Catholic cardinal highlights technology’s role in transforming Africa’s resources
ABUJA, Nigeria — Technology can help humanity transform the resources provided by God into practical benefits for people and communities across the African continent, the chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in Rome said.
In an interview with ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, on Sept. 3 during the launch of a 1.5-megawatt solar project that Earth Our Common Home (ECHo) is providing for Veritas University, Abuja, Cardinal Peter Turkson said ECHo’s mission is to provide clean energy for Catholic Churches and their institutions across Africa because of the importance of energy to man.
“There’s hardly anything that happens in this world without energy. Hardly anything. The solar energy initiative at the Catholic university demonstrates how human ingenuity can harness God’s creation to meet concrete needs while promoting integral human development,” Turkson said.
The Ghanaian-born cardinal said the Church should recognize the natural resources available in creation as gifts from God and use appropriate technology to transform them for the benefit of humanity.
“We need energy for everything that we do. So far, we’ve tried to produce that energy using generators, diesel fuel, and all of that,” he said.
Turkson continued: “It is, however, good to also notice that God, who created this, also provided the wherewithal to carry out everything that we do, providing this great source of energy. All it takes is that technology to transform this into our concrete use.”
The cardinal explained that God provides the raw materials while human creativity and technology transform them into useful products.
“God created cotton; God did not create a vest. Business transformed cotton into a vest that you wear. God created trees; he didn’t create furniture. Business people convert trees into furniture,” he said.
He added: “So we have solar light and a technology that is going to convert this into specific, concrete needs of this community. So that’s what we gathered here to do.”
Beyond providing electricity for teaching, learning, and other activities, Turkson said the project could significantly reduce the financial burden associated with diesel-powered electricity.
“It’s going to save this university not only by providing energy for people to study and learn, but save this university a lot of money,” he said.
He described the implementation of the project at a significantly reduced cost as an important opportunity for the Church, particularly as Catholic institutions seek sustainable ways of funding their educational and pastoral missions.
Turkson said the initiative should not be seen as benefiting Veritas University alone, noting that the experience could open the way for similar interventions in other Catholic institutions across Africa.
“From our small office, we’ve just tried to put together this small group to help our continent. So the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria is beginning with this, but from here it’s going to go on,” he said.
He explained that the vision was to make the benefits of the initiative available to Catholic bishops’ conferences and local churches across Africa.
“The benefits of ECHo and what it can facilitate and fund is something that is meant for all the bishops’ conferences of Africa, all the local churches in Africa, to support what the Church does for the promotion of integral human development,” Turkson said.
The Vatican official linked the project to the ecological vision of Pope Francis, particularly the late pope’s encyclical Laudato Si’, which calls Christians and the wider human family to care for creation.
He said the encyclical invites people to reflect on the impact of human activity on the natural environment.
“Everything that God created was good, very good. It comes into the hands of human beings, and we make it very good or very bad,” Turkson said.
He said the transition to renewable energy could help reduce the negative impact of human activities on creation.
“In terms of promoting the well-being of human beings or people, this project over here will go a long way toward determining how we reduce our negative impact on creation,” he said.
The cardinal emphasized that the environmental benefits of renewable energy are closely connected to human well-being.
“As Pope Francis would say, we turn the pain of the earth into our own personal pains. And we want to reduce that. Reduce that by producing less carbon dioxide, producing less greenhouse gas, whatever type of thing, and so polluting less,” he said.
He noted that reducing pollution would benefit both the environment and human health.
“When we pollute less, then we promote the environment more. Not only do we promote the environment, but we also promote the health of human beings, who also need this for their own existence,” he said.
For Turkson, the Veritas University project therefore represents more than an alternative source of electricity; it is an example of how faith, technology, and responsible stewardship can work together to support education, reduce costs, and advance human well-being.
“Everything that is happening here not only helps the advancement of the educational process but ultimately also enhances the well-being of creation and the human beings,” he said.
Meanwhile, the vice chancellor of Veritas University, Abuja, Father Hyacinth Ichoku, who spoke to ACI Africa during the same event, said the initiative was driven by the need to respond to the environmental damage caused by continued dependence on fossil fuels.
“We are part of the global consciousness about the Earth, our common home, and thatʼs why the project is actually about our Earth, our common home, about consciousness about the Earth and consciousness about the environment,” he said.
He noted that the continued release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere contributes to environmental degradation and poses risks to human life and ecosystems.
“The continuous transmission of carbon dioxide into the air is damaging our Earth, killing us, killing things, killing our environment. So we decided to move away from fossil fuels to solar energy, which they regard as clean energy,” Ichoku said.
