U.S.
Brian Burch confirmed as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See
WASHINGTON — In a rare Saturday session, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Brian Burch, President Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, in a vote of 49-44 along party lines Aug. 2. Burch, the former president of the pro-Trump political advocacy organization CatholicVote, was confirmed amid a day of voting on a slate of nominees after Democratic senators refused to reach a deal to advance Trump’s backlog of executive branch nominees by unanimous consent or voice votes. Burch’s confirmation was previously blocked in May by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, who placed a blanket hold on all of Trump’s nominees to the State Department due to his concern over the Trump administration’s closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Vatican ambassador role is meant to represent the U.S. government’s positions on many issues to the Holy See in its capacity as a nation-state in diplomatic efforts. Burch succeeds former Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-IN, who stepped down in July 2024. (OSV News)
Planned Parenthood defunding remains in question amid challenges
WASHINGTON — Whether or not Planned Parenthood will ultimately be stripped of its federal funding remained in question amid ongoing lawsuits over a provision in President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda that would cut those funds for one year. California Attorney General Rob Bonta on July 29 joined 21 other state attorneys general and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in filing a lawsuit challenging the provision. Their suit came the day after U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston issued an order indefinitely blocking the legislative action in a separate lawsuit from Planned Parenthood that argues its clinics nationwide must continue to be reimbursed for Medicaid funding. (OSV News)
Mass celebrated at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ for detained migrants
MIAMI — The Archdiocese of Miami celebrated the first Mass for detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz,” the Trump administration’s controversial immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades. “I am pleased that our request to provide for the pastoral care of the detainees has been accommodated,” Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski said in a statement from the Archdiocese of Miami dated Aug. 1 and released Aug. 3. According to the archdiocese, the first liturgy was celebrated Aug. 2 with “regular liturgical celebrations” set to continue “following the facility’s guidelines and the pastoral availability of our clergy.” An archdiocesan spokesperson said confidentiality agreements prohibited photographs and the release of the names of clergy and participants at the on-site liturgy. Access to the facility for pastoral care came “after months of dialogue” among Florida’s Catholic bishops, archdiocesan leadership and state correctional authorities, the archdiocese said Aug. 1. (OSV News)
Court dismisses case against Fr. Carlos Martins
JOLIET, Ill. — A criminal case against Father Carlos Martins, an evangelist and exorcist who is co-host of “The Exorcist Files” podcast, was dismissed July 30. A court order resolved a misdemeanor battery charge that was brought against him following an incident during a relic exposition held in November 2024 at a parish in Joliet, Illinois. In a July 30 press release, defense attorney Marcella Burke, chairman of the Burke Law Group representing Father Martins, said, “This is exactly the result we were expecting. What he was charged with was simply absurd. This was a case that never should have been brought forward. The court’s ruling is a full vindication of Fr. Martins’ innocence from the beginning of any and all criminal wrongdoing.” (OSV News)
WORLD
Pope paves way for St. John Henry Newman to be formally named doctor of the Church
ROME — St. John Henry Newman — the 19th-century theologian, intellectual and preacher who journeyed from Anglicanism to Catholicism, powerfully shaping religious thought in both faith traditions — will be named a doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIV. The news was announced by the Vatican shortly after Pope Leo’s July 31 audience with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. The Vatican press bulletin stated that the pope had “confirmed the affirmative opinion of the plenary session of cardinals and bishops, members of the dicastery” for sainthood causes, on conferring the title, which since the early Church has been bestowed on saints whose doctrinal writing and teachings are held to have special authority. St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great and St. Jerome were the first four doctors of the Church, and excluding today’s announcement, there have been 37 saints so named. (OSV News)
Irish lay missionary, child among several kidnapped from orphanage in Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A longtime Irish missionary in Haiti has been kidnapped in what may be a targeted attack amid that nation’s long-running armed gang violence and instability. Gena Heraty was among several people — including a 3-year-old child — taken in the early hours of Aug. 3 after gunmen breached the Saint-Hélène orphanage in Kenscoff, near Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince. Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste claimed the attackers were believed to be gang members. The facility, which Heraty headed, is operated by Nos Petits Frères et Sœurs, established in 1995 as an expansion of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, an international outreach founded by Father William Wasson to serve vulnerable children. Both the NPFS and NPH offices issued statements on the attack, with the former describing the situation as “evolving” and “particularly delicate.” (OSV News)
Pope offers prayers after shipwreck of migrant boat off Yemen
VATICAN CITY — As emergency workers searched for survivors and tried to recuperate the bodies of the dead, Pope Leo XIV offered his prayers for people impacted by the latest shipwreck of a migrant boat off the coast of Yemen. “Deeply saddened by the devastating loss of life resulting from the shipwreck off the coast of Yemen, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV commends the many migrants who have died to the loving mercy of almighty God,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, wrote in a telegram published by the Vatican Aug. 4. A boat carrying more than 150 migrants — most from Ethiopia — capsized and sank Aug. 3; news reports, citing Yemeni officials, said 32 people were rescued and the bodies of 76 others had been recovered by midday Aug. 4. A search for others was ongoing. (CNS)
