularly Pope Leo XIV, have warned against the creation of autonomous weapons. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a backgrounder on Pope Leo’s encyclical « Magnifica Humanitas, » said the rise of these systems marked a « grave development of military technology. »

Hegseth also confirmed plans to cut the number of spots reserved for admirals and generals by 20%, doubling the 10% reduction he ordered last year.

Hegseth also said he wanted « no fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals » in the armed services.

A statement from the Department of Defense, also using the Department of War moniker, said it « is elevating spiritual readiness as a core element of combat effectiveness with the establishment of the Office of Religious Affairs, a direct-report office to the Secretary of War charged with driving Department-wide policy, resource advocacy, and action. »

« Wars are fought by people, and the strength of the force depends not only on weapons, training, and technology, but also on the resilience, conviction, and moral strength of those who serve, » the statement said. It added the new office will « ensure religious affairs are no longer dispersed across distant bureaucratic layers, giving senior leaders a dedicated capability to protect free exercise, remove policy barriers, identify unmet requirements, and secure the support needed for the Service chaplaincies to succeed. »

The statement added, « The Service chaplaincies will remain the Department’s primary providers of religious support; ORA will give them a powerful advocate at the highest level of the Department.

« The office will not compel religious participation, favor one faith, or diminish the rights of personnel of any faith or lack thereof, » it said. « Instead, it will help ensure every member of the Force has voluntary, meaningful access to religious support and community that fosters purpose and resilience needed to endure hardship, deployment, combat, and loss. »

In his speech, Hegseth said, « Our department is, you might say, putting on the full armor of God. »

The phrase appeared to come from Chapter 6 of St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, where the apostle urges the Christian community: « Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. »

A spokesperson for the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services did not immediately respond to OSV News’ request for comment.

The new apostolic nuncio to Germany, Archbishop Hubertus van Megen, warned the country’s bishops against charting a separate course for the local church, reminding them that Catholic unity relies on fidelity to the papacy and the Eucharist.

In his first address to the bishops Sept. 28, the Dutch prelate said the pope « safeguards the visible unity of this church » while the Eucharist « leads the faithful ever deeper into that unity » with Christ at its center.

« Together, they preserve the church from becoming a mere federation of separate communities, or even an NGO with a Christian veneer, » he said, echoing warnings from Rome over recent reform efforts. « The office of Peter preserves communion in faith and ecclesial governance; the Eucharist brings this communion to its highest fulfillment in the body and blood of Christ. »

The German bishops’ conference gathered in the central German city of Fulda for its annual fall plenary assembly Sept. 28-Oct. 1. Among the topics of discussion were the theological significance and impact of Magnifica Humanitas (« Magnificent Humanity »), Pope Leo’s encyclical on safeguarding the human person in the age of artificial intelligence.

The conference said that the bishops would also discuss the investigation and handling of sexual abuse cases, adult baptisms in Europe, synodality and refugee issues.

Before Pope Leo appointed him to Germany on April 9, Archbishop van Megen served as apostolic nuncio to Kenya.

In his address to the assembly’s opening session, the nuncio acknowledged political tensions in Germany after the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, made electoral gains by securing unprecedented victories in eastern state elections.

The party, which has raised concerns over its ideology, anti-immigration stance and close ties with Russia, was explicitly condemned by the German bishops’ conference in a 2024 statement, drawing parallels to the rise of the Nazi party and right-wing extremism in the 20th century.

The AfD, the bishops wrote, « oscillates between genuine right-wing extremism » and « right-wing populism. »

« We say with all clarity: racial nationalism is incompatible with the Christian image of God and man. Right-wing extremist parties and those that are rampant on the fringes of this ideology therefore cannot be a place of political activity for Christians and cannot be voted for, » the statement read.

Archbishop van Megen noted that « discussions concerning the future of the Republic, including those surrounding the recent elections, are at times conducted with great passion. »

« Tensions exist that sometimes appear almost insurmountable, » he said. « It is not only the church that finds itself in a time of crisis and upheaval; German society, too, is increasingly asking itself: Quo vadis? Where are you going? »

He also acknowledged that as the nuncio to Germany, « I live in a country undergoing a profound transformation that leaves many people unsettled. »

« I myself am also only at the beginning of my ministry in Germany. I am becoming ever more conscious of how much I do not yet know or do not yet fully understand, » he said. « Over the past weeks, it has become clear to me that it will take time to genuinely understand the deeper spiritual and cultural currents of this country. Perhaps it is not even about understanding everything immediately. »

The apostolic nuncio also implicitly addressed the controversial Synodal Way, a three-year reform process led by the German bishops’ conference.

The process has made a number of proposals, including blessings for same-sex couples and the ordination of women, that have raised concerns, particularly from the Vatican.

The Synodal Way also proposed allowing qualified laypeople to deliver the homily during Sunday and feast day Masses, based on pastoral needs, and the German bishops approved it during their spring assembly in February.

However, the Vatican Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments announced June 23 that it had denied the bishops’ request.

The late Pope Francis was critical of the Synodal Way and warned that it was guided by ideological principles rather than the Holy Spirit.

Reflecting on the meaning of the word « synod, » Archbishop van Megen said it stood for « the experience of journeying together, » and not individually.

Synodality, he said, « can never be the concern of individual groups alone while others are left behind. The People of God wander through the desert together. The Good Shepherd also searches for the one lost sheep. This applies not only to the church, but equally to the entire country. »

The nuncio also emphasized that Rome « is the visible center and the guarantor of the unity of the universal church, to which the church in Germany also belongs. »

While every local church has its own dignity and mission, Archbishop van Megen reminded the bishops that no local church « is more or less church than another. »

« The church in Africa differs from the church in Europe, as it does from that in Latin America or Asia, » he explained. « None of these churches holds primacy on account of its size or cultural influence. All are members of the one body of Christ. »

Archbishop van Megen said that while it is a « time of great transformation » in which « certain developments fill us with concern, » the Catholic Church in Germany must remember that « we do not walk this path alone. »

« Precisely for this reason, we may look to the future with complete confidence, » he told the bishops. « Our hope is not founded on human concepts or strategies, but on the Lord, who guides and renews His church. »

« Where we remain in communion with him, where we listen to one another, where we preserve unity with the universal church and the successor of Peter, there the Holy Spirit can open up new paths, » the archbishop said.