This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
Pope Leo appoints coadjutor bishop for Puerto Rico’s youngest diocese
Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday appointed a coadjutor bishop for the Diocese of Fajardo-Humacao, the third bishop nomination for the island of Puerto Rico in under three months.
Father Gerardo Antonio Vargas Cruz, OFM, as coadjutor will serve alongside Bishop Luis Francisco Miranda Rivera, OCarm, who has led the Fajardo-Humacao Diocese since 2020. Vargas will also automatically succeed Miranda upon his retirement.
Miranda, who is 72 — three years short of the typical retirement age for bishops — did not provide a reason for the appointment of a coadjutor to his diocese.
A press conference to introduce the new coadjutor bishop was scheduled to take place at St. James the Apostle Cathedral in Fajardo on Sept. 8 at 1 p.m. local time.
Vargas, 49, is from Mayagüez, a town on the western coast of Puerto Rico. He joined the Franciscan friars minor and was ordained a priest in 2006. He has served as the vicar for clergy in the Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico since 2022.
The bishop-designate also has experience as a theology professor and a prison chaplain. He also served in several roles in the Franciscan order in the Caribbean.
The Diocese of Fajardo-Humacao, erected in 2008, serves approximately 63,500 Catholics — about 30% of the area’s total population.
It has a cathedral in Fajardo and a co-cathedral in Humacao.
German bishop voices ‘great concern’ after historic AfD victory in state election
A German bishop expressed “great concern” after the Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 43.8% of the vote in a state election on Sunday, falling just short of an absolute majority and leaving the state of Saxony-Anhalt facing a protracted coalition deadlock.
The AfD, which is critical of mass migration, is described by opponents as being “far right,” populist, and/or extremist. The stateʼs domestic intelligence office has classified the partyʼs Saxony-Anhalt branch as “confirmed right-wing extremist” — a designation the AfD is challenging in court; the federal equivalent was suspended by a court in February pending a final ruling.
According to preliminary official results, the AfD will hold 39 of the state Parliamentʼs 83 seats, just three short of an absolute majority. The Christian Democrats (CDU), led by incumbent Minister-President Sven Schulze, finished a distant second with 15 seats. The Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens, and The Left each won eight seats, while the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) won five, according to CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News.
Bishop Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg, in a joint statement with Protestant leaders, called on the election winners to “fully respect our stateʼs constitution as well as the Basic Law and to uphold the dignity of all people.”
The Basic Law is Germanyʼs constitution.
“Anyone who wishes to assume governmental responsibility also assumes responsibility for all people in our state,” Feige said on Monday.
The statement said the churches noted the results “with great concern” and warned that the election had “profoundly changed the political landscape” in the state.
Separately, Bishop Heiner Wilmer, SCJ, chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, joined Christian leaders in a statement: “Our worst fears have come true, but we must accept the result.”
The leaders said they would “closely monitor and critically assess the political actions of the future state government.”
Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, the former prefect of the Vaticanʼs Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, criticized the bishops' statements, writing for website kath.net that they “must in no case throw their spiritual authority onto the scales” for or against a political party.
The prelate warned German bishops to be spiritual pastors rather than committing “abuse of spiritual authority for political purposes."
Observers note that forming a state government in Saxony-Anhalt will prove complicated. The AfD fell short of forming a government alone, and the other parties are unlikely to form a coalition with it. A majority against the AfD would require all other parties to unite, which also seems unlikely.
China ordains 18th bishop under Vatican agreement
Father Andrew Ding Yang was ordained Tuesday, Sept. 8, as archbishop of Chongqing in southwestern China, a see that had been vacant since March 26, 2001.
It was the fourth episcopal ordination celebrated since June 15 and the eighth during the pontificate of Leo XIV under the procedures established by the agreement between Beijing and the Holy See governing the appointment of bishops.
The most recently announced appointment had been that of Bishop Paul Liu Honggang as bishop of Datong in China’s Shanxi province on Aug. 10.
However, the Holy See announced Tuesday that Leo XIV had appointed Ding on July 28, more than 10 days before Liu’s appointment.
The Vatican generally does not announce episcopal appointments in China when they are made but instead waits until the day of the bishop’s ordination. In this case, the chronological order of the appointments differed from the order in which they were announced.
The eight episcopal ordinations held during Leo XIV’s pontificate do not mean that all eight bishops were appointed by him.
Among these cases are two prelates who had already been ordained bishops and belonged to the so-called underground Church — the Catholic community not officially recognized by Chinese authorities. Both were subsequently recognized by the communist government, regularizing their ecclesiastical and civil status.
Educated at a pontifical university in Rome
Ding was born Sept. 16, 1981, in Hechuan District, part of the Chongqing municipality. He entered the Beijing seminary in 2000 and completed his priestly formation there in 2006.
He was ordained a priest on May 24, 2007, after a year of pastoral service at St. Joseph Parish in Yuzhong, Chongqing, where he later served as parochial vicar.
From 2009 to 2011, he pursued further theological studies at the University of St. Joseph in Macao. From 2012 to 2014, he served as a formator at the National Seminary of the Catholic Church in China in Beijing.
In March 2014, he moved to Rome to continue his studies at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, returning to China the following year.
After his return, he held several pastoral assignments as a parish priest in Tongliang, Tongnan, Tongguanyi, and Jiulongpo in the Archdiocese of Chongqing. Pope Leo XIV appointed him archbishop of Chongqing in July.
Appointments under Leo XIV
The process that led to Ding’s appointment and episcopal ordination took place entirely during Leo XIV’s pontificate, signaling the pope’s intention to continue dialogue between Rome and Beijing.
Drawing on the missionary outlook he developed during years of pastoral ministry, Leo has approved several episcopal appointments in China and entrusted new responsibilities to some prelates who had already been ordained bishops.
On June 11, 2025, the Vatican announced the civil recognition and installation of Bishop Joseph Lin Yuntuan as auxiliary bishop of Fuzhou in Fujian province.
Lin was not ordained a bishop during Leo’s pontificate, having received episcopal ordination in 2017. Pope Leo XIV appointed him auxiliary bishop of Fuzhou on June 5, 2025, after which Chinese authorities granted him civil recognition.
The prelate welcomed the decision and expressed his willingness to assist in the diocese’s pastoral mission.
On July 8, 2025, Leo suppressed the Dioceses of Xuanhua and Xiwanzi, which Pope Pius XII had established in 1946, and created the new Diocese of Zhangjiakou as a suffragan see of Beijing.
Two months later, on Sept. 10, Father Joseph Wang Zhengui, whom the pontiff had appointed to lead the new diocese, received episcopal ordination.
China recognizes 2 underground bishops
On Sept. 12, 2025, the Chinese government recognized two underground bishops — prelates loyal to Rome who had been appointed by the pope.
Bishop Joseph Ma Yanen, 65, formerly the underground bishop of Xiwanzi, became an auxiliary bishop of the new Diocese of Zhangjiakou in Hebei province.
Bishop Augustine Cui Tai, 75, had served as the underground bishop of Xuanhua, the other diocese suppressed by Pope Leo XIV when he created the Diocese of Zhangjiakou. Because Cui is over the age of 70, the Vatican considers him bishop emeritus.
Appointments in 2026
In 2026, Father Francis Xavier Duan Yongkun was ordained coadjutor bishop of Bameng in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region after Pope Leo XIV appointed him on June 15 under the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China.
His was the second episcopal ordination connected with appointments approved by the pontiff on June 15. According to the Vatican, Leo also appointed Father Joseph Chang Yanfeng that day. Chang was subsequently ordained the new bishop of Chifeng, another diocese in Inner Mongolia.
On Aug. 10, Father Paul Liu Honggang was ordained bishop of Datong in Shanxi province. Ding has now joined that list.
Tensions during the papal interregnum
During the period when the Holy See was vacant following the death of Pope Francis, Chinese authorities unilaterally selected two bishops, including one for a diocese already led by a prelate recognized by the Holy See.
On Oct. 15, 2025, Father Ignatius Wu Jianlin was ordained auxiliary bishop of Shanghai after Leo officially appointed him on Aug. 11 of that year. His ordination at St. Ignatius Cathedral marked another chapter in the complex relationship between Beijing and the Vatican.
Chinese authorities had previously announced that an assembly of priests and laypeople had elected Wu on April 28, during the interregnum following Francis’ death.
The Holy See later revealed that the pope had approved the nomination on Aug. 11. Although the appointment was not immediately made public, the Vatican announcement indicated that it ultimately proceeded under the mechanisms established by the agreement between China and the Holy See.
On Dec. 5, 2025, Francis Li Jianlin was ordained bishop of the Apostolic Prefecture of Xinxiang in Henan province after Pope Leo XIV appointed him on Aug. 11, 2025.
Li was the second bishop promoted by Chinese authorities during the interregnum between the death of Pope Francis and the election of Leo XIV.
18 Chinese bishops ordained under agreement
With Ding’s appointment, 18 Chinese Catholic bishops have now been ordained under the Provisional Agreement signed by the Holy See and China during Francis’ pontificate.
The bilateral agreement, first signed in 2018, governs the selection and recognition of Catholic bishops in China.
The two states have not maintained diplomatic relations since 1951, following the communist government’s rise to power under Mao Zedong. Chinese Catholics subsequently became divided between the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the underground Church loyal to Rome.
The agreement’s full contents have never been made public. It was renewed every two years until 2024, when the two sides extended it through 2028.
Under the publicly known terms of the agreement, the pope retains the final say over episcopal appointments in China, including the right to reject candidates proposed by Beijing. The Holy See, meanwhile, agreed not to make episcopal appointments without the Chinese government’s prior approval.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Mary’s birthday: The Church celebrates the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Catholic Church celebrates the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on its traditional fixed date of Sept. 8, nine months after the Dec. 8 celebration of her immaculate conception as the child of Sts. Joachim and Anne.
The circumstances of the Virgin Mary’s infancy and early life are not directly recorded in the Bible, but other documents, legends, and traditions describing the circumstances of her birth are cited by some of the earliest Christian writers from the first centuries of the Church.
These accounts are not included in the canon of Scripture and thus lack authority, but they do reflect some of the Church’s traditional beliefs about the birth of Mary.
One such non-Scriptural source is the early second century “Protoevangelium of James,” an infancy gospel offering pious legends about Mary that nevertheless affirms some of the earliest teachings of the Church on the Blessed Mother.
The Protoevangelium describes Mary’s father, Joachim, as a wealthy member of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Joachim was deeply grieved, along with his wife, Anne, by their childlessness. “He called to mind Abraham,” the early Christian writing says, “that in the last day God gave him a son, Isaac.”
Joachim and Anne began to devote themselves extensively and rigorously to prayer and fasting, initially wondering whether their inability to conceive a child might signify God’s displeasure with them.
As it turned out, however, the couple was to be blessed even more abundantly than Abraham and Sarah, as an angel revealed to Anne when he appeared to her and prophesied that all generations would honor their future child: “The Lord has heard your prayer, and you shall conceive, and shall bring forth; and your seed shall be spoken of in all the world.”
After Mary’s birth, according to the “Protoevangelium of James,” Anne “made a sanctuary” in the infant girl’s room and “allowed nothing common or unclean” on account of the special holiness of the child. The same writing records that when she was a year old, her father “made a great feast and invited the priests, and the scribes, and the elders, and all the people of Israel.”
“And Joachim brought the child to the priests,” the account continues, “and they blessed her, saying: ‘O God of our fathers, bless this child, and give her an everlasting name to be named in all generations’ ... And he brought her to the chief priests; and they blessed her, saying: ‘O God most high, look upon this child, and bless her with the utmost blessing, which shall be for ever.’”
The protoevangelium goes on to describe how Mary’s parents, along with the Temple priests, subsequently decided that she would be offered to God as a consecrated virgin for the rest of her life and enter a chaste marriage with the carpenter Joseph.
St. Augustine described the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary as an event of cosmic and historic significance and an appropriate prelude to the birth of Jesus Christ. “She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley,” he said.
The fourth-century bishop, whose theology profoundly shaped the Western Church’s understanding of sin and human nature, affirmed that “through her birth, the nature inherited from our first parents is changed.”
This story was first published on Sept. 5, 2010, and has been updated.
Leo XIV: Mary’s simple presence — and her Son within her — moves all of history
ROME — It was shortly after 5 p.m. local time when Pope Leo XIV arrived at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel, awaited by thousands of people along the road and welcomed by his fellow Augustinians.
Not everyone could fit inside the church, and the streets of Genazzano, about 30 miles east of Rome, were packed. The pope chose to celebrate the Nativity of Mary at this shrine so dear to his heart. He brought a Golden Rose to place at Mary’s feet, and the rector thanked him, saying, “Our affection for you is true and genuine,” because “we all love you immensely.”
The maternal presence of Our Lady of Good Counsel, the pope said, had “accompanied me throughout my entire life, with her wisdom, and with the example of her love for her Son, the Son who is always at the center of my faith,” as he wrote in the shrine’s guest book on May 10, 2025.
The pope quoted the Augustinian St. Thomas of Villanova, who asked the Evangelists: “Why, I wonder, were we not told about the manner of her conception, her birth, her upbringing, her habits, the virtues that adorned her, what human relationship she had with her Son, how she related to him, how she lived with the apostles after his ascension? All these things were important, and the faithful would have read them with singular devotion, and ordinary people would have delighted in them. O Evangelists, I appeal to you! Why have you deprived us of such great joy by your silence? Why have you left out details so joyful, so eagerly awaited, so pleasing?”
From this open dialogue with Scripture, the pope reflected: “Mary’s presence creates something like a leap in the genealogy, an unexpected newness capable of changing not only expectations but also the predictable behavior of a man. What Joseph hears, what he decides and what he does, in fact, is a response to God and to Mary’s presence, to her absolute difference, which surpasses every possible discourse and narrative. In Mary, salvation finds a home: God with us!”
Faced with this mystery, the pope explained, “we feel a kind of vertigo.”
After all, “God’s way has been and remains simpler and quieter, yet no less powerful and transformative.” Those humble historical circumstances that lead to the birth of Jesus reveal “the originality of his Kingdom, in which arrogance has no place and omnipotence is creation, service and care for life.”
Continuing to draw on the teaching of the Augustinian saint, the pope spoke about prayer, because it is in contemplative prayer that “what the world does not tell us, but already exists, takes shape; what is still invisible, but already possesses a new kind of strength. This is not fantasy, but prophecy. We need it, in times of destruction and uncertainty, to see God’s work and serve it.”
May the feast of Mary’s birth, the pope concluded, increase peace within us: “Yes, dear friends, we want to imagine peace — to broaden the boundaries of our understanding and paint it in our souls — in order to recognize that it already exists, to welcome it and to serve it. It is the gift of God, the breath of the Risen One, the work of the Holy Spirit. Let us allow peace to grow within us. It will blossom in the world. And the Mother of Good Counsel will accompany us in this mission.”
The pope also expressed appreciation for the fresco depicting him at prayer, commemorating his visit to the shrine on May 10, 2025, two days after his election.
The final hymn to Our Lady of Good Counsel brought consolation to all:
“Protect our people, who hope
in your counsel and live in your love.
Receive their fervent prayer,
O daughter, O bride, O Mother of the Lord.
Holy Virgin of Genazzano,
turn your serene gaze upon us;
stretch out your hand to your children,
strengthen the just, save the sinner.”
This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Mother Teresa documentary premieres in Kolkata on her feast day
An international documentary tracing the life, legacy, and “prophetic path of compassion” of St. Teresa of Kolkata premiered Saturday on her feast day in Kolkata, India, drawing more than 200 people, including dozens of Missionaries of Charity (MC) nuns and novices.
“Mother Teresa – Prophet of Compassion,” produced by journalist and author Anto Akkara, was screened at the Auditorium of St Xavier’s College, Park Street, with Archbishop Elias Frank of Kolkata presiding over the premiere.
In his introductory remarks, the archbishop praised Akkara’s determination to bring lesser-known aspects of Mother Teresa’s life and work to a global audience.
“We are here, dear friends, not just to see what he has done, but to be inspired by Mother’s work,” Frank said, commending the journalist’s “passion” for making Mother Teresa known through the documentary.
“There are things that we may not even know yet,” Frank said, pointing to the film’s journalistic examination of events surrounding the Missionaries of Charity.
Akkara, who is also a contributor to EWTN News, said his association with Mother Teresa began in 1995, when, at the age of 33, he was granted what he described as a “comprehensive” interview with her.
“Since then, I pursued the Missionaries of Charity on crucial occasions, frequenting Kolkata often from the funeral of the Mother in 1997,” he said. Akkara has visited Kolkata more than two dozen times for international reporting.
He said he proposed the documentary as the Missionaries of Charity approached their 75th anniversary, and the congregation agreed to the project. Atmadarshan TV, Indore, provided support for the production.
The new 66-minute documentary builds on an earlier version produced for the congregation’s 75th Foundation Day in October 2025. Akkara subsequently reworked the film, adding more than a dozen new episodes and international accounts.
The documentary traces Mother Teresa’s journey from her early work in India to the worldwide expansion of the Missionaries of Charity, highlighting episodes in Patna in 1948, Jharkhand in 1959, and New Delhi in 1961.
It also examines the congregation’s work amid conflict, including the killings of MC sisters in Yemen in 1998 and 2016, the expulsion of the congregation from Nicaragua, and the decision of sisters to remain in Gaza and Ukraine amid bombardment.
Among those featured in the film is legendary photographer Raghu Rai. The documentary also recalls appreciation expressed for Mother Teresa by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru when inaugurating a new Shishu Bhavan building in New Delhi.
Akkara said the film challenges allegations that Mother Teresa’s charitable work was primarily a vehicle for religious conversion and highlights her service to people living in extreme poverty, children, orphans, people with disabilities and mental illness, and those affected by leprosy.
Several lesser-known stories included in the film illustrate the breadth of her work. The documentary notes that the distinctive blue-striped white cotton saris worn by MC sisters are woven by people affected by leprosy at the congregation’s Titagarh centre, dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi.
The film also recounts Mother Teresa’s efforts to persuade the Indian Air Force to plant trees at the MC leprosy home in Delhi and her decision to decline a papal invitation to the 1993 World Youth Day in Denver so that she could travel to Borduria in Arunachal Pradesh to intervene against the killing of infants born with deformities.
Another story describes a raffle organized to raise funds for the leprosy hospital at Shanti Nagar by selling a popemobile reportedly donated to Mother Teresa following the 1964 World Eucharistic Congress in Mumbai.
The documentary also recalls Mother Teresa’s request that the Nobel Committee cancel the customary banquet accompanying the Nobel Prize and use the money instead to help orphans in Kolkata.
The film highlights the respect Mother Teresa received across religious and political lines, including appreciation from former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and former Prime Ministers Inder Kumar Gujral and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The film also recounts Mother Teresa’s relationship with Jyoti Basu, the longtime Marxist chief minister of West Bengal. Basu, a friend of Mother Teresa, reportedly once remarked: “This lady makes me a bad Marxist, making me believe in Godliness.”
In another example of her outreach across religious boundaries, Mother Teresa named an MC centre near Ranchi “Radharani Convent” in honor of a Hindu woman who donated land for a leprosy home in 1973.
Born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in 1910 in present-day North Macedonia, Mother Teresa came to India in 1929 as a Loreto Sister and founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. The congregation has since expanded across the world, serving some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities.
The new documentary presents that expansion as the story of a movement that seeks to “globalize compassion and care” while remaining rooted in the founder’s commitment to the destitute.
The Catholic Church has a lot to say about Labor Day — why?
As the U.S. celebrates Labor Day, Catholics have a wealth of resources in biblical interpretation, Church teaching, and social thought that address the nature of work and the place of the worker in society and in God’s creation.
But are Catholics, and others, aware of these resources?
One Catholic leader considering such questions is Father Sinclair Oubre, a priest of the Diocese of Beaumont, Texas. He is the spiritual moderator of the Catholic Labor Network, a Catholic association that promotes Catholic teaching about work and labor unions. It also supports labor organizing.
“All work, no matter what the work is, is essential,” Oubre likes to say. In his view, if a woman in janitorial work at a major software company does not show up to clean the toilets and empty the trash, all production in the office will nosedive.
Centuries of Catholic teaching about labor can be found compiled in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, published in 2004 by the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace. It dedicates its entire sixth chapter to human work and labor, its place in God’s plan, its role in society, and the rights and duties of workers.
“The Compendium gathers together in one place those rights that are found in Catholic social teaching, whether it’s Rerum Novarum, or Quadragesimo Anno, or Centesimus Annus, and synthesizes them,” Oubre told EWTN News, referring to the respective encyclicals of popes Leo XIII, Pius XI, and John Paul II.
“It’s a beautiful reflection on human work in the world and a very mature and in-depth discussion of the place of work, the place of labor, and the communal nature of it,” Oubre said.
Labor, politics, and spirituality
Oubre said Catholic teaching is a challenge regardless of people’s political views.
“It’s a challenge to the right, but it’s also a challenge to the left,” he said. Catholicism encourages those on the political right not simply to pray novenas and commit themselves to spiritual actions. It is a challenge not to leave other questions about work and labor to the market.
For the political left, Catholic social teaching “means you have to enter into a more intimate relationship with your Church and your relationship with Jesus and not just be as a social justice person by throwing a couple of little quotes around. It requires you to enter into that deeper spiritual relationship.”
Oubre stressed the importance of starting from the view of Catholic spirituality, not only social justice, because if we don’t, our approach “becomes ideological and polemic.” The spiritual approach “brings us closer to Jesus Christ.”
“No matter how dirty, how uncomfortable, how awful the job is, we are participating in God’s ongoing creation. It’s important that we do that job in a way that gives glory to God,” Oubre said.
God and man at work
The Compendium’s reflection on work begins with its biblical aspects: There is a human duty to “cultivate and care for the earth” and other good things created by God, it says. Work existed before the fall of Adam and Eve, and it is not a punishment or curse until the break with God transforms it into “toil and pain.” However, God’s rest on the seventh day of creation is the sign of the “fuller freedom” of the “eternal Sabbath.”
The life of Jesus Christ is a mission of work, from his early life helping St. Joseph in the work of a carpenter to his ministry of preaching and healing, and most of all in his redemptive labors on the cross.
The Compendium presents human labor as a way of supporting oneself and one’s loved ones but also a way to serve those in need. Work is a way to make God’s creation more beautiful, since humankind shares in God’s art and wisdom.
“Human work, directed to charity as its final goal, becomes an occasion for contemplation, it becomes devout prayer, vigilantly rising towards and in anxious hope of the day that will not end,” the Compendium says.
The rights of labor
God’s rest on the seventh day of creation, the Compendium says, means men and women must enjoy “sufficient rest and free time that will allow them to tend to their family, cultural, social, and religious life.”
The Compendium outlines and explains the many rights of workers: the right to rest from work; the right to a working environment that is not harmful to a worker’s health or moral integrity; the right to unemployment protections; the right to a pension and insurance for old age, disability, and work-related accidents; the right to social security for working mothers; and the right to assemble and form associations; the right to just wages and remuneration; and the right to strike.
Labor unions play a “fundamental role” in serving the common good and promoting social order and solidarity, though they must not abuse their role in society or become simply arms of a political party.
“The recognition of workers’ rights has always been a difficult problem to resolve because this recognition takes place within complex historical and institutional processes, and still today it remains incomplete,” the Compendium says. “This makes the practice of authentic solidarity among workers more fitting and necessary than ever.”
A challenge for Catholics and institutions
Catholic teaching has a lengthy paper record. But as in other areas, there is a challenge to practice it.
“What I find over and over again that the Church — our Church — gives us wonderful documents of guidance… and we never go back and read them,” Oubre told EWTN News.
He cited the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ 1996 pastoral letter “Economic Justice for All,” which says the Church should be a model for labor rights and treating workers justly.
However, Oubre said that in his experience Catholic parishes often neglect to provide unemployment insurance to employees if the law allows them to opt out. Catholic institutions often act as “at-will” employers in which management can fire employees for any reason. They may show preferences for nonunion labor over unionized labor when planning and funding construction projects.
“You’re going to undercut the guy who has actually followed the Church’s teachings in regards to work by hiring somebody who may be not offering medical insurance for his employees,” the priest lamented.
For Labor Day, Oubre encouraged parishes, dioceses, and other institutions to make sure to adopt policies that put Catholic labor teaching into practice.
This story was first published on Sept. 4, 2023, and has been updated.
The dangerous journey home for Christian communities in southern Lebanon
Along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, three Christian villages have found themselves caught on the front line of a war they neither chose nor supported.
Ain Ebel, Rmeich and Debl, known locally as the “Delta of Resilience”, are the last inhabited Christian towns in Lebanon’s border region. Since fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalated into a full-scale war in 2024, residents have endured deaths, destruction and growing isolation from the rest of the country.
Today, even returning home has become a grueling journey. With the usual roads damaged or inaccessible, residents must travel in organized convoys through military checkpoints and Israeli-occupied territory, an ordeal some have come to call “road to Calvary.”
Convoys travel to the villages almost daily, usually accompanied by Caritas and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Carrying humanitarian assistance, they usually include approximately 30 cars and trucks. Yet a journey that once took around two hours from Beirut can now last 12 hours or more.
The day begins at approximately 5 a.m., and the convoy may not reach the villages until after 6 p.m. One of the first stops is a Lebanese Army checkpoint, where residents are required to remain inside their vehicles for hours. Meanwhile, the sound of airstrikes and the sight of their impact on the surrounding hills heighten the fear and tension.
The convoy then enters roads running through Israeli-occupied territory, where Israeli flags line the route. At Naqoura, residents can see the Mediterranean Sea, which they are no longer permitted to access, before another period of waiting begins. This can last for hours, with passengers prohibited from leaving their vehicles, even in the summer heat.
Just feet away, Israeli soldiers can be seen inside buildings they have taken over, while Israeli military vehicles pass alongside the convoy. Many residents describe the experience as humiliating: They are in their own country, yet must wait for permission from a foreign military to reach their homes. As the hours pass, one question remains: Will the convoy be permitted to proceed, or will they be forced to return to Beirut after an entire day of waiting?
If permission is finally granted, the last stage of the journey begins. Residents travel along severely damaged roads, past destroyed houses and through routes that require vehicles capable of navigating the difficult terrain, before finally reaching their villages.
Many of those making the journey are elderly or ill and had been forced to travel to Beirut for medical treatment. Some underwent surgery only days earlier yet must spend long hours inside a vehicle under the sun, sometimes without enough water or access to a bathroom.
Others travel to the capital for life’s most basic necessities. Pregnant women go to Beirut to give birth and then make the difficult return journey with their newborn babies, while parents travel to enroll their children in universities. The convoys often transport livestock, including pigs and cattle, some of which have died after being kept for hours in the intense heat.
Maroun Louka, a father who was waiting in a convoy with his wife and children after a medical emergency forced the family to travel to Beirut, told ACI MENA the hardship begins even before the journey itself, with the registration of names and the wait for approval.
“We are suffering greatly,” he said. “Sometimes we wait an entire week to receive approval and be able to return to our village.”
“My uncle and my cousin were killed. Our homes were damaged, as were my brothers’ homes,” Louka continued. “I cannot even reach my olive press or my house. Life is extremely harsh and difficult.”
Asked why he was determined to return, Louka said his family had no alternative. “Our parents and grandparents are deeply rooted in this village. They spent their lives here, and some were killed and buried here. Can we, today, simply come and abandon it? No. Leaving it would be extremely difficult.”
While the journey reveals the harsh realities of war and occupation, it also reflects the faith, strength and resilience of those who continue to live in these villages.
Father Najib al-Amil, a priest in Rmeish, told ACI MENA that the Church has played a central role in helping residents remain on their land.
“Through our homilies, we encouraged the people and led them in prayer,” he said. “Every day, we prayed the rosary and held Eucharistic adoration.”
The priests also encouraged parish groups to remain active by visiting the sick, checking on families and assisting the poor and others in need.
Asked how the Vatican has supported the community, Father al-Amil pointed to the presence of Archbishop Paolo Borgia, the apostolic nuncio to Lebanon, whom he calls “the saintly nuncio.”
“Despite the danger, the strikes and the shelling, he continued to come,” the priest said. “He insisted on reaching us here, sitting with the people, speaking with them and celebrating Mass with us.”
The resilience of these communities is also sustained by Catholic organizations providing the material assistance families need to remain in their homes.
Father Samir Ghaoui, president of Caritas Lebanon, said there had been a clear decision by the Maronite Church and the wider Catholic Church to stand beside these Christian villages, and ensure that their essential needs were met.
“Since the beginning of the war, we have not abandoned them. Our decision was that we would stand beside every Christian household that chose to remain in its home and on its land. We will try to provide everything they need,” Father Ghaoui said. “They have the right to live with dignity in their own homes and with their families.”
He expressed hope that residents would one day be able to support themselves once again through their own work.
“But as long as there is war and as long as there is need, we at Caritas, in the name of the Church, will remain beside them,” he said. “Whatever the difficulties, we will continue finding a way to reach them.”
This story was first published by ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Pope Leo XIV calls for peace in Ukraine after Russian attacks
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday deplored the latest Russian attacks on Ukraine and voiced hopes for peace amid U.S.-led efforts to end the war.
“With a sorrowful heart, I have followed the news of the latest violent attacks that have recently struck several cities and civilian infrastructures in Ukraine, causing the deaths of innocent people,” the pope told pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, following the recitation of the Angelus.
Russia has intensified its missile and drone campaign against Ukraine in recent days, with attacks killing dozens in Kyiv and nearby areas and disrupting electricity for hundreds of thousands of people in the Odesa region.
Leo said he hoped that “the efforts undertaken in these days to resume negotiations will bear concrete fruit and open space for diplomacy.”
The pope spoke on the same day that U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Kyiv, having met in Moscow with Vladimir Putin on Saturday, Sept. 5.
Earlier, in his catechesis before leading pilgrims in the Marian prayer, Pope Leo reflected on the day’s Gospel reading (Matthew 18:15-20), in which Jesus instructs his disciples in fraternal correction.
“This is a delicate art, too often forgotten, that calls for frankness and a gradual approach. Speaking honestly with one another — first face to face, then, if necessary, with two or three others, and finally, when required, with the whole community — means facing reality and transforming problems and conflicts into opportunities for growth. Complaining and speaking ill of others are easier, but they accomplish nothing and leave many situations paralyzed,” the pope said.
The pope also said that praying together, as Jesus encourages in the Gospel passage, builds unity among Christians.
“Without faith, each person might feel alone and become suspicious of others, seeing them as strangers and enemies. By grace, however, we are brothers and sisters who can live in harmony: meeting one another, forgiving one another and listening to one another in the Lord,” Leo said.